How do we move towards the cross when our journey is full of detours, distractions and divergence from the abundance and freedom Christ offers us? For author, musician and pastor Josh White, learning to navigate the terrain of his past wounds while pastoring wasn't a linear course. When the hurt from growing up with an alcoholic father began to bleed into his life and ultimately his ministry, Josh went down the difficult road of examining himself and his story. Through his own personal...

What can we learn from those who have walked the road of suffering before us? How do we take the stories of Christians whom we admire and glean the hard-won wisdom from what they've endured?Many know the story of Elisabeth Elliot, who lost her first husband Jim after he was killed when on a missionary trip in a remote part of Ecuador. She would later lose her second husband, Addison Leitch, to cancer. Yet in all of her pain and loss, Elisabeth was a prolific teacher, speaker and author,...

When it comes to addressing trauma in our stories, it can seem as though cultural expectations and the messages received as young boys can keep men from engaging in their pain and ultimately, experiencing true healing. How can men better address their stories of hurt and heartache in a way that helps them to move forward with both strength and tenderness?Counselor and author Chris Bruno began to see a pattern emerge in his own story and in the countless others of those he counseled. Men who...

How does the gospel apply in the loss of a marriage? Where can everyone involved find hope after the pain of divorce? Having grown up as a pastor's kid of a world renowned theologian, John Piper, Barnabas Piper knew the right theological answers in life. It was through his own personal journey of pain after an unwanted divorce that led him to a newfound understanding of God's grace and mercy in his hurt and ultimately, his life. Since then, as a pastor, Barnabas has been able to help others...

How can you turn an ending into a beginning? What do you do when you find yourself wrestling with God over the losses you are experiencing? For pastor and author Tim Timberlake, after losing his father as a young man, who was his hero, he had a lot of questions and anger towards God. He found himself wrestling in ways he never had before. And yet through it, God clearly revealed the purpose He had for Tim's life after such a painful loss. Since then, Tim has answered the call into ministry,...

WARNING: This episode discusses pornography and may not be suitable for all listeners. What do you do when you struggle with an addiction, but you don't fit the common narrative of those who struggle with that addiction?For author and speaker Jessica Harris, it was often difficult to even talk openly about her addiction to pornography that started as a teen because most people deemed this a male-only problem. But, porn addiction affects women as well as men. In fact, in recent years the...

What do we do when our suffering makes us feel angry at God? How do we continue to hold on to our relationship with the Lord when we are struggling with difficulties and trials in our lives?For author, musician and spiritual director, Strahan Coleman, his battle with chronic illness left him depleted physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially. And while it felt as though so much was being stripped away in his life, he also began to experience an expansion when it came to his...

Have you ever read the headlines of what is happening to Christians across the globe and felt a sense of helplessness? How do we step into the stories of suffering from those who are so far away?Lily Meschi has a unique story. As an Iranian woman, she experienced the impact of a culture that didn't value her as a woman. When she was just 18 years old, she entered into an arranged marriage and nothing could have prepared her for what was to come. It was after a long season of experiencing...

What do you do if much of your pain is caused by your own choices? How do you begin to break free from shame and find God's grace in your past?For author, pastor and Bible teacher, Ines Franklin the journey towards healing has taken some time, but God has been with her every step of the way. Having grown up without a father, Ines found the wounds of her past and her own decisions led her to living with immense shame. She divorced twice, had two abortions, and had been engaged in an affair....

Has church hurt or spiritual abuse ever made you want to quit church altogether? Have the actions of people who claim to know Jesus made you want to give up on God? For author Natalie Runion, a pastor's kid and pastor herself, she has seen the underside of the Church and ministry. As a teen she experienced a deep church wound after her family was kicked out of the congregation her father pastored. That experience sent Natalie on a journey of trying to determine if God and Church was even...

WARNING: This episode contains conversations about suicide and suicide ideation and may not be suitable for all listeners/viewers. Have you ever wondered why you are the way you are? Have you ever taken the time to deep dive into the stories and scripts that keep you moving in the same cycles you wish you could break free from?Author and therapist Kobe Campbell began her journey towards understanding how trauma was impacting her and how God wanted to invite her into healing after she...

How do you navigate living between two completely different worlds? How do you honor the culture of a parent while being a part of another culture that doesn't always do the same? For author Tasha Jun, learning to love and embrace the culture of her Korean mother while finding a place to belong in American culture left her feeling caught between two worlds at times. Being biracial, Tasha struggled with a sense of belonging, but even more so, with her own identity in feeling too much and not...

Have you ever truly engaged your story and looked at how God is inviting you into a deeper place of healing and redemption? How do you even begin to unpack all that you've been through and find safe people to share your story with?Author, pastor and coach Karrie Garcia has made it her life's mission to not only engage her own story, but to help others do the same. After overcoming the grips of addiction, walking through a divorce and finding herself in an unhealthy relationship with ministry,...

WARNING: This episode contains conversations about suicide and suicide ideation and may not be suitable for all listeners/viewers. How do you help a child in your life walk through an unimaginable trauma? How can you begin to navigate their emotions as well as your own when life turns upside down?For Jessye and Ryan Wilden figuring out how to walk through their own pain of losing Ryan's sister, Rena, in a homicide/suicide that took her life and the life of her husband, Danny, has been...

How often have you found yourself stuck in the past? How is looking back keeping you from moving forward?Best-selling author, speaker, and founder of A21, a worldwide anti-trafficking organization, Christine Caine knows how pain, trauma, and tragedy can keep a person stuck. Having experienced abandonment, being adopted, abuse and trauma as a child, Christine is well acquainted with the schemes of the enemy to hold her back from the purposes of God. In her latest book, Don't Look Back: Getting...

How do you begin to pick up the pieces when your life shatters in an instant? What do you do when your ministry and your family seem to crumble in a moment? How do you move forward after signing divorce papers? For former pastor's wife and author, Brandi Wilson, she could not have imagined the way her story would go. She had helped to build an incredibly successful church with her then-husband and had served faithfully alongside him as the congregation grew and thrived. Then, she found her...

Have you ever faced the loss of a loved one and wondered what life was like on the other side of death? We all have seen heaven depicted in movies and literature, but what can we really expect based on Scripture?For author and speaker Randy Alcorn, it was the work he did in writing his bestselling book, Heaven, that gave him peace after losing his wife, Nanci, to cancer. Knowing the truth about what life was like for Nanci after death, comforted Randy in his own suffering and grief. While...

What do we do with the messages that imprint themselves on our souls from our earliest memories? How do we overcome the most difficult parts of our story when our circumstances seemingly want to make us a statistic? For author, speaker and advocate Tori Hope Petersen, growing up in an abusive home and entering the foster care system at a young age made her start to believe that her life didn't matter. But somehow in the midst of the darkest moments, God met her and showed her His unfailing...

What happens when we experience wounding at the hands of one of the most influential people in our lives...our father? How can we even begin to heal ourselves, our relationships and how we see God when our dad has let us down?For author Kia Stephens, the impact of an absentee father had lasting effects on her life. She started to notice the void of desiring to have a father in her life and not receiving the care she had wished she had from him in her life. This wound impacted everything from...

How do you keep trusting God when life doesn't get perfectly "fixed"? How can you begin to see God's glory move in your story within all its imperfections?For author Kristen Wetherell, chronic pain became a debilitating reminder that her plans and her life were not fully under her control. It was through a Lyme disease diagnosis and the subsequent pain and challenges she faced that God began to reveal to her how important it was to live a surrendered life before the Lord and see His grace and...

Women are leaving churches in record numbers at higher rates than ever before. Yet, all of us are in need of healthy community more than ever. What is causing this mass exodus and how can the Church and women recognize their need for one another?Journalist and author Ericka Andersen wanted to know why and started to investigate the staggering statistics. In turn, she found the deeper reasons such a vital part of the body of Christ was finding its way to the exit. She offers an explanation of...

How do we take the immense heartaches we experience and use them for God's glory? How do we continue to trust in the Lord's goodness when our experience feels quite the opposite in our pain?For author Tim Challies, losing his 20 year old son tragically and unexpectedly gave him the opportunity to lean into all he believed to be true about God as he resolved to steward his sorrow well. Through his writing of his book, Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God, Tim gave a...

How do you stay afloat when it feels like waves of grief and trauma keep crashing over you? How can you keep a marriage together when it feels like everything is trying to tear you apart?For Jeff and Sarah Walton, navigating the relentless storms of a child's neurological challenges, losing a job, and the impact of Lyme disease in their home seemed impossible. It felt like the story of Job where every aspect of their lives were touched by pain and suffering. In writing their book, Together...

What do you do when you have a good theology of suffering and pain and yet struggle in the midst of your experience to believe that God is even present, let alone good? How do you hold the tension between your pain and what you know to be true about who God is? For Pastor Adam Mabry, it was his own hardships and emotional struggles paired with the seeming silence of God that took him on a journey to reconcile his experience with God's character. He would go on to write about it in his book,...

What does it look like to grow in your faith when you came from an environment that contradicted so many of the things of God? How do you become a follower of Jesus after experiencing a childhood riddled with so much trauma and pain? For Preston Perry, growing up in the inner city and facing so many challenges from being fatherless and the collective pain of a community in crisis, Preston struggled to truly know God. As a young person, he found himself entrenched in street life, dealing drugs...