How to Trust God During Stressful Times (Feat. Donna Strong) - EP 125

Have you ever felt betrayed by the people you trusted most in your faith community? It can be devastating when the place meant for healing becomes a source of pain, but there is a way to find total reliance on God even in the middle of a storm. Join us for a powerful conversation about finding strength and maintaining your faith when life feels impossible.

In this episode of the Walk with the Savior podcast, we are joined by Donna Strong, author of the book Trust: Total Reliance Under Stressful Times. Donna shares the incredible legacy of her family’s faith, starting with her parents' heartbreaking journey through five miscarriages and the miracle of her own birth. We dive deep into the difficult and often taboo topic of church hurt, discussing how to stay grounded in your relationship with Christ when religious leaders or communities let you down through false accusations and broken trust.

Donna reminds us that while people are imperfect and the church can sometimes feel like a hospital for the broken, God remains faithful. We explore the powerful connection between our personal struggles and the journey Jesus took to Calvary, highlighting the fact that even the Savior experienced religious betrayal and hurt from those who should have supported him. This episode is a must-watch for anyone looking to rebuild their faith, find the power of forgiveness, or discover peace during a season of intense stress and uncertainty.

Buy Donna's book at the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/TRUST-Total-Reliance-Under-Stressful/dp/B0FPVRRJPL

Follow Donna at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/125708704687168/user/717392237/

Listen to the song My Legacy by Nail Print:

https://youtu.be/UsXXjznarqo?si=2u9sIH8PwB-i4gKk

Visit Our Website: https://walkingwiththesavior.com/episodes/

Listen to us on your favorite platform:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2414656

Donations gladly accepted:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/WalkingwiththeSavior?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

Email John: walkingwiththeSaviorpodcast@gmail.com

Chapters

0:00 The real reason we go to church
1:45 Introducing Donna Strong and her book Trust
3:30 A story of five miscarriages and a miracle birth
6:15 Answered prayers and childhood healing
8:45 Facing false accusations and church hurt
11:15 Keeping faith when people let you down
13:30 Jesus and the ultimate example of trust
15:01 Conclusion

If this message spoke to you today, please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel for more inspiring interviews and spiritual encouragement. We would love to hear your own stories of finding trust in difficult times in the comments below!

#faith #trustgod #churchhurt #christianity #hope

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

When I was like 14, 15, I said, no way am I giving my life to Christ because I don't want to be some boring Christian.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

And isn't that the way the world portrays it? Boring Christians. But look at you, people. I'm 55 years old. I got the energy. I have a great marriage. I have a great life. And even better, I don't have all the regrets that I so many people at 55 have.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Yeah, yeah. Because God He He He leads you down the path of righteousness.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Welcome everybody to this week's episode of Walking with the Savior Podcast. I'm your host, John Merrow Kirkman, and you, my friend, are awesome. And I am on fire for Jesus Christ today. Boy, I hope you enjoyed your walk this week with the savior. I just feel so much love in my heart, so much excitement, so much spiritual electricity. And today I got a friend named Marilyn, all the way from London, England, or I guess you were born in England or London, right, Marilyn. Where exactly are you at in England right now?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

So I'm I'm just on the outskirts of London. I'm in in a place called Daganham, and that's like in Essex. But it's it's a strange one because it's still classes London, but it's not really London, it's Essex.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

I like it. I've heard of that. I was always wondering how to pronounce that, so now I know. And I can't wait to talk about Jesus because Marilyn reached out to me and she said this. I would love to share my story of God healing my inner wounds and traumas, which are many, and how others can find freedom and restoration in Christ. She's an author, she's got a book. Tell us about your book, real quick.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Yeah, the book that I've written is called Divine Restoration: The Ten Ways That God Heals. And it's a guidebook that will walk readers through um healing under God's hand.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

I just love it. I love the title, and I love the idea of walking through how to find healing through Jesus Christ. That is so good. You're speaking my DNA here, and I'm really thrilled. So, Marilyn, where do you where did the trauma come from or the healing that you you talk about healing from past traumas and stuff? What what kind of stuff did you go through and give us a sense of that?

