Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

K.C. Wright: Well, Susannah B. Lewis is a best-selling author and creator of the hilarious Whoa Susannah.

Jennifer Rothschild: Whoa Susannah.

K.C. Wright: She has produced these incredible videos. She's also a blogger, podcaster like us, follower of Jesus most importantly, and a dog lover just like us. Her videos and articles have been featured in Reader's Digest, Southern Writer's Magazine, U.S. Weekly, Yahoo! and Erma Bombeck's Humor Writers, and Huffington Post, among many others. Her latest book is one we all need, How May I Offend You Today? And that's what she and Jennifer are talking about. So get your sweet tea and join in on this super fun conversation.

Jennifer Rothschild: Susannah, your videos are absolutely hilarious and you use the name, Whoa Susannah. So I got to know where did that name come from?

Susannah B. Lewis: Yes, that's a, that's a silly story. When I was in 10th-grade Home EC class, I got in trouble quite a bit for just talking out in class. My teacher did, she'll tell you that she wasn't a great big fan of mine back then, but now she actually loves me. She loves me, I've seen her since, we're Facebook friends. And she'll admit now that she loved having me in class. But I had said something one day, I cannot even remember what it was, I'd wrack my brain trying to remember. But I said something out loud one day in class and a friend of mine in the class had started saying, "Whoa, Susannah" instead of "Oh, Susannah." So it sort of stuck with me, that you know "Whoa, did she really say that?" And so that's just kind of stuck with me ever since. Sometimes people, when I say things, that's their first reaction.

Jennifer Rothschild: Whoa.

Susannah B. Lewis: Whoa, that's right.

Jennifer Rothschild: Did she really say that?

Susannah B. Lewis: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: I love it because you do have a great sense of humor. But what I've also observed is in this book, you show a great sense of balance and wisdom when it comes to the disagreeables in your life and even your own tendency to gripe. So tell us what it is that gives you that balance and wisdom.

Susannah B. Lewis: Absolutely. My faith gives me that balance and wisdom. You know, I think we all as Christians, we walk that line of dipping into our fleshly side and our fleshly, our first, our instinct to say, you know, what comes to mind first and just kind of indulging in our own pride and these kinds of things. And so there are definitely moments when someone will leave me a negative comment on something I've posted or said that my first instinct is to walk in my flesh and to defend myself. And then I have to, oh, so many times I have to step back. I have to pray. I have to remember that sometimes I just need to be silent and let the Lord fight for me and let the Lord defend me. And I don't need to stoop to their level of name-calling and that kind of thing. So it is definitely a fine line. If I did not have the Lord, if I did not have His conviction and that still Spirit, that still voice of the Holy Spirit telling me, "Hey, Susannah, you need to, you need to be quiet for a minute. You need to back off of this. You need to pray about this. You need to think about this. What would the Lord want you to say? How would He want you to react in that situation?" If I did not have the Lord and that conviction, my goodness, I would be in a whole heap of trouble and I would just be running my mouth left and right. Saying things I don't need to say. So I just thank God for that conviction and that Spirit, that voice of the Holy Spirit every day.

Jennifer Rothschild: It's interesting. You've got, we all have the Holy Spirit saying, "Whoa, Susannah. Whoa, Jennifer."

Susannah B. Lewis: That's right.

Jennifer Rothschild: Lord, put a button on my lip for this one.

Susannah B. Lewis: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: Which I appreciate. And, you know, what's interesting to me about humor, humor without humility is dangerous.

Susannah B. Lewis: Oh, absolutely.

Jennifer Rothschild: It's, we can't do anything well without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And I see that in you and I appreciate that. And I really do love the name of your book, by the way, How May I Offend You Today? I mean, it just gets right to it. So I got to know, I think I know, but tell us, what inspired you to write a book about this?

