Today, I have the absolute privilege of talking to my new friend, Cleere Cherry. You might know her as Cleerely Stated on Instagram. She has been such a massive blessing to me. I love the way she writes and the way that she speaks life. Her faith is resilient and contagious. I just feel so honored to have this conversation today with Cleere. I know you’re going to love it.

Today, I have the absolute privilege of talking with Megan Fate Marshman about her new book called, “Relaxed.” Let me just tell you, this conversation was so special. It is one that I am going to listen to over and over again. I hope it means as much to you as it has meant to me.

Today’s episode is going to be sweet, short, and hopefully powerful as I declare the truths of Colossians 1 over your work.

Today I have the privilege of talking with my friend, Hannah Brencher, the author of The Unplugged Hours: Cultivating a Life of Presence in a Digitally Connected World. Hannah is such a gift! I am so excited to share her with you today and the message of her new book that is already changing my life.

This episode of Work & Play with Nancy Ray is simply called, “Get Quiet, Then Go.”

Welcome back to part two of my conversation with Graham Cochrane about his new book, Rebel, which is so great. If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode, definitely go back and listen to that one first. This is a continuation of my conversation with Graham. I told him when I was talking with him, “I feel like this is a sermon for me. How is it that we’re talking about your book called ‘Rebel’ right now?” It’s so good. I hope you enjoy our conversation. It was such a challenge and such a blessing to me all at once. I know you’re going to love it. Here’s part two of my conversation with Graham Cochrane.

Get excited for today’s episode (and next week’s episode) because I get to talk with Graham Cochrane, who is a dear friend of mine. He and his wife Shay are good friends of mine and WIll. He is also my business coach. He has coached me in different seasons of my business and he just wrote a book. He loves the Lord. He is a brilliant entrepreneur, thought leader, author. It is a joy to get to talk to him and ask him questions one on one. You guys are in for a treat. The episode was packed full of so much goodness, I decided to break it up into two episodes. So don’t miss next week’s episode as well, as Graham and I talk all about his new book,

Today’s episode is full of scripture and encouragement for us to live in the authority that God has given us instead of walking in guilt.

Welcome to the first episode of my “May is for Mamas” series, where every episode in the month of May is dedicated to the mamas listening. I’m starting out with a great conversation with my friend, Molly Stillman, who just wrote an amazing book called, “If I Don’t Laugh, I’ll Cry.” It’s so good. We talk all about it, but it really honors the life and story of her mom, which is just amazing. You’ll hear all about it. I’m so excited for this series! I hope you love it.

This week’s episode is part 2 of a conversation I had with my husband Will all about how we have observed the Sabbath as a family for a year now and how it has changed us forever. If you missed the first part of our conversation, go back to last week’s episode and listen to that before you listen to today’s episode. I’m so excited to finish out this conversation with you today.

Well it has been one whole year of our little Ray family embracing the Sabbath as a weekly rhythm. This episode is a conversation with myself and Will all about how it has changed us forever.

We are back with the second half of my conversation with Jess Connolly talking all about rest because the month of April on the Work and Play podcast is all about the importance of rest in our lives. I’m so grateful you’re here! I can’t wait for you to listen to the rest. If you haven’t listened to part one already, go back to last week’s episode and start there.

Well, I’m trying something new here at Work and Play with Nancy Ray and that is months that have themes. So the theme of April is rest and this conversation is not going to disappoint. I’m talking to Jess Connolly today all about why women are so tired. We’re all so tired and this conversation is full of practical and spiritual answers as to why we’re so tired and what we can do differently. Guys, this conversation was so good, I decided to divide it into two episodes. I can’t wait for you to hear it and I think it fits perfectly with the theme of rest for this April. Enjoy and come back next week to hear part 2!

We live in a time where rest and play are very hard to come by. It can even be looked down on in our culture and often it feels impossible with the busy nature of our lives and schedules. Today’s episode is hopefully going to be encouraging to you to make time to rest and play a little bit more.

During the month of January, I read the entire Bible and this episode is all about how I did it.

My friend, Val Marie, is such a gift. She's the founder of Val Marie Paper, she's an author and she designed the lovely yearly prayer journal which I have used time and time again. Val has given me so much perspective on prayer and has been such an encouragement to my walk with the Lord. And today we're talking about what prayer can actually look like in our lives and how to make 2024 a year of prayer, for you, for real.

Get ready for the icing on the cake for the best kept secret to a holiday season full of joy and contentment. You ready? It's giving. It's giving. It's being intentional about giving away the resources that God has blessed you with. We're wrapping up this holiday series with the best episode of them all, holiday giving.

There will never be adequate words to describe what these book series have meant to me over the last year. They have been some of the best parts of my life. I kid you not, over the last 12 months, I sobbed at the end of each one. Not an exaggeration. And if I'm honest, today's podcast episode almost didn't happen because I already know it's gonna fall short of what I want to say about each of these series, but I decided to move forward with it because if it encourages you to read them with a kingdom mindset, I believe it will have been worth it. Let's dive into the three best children’s series of all time.

Today, I am gonna be telling you all about how I create a strategy for my life. And I know that sounds very broad and possibly overwhelming, but hang with me because I feel like I have been given some amazing tools to help me in four main areas of my life: my faith, my home, my work, and my legacy or my life overall.

So that's what we're gonna talk about today, how to create a strategy for your life. If you're feeling like you need some clarity, then this episode is for you.

Be where your feet are. This simple phrase has brought me back time and time again from feeling scattered and overwhelmed to simply being present. It's taught me a lot about my own limits and how God is limitless, and I found a lot of encouragement in that. So today's episode is all about that phrase, be where your feet are. And I hope you find it encouraging.