How do you keep your faith and move forward after a trauma? What should you do to heal from the physical and emotional scars? What is the hardest lesson to learn after a tragedy? In this podcast episode, Billy and Brandy Eldridge speak with Cody Byrns about his book Scar Release: Breaking Free of Yesterday’s Troubles and the experience that led him to write it. Meet Cody Byrns Cody Byrns is an internationally recognized speaker, a number one best-selling author, and the founder of The Cody Byrns Foundation for Burn Survivors. In May 2013, Cody’s life was changed drastically after he was rear-ended by a box-truck whilst stopped at a red light on the highway. He was considered dead until first responders saw his hand move. He received many injuries that day, including severe burns to almost 40% of his body. After years of countless surgeries and rehabilitation, Cody has chosen to not allow his scars to keep him bound in bitterness and defeat. Instead, he uses his story to uplift others. His vision is to help people live free from the bonds of scars (physical and emotional), equipping others with the proper steps to walk out of their past hurt and defeat and run toward their full potential. As a thought leader, he speaks worldwide to provide relevant, applicable, and thought-provoking messages. Visit Cody’s website, connect on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In This Podcast Summary * Getting involved with the ministry * Questioning God after his accident * Moving forward and keeping the faith * The aftershock * Cody’s life today * The hardest thing that Cody had to learn Getting involved with the ministry Cody grew up going to church with his cousins before his parents were saved, when they took him to kids camp. He saw one of the speakers there who was also a juggler, and that stuck in his mind as something he wanted to do one day. In his younger years, he felt a calling to do clown ministry and gained a lot of confidence through that. He was known for his juggling and comedy, so he honed those skills and continued with clown ministry after high school, where he joined a ministry training program in Illinois. He worked part-time as an associate children’s pastor at his church, while doing additional schooling and getting his pastoral credentials until he started working full-time and traveling for the job. Questioning God after his accident I don’t believe God did this to me, I believe we live in a world where things just happen. We, as human beings, we have free will, things will occur, whether I’m a Christian or not a Christian. However, the benefit of being a Christian is I have Jesus to cling to. Cody does not claim to be a perfect human being or anything like that, but he was definitely trying his best to do everything right in his life, so after his accident he was constantly wondering why it had happened to him and questioning God. Then a pastor from one of the churches he had spoken at before the accident contacted him. He wanted to connect Cody with a fellow burn survivor who had been speaking for years to military personnel and at schools and churches. Cody contacted this man, and he told the story about his burn tragedy which had led to scars on his face and amputated fingers. One day, this man was on television with a lady who told him that God allowed the accident to happen because He could trust him with the scars. That statement changed his entire life, and made Cody look at his tragedy in the same way. Now,