Susannah B. Lewis: Well, I think a lot of it was just, well, definitely my social media platform. When you reach a million followers, you're going to have conflicting opinions. Everybody is going to have an opinion. Everybody's going, you know, think that they need to interject what they think you should say or what you should do or what you should stand for. And, you know, I found myself sometimes getting caught up in that of reading somebody's negative comment and starting to think these negative things about myself and then maybe they are right. And I think it's great to have an open mind. Absolutely. And to say, yes, this person, I'm not always right. I know I'm not always right. And so I need to listen to what other people have to say. Yes. And then find the truth in that for myself. But, you know, I think the enemy uses these all these negative voices coming at you to make you doubt yourself and doubt what you believe in. And so I just had to get to a place where I said, "Lord, as long as I stand on truth, I don't need to worry about what other people say about me or what other people say I should believe or I should stand for. And You, God, are the only one I'm worried about offending." And so that's where that came from. And a lot of people like to throw around the word judgmental. If you crack a joke about something. And I think what you said, absolutely, humor without humility can be dangerous. And so I never in my humor want to degrade or bully another person. But I think as well, that just, you know, in a sense, kind of back and forth and jokes about things and just laughing at what we see around us, laughing at ourselves, even, I think that's a wonderful thing. And some people, you know, can think what I say is judgmental if I'm poking fun at somebody I see in the grocery store or something like that. And I don't mean the harmful way but, you know, just poking fun at a situation, they can turn around and call me judgmental and that kind of thing. And so, you know, I started thinking that things, humor sometimes offends people. And I would say, "Lord, as long as I know that, Lord, I never want to bully or degrade another person. And You always convict me." And I have been convicted of that, believe me. But "God, You convict me if I've overstepped my boundaries, if I've said something I don't need to say." But innocent joking and fun, I think the Lord delights in that. I think it brings us joy. I think laughter is is a great medicine, as Proverbs says. And so I had to just stop worrying about who I'm offending. Strangers I'll never meet probably. Who am I offending as long as I'm not offending the Lord. And so that's been what I live by now when I check my social media and my emails and things. Hey, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but as long as the Lord hasn't convicted me of that and the Lord has given me a peace in what I've said, then I'm not going to worry about it.

Jennifer Rothschild: You know, that's a good standard. And it's a hard. It's a hard balance without the wisdom of the Lord. It's a hard balance. And, you know, it's interesting as you explain that too, Susannah, Scripture says that truth is offensive. And so, so much of the time in humor, there is that little nugget of truth that makes it relevant and funny. So it's interesting how those are connected. But you're right, it's all within the spirit that you present of love, good nature, not bullying, not degrading. So let's go to the book. Okay, so you start each chapter with something that you say works your nerves. Okay, so give us an example of one of those and then like, what's your remedy for coping with it?

Susannah B. Lewis: Oh, goodness. I think one of my favorite one is that things that work my nerves was I saw a couple making out on the plumbing aisle in a Lowe's. And I thought, I don't know if this is the proper place to clean your partners teeth is right here in public in Lowe's. Now my remedy for that I guess is just to write about it because, of course, I didn't say anything to them. I didn't go up and start cussing them out or saying this is disgusting or anything. I just kind of laughed to myself and I thought this would be good for a book. So I think the remedy for things that do work my nerves is to write about them or to find the humor in them, to find the humor in things. That's how I deal with things that work my nerves

Jennifer Rothschild: Well and, you know, we do take things awfully seriously, and especially in this climate.

Susannah B. Lewis: Oh, yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: It's a hypersensitive society right now and it's hard to say anything without somebody getting offended. So I'm curious, why do you think that is and how can we as believers, if we're part of this, how can we break that habit?

