ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide

Hosted by Todd Andrewsen

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196

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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EN-US

About the show

ToddTalks--Spirit By Design is for those of you who desire to increase your spiritual wellness, utilize spiritual gifts, and overcome spiritual obstacles. If you struggle to maintain your spirituality, your beliefs, your testimony, in this chaotic world, come listen in and learn some things that can change your life. Maybe you can't make it to church due to your responsibilities whatever they may be. Maybe you struggle with your Testimony or beliefs and are looking for help. Maybe you just need someone to give you ideas on how to build and strengthen your faith. This podcast is to help you design your spiritual life. Spirit by Design means you are in charge of your life. You surrender it to God and allow him to help you design the life you desire. By developing and strengthening your spiritual side, you will find peace, joy and serenity in this chaotic world that is only getting worse.

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60 recent

June 16, 2026Episode 2922 min

How To Stay Spiritually Anchored When Culture Tries to Shift Truth

Send us Fan MailTruth didn’t get weaker, but the pressure to treat it like a preference has never been louder. We sit with a hard question: why is it so difficult to stand for eternal truth in a culture that keeps insisting truth is negotiable? I walk through why objective truth matters, why “your truth” can quietly become a trap, and why aligning our lives to truth is the opposite of the modern message to adjust truth until it fits. From there, we talk about the real battle underneath the noise: identity. When you don’t know who you are, you’ll borrow your worth from trends, approval, or fear. I share why the restored gospel answers identity with clarity: you are a child of God with divine potential and eternal worth. We connect that foundation to discipleship in real life, especially when social pressure hits hard at school, online, or at work and you feel tempted to stay quiet just to belong. We also get practical about spiritual survival in a distracted age. The adversary does not always need to prove truth is false; sometimes he only needs to drown it out. That’s why daily prayer, scripture study, worship, and stillness matter, because the still small voice is easiest to miss when life is always loud. Finally, I lay out four anchors to help you stand firm through modern storms: daily personal revelation, covenants, holy places, and Jesus Christ as the true foundation. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who feels stretched by today’s culture, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s one “anchor” you want to strengthen this week?Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

June 12, 2026Episode 2819 min

Righteous People Suffer And God Still Refines Them - Lessons From Job

Send us Fan MailThe hardest seasons of life can make you wonder if God has gone quiet or if you did something wrong. We go straight at that fear by walking through the Book of Job and the idea of the refiner’s fire: what if your suffering is not proof of abandonment, but a setting where God is shaping something holier in you? Job is called “perfect and upright,” yet he still loses nearly everything. That alone dismantles the myth that righteousness guarantees comfort, and it opens a better question: what kind of person can we become when life is stripped down to the bone?We talk about covenant faithfulness that is not transactional, the kind of trust that says, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” We explore why God often gives perspective instead of explanations, how discipleship can require trust before understanding, and how trials can remove pride, control, and self-sufficiency so dependence on Jesus Christ can finally take root. Along the way, we connect Job’s journey to modern scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants and to Joseph Smith’s experience in Liberty Jail, where suffering is met with eternal perspective rather than instant relief.We also look at why Job powerfully points to Jesus Christ: innocent suffering, rejection, grief, silence, and endurance. Because Christ descended below all things, He understands every form of pain and can sanctify what we cannot fix today. You’ll leave with five concrete practices for enduring trials without becoming bitter, staying turned toward God, and anchoring your identity in Christ instead of circumstances. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review with the lesson from Job you’re trying to live right now.Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

June 9, 2026Episode 2720 min

Are You Training Yourself To Hear God Or Ignore Him

Send us Fan MailA tiny spiritual nudge can feel easy to dismiss, until you realize it might have been the exact help someone needed. I’m Todd, and I’m digging into a principle that has shaped my life: when we act on promptings from the Holy Ghost, we become more able to receive personal revelation. When we postpone, rationalize, or ignore those impressions, we can miss specific blessings and slowly lose spiritual sensitivity, even if we still have full agency to choose.We connect the dots across General Conference teachings from leaders like Elder David A. Bednar, Elder Richard G. Scott, and President Henry B. Eyring, plus scriptures that teach revelation comes line upon line. We talk about why God rarely gives a full map, why confirmation often comes after we start moving, and why writing down impressions can train your mind and heart to recognize God’s hand more consistently. If you’ve ever thought, “Was that really the Spirit or just me?”, you’ll find practical clarity here.I also share a personal story about acting on a prompting to make sure a needed blessing happened, along with a candid look at what it feels like to lose light through small choices and how to return to it step by step. In a world full of noise, opinions, and confusion, learning to recognize and act on spiritual promptings is not just inspiring, it’s essential. Listen, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest question about personal revelation.Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