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Well, I would say that the roots of some of the issues that I experienced came through um some lacks that I experienced in my childhood. So relationships were not strong on the emotional sense. So my needs were being met physically. I was clothed, I was fed, I was sheltered. But in terms of the emotional needs that a child has, those were not always consistently met. And you have to remember, this was like in the late 80s, early 90s, when a lot of vocabulary that is available and understanding that it's available about emotional and mental wellness just was not there. Things were just very different. And so that was basically the foundation of the wrong foundation that was laid down in my life that caused maybe a lot of insecurities and um a lot of voids in my life.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

I like how you put painted that picture. You were clothed, you were taken care of, you had food on the table, but emotionally those needs were not being met. And we sometimes think, oh, you know, oh, you got clothes, you're well fed, you you're taken care of. What's your what's your problem? But those emotional needs are really some drivers that drive behavior almost more than pretty much anything. I mean, if we're not emotionally met, there's a need there, and it drives us to do some things that probably aren't the best. Uh, what what kind of was the lack there?

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Did you grow up in a kind of a home situation that wasn't very good or I think ultimately my my parents they were very strict, there was love there, but it wasn't the expression of it was not reaching me, and I think it it wasn't because they were bad people, it was just because they were just replicating what they knew knowledge is power. Um, but uh on top of that, additional to that, um, there was some brokenness, especially within my father's life, which caused him to leave the family several like more than once. And so that was just a clear um, what was a mirror to me, pointing to me at that time that you're not worthy of love because you know your father doesn't even want to hang around for you and your family. And so uh that that's what was being subconsciously spoken to me on the inside and to my heart, uh, because of those actions. So that's just one of the examples of what I had to experience going through a time of life where I'm being shaped as a teenager, which is uh those teenage years are already tricky to navigate and to go through. But when you don't have that emotional connection to your parents where you feel safe that you can talk about things, and when there's abandonment going on, it does really affect your identity.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I think that is a very relatable phrase. You're not worthy of love or relationship. And I I think that is more common than we know. I think people are struggling with that more than we know, and especially teenagers. And they may have it all together physically on the outside outside, but that becomes a just a dire need to be fulfilled if they're walking around with the thought process. I'm not worthy of love. That's just like, oh, that hits me so sad. And I just want to jump in and go, yes, you are, right? But we can't say that to somebody, and we could say it over and over to somebody, but that's probably not gonna solve it.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

No, and uh something that um I've come to learn is that, for example, if I've I've got my cup of water here, and the the reason why it's holding the water is because there's no cracks or there's no breaks in this glass. But if if this glass were to have like a break in it, then you'll see that the water will be seeping out and dripping out. And so if the wounding um has uh has not been healed, then no matter how many times someone says, Oh, you're loved, you're worth it, you're worthy, it's just gonna seep right through until that healing has taken place.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

That's a great, such a great parable. The parable of the broken glass. We need those cracks healed, or else the love just just just drips right on out.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

And and we're just left empty. And an empty cup leads to lots of problems. Did I'm curious, did that empty cup in your life lead to some problems, or how did that play out?

SPEAKER_02 8:16

It it did. I would say, firstly, I didn't know who I was, and I didn't have any sense of purpose. So, and it it felt like it also felt like I was never never really achieving my potential or supported to do that. And so because there weren't certain structures or um certain protections that were over me as a young person growing up, it let it led me to going down destructive pathways out of naivety and out of curiosity. Yeah, that being a parent now, I can see I'm I'm quite protective, not overly protective, but I'm quite protective over my children, and I can guide them and I can shepherd them, and I can be like, don't do that because this will happen. I notice things about them, but when you're growing up and you're not being protected in the way that you should, you're not changes within you aren't being noticed, then you're you're free. You're free to kind of do what you want to do because no one's got their eye on you. And so that was something that led me to relationships that I had no business being a part of, which ended up being really, really damaging and destructive to me as a young person.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

You mean like dating relationships or business, or what are you referring to?