Susannah B. Lewis: Mhm. Well, I think part of it, I think the enemy seeks to kill still and destroy of course. And I think that he, he preys a lot on our vulnerabilities and he knows that this is kind of a tumultuous climate right now. I mean you've got this pandemic and you've got everything else going on and injustices and people are hurt and people are grieving and people are confused. And I think the enemy likes to prey on that. And I think the enemy likes to turn our hurt a lot of times into anger and into trying to defend ourselves and not always the best way, but lashing out in anger at other people and having this mentality of, I disagree with you, so I can't love you, I can't be your friend. I have to write you off. We have to have this huge knock-out, drag-down fight. And we can't, we can't simply agree to disagree anymore. And I think the remedy for that is the remedy of all things, is to get into the Word of God and to see what God tells us about loving our brother and loving each other and standing for truth. Absolutely standing for truth. And even if our opinion is, or our truth is not what is trending right now, or is not what is most popular right now, as long as our beliefs and our actions align with the Word of God, just like those bracelets back in the '90s, what would Jesus do. As long as we were acting out that way that's the best we can do. You know, none of this comes as a surprise to God what's going on right now. None of this is a surprise to Him. And as Romans 8:28 says, "He has a good plan for those who love Him." And we have to instead of being anxious and afraid and discouraged and mad and anger all the time, believe in that plan and believe in His Word.

Jennifer Rothschild: You know, I just got to repeat something you said, because I think it bears writing it in our, in our hearts right now, that often people's, what we think is people's anger is really they're hurt in disguise. And when we really do stand for truth, then it's easy for us to even stand with people we disagree with because of Jesus, you know, so that's, that's really powerful. Okay, I want to shift gears here for a second, because I'm curious when you grow up to be a woman like you, I got to know about your mom. Like was she as sassy as you?

Susannah B. Lewis: Yes, my mother was hilarious. And there's actually a chapter in the book about asking the manager. My mother was one of those people who asked for the manager. And I know that seems like a negative connotation, but I say that to say that she was one of those no-nonsense. You know, she didn't take any stuff off anybody. She stood up for what she believed in. If she felt she'd been ripped off in the grocery store, she was going to ask for a manager. But my mother was a godly, loving, hilarious, hilarious woman. I still laugh every day at something I remember that she said or did. And yes, I absolutely get my sass and my wit and a lot of my wisdom from my sweet mother.

Jennifer Rothschild: I love that. And you grew up in the South, right?

Susannah B. Lewis: Yes. Oh, yes. Absolutely.

Jennifer Rothschild: Was it Tennessee? Is that where, I know that's where you are now, but is that where you grew up?

Susannah B. Lewis: Yes, I grew up about twenty minutes from where I live right now.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, that's so sweet. And is your momma still alive or is she in heaven?

Susannah B. Lewis: No, my mother passed away in 2015.

Jennifer Rothschild: That's a hard thing.

Susannah B. Lewis: Yes it is.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, you carry her legacy well. Do you ask for the manager?

Susannah B. Lewis: I've been known to ask for the manager. Not as much as my mother did, but, you know, if a situation arises when we need to go to the top, then I'll ask for the manager.

Jennifer Rothschild: That's good. Okay, so in the book, you also talk about your faith, which I appreciate, and you're super open about it and you talk about how we could speak the truth in love and how you try to keep the peace with others who you do disagree with. So I think you've already talked a little bit about this, but do you have a very practical way that we can do this also?

Susannah B. Lewis: Oh, gosh, you got, there's a chapter in the book called "Catch a Bubble and Pray," and that means a little sixth-grade girl in my Sunday school class, C.J., told me that one time. And that was the first time I ever heard that. And she caught a bubble in her mouth, her cheeks puffed up like she had a bubble in her mouth, meaning that you can't speak if there's a bubble in your mouth. So catch a bubble and pray. And so since she's told me that, I think that's a really practical way. Before you speak, before you react in any way, just catch a bubble and pray. Just keep your mouth shut and pray, "Lord God, my words right now." And I mean, in the height of emotion of things, we can totally skip that and just start talking and, you know, defending ourselves and that kind of thing. So it takes restraint. It does. It takes restraint, takes a little muscle memory. We got to just catch a bubble and pray before we open our mouths and stick our foot in.