May 29, 2026Episode 2623 min

What Anchors You When Truth Feels Optional - Stand in Holy Places

Send us Fan MailWhen your “instruments” fail in the clouds, your body can swear you’re level while you’re actually turning into danger. I open with a real C-130 cockpit moment where two attitude indicators disagreed and the only way to survive was to trust the right reference. Then I connect that to modern spiritual life: identity confusion, anxiety, outrage culture, distraction, and dopamine addiction can make truth feel optional and emotions feel like facts.The anchor is a warning and a promise from Doctrine and Covenants: you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but if you are prepared, you will not fear. Preparation looks like standing in holy places and refusing to be moved. We talk about why holy places are more than temples (though temple covenants matter deeply) and how your home can become a holy place through prayer, scripture, Sabbath worship, better media standards, and protecting the Spirit at the center of family life.I also share true examples of people who stood firm under pressure, from the Danish rescue of Jews in World War II to the 2,000 stripling warriors who were spiritually ready before the battle began. You’ll leave with a simple checklist to audit what spirit shapes your mind and your home, plus a direct challenge: remove one spiritually toxic influence, create one new holy habit, and turn your home into a sanctuary of peace. If this helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a five-star review.Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

May 25, 2026Episode 259 min

Memorial Day Calls Us To Live Worthy Of Sacrifice

Send us Fan MailMemorial Day can feel like a holiday on the calendar until you’ve watched a grieving unit file onto an aircraft and stand over flag-draped coffins. I’m Todd, and I wanted to slow down and treat this day with the reverence it deserves, drawing from my time flying C-130s and carrying fallen service members on their first leg home. Those memories shaped how I see the American flag, why certain “debates” hit the heart differently, and why remembrance is never abstract when you’ve seen the cost up close.I ask what did their sacrifice protect? Agency. Freedom to choose, to worship, to speak, to build families, and to live discipleship on purpose. Freedom isn’t something we simply inherit; it’s something we steward. I close with a simple challenge for Memorial Day: take a quiet moment, say a prayer of gratitude, think of a name, and ask yourself if you’re living in a way that honors what was given for you.If this moved you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people choose remembrance over noise.Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

May 22, 2026Episode 2418 min

Real Faith Trusts God When Nothing Works - Lessons about God from George Washington's Life!

Send us Fan MailWhat if one of the clearest lessons about God doesn’t come from a pulpit, but from a battlefield? We take a fresh look at George Washington and the word he returned to again and again: providence. Not luck. Not vibes. The steady belief that God’s hand can guide outcomes even when the situation looks impossible.We connect Washington’s story to LDS doctrine and modern revelation, especially how God speaks through the mind and heart in quiet impressions rather than constant spectacle. From Valley Forge to victory, we talk about what real faith looks like when nothing is working, and why “small and simple things” often show up long before the miracle feels obvious. Then we get practical: how to notice those promptings, how to act on them, and how that changes the way you move through fear, uncertainty, and decision-making.We also dig into gratitude as spiritual power, not polite behavior, and why gratitude protects us from pride and spiritual blindness. From there, Washington’s refusal to seize a crown becomes a vivid case study in moral agency: just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. We tie that to humility, teachability, and leadership as stewardship and service, echoing the Doctrine and Covenants teaching on persuasion, longsuffering, and gentleness.We close with a personal question: have you ever made it through something you shouldn’t have survived, something that feels more like providence than coincidence? If you’re still here, God’s not finished with you yet. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review that tells us where you’ve seen God preparing you.Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

May 12, 2026Episode 2314 min

Tithing Is Not A Payment Plan, It Is a Transformation in Faith

Send us Fan Mail“Tithing is fire insurance” might be one of the most repeated lines in Latter-day Saint culture, and also one of the most misunderstood. I’m not interested in a fear-based reading of God that sounds like “pay up or burn.” I want to get honest about what the scriptures actually say, why the language is so intense, and what that phrase is really pointing to: a life that’s already aligned with Jesus Christ before the refining day arrives.We start in Doctrine and Covenants 64 and walk through the Second Coming imagery, Babylon as the world, and the idea that sacrifice is a “today” decision. From there, we shift to the heart of the commandment: tithing isn’t a financial subscription that purchases protection. It’s a faith practice that forces a choice between worldly security and covenant trust. If money represents control, options, and survival, then giving God the first ten percent becomes a powerful spiritual re-ordering.Then we go straight to Malachi 3, where the Lord says “prove me now herewith.” We break down the promises people quote all the time and what they can look like in real life: windows of heaven that include peace, answers, strength, and sometimes direct financial help, plus the promise to “rebuke the devourer” when setbacks threaten to eat your future. We also talk about why obedience increases personal revelation, why temple worthiness is part of the conversation, and how tithing shapes identity through covenant living.I share personal experience and pioneer stories that highlight the same theme: the most valuable blessing of tithing isn’t money, it’s who you become when you choose God first. If something in you feels stirred, don’t ignore it. Listen, share this with someone who’s wrestling with trust, and then subscribe, leave a review, and tell me this: what would it look like for you to “test Him” fully?Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

May 8, 2026Episode 2215 min

The Self-Doubt Epidemic - Reclaim Who You Are!