SPEAKER_02 9:54

So dating relationships. So looking back now in hindsight, I can see that I didn't even know what a true, real relationship was. Um, and a part of that is because my parents' marriage wasn't really a God's blueprint because my mum was a born-again Christian, my dad wasn't, and so that had a real impact and effect on the dynamic of that. So that was like my first kind of model of a relationship. So I didn't actually know what a proper healthy relationship looked like, and so because I felt like I wanted to be affirmed in who I was, I sought that through pursuing dating relationships. But at the time, I just didn't know that I was being taken advantage of. I just thought, oh, I'm grown now, I can I can do my own thing. Part of me was really terrified, but there was there was nobody that I could speak to about it because of shame. I I grew up in church, so I knew that even some of the things that I was doing, I knew was wrong. And I put that on me because I I'd grown up in church and I knew the word of God and I knew what God had said about relationships, but because of a lack of understanding about what a healthy relationship is and how to go into that transition from being a teenager, feeling what you're feeling, which is natural and which is human, to actually being found by someone that will love you with the love of God. There was just a big gap in knowledge or that style was just trying and experimenting, hurting myself at the same time, being actually afraid and just thinking, do you know what? I've gone too deep into this now. How can I stop myself? Um, and and it led me to getting pregnant at the age of 18 with somebody that I didn't love.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yeah, I'm just thinking of some of the words that you just spoke and and putting the pieces together here. You see this empty cup that's got cracks in it, it's hard to feel love. And then that led to you doing some things that you didn't you knew were wrong or you felt were wrong. And and then so that was shame. And that once that shame gets in there, it's like we're hiding from our parents, we're hiding maybe hiding some of these things from other people because we're full of shame. And then you talked about fear, and it's like these things just kind of all work together. This kind of how Satan kind of goes about pulling us down these traps, these holes of negative um that that end up in paths we just don't want to go down.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah, yeah. It it's Satan, he he is very deceptive, and it just shows you that how much he just doesn't care about you and he wants to destroy your life. Um, and so when I was entering into these things, I I did feel a lot of fear because these things just didn't feel good, they were hurting me. It didn't look like it didn't look like romance on on you know those movies, even when you or or even those Disney stories and that you grow up on and you think, oh, that's gonna be me one day. I'm gonna be the princess, getting married. It felt painful, it felt um it didn't add anything to my life, it was just subtracting a part of me felt like, oh, I'm a woman now because I'm in a relationship. But then really, if I was to be honest with myself, looking back, it was it was hurting me, it was adding nothing, it was it was a big disappointment, the situations that that I found myself in um until Christ came in and he just he rescued me.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Oh, I love that. Now, I just want to acknowledge this pain that you're feeling, and then we'll jump into the rescue because that was so beautiful, by the way. That just when you shared about how he rescued you, you know. But this pain, and I just want to point that out. Like, okay, you're you had this cracked glass, the shame, the fear, making bad choices, and you thought you were doing the adult thing, but it led to pain. And sometimes when people or teenagers see commandments, they see it as limiting, but I see them as protecting. And a loving, kind Savior Jesus Christ gives us guidelines and commandments to protect us from these pains that come have came into your life as you were heading down this path to fill this emptiness, this void, and this fear and the shame. And I I just and I just want to empathize with you and say, I'm so sorry you had to go down that path. A lot of it because you were just naive and inexperienced. And for for any teenager listening out there, we don't have to go down this path. We don't, not right, and we can choose Christ early, and we can choose Christ often, and we can be changed by Christ, and we can feel his power, and we can feel his love, and he can heal the broken glass, and he can fill our souls with his love, which changes the projectory or trajectory, not the projectory, the trajectory of our lives. So you said it powerfully and beautifully, he reached down and changed your life. Tell us a little bit about that story.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

I will, but it it's it's so interesting that you are encouraging, especially the young people to give their lives to God because I remember when I was 10, I felt God calling me. I felt it very overwhelming to make that step and that decision to want to give my life to Christ and want to get baptized at the time. Um, and so that kind of faded away a little bit. There were some obstacles that I was that I was actually faced in because the pastor of my church at the time, he felt that I was maybe a bit too young that I didn't understand it. But I could I can tell you now, looking back, it was the Holy Spirit that was really calling me doing the work in my life. But not everybody has the discernment to be able to recognize that.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

And so I when I can I jump in real quick, we talk about this in high school. Like, what are you gonna do in a career? What do you want to become? What do you want to do? And we think of career and we think of the path that um we want to take and uh be a fireman, a doctor, a baseball player, uh whatever that is, right? We all think about it that way. But but maybe we should be asking, like, God, Savior Jesus, what do you want for me and my life? And what do you have for me in the future? Because Marilyn, when you were 17, 18 years old, did you consider yourself that you're gonna write a book inviting people to be redeemed by Jesus Christ? Right? But he knew that, and and sometimes I think, okay, what do I want to do? What do I want to do? But maybe that's the wrong way to phrase it. Maybe we should say, Jesus, I surrender my life to you, or Heavenly Father, I surrender my life to you. What do you want for my life? And what do you want me to do to promote you? And that is a transformation and a game changer.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

I think that that's a hundred percent. And I think it just shows the awesomeness of God and just how profound he is and as just Lord and ruler and savior, and how he continually blows our minds, the plans that he has for us, because I hated I not that I hated English when I was in school, but I could never get past a C because my spelling was so shocking, and so I it it would never occur to me that I would even write a book because I didn't think that my writing was was A-star writing, but God had other plans, and so you know it's don't look to what your situation or circumstance looks like now because the latter is always greater. Uh so back to my test, my salvation story. So when I was like 14, 15, I said, no way am I giving my life to Christ because I don't want to be some boring Christian.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