Jennifer Rothschild: I think that is brilliant. You go, C.J. I love it. From the mouth of babes. That is brilliant. That is brilliant. Susannah, last question. So one of the things that I love about your message is that you warn us to not fall for the error that Jesus is like this kumbaya hippy or he's like Oprah and that we've got to get the spotlight off of ourselves. I think that is a powerful word for today. And we got to look to what Christ can do in and through us. So how can we do that?

Susannah B. Lewis: Oh, my goodness. This is something that I'm so passionate about and our culture today, a lot of times, not always, but Jesus is just portrayed as this nonchalant hippie in the sky, floating on a cloud that says, "You know, as long as you're good to other people, do what you want to do." And that, I think is dangerous. If we were not sinful, Jesus wouldn't have had to die for us. There would be no reason for the crucifixion if we were not, if we were without fault. And so we have to deny ourselves every day and pick up our cross and carry Him every day. And so I think it's just a dangerous teaching. It's a popular teaching, but it's a dangerous teaching that God doesn't care what we do, just as long as we hold the door open for little old ladies and we do this and we do that, we're going to go to heaven. Everything's going to be fine as long as we're good people. That's not what the Word says. The Word says that we can only come to the father through Jesus. And so we have to remember that. We have to remember that we're sinners. We have to repent daily. We have to deny ourselves. There are so many books out that are a, you know, self-help and "all about me" books. And I don't need a self-help book. I need a God-help book. That's what I need. The power is not within me and I can do anything I want to do and I can make changes and I can do this. And I am woman, hear me roar. That's all wonderful. But even more important and more truthful is not what I can do, but what can God do for me. We have to humble ourselves before the Lord and say, "God, I am Yours, do with me what You will," and take our relationship with Him seriously and not just, you know, think of Him as just some hippie floating in a VW van in the sky somewhere.

K.C. Wright: Now I've got this picture in my head of Jesus being a hippie in a VW in the sky, but she's got it right, doesn't she?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

K.C. Wright: I mean, there was so much good stuff in this conversation. I, for one, am going to use the catch the bubble and pray technique.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, I need to actually. Also, yeah, I totally agree with you. There was so much good stuff and I grabbed all the highlights and all my takeaways and I put them in the show notes for you at 413podcast.com/142. That's episode 142. So go there to get a summary and you can also read the transcript of me and Susannah's conversation.

K.C. Wright: And go there to get connected right now to a free giveaway of Susannah's book or you can go straight right now to Jennifer's Instagram @JenRothchild. Also at the show notes, we will link you to some of her favorite videos so you can laugh, because you know what, we all need to laugh in 2021.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes, we do. It is good medicine.

K.C. Wright: It is, yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: So if you are not yet a member of Audible, by the way, you can also get her audiobook for free with a thirty-day no obligation free trial. Okay, so go to 413podcast.com/audible to get it there, okay. All right, my people, I think we are done for today and it has been such a fun day, such a good day. And I hope we can all just be a little less offendable. Next week, by the way, is Jamie Grace and we're talking about quieting our anxious thoughts.

K.C. Wright: Until next week, remember that no matter what you face, no matter how you feel, you can do all things through Christ, who gives you strength. I can.

Jennifer Rothschild: I can.

K.C. Wright: And you can. So here's the song I sing when someone offends me and they don't know that they offend you.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

K.C. Wright: But I rewrote the song by Nat King Cole, "Unforgettable," to this little song.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay.

K.C. Wright: I'm unoffendable. That's what I am. Unoffendable.

Jennifer Rothschild: Unoffendable. That's good.

K.C. Wright: Okay.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

K.C. Wright: So when someone offends you.

Jennifer Rothschild: Just start singing.

K.C. Wright: Silently, "I'm unoffendable."

Jennifer Rothschild: Unoffendable.

K.C. Wright: Because you have to be unoffendable. All right, because Christ forgave us. So we have to forgive. Right?

Jennifer Rothschild: That's right.

K.C. Wright: Hopefully that song will help.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, and then just give everybody a trophy and they'll be happy.

K.C. Wright: That's good.