Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman

In this season 1 finale, Mandi candidly reviews the Find Your Beautiful journey, beyond this podcast.  She goes on to share her vision for how she will carry out her calling of achieving social justice for the disability community through advocacy, education, storytelling, and most importantly by building authentic relationships. Find Me Online: Website Facebook Instagram Transcript Mandi : Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.   [Upbeat Background Music] Mandi : On January 10, 2019, I decided to start the Find Your Beautiful podcast. Here we are exactly 2 months later. I'm astounded that I have over 600 plays, a special feature episode, and a blog feature! January 10th was the day I committed to recording episodes on a weekly basis, but the overarching message of this podcast started percolating in my mind a couple of years ago. I just didn't have the concept fleshed ou...

"Lift your hands and worship," "Let us rise for...," "You're too pretty to be in a wheelchair." Often well meaning phrases and good intentioned people say and do ableist things. Microaggressions are experienced by marginalized people on a daily basis. However, we must ask ourselves if intent matters and where is the line between the fight for equality and an attitude of entitlement? These are the issues Mandi shares her thoughts on in this episode. Find Me Online: Website Facebook Instagram Transcript Mandi : Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.   [Upbeat Background Music] Mandi : Communal worship is a powerful thing. I love the experience of singing among a group of other voices and coming together to thank God for his greatness. I love watching how different people praise, some dancing, others being still with their eyes closed. One thing has been c...

Inclusion is a hot buzz word around disability today. Many churches are doing their part when it comes to ministering to people with disabilities. However, a church should be as diverse in its leadership as it is in its congregation. In this episode, Mandi calls for true inclusion in the church.  Find Me Online: Website Facebook Instagram Transcript Mandi : Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.   [Upbeat Background Music] Mandi : My first God encounter happened when I was 6 years old. It was at a faith-based summer camp about an hour north of New York City. That summer, and the six summers that followed, are some of my best childhood memories. To this day, 26 years later, I am still good friends with many of my mentors from camp. While I wish I could say I had a face-to-face, or out of this world spiritual encounter with God when I was 6, it wasn't that. My encounter with ...

Disabled, handicap, challenged, special needs...What's the right word? The disability world can feel like a minefield to "outsiders." In this episode, Mandi is going to give typically functioning people the chance to get inside the mind of a person with a disability in hopes of offering a guiding light. Find Me Online: Website Facebook Instagram Transcript Mandi : Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.   [Upbeat Background Music] Mandi : "If you don't see my blackness, you don't see me." This line from the film The Hate u Give hit me hard, but not for the reasons you may think. I've shared before that I'm Puerto Rican, not Black. However, this hit me hard because if I replace the word blackness with disability, it describes a sentiment I've had a hard time expressing.  Before I go on, I think it's important to openly state that I'm n...

One of Mandi's not so secret loves is music. In this special, Mandi shares an original song dedicated to her one True Love. Find Me Online: Website Facebook Instagram Transcript Mandi : Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.   [Soft Background Music]  Mandi : I am so excited about sharing this bonus episode with you. Whether you are loving a significant other, a best friend, a family member, or just loving yourself on this Valentine's Day, I hope that you are truly blessed by this song. As you know, God is my first love. As much as I love my husband, and my kids, and my friends, I've always loved God first. So, I really hope you enjoy this. I hope you're blessed by it and I'm super nervous to share this song, but I shared the lyrics about a week or two ago on Facebook and I will have a transcription of the lyrics. And a lot of people have told me I should hold my songs...

We are living in an emotionally heightened and sensitive society in America. Words and behaviors once acceptable can now put you in jail. In this ever-changing climate, it can be challenging for typically functioning people to really understand how to interact with their disabled peers. In this episode, Mandi speaks directly to the disability community, calling them out on things they are doing that hinder the social justice we desperately seek.  Find Me Online: Website Facebook Instagram Transcript Mandi : Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.   [Upbeat Background Music] Mandi : The world is a very confusing place. On the one hand, I was taught to always be polite, politically correct, and sugar-coat to avoid hurting people's feelings. I was raised to hold my tongue a lot, not because I'm generally a rude person, but because a lot of people don't like to be corrected, or...

Intimacy is a scary thing to a lot of people! As a person who requires full personal care to live because of her disability, Mandi and her husband experience levels of intimacy many non-interabled couples do not. In today's episode, Mandi candidly shares about intimate moments with her husband, her feelings about them, and how to make them Beautiful.  Find Me Online: Website Facebook Instagram Transcript Mandi : Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.   Please be advised that today's episode contains mature content. You may want to listen without little ears around. [Upbeat Background Music] Mandi : Disability and next level intimacy often go hand in hand.  As a person who needs full care for all my activities of daily living, privacy looks very different for me than it does for typically functioning people. Interestingly, my family is very private. Despite growing up...