And the boring Christian, and isn't that the way the world portrays it? Boring Christians. But look at you, people. I'm 55 years old, I got the energy, I have a great marriage, I have a great life, and even better, I don't have all the regrets that I so many people at 55 have.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah, yeah, because God he leads you down the path of righteousness, uh, for his name's sake. So I said, No way am I doing that. I want to go party, I wanna have and then you know, me going down the wrong path, which I explained earlier with terrible relationships that hurt me and cause me pain. And it was when I was pregnant, and all of my friends disappeared because my life was too complex for my 18 and 19-year-old peers at the time. I was pregnant for a much older man, I was groomed. That word didn't even exist at the time.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

And so I was by myself, but I felt like that was God's plan to remove certain friends from my life because those friends were into the partying, the being promiscuous, and it was like God brought me to a place where I was alone, where I recognize now that he spoke to me so clearly, because I had that foundation of the Bible in my life and being in church and learning about Jesus. Um what he said to me that sealed it was like, Look, Marilyn, if you don't follow me, you are not gonna be with me and have eternal life. And not saying yes to me, that side which is in darkness is bound, it's a hundred percent guaranteed that that side is gonna lose at the end of this world. That side is going to lose. But if you follow me, I have ultimate victory. So it's like he called me through like revelation, and I'm talking about the book in the Bible revelation where he was showing me the end of time and saying, Look, this is guaranteed to happen that you will not be with me and you will not have eternal life. If you give your life to me, you're going to be on that side that is going to have the victory. And I was just like, that's a no brainer. I don't want to go to hell. I know that sometimes we don't talk about hell, but it was drummed into me at a young age. My situation, I don't want to go to hell as well. So actually, I might as well follow you and. At the time when I came back to church after I had my baby, it's just like from the first day I stepped back into the church building, I've never left. It's like I came back home and Christ called me. Literally, they were having a baptismal service, and I felt God saying, Look, this is your time. And everything was speaking to me. Every song was speaking to me. The sermon was speaking to me. I used to find sermons so boring, and I but this one just came to life about giving your life to Christ. And literally, it's like God Himself took me out of my seat and it's like, you need to do this now. And I thought, do you know what? I need to do it. So I didn't even plan to do it. And so part of the um the church custom that I was a part of at that time, every time that they would baptize people, they would say, Is there anybody else that wants to make that commitment to follow Jesus? And me as a 90-year-old, single mom, my baby's about three months old. I was just like, I have to do it. In a packed church, I have to do it. It was like God was staring me in the face and saying, You have to do that. And um that moment, the old me died, and the new me that the me that God had always called and ordained for me to be was born. I was born again.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Wow. And it's beautiful. Like the light and the fire for Jesus Christ. Just beautiful. So tell us a little bit about some of your book and give us uh let's maybe read us. Uh do you have the access to some of the chapter headings that you could read? And then maybe I could maybe I could say which one we want to dive into.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yeah, that would be great. So what I would say, just um leading up to that book, is that my life was very frag when I got baptized, my life was very fragmented. There were some family issues that were going on. My parents finally separated for good because there was a lot of back and forth. But like I lost my family home. And so I didn't have any base, I didn't have any safety. I was living by myself, plunged into like a very adult situation that I was not ready for. I had to learn on the spot how to pay bills, how to manage a house. I was studying at the time, studying at the time to be a teacher. And um, so my life was, I would say it was just in different pieces. It was in different fragments. And I think the way that God worked in my life first is that He made me stable. He made my house in situation stable. Um, he gave me a career that I could provide for myself and for my family, and he blessed me with a husband. At this time, I was thinking, I'm a single mom. Who's gonna like me? You know, you know, I I was I was thinking, no, no, no one will like me. I was carrying some of the worthlessness and the insecurity from my past, and plus, young guys are not gonna want that responsibility, but God placed this love in a young man's heart for me and for my son, and so that within itself was very healing to be stable and to be loved in the way that God ordained women to be loved in that marriage covenant. And at first, I would say that it was so alien to me being in a relationship with a Christian, I did not know there were there was things that I was just like, oh, like you're being kind to me. I was just used to being trodden on, sort of thing, and so that in itself was was a massive part of my healing process, being uh married to my husband. And then when I got to a place where my life was stable, God started to peel back and reveal the layers of trauma that was still um needing his healing touch that was still having an impact on my mind and the way that I thought about myself, the lens through which I viewed my life. And he done a restoration process there, which ultimately transformed my womanhood and who I am today.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Can you give us some examples of maybe peeling back that onion and how he exposed that and healed that a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Yes, I would say one of the first things that God needed to work on with me was I had a lot of unforgiveness. I had a lot of unforgiveness to my son's towards my son's father because of how abusive he was towards me. I had unforgiveness towards my mother because that relationship wasn't there that I that I desired, and I had unforgiveness towards my father, and he didn't, I felt like God didn't deal with all of those things at once. It was one thing, but the layers of it at a time, and He was just allowing me to see that where my heart was positioned was not his standard, because the Bible does say forgive those that have trespassed against you because God has forgiven us of so much, but also that it was hurting me and it was killing me inside, that I was holding on to the unforgiveness that I had.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