Send us Fan MailSelf-doubt is getting louder, and it’s not just a confidence problem. When your worth feels tied to comparison, followers, likes, and constant evaluation, anxiety and impostor syndrome start to feel “normal” even when something deep inside you knows it isn’t. We go straight at the real issue: when you don’t know who you are, you’ll doubt everything you do.We talk about self-doubt as a spiritual identity crisis and why quick fixes like productivity hacks or mindset tricks can’t heal a wound that’s rooted in disconnection. We break down three common causes: forgetting your identity as a child of God, losing connection to the Spirit when stillness and prayer disappear, and misinterpreting struggle as proof you’re failing. Through scripture and lived experience, we reframe trials as a refiner’s fire, painful but purposeful, designed to strengthen rather than destroy.Then we get practical. We share simple steps for spiritual realignment: ask God directly “Who am I to you?” and listen, replace noise with stillness, act in faith before you feel ready, and learn to discern the voice in your mind because not every thought you have is true. If comparison and social media have been feeding your stress, you’ll also hear a small daily challenge that can change everything.If this helped you, subscribe so you don’t miss new episodes, share it with someone who needs steadiness right now, and leave a five-star review to help more people find the show.Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

May 5, 2026Episode 2114 min

Knowing Better Raises The Standard For Discipleship - Spiritual Light Increases Accountability

Send us Fan Mail“When you know better, you do better” sounds like a gentle nudge. I argue it’s something far more serious: spiritual light changes you, and once it shows up, you’re accountable for what you do with it. That’s the uncomfortable mercy of clarity. Light reveals what’s true, what’s off, and what direction your life is actually moving, whether toward life in Christ or slow spiritual decay.We walk through a Latter-day Saint framework for knowledge as “light and truth,” using scripture from Doctrine and Covenants, the Book of Mormon, Alma, and James to show why greater understanding raises the bar. Accountability is not just about behavior; it’s about alignment. When God gives revelation and you listen and act, your agency gets sharper, your decisions get more exact, and the still small voice becomes harder to ignore. Keep resisting and you can lose sensitivity to the Holy Ghost and even the light you once carried.Discipleship, however, is not powered by willpower alone. The natural man doesn’t get educated out of you; he yields to the spirit through repentance, obedience, and the enabling power of Jesus Christ. The Atonement is not only for sinners who need forgiveness, but for saints, and we're all really sinners wanting to be saints, who want to do and be better, to become the kind of person who lives what they know.If you’ve felt that tension between what you believe and how you’re living, you’re not alone. Listen, share this with someone who’s trying to follow promptings, and leave a review. What’s one piece of “light” you’re going to act on today?2026Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig

May 1, 2026Episode 2015 min

Build Faith One Focused Day At A Time with Prayer, Meditation, and Vision!

Send us Fan MailFaith doesn’t usually break in a dramatic moment. It drifts, quietly, one distracted thought at a time, until we look up and realize we’re nowhere near where we meant to be. We want a practical way back, not just a motivational quote, so we walk through a simple framework for building faith intentionally: meditation, prayer, and vision boarding, used together and anchored in the truths of the gospel.We start where every battle starts, the mind. Meditation isn’t about “emptying” your thoughts; it’s about training your attention so you can notice fear, doubt, and temptation before they take over. From there, prayer becomes more than words. It turns focus into a relationship with God through a pattern that shows up again and again in scripture and modern revelation: ask, listen, and act. When we actually pause to listen, our choices get clearer and our hearts get steadier.Then we tackle vision boards, including the hard distinction most people skip. Vision boarding without God can slide into self-centered manifestation, even if it produces results. Vision boarding with God becomes faith in action, because it helps you rehearse righteous desires while staying open to the Lord’s better plan. We tie it all into a “faith loop” and finish with a daily routine you can start today in under 15 minutes to strengthen spiritual focus, increase personal revelation, and improve family life.If this helps, subscribe, share it with a friend who feels spiritually scattered, and leave a review with the daily practice you’re committing to try first.Support the showYou can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_ig