Never Perfect Faith

Dr. Beth’s father Dr. Jack Muller (retired professor of sociology) passed away in August 2025, leaving behind a legacy of "imperfect faith" that touched everyone from college students to inmates at Walker State Prison to the elderly at Thrive at Brow Wood. In this heartfelt and humor-filled episode of Never Perfect Faith, we sit down with two of “Diamond Jack’s” closest friends and colleagues: Dr. Ray Clark (professor and minister) and Dr. Ed Salter (minister). Together, they reflect on the life of a man who devoted his life to teaching and encouraging his students at a Covenant College, but after his retirement, he found ways to use his gifts of faithfulness and encouragement to serve his community in various ways. He wanted to spend his entire life, even when he was physically unwell, serving his Lord and Savior and loving God’s people, whether it was mentoring prisoners, co-facilitating a support group at a nursing home, calling to check on friends who were sick or grieving, and being known as the cookie man. He even brought meals to people in his late 70s, even though his culinary skills were not his strong point. Ray and Ed share intimate (and often hilarious) stories that paint a portrait of a man who was as frugal as he was generous, and as witty as he was humble. Join us as we celebrate a life of someone who was changed by God’s love which is “ so amazing, so divine, it demands my soul, my life, my all.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About a year ago, Dr. Beth’s father  took her to hear Lilli Meier speak at the Thrive Senior Living community on Lookout Mountain, GA, where he volunteered up until the time of his death August 25, 2025.  He suggested that Beth interview her to hear about her story and her book….so this is the culmination of his sweet suggestion. Lilli was born in Cuba in 1949, which she describes as an idyllic paradise before Fidel Castro took over and imposed a totalitarian system on this beautiful country. Lilli shares about her trauma and grief she had to endure when school-aged kids were forced to do a morning chant every day, “We are pioneers for Communicatism and we will all be Chegavada.” She adds,  “Our family had a hard time for a long time and Catholicism felt robotic.” She and her family left her beloved country in 1961 to go to America and she wasn’t able to return for a visit until 2008.  She said “America will always be the beacon of freedom.” Lilli shares how her faith sustained her through all of this, saying, “ I found my freedom in Christ.” She adds,  “God takes a lot from us sometimes and we have to hold on to him. “ To order her book CLICK HERE Listen to this episode and more: ⁠⁠⁠neverperfect.org⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on instagram ⁠⁠⁠@neverperfectpodcast⁠⁠⁠ Please rate and review this podcast. Send us an email with any feedback or requests: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Dr. Carol Stoney, Beth’s most frequent (and very likely one of the most popular ) podcast guests returns to the show to talk about marriage. She likes to encourage married couples to ask themselves the question regularly: “ Why did we get  married?” Like when things get hard  or when transitions happen, she urges them to sit down and have a conversation “What’s our purpose?” Sometimes couples have change their mission, she said. Dr. Stoney stated “I don’t care what couples are fighting about, I care what they are fighting FOR“ “What is the mission and the purpose and the reason you are staying together?” In essence, it is important for couples to know and remember what it is they are trying to achieve and what stands in the way (or threatens) what it is that they are trying to recover to achieve that goal they never knew they had. She urges couples to consider, why is this so important to me? What is it that we’re fighting for? To hear more episodes with Dr. Stoney, go to your favorite podcast platform and Google Never Perfect Dr. Stoney To learn more about her, you can go to healingforcouples.com Listen to this episode and more: ⁠⁠neverperfect.org⁠⁠ Follow us on instagram ⁠⁠@neverperfectpodcast⁠⁠ Please rate and review this podcast. Send us an email with any feedback or requests: ⁠⁠[email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of us who experienci significant pain and suffering, may start to doubt that God is still taking care of us and still loves us and still wants to give us good things . Sometimes we doubt that he is doing good things for us personally, even when we know that he is good globally. Many of us also think that we need to clean ourselves up before we can approach God and turn to him, or return to him after a period of withdrawal or retreat. We also forget that we don’t have to be good enough because he is good enough. When we cling to him, we need to be reminded that him clinging to us is the thing that we can really count on Today beth shares the highlights of an amazing sermon on the book of Ruth by Dr. Mary Willson Hannah. Listen to this episode and more: ⁠neverperfect.org⁠ Follow us on instagram ⁠@neverperfectpodcast⁠ Please rate and review this podcast. Send us an email with any feedback or requests: ⁠[email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is dedicated to Pastor Roger Gulick, who passed away March 21. He left a wonderful legacy which you can hear about on the last episode which was published February 13. Today Beth shares her journey of faith and her frequent struggle to tune into God and His Word, oftentimes going through the motions in a rote way, because she wants others to learn from her regrets and missed opportunities of knowing God and engaging with him in a deeper way. She encourages the listeners to find creative ways to engage with God and scripture, using their own unique minds and learning styles, whether that be through studying Scripture, creating art or poetry that represents biblical truths, Bible Studies, topical studies, etc. she emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit as a “tutor “or “illuminator” of Scripture. She shares strategies she has discovered to study the Bible in a more engaging an interactive way. see below for links to Bible Gateway and to some of the books Beth mentioned. See below for links to Bible Gateway and to some of the books Beth mentioned. Bible Gateway HERE Also, If you’d like to check out, Laura Pettit’s art, her website HERE    Instagram is @Laurapettitfineart Bible study on Philippians HERE Daily devotional HERE Listen to this episode and more: neverperfect.org Follow us on instagram @neverperfectpodcast Please rate and review this podcast. Send us an email with any feedback or requests: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices