Finding God in Our Pain

Life and Hope After an Accidental Death, with Jennifer Eikenhorst

My guest, author Jennifer Eikenhorst knows a depth of sorrow, I pray I never know. She knows the reality of causing someone's accidental death. She's been on a healing journey ever since that fateful day in October of 2014. A journey that has spanned the full gamut of human suffering as she struggled and grappled with trying to make sense of what she used to know and who she used to be tangled with the reality of what she's forced to know in every area of her existence.

She's recently published a book about her journey titled, Left Turn: Life Unimagined. Unimagined indeed. The scope of all that this tragedy seeps into is nothing shy of every facet of her life and the lives of others. Her heart and the hearts of everyone affected have been shattered in countless ways.

Jennifer takes full responsibility for the accidental death of David, a motorcyclist that she did not see after stopping at the stop sign. She has an incredibly humble posture in the position of having taken the life of another human being. Additionally, she has great compassion for those who find themselves in the same exact position as her, having accidentally caused the death of another person.

I'm not quite sure why I find the topic of forgiveness so intriguing but when Jennifer and I were able to get our schedules together for this conversation I knew that she would provide us with an incredible glimpse into the heart of God and His forgiveness. And in her case, not only God's forgiveness but the hope for forgiveness from David's family, her children's forgiveness because they were in the car at the time of the accident, her husband's forgiveness whom she withdrew from him feeling unloveable and unworthy, forgiveness from her community, her church, her job not to mention having to forgive herself and that's just the tip of the iceberg. We ran out of time before we had a chance to talk about the legal process that Texas has in place and the way it added to the devastation.

As we talked, the layers that were affected by David's death, boggled my mind. From the moment of impact the repercussions would be felt in both her life as well as David's life. They didn't know each other prior to that moment in the intersection and despite the fact that David did not survive the tragic accident, Jennifer will never forget him or his family and nor does she want to.

I'm going to keep this intro short. I'm finding it difficult to put into words the beauty and wisdom that Jennifer has to offer because of what God has walked her through. You're going to have to hear it yourself so that you can absorb this life changing information about the heart of God.

As hard as it was for Jennifer to come to grips with what had happened, she knew that this situation had to pass through God's hands and receive approval. So she had to face the fact that God in His sovereignty had allowed it. In an effort to trust Him with His purpose behind allowing it, she asked God to show her how He had prepared her for this moment and she shares the various ways that He confirmed for her that He had prepared her and that He would see her through.

Part of God's redemption for Jennifer was to connect her with Jada Pinkett Smith as a guest on her show, Red Table Talk. The Red Table Talk website describes the show "where we tackle current social and cultural issues with an inter-generational perspective." (redtabletalk.com)

Jennifer's time on the show gave her the opportunity to share the tragedy she was experiencing and how the God of the Holy Bible made all the difference. Jennifer mentions that the Red Table Talk show has approximately 5 million viewers and I do see where they have 11 million followers on Facebook. I can't help but think about how amazing God is in the redemption process.

God has also put Jennifer in the path of people whom she randomly passes and she's able to give an encouraging word for healing as well as provide resources that can help. We talked about so many things and that's why this audio ran over my preferred 1 hour max but you will not be disappointed with the message that Jennifer has to share.

As we closed I asked her the final question, was there any ONE thing she'd want to share with our listeners today. Her response echoed her compassion and empathy that you'll hear throughout the entire conversation. She didn't plead her case, you'll never hear her side step or avoid taking responsibility for the accidental death of David. Instead, she takes the posture of a surrogate of sorts and offers an apology to anyone who needs to hear, "I'm sorry" from someone like her.

This conversation will give your heart courage to trust God especially when life makes no sense and ending it all sounds more appealing.

Let's listen in to find out what beautiful things God spoke to Jennifer in her very dark valley.

Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com 

 

Connect with Jennifer:
You can connect with Jennifer at accidentalhope.com 
Her Podcast: Accidental Hope Podcast 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AccidentalHope
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accidentalhope/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HopeAccidental

 

Resource: Accidental Impacts under the Hyacinth Fellowship - a support group for those who have unintentionally caused harm to another person: https://hyacinthfellowship.org/

 

Bio:
Jennifer Eikenhorst loves Jesus which she feels is essential in her healing and therefore she shares her beliefs freely. Her faith is the cornerstone of content for her blog and podcast. She’s the wife of a multi-sport coach, Chris (who stole her heart in her senior year of high school), mom to 4 amazing kids, math teacher, blogger, podcast host (Accidental Hope), grad student, hope-seeker, and notorious over-sharer! She’s also an advocate for CADIs (Causing Accidental Death or Injury). Besides Jesus and her family, she loves their golden-doodle Coda, dance fitness, making recipes her own, and Bible journaling.

 

Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/227d72c9f31e45efb44c8d4ba5126b08/edit

 

Navigating Her Children’s Mental Illness Journey, with Patty Sepety

Patty Sepety, a mother of two is my guest and she tells her story with the purpose of encouraging your heart to trust God's faithfulness when life is more than you can handle. She shares her journey of walking both of her children through mental illness and their tragic experiences that set that diagnosis into motion.

What lengths a mother will go to to get her children the help they need and Patty was no exception. She was blindsided by what happened to her daughter when she was only 10 years old and the fallout constantly challenged Patty's ability to get out ahead of the resulting trauma and mental illness issues that would unfold over time.

And I don't remember the time frame in relation to her daughter coming to her about what happened and then her son coming forward but in the midst of meeting her daughter's needs her son, 4 years younger than her daughter, requests to also have professional help like his sister. He receives the professional help and yet he follows through with his thoughts of self-harm and Patty finds herself sitting beside her son's hospital bed looking at the countless pieces of machinery not knowing if he'll live through the night.

Patty's journey into uncharted waters hit her from several sides. Along with her children's level of need, her husband would also be diagnosed with a hole in his heart and endure multiple procedures; each one having the potential of take his life. And her aging parents needed her help as well. Just when you think that would be enough, she, herself is diagnosed with PTSD.

As our conversation unfolded it became apparent to me that through every phase of her dark valley she never questioned God's faithfulness. One of the things that was thought provoking to me is that she shares how she'd read Job's story and it would comfort her that her life was not as bad as what Job had endured. Now that's one way to put perspective in your life.

Patty has the sweetest countenance, you can hear it in her voice. If you think she'd make the sweetest friend, you're right. She has a strong bond with the women that she does life with. I've met the group of women she is connected to. The whole group, not just a percentage of the women, love well. If you're ever on the Eastern Shore in the Cape Charles area of the Virginia side, and you need a kind person to talk to, stop in at Cheriton Church and ask for any one of the women who serve on the WinGS (Women in God's Service) team. I guarantee you, you'll leave feeling like you were loved on by Jesus Himself.

Let's listen in to Patty's humble, transparent story of how she navigated mental illness with her children and the uncertainty that life can challenge us with.

Connect with Patty: www.MyConciergeLLCVa.com

Bio:
Patty came from a Christian home where the family attended church wherever they lived. While she and her family were living in Bangkok, Thailand, Patty accepted Jesus and was baptized at age 15. 

She has been married to David for 50 years and they have two children and two grandchildren. In 2018 Patty and David relocated to the Eastern Shore of Virginia where they love the quiet lifestyle. They currently reside in a 200-year-old, former parish house relocated from Hog Island to Nassawadox, VA.Patty and David are active members of Cheriton Baptist Church where she is on the WinGS committee. WinGS stands for Women in God’s Service.

Patty is also the business owner of My Concierge LLC, an office consulting and bookkeeping firm. She loves helping people manage their back office and has no plans to retire. You can learn more about her business on her website:  www.MyConciergeLLCVa.com.

 

Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/7d62e6959e1141cfb1c65c4563cef0b7/edit

 

 

Emotion Code, with Eileen Love - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 and the final episode for my discussion with Emotion Code Practitioner, Eileen Love. In this episode we’ll look at what a typical emotion code session looks like and I share a little bit about what I’ve experienced with my session with regard to feeling like I had no voice.  I also share what I’ve experienced afterward, my results.

Eileen tells us why she has a passion to heal those who live with trauma. She talks about how God captivated her heart by redeeming her pain, using her journey of trauma which in turn, allowed her to receive the vision God laid before her in the very midst of grieving the loss of her husband whom she’d been with since she was 18 years old.

When God shared his desire for her to open her home to women with traumatic experiences for the purpose of bringing them into deeper levels of healing He told her that He would make a way. He would provide the means to renovate and sustain the home for His purposes and that He has done!

I’ve just returned from visiting Eileen’s home that she has converted to the Rest and Renewal Ranch. Leaving Virginia where my setting is a combination of rural country, the beach and ocean; where I’m 12’ above sea level and everything here is lush with various shades of green and copious amounts of water everywhere, I was struck by the Arizona beauty for a completely different reason. 

I was in awe of the size of the Arizona landscape. Truly breathtaking! If you take the time to look around  there are wild flowers growing everywhere. Vibrant colors against the rocky backdrop. It reminded me of the beauty, found in the details that all around us. Beauty that we can capture and appreciate when we slow down.

Eileen’s modest home sits in the rugged terrain and vegetation that are typical to Arizona. When you go inside Eileen’s humble home there is a peace that permeates the space. You’re embraced with comfort and her kindness. You feel like you’ve always known her.

It’s times like that when God speaks to my spirit and says, You tried to put me in a box Sherrie. I’m always in awe with how unassuming God’s presence can be. There have been many times when I'm standing in the presence of God, He’s still and quiet; set in such a way that I can miss His presence. Especially when I’m looking for it in a way that I had defined it should be. A definition based on my knowledge and understanding. 

I love when He surprises me like that and He used Eileen as a beautiful example of His hands and feet. My experience reminded me of Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

I thought the contrast between the harsh landscape and her cozy home was similar to how the world can be unyielding and yet her cozy home felt like a respite, a warm embrace from Jesus in the middle of it all.

It just so happened that I visited Eileen on my birthday so she went out of her way to make me feel loved and special on that day. I agreed to try her fresh goats milk and I’m glad I did. What a delight, it was so creamy. As she mentioned in the previous episode, she’s a massage therapist so I got a massage and we also did an emotion code session which has left me with a deeper peace that no one but Jesus can provide. 

We talked about spiritual gifts and she told me about the history of the ranch that she shared with her husband before his unexpected passing. At the end of the day we went to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset over the opposing mountains in the west. It was the perfect way to say good by to my 50’s and begin the first day of 60s.

If you decide to visit the Rest and Renewal Ranch you’ll need to reach out to Eileen on her email. Her email will be in the show notes but I can give it to you right now cuz it’s pretty easy to remember: Restandrenewal@pm.me

Before we jump into the episode, I wanted to point out something that lingered after our conversation. Allow me to share the discernment that the Lord provided me.

In my conversation with Eileen I was expressing my thoughts on how important it was that you find someone trustworthy when it comes to emotion code therapy. And by trustworthy I mean a solid Christian. Mainly because you’re allowing someone into your mental and emotional space; you’re giving them access to a core element of who you are. 

To me, that is to be taken very seriously because you are entering into a spiritual realm. That is not something that I completely understand so I want to guard that. I know through Jesus I have power over the works of Satan but I never want to intentionally allow Satan to have access to me through the spiritual realm.

I’ve done yoga before because stretching is extremely important for your overall health. When you think about Physical Therapy or Chiropractors (with regard to regaining mobility in your body) it’s all about stretching the body.  To protect myself in the yoga atmosphere, whenever I did poses I would have an internal dialog with God or say breath prayers to God and tell Him I worship Him alone.

When they’d do the palms together I’d clasp my fingers in more of a child like prayer. When they ask you to clear your head or relax into Shavasana, I’d recite scripture or I’d invite God to insulate and protect me. I was only there for the stretching practices not the worship poses nor the practices of another religion so I kept my focus on the God of the Holy Bible. I thanked Him for my body, the ability to use it and desire to keep it healthy. 

I say all that to preface this, Eileen had a valid point of not knowing if our physicians are faith based or if they believe in our God yet we trust them with surgery on our bodies and we trust psychologist/psychiatrist with our emotional and mental well being. She had me thinking.

I’ll be the first one to say that we need to be selective about who we allow to have access to us, be that physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually etc. so I pondered my process with physicians and other medical personnel. 

My first acknowledgement was that I am prone to easily give them access because they’ve gone through strenuous requirements to be in those positions and yet it cannot be ignored that we all know they are considered to be practicing medicine, in short, they’re practicing on us.

Pondering that thought with the Lord reminded me and I haven’t always done this, that I pray not only for the doctor I should go to but once I have a doctor I pray for him/her. If there is a medical procedure that I need I pray for the nurses, those who assist, I pray about the equipment and instruments/tools needed, I even pray that within the attending medical team there is no conflict both in personalities nor personal relationship during my medical procedure.

So any doctor that I use, whether I know if they serve my God or not, I’m confident God has lead me to them and that He will use them to meet the need I have.

So I’ve used that same process with Eileen. I didn’t necessarily go looking for Emotion Code therapy but when God had our paths cross and I began to talk to Him about what I was learning it lined up with my desire to have Godly influence when giving someone access to the intimacy of who I am created to be.

We live in a world that is so incredibly diverse, extremely diverse so it’s quite a challenge to live a strict Christian life when it comes to who we interact with, whom we trust with our safety, our health etc. So ultimately our goal is to pray for discernment in which doctors we would use and to invite God into the services we receive. Pray over our doctors as they administer any type of healing to us. We can’t go wrong when we invite God to provide discernment and protection and we’re responsible to respond to His leading.

So let’s get into the episode. Quick recap of Part 1. It was mainly about how the body is created by God to have its own internal language, how we are created (mind, body and spirit) and how these 3 parts mesh together in such an intricate way that our body parts hold our experiences good and bad. So much so, Eileen gave a couple of examples of times when people received transplants and were subject to the original persons life. She also talked about how the body communicates within as well as gives us indication, warning and alarms when it needs attention, expression, healing. Let’s get started!

Live Loved and Thrive! 

Connect with Eileen via her email: restandrenewal@pm.me

Resources:
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Restored for Life Now - Is the Emotion Code Safe for Christians: https://www.restoredforlifenow.com/post/is-the-emotion-code-safe-for-christians
American Psychological Association: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-48202-001
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-you-and-me/201509/the-good-and-bad-emotion-regulation-strategies

 

Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/2b8a14315ff14b879c04aec47ee74356/edit?organization_id=868176

Emotion Code, with Eileen Love - Part 1

I’m excited to bring you this topic on emotion code therapy because of the difference it has made in my mental and emotional health. My guest, Eileen Love is an Emotion Code Practitioner. This is a 2 part series with the fist covering all the different ways that the human body holds trauma and tries to convey the need for us to find healing. 

This is going to be a lengthy intro and a I hate that for you but there’s so much to unpack that I want to sort it out a little bit before we jump into the bulk of episode. My conversation with Eileen is full of examples, scripture, and first hand experiences to the point that I realized I'd have to create 2 episodes from all that Eileen shares. Part 2 will cover more of what an emotion code session looks like. 

The first thing I want to address is that this topic is going to be controversial in the Christian community. The reason is because it has been hijacked by new age healers. 

Before I explain why, allow me to give you a quick glimpse of why I brought emotion code healing to God for His input and it's because of a very good experience that I had with something similar, Theophostic Prayer Ministry or as many people call it Inner Healing Prayer therapy. 

In my theophostic prayer session I received breakthrough healing for what I believe (based on the peace in my mind/life/heart)to be the last layer of trauma for abandonment. However, I’ll be the first one to say that if I get triggered again around an abandonment issue it simply means that I still have some work to do for another layer of healing and I’m open to that because God heals me in layers. But in the meantime I live with deep peace because of Theophostic Prayer therapy.

A little history on this type of ministry is that a Baptist Minister, Ed Smith, developed the Theophostic Prayer Ministry model here in the United States back in the 90’s. 

A simplified explanation for what happens during a theophostic therapy session is that you sit with someone who is trained in this type of therapy and they guide you with questions around a traumatic event in your life and you talk with Jesus about what you are experiencing. 

In my theophostic prayer work I came to a place where I asked Jesus, "Where were you when my mother left me on the side of the road when I was 6 years old?"

As I verbally asked God this question, I was sitting still, eyes closed, nothing but darkness before me.  Then The Holy Spirit gave me the most precious image of Jesus walking beside me, his hand in the middle of my shoulder blades, He’s looking down at me. Maybe I’m talking and He’s listening but He’s looking at me and we’re walking together. That visual gave me proof that Jesus fulfills His promise that He’d never leave me nor forsake me. That one image broke off years of unforgiveness towards my mother. The power of guided prayer through painful memories stored in the body has immense reward when God and the Holy Spirit are engaged.

The outcome that I experienced with theophostic prayer is why I wanted to know God's opinion about Emotion Code therapy. 

Okay, so back to why the new age wants to make its claims on emotion code therapy. 

As believers this is no secret to us, whatever God says is good, Satan wants to distort it at the very least and destroy at the very worst. So when we look at God’s intention behind the healing qualities of herbs and oils or natural and organic healing options (because, in my humble opinion before all of the genetic mutations and man-made virus and chemicals etc. the human body, made from a handful of dust, would naturally find the healing elements that it needed from the earth) But Satan is not going to let God get the credit for that so in a vague and unassuming way satan adds his half truth to something and twists the focus away from the Creator to the created such as crystals, potions using the herbs, as well as energy healings. 

In satan’s half truths he uses a connecting link such as the fact that there is an energy to the body. God has given us a beating heart that is independent of anything outside itself. It has a rythm, a beat you can feel when you touch your pulse, an electrical current that registers on medical equipment.

But For us, Christians know that God sustains us and that by His hand we have breath, have life and healing in our body….So of course Satan is going to introduce something that sounds legit like energy healings. If you agree that there is an energy to the body then an energy healing sounds appropriate, right?

So why does emotion code therapy fall under that type of category of Satan wanting to distort and/or destroy it…emotion code healing, in a very simplistic explanation, is a therapy that locates and dislodges trauma trapped in the body. We all know that the body holds trauma and sometimes it gets so many layers buried on top of it that we loose sight of what the problem could be. 

Using the powerful name of Jesus and inviting Holy Spirit to discern trauma hidden in the body, people are finding healing and breakthrough for physical ailments that have no medical explanation, mental health is restored, anxiety is gone people are being set free from trauma. My favorite is set free from past trauma that the body has held onto.  

One of the unique things about emotion code healing is that It addresses the unique way that God has created us as mind/body/spirit/soul. The intricacies with which God has created us can only be fully appreciated and accessed by the One who knows His creation. Calling on God’s name for the restoration of our mind or our body is the only true source of healing.

Please know that I’m not trying to twist anybodies arm on this. Do like I did, check it out. Bring your concerns to God. Talk with Him about you fears. Give Him space to speak His truth to you.

Here are 3 scriptures that you can start to engage God’s heart about mental and emotional healing and ask Him to show you what it means to have a crushed spirit (something that is mental and/or emotional) and how it can dry up your bones (a physical manifestation):  

Proverbs 18:14 “A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”  

Proverbs 15:13 “A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed” 

Proverbs 17:22 “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

As solid Christians we know to stay away from anyone who calls on any other name, other than that of Jesus Christ for healing. We steer clear from those who would try to lead us to believe that crystals have some sort of magical powers. So when it comes to emotion code therapy we’re not looking for anything other than someone who calls on the name of Jesus, talks to Holy Spirit.  In my research I even found professed Christian sites that used crystals as part of their healing process. That's a big fat no. Anything that deviates from God's name as the healing power is a strong no.

Back to my guest, Eileen.  She is a solid Christian sold out on the love of Jesus. She and her husband came to the knowledge of Christ during the Jesus Revolution era. That in itself is an interesting aspect of her story and if you’d like to hear more about that then check out the episode she did with me on March 28th 2023 titled When a Husband disengages, God’s love is enough” 

But back to the current topic at hand. 

When it comes to Eileen’s daily pursuit of God’s heart, there’s no better day for her than inviting the Holy Spirit to give her discernment that allows her to lead God’s children into breakthrough and healing. 

In this episode she talks about the journey God has taken her on over the past 30 years working with the human body. She goes into detail telling you what she’s learned and how it impacted her so I’ll simply give a quick overview. 

From being the first woman reserve firefighter with the city of Kirkland Washington, an EMT who worked in the ER, massage therapist and then emotion code practitioner. At every phase she’s learned how miraculous the body is and the intimacy of God’s care for His beloved children. 

After listening to Eileen, it’s very intriguing to me to understand how the body has the ability to heal on a physical level, say bruises, cuts, breaks, surgery, and yet there can be additional damage on a mental or emotional level. 

It is becoming very apparent that to fully heal from various traumas against/to/in the body, it will also entail addressing the mental and emotional impact as well.

Further fascinating to me is the way the body communicates with the other parts of the body, specifically the brain. The body can have a whole conversation going on within itself and we can totally miss it. And yet it cries out to us, indicating where we need to take a closer look, calling us, demanding us to find a source of healing. All using the natural alarm system given to us by God himself which is our emotions.

Listen in to these amazing examples that Eileen gives us of how the body conveys its need internally as well as externally. For me, it’s another beautiful display of God’s Sovereign design and the intimacy with which He created us.

Live Loved and Thrive!

Connect with Eileen via her email: Restandrenewal@pm.me

Resources:
Restored for Life Now - Is the Emotion Code Safe for Christians: https://www.restoredforlifenow.com/post/is-the-emotion-code-safe-for-christians
American Psychological Association: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-48202-001
Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-you-and-me/201509/the-good-and-bad-emotion-regulation-strategies

Book by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk - The Body Keeps the Score
There are also workbooks for The Body Keeps the Score by several authors but I did not find one by Dr Kolk.

Want more information/episodes about other types of deliverance ministry options? Here are some links to past episodes:
Emotion Code Part 2
Finding Freedom Through the Deliverance Ministry

 

Transcription:  https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/bf0b7a426be54071953826e78bb874c0/view?organization_id=868176

Your Story Matters

Your Story Matters

Believe it or not you are a natural born story-teller and your story has the power to change lives. In this episode I'm not talking about the crafted stories you see in books or movies because if we wrote books and movies in the vernacular that we naturally use, they would never sell. So I’m focused on the way we organically engage the world around us with the spoken word.

So let's first look at how we might underestimate and under appreciate words. While I know that you know how important words are, I liken it to, someone who has a natural understanding of something; maybe it's science, art, music, language and because it comes easy to them, they downplay the importance, the gift. They don't understand why it's not obvious to other people. Same with words, it’s such a natural way for us to communicate that we don’t grasp the absolute power of our spoken words. 

 Dr. Jordan Peterson (a Canadian Psychologist) said something to this effect (with regard to the importance of words), "our whole culture is based on the idea of the supremacy of the word, that it is the word itself that extracts habitable order from chaos and possibility."  

For me, the most compelling example of the absolute power of the spoken word is that God spoke everything into being. Psalm 33:9 says, "For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm." There are many other scriptures that tell of God speaking things into being. Genesis, right? When God spoke everything into existence. He gives us a beautiful example of the power and importance of words.

And to further drive home the value of words in our every day life. Every morning, you rise and begin to use words to bring order to your day as you make choices. You share things about yourself with those around you. Each time you connect with someone, you’re communicating in a way that conveys your needs, sharing a little bit about what’s been going on in your life, maybe sharing bits of information about your family as well as asking them questions and listening to their reply about what’s happening in their world. You are engaging in shared story.

And that’s why I say you are a natural born story-teller. The simple act of using words to navigate our day is the most natural form of communication where we share experiences and create connection. 

Here’s another way to look at the importance of words. For a moment think about a solitary confinement environment. It doesn’t have to be a jail cell because there are plenty of people who live alone and have a limited ability to interact with others. People such as the elderly, or widows, those who have an illness that limits mobility, the youth of today are isolated from real life. So imagine what it would be like if you were not able to talk to anyone. 

Even if you saw someone, maybe they come to drop off food or provide a health appointment like a nurse stops by your house, but the time frame that they’re there is limited and they’e simply fulfilling their job duties so it’s a brief exchange at best. Very limited. 

To have a friendly verbal exchange with someone is vital to life with regard to mental health, relationship, connection and posterity? One of the most common desires of the human heart is to be seen, heard, valued and conversation can fill that need. Life is automatically enriched and becomes more meaningful when we talk with, share with and listen to those around us.  

A minute ago I mentioned movies and books, and there is also the news and social media, various outlets that engage people. The attraction to these types of formats is that they are all story based and that’s why people tune in. Shared story will never get old. It’s foundation to our culture.

I think this establishes the importance of words and this is where I want to intersect your story. When we give proof of something in our lie, things based on our personal knowledge and experience, that is also known as a testimony.

Most times when people hear the word testimony they immediately categorize that as exclusive to a church setting. They automatically assume that means someone’s salvation story (your story of how God’s love overwhelmed you to the point that you accepted what He did on the cross, acknowledged that you were a sinner and asked Him to dwell in you with His Holy Spirit). But In this particular episode I want to go beyond the standard salvation testimony. Don’t get me wrong, they’re needed and they’re powerful and I’m not going to exclude them but I want to push out this topic when it comes to how we think about our personal testimony with regard to God’s goodness. 

As believers (those who have made a profession of Fatih, accepting what Christ did on the cross/the shedding of His blood as payment for our sins) we have a place of authority in Christ. We exercise the authority given to us is when we follow in God's footsteps using the example He gave us. We open our mouth and speak. And in the particular context of shared story, we tell about the goodness of God in all types of situations in our lives. 

In Revelation 12:11 God shares a 2 part position of authority over Satan. The latter part of that verse says that we triumph over him (the evil one) by the blood of the Lamb (the lamb being Christ crucified on the cross) and the word of our testimony. 

God gives us specific instructions on how we can overcome Satan’s influence in our mind, our body…our life and the lives of those around us. So part of our authority has to do with opening our mouth and sharing with others, our personal experience aka testimony of who God has been for us in the painful places of our life. When we do, we weaken and even break the lies that Satan is wooing us to believe, or maybe even has us believing. 

When we experience God’s presence, influence, truth, love, comfort, peace, joy …..It literally exposes Satan as the liar that he is. 

And when we open our mouth and speak of the goodness of God we become tangible evidence to the world around us. We are evidence of the fact that God cares about our pain. That He enters into our suffering with us to comfort us, and lead us through.

Here are a few examples of testimonies you have to share about with others. To be honest, as you move through your full cycle of life, you may have each one of these testimonies throughout the years ahead:

If you’ve professed God as your personal Lord and Savior, then you have a salvation testimony - you have an Acts 4:12 testimony (12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”). You can share where you were in life, what sort of condition your heart was in or the journey you were on to find truth, peace, comfort…how did God meet you in your moment of need and what is the difference He has made.

If God showed up for you in your dark valley, then you have a Psalm 23:4 testimony. (…yea though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death I will fear no evil). You can testify to who God is in some of the darkest places that the human heart can experience. 

Has God healed you..then you have a Psalm 147:3 testimony (He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.) People need to know the heart of God for those who are afflicted. 

Maybe you’re experiencing a long term health condition? Are you a caregiver? You have a Deu 31:8 testimony (Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.) If this is you, then you have the ability to testify to the mysteries that God has revealed to you about His heart for those who suffer long term.

Sharing your first hand experience of what you discovered about God in your trauma is a sliver of gold to another hurting heart. It’s the knot at the end of the rope for someone who feels all alone and wants to give up. 

As many of you know this podcast was born out of a very dark valley that I walked though. My guests, predominantly women, share their personal story of who God is in the context of pain and suffering. I do this because shared story lightened my grief stricken heart when I unexpectedly lost my husband. 

As I would experience the various emotions that are associated with grief and in the times when my emotions became very intense and I was really struggling, God would send me a woman who would share her story and it would ease the pain that seared my heart. 

One example I’ll give you and it’s the story that always stands out to me when I think about the purpose of my podcast so I may have already shared this. I was struggling with the would’ves, should’ves and could’ves. In other words, the guilt of not having done enough for my husband because if I had, he’d still be alive today. That’s how Satan approached me in this painful place…I believed that if I had picked up on something, and of course in hindsight it seems so obvious, I could have changed the outcome for my husband, me, our family, my grandchildren. The weight on my heart was massive.

I kept running the various scenarios over and over in my mind. The ones that would have me get him to the hospital and they’d see that he was having a heart attack and they’d get him the help he needed and he’d still be here with us. 

And God, in His sweetness, in His kindness, sent a woman who had the courage to share her story. She said, Sherrie, my husband was in the care of doctors twice. The third time was an ambulance ride in the wee hours of the morning. I was up with our one week old daughter when he left in the ambulance. His third trip to the hospital. He died. In the care of professionals. He had meningitis and they missed it. It hit me…Professionals are not God and I’m not God. 

Hearing her story broke the grip that Satan had on my beliefs and lifted the weight of mental and emotional chaos and torment that was suffocating me. 

Some things simply belong to God and that revelation was made clear through the example in her story. Submitting myself to God’s sovereignty gave my mind and my heart a place to rest. 

Sometimes I rested in His lap, other times draped across His shoulders because He had to carry me and other times face down in the floor at His feet. But every time that I got a glimpse of His tender hands and His firmly rooted feet I got a glimpse of His scars…the scars on the hands and feet of the One who carries the burden of life and death.  

Knowing that God has a solution to death…a literal reunion for His believers…and experiencing His intimacy in the darkest time of my life I now have a story that I will never get tired of sharing because I know what it feels like to struggle with God about serious faith and life questions. I know what it’s like for Satan to constantly undermine our well being with lies, planting chaos and spinning the truth at every turn. 

The part of my story that I will share until my last breath is the goodness and kindness of God despite the pain of this life. I love using those 2 simple words…goodness and kindness. They’re extremely simple but don’t be fooled like I was….with God, in the dark places of life His goodness and kindness run extravagantly deep, and reveal infinite wisdom. Nothing about the pain of this life negates, detracts from God. It’s why you’ll often hear me say these 2 things:

1- God has not given us a vocabulary to accurately describe Him. I am unable to give Him His due honor, His proper praise and my full thanksgiving because of our limited vocabulary.

2- God speaks beautiful things in the dark. In the intimacy of pain, a place where no one else can reach,  is where we discover how extravagantly deep and how infinitely wise God is as He reveals mysteries about His heart for us.

God gives us, not just anywhere, but a specific somewhere and even better, He gives us a specific someone…to rest our heart and quiet our mind, we’re able lift our head under the weight of the pain. He gives us His son Jesus. And because of Jesus, we can have a joy that does not make any sense in the context of suffering. We can have peace knowing that God will bring beauty from the rubble and ash that used to resemble your life. 

So when it comes to our story, we’ve looked at the natural way we engage in shared story, We looked at the power of the spoken word when God spoke things into being. We also looked at the authority given to believers when we open our mouth and testify as well as the various ways we can let other’s know they’re not alone in their questions, confusion, chaos.

And that brings us to this question…Whether it’s your salvation testimony, a dark valley where God met you or the faithfulness of God through a painful health condition, how do we tell our story in a way that reveals the heart of God and reminds those who are suffering that they are not alone in their bone saturating pain. 

Here are 3 ways that you can encourage someone to not give up. To point them to the One who is able to turn the painful places of this life into something they never imagined possible and it's by using your story to introduce them to the One they can lean on, rest in and find peace in the days ahead. 

Keep this in mind when you are ready to share your story: People are genuinely overwhelmed with life so we want to be as intentional and purposeful about the parts of our story we want to share vs need to shared. 

1. What was life like before your moment of conversion, trauma, the health crisis?

Choose one example that reflects the condition of your life before it was interrupted and flipped upside down. One of the things that I would share with someone (especially if I knew it would only be a brief exchange) would be to say, my husband and I were in the sweet spot of life having weathered a little over 33 years of being together and then out of nowhere, he was gone leaving behind absolute emotional and mental devastation.  

2.  What did it look like for you to hit the wall and cry out to God?

Describe that moment when you finally came to the end of yourself…acknowledged that you did not have the ability to change your circumstance and you cried out to God. 

As an example I might say, I struggled to make sense of what happened. The questions swirling in my mind and my heart created a level of chaos in my life that I could not escape. When I finally decided to lay down my self-defined rights to have all of my questions answered in a way that made sense and fit together nice neat is when I could finally discern God's gentle kind voice. 

3. In what ways did God respond? Share one of two ways that God showed Himself faithful.

I'd probably finish up by saying, I found Jesus to be a safe place to struggle with heavy questions about life, death and faith. He never shamed me nor rejected me. He simply absorbed my pain and gently showed me the way to healing. 

Those are the 3 highlights you can use to structure your story around. Add more if you're speaking in a more relaxed setting, add less if you only get 60 seconds with someone.   

You may have heard me say this before….shared story makes the world go around in a much richer way. It is your shared story that will connect with people to healing, grow relationship, create community and solidify your family.

The final benefit of sharing your testimony about the God of the Holy Bible whether it be in the context of pain and suffering without God (and therefore your conversion/salvation testimony) or pain and suffering in the midst of a relationship with God....is that to do so is to take part in a portion of your redemption that God has for you. God never allows anything that He does not plan to redeem. In God’s hands, redemption is guaranteed….He wastes nothing…He is the sole power and authority to take what satan meant to destroy us with and turn it for our good and God’s glory. 

And people need to know that. So Share your story every time you get a chance because someone's heart needs to be encouraged. Someone needs to know that it's going to get better. Someone needs to know that God cares. Your story can make a difference to someone.

Live Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com

 

Did God Fail Jane?

As you listen to this episode today, you can replace Jane's name with yours. Jane could really be any one of us and the battle she fights is ours too. Simply insert the thing that you fear most in place of what she battled and this message will apply to, dare I say everyone. We've all experienced painful, helpless situations where we couldn't lift our hand to change our circumstance. We've all struggled with God through prayer and pain. What does God offer us when what we're praying for we never see come to fruition?

I’ve been in this place of contemplation with God. I often grab ahold of something complicated, or at least complicated to me, and begin to talk with God about it. Sometimes He gives me understanding, discernment right away but other times He unfolds things as I talk with Him over a period of time.

Allow me to lay some groundwork for this topic, albeit common knowledge but kindly be patient with me as I include any new listeners. This podcast is rooted in discovering the various ways that we personally experience God’s presence in our pain. I find great encouragement to hear the different testimonies of God’s goodness despite the painful places of this life. You could say that I embrace having difficult conversations and taking a closer look at the suffering in this life with the goal of finding God’s presence in the midst. 

Jesus entered into our pain way before we ever knew anything about sin and the resulting consequences and that was when He was crucified on the cross. He physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually experienced things He was never guilty of. 

He felt every degree of shame, guilt, confusion, disappointment, trauma, sickness, rejection, abandonment. All of the things that come from sin and rebellion and that create fear and terror in our hearts. He took all of those things with Him, driving them down into the grave. When He rose from death to life, He left our sin and shame there, in the grave. 

Having overcome the things that torture us in this life, He now attends to our pain from the position of having conquered it. Therefore, He’s not afraid, He’s not offended. There's nothing you can do to make Him turn away. That’s good news right, we’re never alone in our pain but the best news is that He knows the way out. So He meets us in our traumas to care for us and to show us the way to heal. The healing he purchased for us with His blood. 

Since the unexpected passing of my husband and the intimacy that I experienced with Jesus through my grieving process I have a strong desire to discover God’s heart for those who who are familiar with some of the darkest valleys that we can know in this life.

Because of my curiosity, I’ve been pondering the story of Jane Marczewski. You may remember her as Nightbirde. Simon Cowell of America’s Got Talent (AGT) awarded this surprising songstress the Golden Buzzer and she was showered with massive amounts of gold confetti. Simon’s approval pushed her right past every other audition required to make it to the series of live shows. Talk about the favor of the Lord, I mean this was Simon Cowell. He was gold buzzer level impressed.

In the music industry a gold buzzer from AGT is the breakthrough a music artist needs. At the very least, it’s acknowledgement for all of the years of hard work, scrimping, saving, waiting tables, doing odd jobs, singing anywhere they’ll let you…for pennies or nothing at all. Surely, it was just the start of her dream coming true.

Course the AGT model for the show is that before Jane performs her original song titled, It’s Ok, the panel of judges asked her a few questions and Jane reveals that she is receiving cancer treatments adding, that she has a "2% chance of survival" with "some cancer in my lungs, spine and liver." 

When pressed a little more by the judges Jane replies, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” Adding, “I have a 2% chance of survival but 2% isn't 0%. Two percent is something and I wish people knew how amazing it is.”

If you know of Jane’s breakthrough moment and pursuit of living out her dreams to sing for the world, she most certainly did make an impression on the world. And you will also know that at the age of 31, she lost her four year battle with cancer in February 2022. 

What does God have to say about Jane’s life as an example to us? I’m not asking in an accusatory way, but in a genuine desire to know HIs heart for us when tragedy flips our world upside down and robs us of what we had planned, what we had hoped for, what we felt we were born to accomplish. I mean, why give us talents that we will never get to use….or at the very least, use for but a brief moment in time? I'm aware that that question creates mores questions. Why do we humans confine our value to this finite existence? Who is to say using our talents here, in this life is the only valid option?

As I combed over the multitude of material produced about Jane I listened to her profess her faith in an NBC4 interview. She said that while she does not specifically sing to a Christian audience, anything and everything that she does will be influenced by her Christian faith. 

Jane was a Christian believer who consistently showed her faith in believing that God would heal her this side of the grave. And yet that didn’t happen. Did God fail her?

Jane wrote a poem titled, God is on the Bathroom Floor and in that poem you can hear her struggle with God about her pain writing, "I have called Him a cheat and a liar and I have meant it. I have told Him I wanted to die and I meant it. Tears have become the only prayer I know."

But you also hear the intimacy she discovered about God's heart woven in between the push and pull of living and dying. She wrote, "Call me bitter if you want to, that's fair, count me among the angry, the cynical, the offended, the hardened but count me also among the friends of God for I have seen Him in rare form. I have felt His exhale laid in His shadow, squinted to read the message He wrote or me in the grout, I'm sad too.

In her poem Jane carries you along the journey of challenging God, looking deeper and deeper to find His heart for her. In the process she allows Jesus to embrace her, to comfort her to speak His truth with His presence and she begins to redefine what she thought she knew about living.

There’s a song written by Maverick City, a worship group, and it’s one of the songs that Jane recorded titled, The Story I’ll Tell. The opening line is “The Hour is dark and it’s hard to see what you are doing here in the ruins and where this will lead.” 

When tragedy, trauma, and even guilt and shame interrupt our lives to the degree that it’s hard to fathom how we will ever put the pieces back together, let alone even find all the pieces, where is God? Is He capable of taking what used to resemble our life or parts of it, and making any sense out of the pile of ash and dust left behind? Moments like this is when we need a life line so it's good to remember that dust in the right hands, is new life in the making.

We need hope because even if we have a strong faith there are simply times when we can’t wrap our mind around how God will ever turn our situation into something redeemable especially when we're limited by this life and what we know.

You may have heard me share this before because I heard this statement many times after my husband passed. It was said with the best intentions and I received it with grace. However, I found no comfort in it. God will not give you more than you can handle.

Sweet friend, I want to personally acknowledge that God most certainly allows us to experience more than we can handle. But here’s what I discovered about that.

God doesn’t allow anything that He doesn’t plan to redeem. Because of the finished work of the cross, God’s heart will always be for us to receive the fullness of our debt paid with His Son’s blood so that we can walk in the benefits here. Now. Today. Jesus is qualified and capable to redeem the pain of this life because He already has. The only missing piece is our willingness to give God our pain and allow Him to guide us to the healing He has.

In the times when we shut God out of our pain we’ve closed ourself off to anything good. Jesus is the only option for good in this life. 

During Jane’s treatment she stayed at a Cancer Center for Healing in Irvine California. Owned and operated by Virginia Dixon, this facility employs what their website describes as the R.E.S.T. (Relational, Emotional, and Spiritual Truth) and the Re-Constitution Method as an integrated approach to healing. If you want to know more information on that cancer center, I’ll have the link in the show notes.

What caught my attention on this particular bit of info on Jane's life is that it seems, and granted this is what I could discern having never been there. What I'm sharing with you today is based on a Youtube video of information produced by Virginia Dixon and the Cancer Center for Healing. It’s about their principles, practices and how that tied into Jane’s treatment there.

So what intrigued me is that they seek hope, peace and freedom in the midst of uncertainty. Because although Jane's life had a glimmer of hope, remember 2%, all of the options were fading. In times like that life is confusing, full of chaos in your mind, literal pain in your heart, nothing familiar about your life and R.E.S.T. goes looking for hope, peace and freedom among the rubble. In the Youtube video it states (through a graphic) that “Jane’s story with R.E.S.T. is more about reconciling relational, emotional and spiritual conflicts than the implications of a medial diagnosis.” 

I don’t know about you but I see that as a different approach. Maybe I’m just now becoming aware of it but seeing the person, and I mean really seeing the person not the disease alone; digging into the emotions, relationships and the spiritual nature of a person is going deeper than a physical issue, it's acknowledging the way God created us with mind, body and spirit. He's meshed these elements together and sometimes we need to look at these places individually.

Through a series of slides in the R.E.S.T. video it says that Jane was willing to be vulnerable and transparent, laying her brokenness on the table. She made progress and never lost sight of her dreams. Suddenly, she began to decline and became conflicted. In her despair, anger rose to the surface. 

She had some tough questions for God. “Why is God doing this to me? Why is He torturing me? I still have dreams. This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. I’ve done all the right things. I’m exhausted. I’m tired. I’m mad as hell.”

The next slide reveals the crux of Jane’s struggle, saying, “This was a defining moment…A root of bitterness was the source of her conflict. Her body couldn’t fight herself and cancer at the same time.” 

Have you ever had your own bitter questions for God because we can replace that word cancer with doubt, fear, shame, guilt, trauma, addiction...whatever is terrorizing you.

Virginia goes on to share that “There is no procedure or medical protocol that can overcome the damage from dark intrusive thoughts we choose to believe. They must be displaced with the truth.” And that “There is life in truth! When we embrace it, regardless of how painful, it builds our faith, and making sense of the world around us becomes easier.”

That word truth always sticks out to me. It is not only key to orienting us to life but it also gifts with us freedom in the here and now. And for us, as believers in the God of the Holy Bible, we know the Fountainhead of truth. Christians describe it as the Trinity. God the Father, Jesus the Son and Holy Spirit.

When I’m pondering something heavy with God, He’ll often show me things in the most unlikely places. I saw a clip on (I think it was) Instagram and it’s of Dr. Jordan Peterson talking to Joe Rogan. 

I feel sure everyone knows Joe Rogan and you may also know Dr. Jordan Peterson. He is a Canadian psychologist, has an intellectual mindset yet grounded in reality, I had to mention that because sadly I think logic grounded in reality is a rare find in the psychiatry world today. I don’t know that he’s a believer but he has several episodes where he conducts round table discussions with other intellectuals and scholars on the various books of the Bible. I’m listening to the one he did on Exodus. 

And because of that, I knew what Dr. Peterson was talking about with Joe Rogan. He’s telling Joe about the snakes biting the Israelites in the desert.

In the book of Numbers, Chapter 21, the Israelites go to Moses to apologize and acknowledge their sin against God and they beg Moses to plead with God for relief from the poisonous snakes. So Moses goes to God and God tells Moses to fashion a snake and lift it up on a pole and anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. So if the Israelites were obedient to God’s instructions to literally stare at what they feared, they would find life.

Then Dr. Peterson makes a reference to the scripture John 3:14, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.” 

And here’s the revelation that God gave me and I’m sure it was the point that Dr Peterson was driving home but more times than not I need God's revelation when viewing Him through a deeply layered intellectual lens. And to be clear I’m not saying I’m the only one with this revelation. More than likely I’m late to the party but God downloads revelation when we seek to know Him.

Here’s the clarity that God gave me. Just like when the Israelites were obedient to God's instruction to stare at what they feared (the snake) and were given life, we too can look upon the finished work of the cross because what we find is under the victorious feet of Jesus are all the fears of this life. We stare at Jesus and what we find in Him replaces our fear with His truth. We share in His victory over all the things of this life that steal, kill and destroy.

So we stare at Jesus, engage His heart, learn His word, and discover His truth. When we wrestle well with Jesus and at the same time behold His face, we discover profound beauty as He dismantles our fears and replaces them with His presence. Then we receive His peace for our anxiety, His love for our hatred, His acceptance for our rejection, His presence for our loneliness etc. 

The word says that God catches our tears and that He will wipe away every tear. Keep this close to your heart, He does so with pierced, scarred hands.

Backing up just a little bit to finish the journey between Jane and Virginia Dixon. After Jane expressed her bitterness and Virginia pointed out that cancer wasn’t killing her that she was self-destructing because her body could not fight both the cancer and bitterness, the video slide says that Jane left their conversation “angry and despondent” and Virginia didn’t know whether or not she’d ever see her again. 

In the song, The Story I’ll Tell, there’s a part of the chorus and why the song is titled as such. I’ve chopped it up here so what I’m getting read is not verbatim.  My God did not fail…it’s the story I’ll tell. All that is left is highest praises, sing hallelujah to the Rock of Ages. 

There’s another full stanza that she sings, And I’ll testify of the battles You’ve won, How You were my portion when there wasn’t enough. And I’ll sing the song of the seas that we crossed The waters You parted, the waves that I walked. 

Jane showed incredible strength in the face of adversity, literal crossroads of life and death. She stood on her faith not only publicly but also in an authentic and transparent way through her music, poems and at the treatment center. 

Virginia Dixon had privy to Jane’s intimate struggle with God and here’s what Virginia Dixon and R.E.S.T. shared in the Youtube video as it began to wrap up… “By faith we surrender outcomes, trusting that when God gives us a dream, He’ll make a provision.” 

I know what it sounds like vs what we know happened to Jane. It’s tempting to think it was a futile fight. But read her poem, listen to her sing. Jane discovered things about God’s heart that she would have never known in any other way. The discoveries she experienced were things that we don’t have the ability to accurately verbalize. 

Whether we get to hear her testimonies audibly (spoken by her) or she gets to proclaim them in the heavens beyond our human existence, she’s seen God victoriously fight her battles and intimately attended to her when she had nothing left. Her voice fills the heavens with songs of praise about the seas that they crossed together, the waters that were parted and the waves she walked in faith. Admittedly, not in the exact way Jane had initially envisioned. But rather in God's value system, in heaven's embrace.

And that’s Jane’s redemption. Communing daily with God, singing with the unique voice she was given, in the perfection and the opulence of how God created her. In the place where no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no human mind has conceived. In the exquisiteness that God has prepared for His beloved. The talents that we know of with regard to Jane were merely a shadow of her full expression.

I’m not saying she isn’t missed or that she didn’t leave a gapping hole in the hearts of her family, friends and all those who loved her...because if I was her parent or a sibling I would be tempted to say, well that's great, but I really don't care, I just want her back here with me.... but the fact remains, because death is a reality in this life, God has gone ahead of us and prepared a way, through His Son Jesus, for us to be reunited with our loved ones. 

Jane has never been more her than she is in the presence of her Creator who absolutely delights in her face to face. When she opens her mouth and continues to share her beauty, her voice, her song, you better believe that God is captivated by her excellence. 

The R.E.S.T. video wraps up with Virginia doing rounds at a clinic and sees Jane 3 weeks after her angry exit. Jane “beckons Virginia to come over, to get closer” and she says to Virginia, “You were right, after three weeks of wrestling with God, I’m free.” 

The freedom that God has for us is rooted in dismantling the fears of this life. When we look into the face of that which terrifies us and we allow God to speak His truth into the things we think are true, the lies we believe about our world/about people, offering Him the lens we’ve created based on our experiences, He gives us Himself, His presence, His truth. In doing so we can live in victory, unafraid of the terrors of this life. 

For those who have the courage to engage God about their painful places, to allow Him into our struggle with good and evil, life and death there will come a time when God asks you like He asked me and has done so on several occasions. Sherrie, If I don't do what you'e asking me to do in the way you are expecting me do it, will you still love me? Am I still enough? I have learned that my submission to His sovereignty ensures my victory. And by victory I mean, peace that surpasses earthly comprehension, freedom to live above the brokenness of this life.

God didn't fail Jane and He won't fail you either. When we have the courage to authentically and genuinely look upon the face of Jesus and struggle well, offering up that which fills our mind and our heart with fear, He graciously, gently gives His victory over the grave.

Live Loved and Thrive!

 

Resource Links:
Poem by Jane: God is on the Bathroom Floor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5r3Nmydp8A
Youtube R.E.S.T. Video story of Jane Marcs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLbnh9FKSUwO
NCR4 Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSOhtHtbVyI
Youtube Jane singing The Story I’ll Tell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX_Mb-jsb7c
The Story I’ll Tell Lyrics: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/maverickcitymusic/thestoryilltell.html
Dr. Jordan Peterson: Exodus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTXU78NC_h4
Nightbirde Foundation: https://www.nightbirdefoundation.org/
R.E.S.T. - Cancer Center of Healing website: https://www.virginiadixon.com/

 

Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/21496461de79484db10e05261c8a5cca/view?organization_id=868176

Living Well Despite Chronic Illness, with Jen Hardy

Living Well Despite Chronic Illness with Jen Hardy

Chronic illness is not what defines Jen Hardy and that's why I view her as a remarkable woman. Because of her many challenges in life our conversation covers a variety of topics. 

We talk about the meaning of life and how to find it, and the beauty of being in your 50's+. We talked about her homeschooling career with her 7 children, two of whom are on the spectrum. She impressed me when listening to how she learned to have a quality life despite the various challenges but here's why I call her a miracle, she's exceeded and continues to surpass her life expectancy based on a chronic illness that she lives with every day.

Jen has a depth of revelation that has been forged in the midst of serious life adversity. 

Of all the interesting things we talked about here's what stood out for me. Jen has made the most of every season of life and every challenge that has presented itself.

Jen doesn't merely exist in her circumstances nor does she simply get through it, she capitalizes on it. Every chapter of her life finds her pressing into God to discover who He is and who she's been created to be with the various challenges that she's experienced. 

Be encouraged by the wealth of beauty that Jen Hardy shares with us today!

Live Loved and Thrive!

Here’s more content on the topic of Chronic Illness:
https://alifeofthrive.com/podcast/chronic-illness/
https://alifeofthrive.com/2021/09/29/pain-2/

Connect with Jen:
Links:
Website:
https://jenhardy.net
Podcast:
https://jenhardy.net/fabulous-over-50
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/thejenhardy
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thejenhardy/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejenhardy/

Bio:

Jen Hardy is on a mission to help women find their inner fabulousness and transition into the life of their dreams. She’s been blogging since 2015; wrote the book, “The Sick Mom’s Guide” in 2017; and started the “Fabulous Over Fifty” Podcast (formerly Hardy Mom) in 2018. In 2022 she published three 5-year journals and also founded the Space Coast Podcasters, a group from Orlando to the coast bringing local podcasters together. In 2023 she co-hosted Podfest Expo, founded the Fabulous Over Fifty Gold Circle mastermind for podcasting women, and is preparing to publish her fifth book.

Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/117da9f274aa4de68243f69f9e7efb85/edit_v2?organization_id=868176

Christian Marriage, Abuse and Boundaries, with Stephanie Jordan

Christian Marriage, Abuse and Boundaries with Stephanie Jordan 

My guest Stephanie Jordan and I talk about boundaries and how they are necessary in unhealthy relationships. We even discussed Christian marriage where abuse is present and she shares what God revealed to her about releasing her from her first marriage and how divorce was the fruit of her sin. 

Stephanie, a mother of 5 and now a widow talks about the difference in her two marriages, one that turned abusive and included alcohol and the second to a man who was previously known as a hard core punk rocker with a drug problem but before you make any assumptions, he did come to a point in his life where he accepted Jesus as his personal Savior, was living a clean life and even started a ministry for the homeless. But as many of you may know….addiction is a demon that does not give up easily and so Stephanie found herself once again having to draw boundaries to keep her and her children safe. 

Stephanie gave us insight into what it looks like when relationship goes off the rails, how do we know we need to remove ourself from the equation, under what circumstances, for how long etc. She even talks about the importance of relaying clear boundaries to your children so that you can keep yourself healthy and sane as a parent who is getting pulled in every direction. 

She and I talked also talked about how God has set boundaries and has requirements in place for us to be able to do life with Him, a life that is healthy, respectful, wise, discerning, loving, kind and that’s just to name of few of the benefits.

If you’re thinking boundaries don’t feel so loving. She also explained why those who have a hard time saying no (for the purpose of setting a boundary), how they perceive boundaries, one of which is that they feel selfish when they set a boundary especially with someone they love. Something she said that I really liked and it was along the lines of, if you can’t say no, you’re not ready for no so don’t miss that part when she breaks that down for us.

Stephanie is light hearted, grounded in the word, and down to earth. In other words, you’ll connect with her easily! Let’s listen in!

Live Loved and Thrive!

 

Connect with Stephanie:
My website: https://thestephaniejordan.com/

 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thestephaniejordan/

 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheStephanieJordan

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/The_StephJordan

 

Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestephanie-jordan/

 

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1958441007 (book)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1W6SQNK  (ebook)

 

Bio:
Stephanie Jordan is an author, teacher, and speaker. She has been a cosmetologist for 24 years. She has 5 amazing kids with 4 extras that her husband brought into the family. She has one dog and two cats.

 
She has broad life experiences and likes adventure. She loves Jesus and intends to spend her life sharing His message in an unconventional way. Her artistic and rock n roll style influence her outlook on life and living it to the full. She is passionate about riding her Harley Davidson Sportster 48 and reading, writing and painting. 

Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/a4bcb88d1fd74eb7b01747a5be652d0a/edit_v2?organization_id=868176