What was that like learning to forgive these people? I mean, you're you those grudges are justified in the world's eyes and and you know valid. What helped you to get past that? Because that forgiving thing is a super hard one, but super important. It's kind of like running through life with a parachute on when we refuse to forgive. So, can you give us some ideas on how the savior helped you navigate that?

SPEAKER_02 28:43

I would I would agree with you. I'm not gonna sit here and be like, forgiving is a walk in the park, especially especially when the relationship holds so much weight, like the relationship of a parent. And some of the things that helped me is just to see the person and not just the parent. Because sometimes the title, mother, father, it adds a lot of weight, but sometimes you need to remove that title, and it gives you a lot of clarity to just see the person and what they're dealing with and what their thought processes are like, and why and how that um how that informs their actions or their lack of actions to you, and then being brought to a place of acceptance. I think one of the things that made me feel very stuck is I was like, I kept on milling over why did my life turn out like this? Why did I have to experience some of these things? But then someone, you know, a sister in Christ said to me one day, Marilyn, you just need to accept it. And it was it was a painful truth, but I knew it was a truth that instead of asking the constant questions of why, to just accept, you know what? This happened in my life, and I felt like acceptance closed the door and it allowed me to move forward. And I I do say in some of my other writings that acceptance is the precursor to forgiveness, and so accepting what happened helped me to forgive. And there's layers to this, but it's it's a choice, it's it's a choice that you have to walk in daily and you have to say, I'm forgiven. The feelings and the hurt and things, God can deal with that. Like we're not going to pretend that these things don't hurt because they do. But when we when we give these things also to God, he's able to deal with the emotions. God gave us emotions, and emotions inform us that something is wrong, but emotions don't direct us. God's word and his truth directs us, and ultimately it unburdens us when we forgive and to give ourselves grace and to keep accountable as well to others and be like, I need I've forgiven this person, and I want to be accountable because sometimes the enemy he's loves to bring those reminders, he loves to make things come up in our minds to try and bring us back in that trap because that will be hindered in who God has created us to be, and especially to do kingdom works or service for the Lord. But you have to, when those thoughts come up, you just have to give it back to God and be like, God, with your power, because it's Christ's power that can help us to do it. We cannot do it in our own flesh. I can do this with you, and so I'm putting it back to you and I'm asking you to help me to forgive.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

So beautiful, so beautiful. So let's jump into your book. Uh, read us your six. It's called the 10. Uh, what was the ways? Ten ways to Way that God heals.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

So the main title is called Divine Restoration: The Ten Ways That God Heals.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Can you read the chapter headings of those ten?

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Yes, yes. So um, just before I do, these came through the healing that God did in me in me. Um, I would say that he worked really intensely through like a seven-year period, going from my later twenties to like my mid-30s. He really got a deep work within me. And these were the things that I found that this is how you're healing me, Lord. And so I'll read the chapter heading. So chapter one is he highlights your complexities. Chapter two, he blesses you with healthy community. Chapter three, he pays the price for all sin. Chapter four, he restores you. Chapter five, he loves you, chapter six, he gives you wisdom. Chapter seven, Christ intercedes for you. Chapter eight, he gives you his word. Chapter nine, he removes the infections in your life, and chapter ten, he counsels you and gives you peace.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

That's delicious stuff right there. Let's jump into chapter nine. Because that one was read it again.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

So he removes the infections in your lives.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

What do you mean by that? That's got me curious.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

Well, the scripture that anchors this chapter is 1 Corinthians 6 to 11, and it says, But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. And as believers, Christ is continuously sanctifying us. We're in that sanctification process because we live in a world that is imperfect, uh, and we are imperfect. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. And uh, we know that we need to repent of our own sin, but sometimes there's been sins that have been committed against us that God also washes and cleanses and purifies. And so an infection in your life is where you have a wound, it hasn't been treated, it hasn't been dealt with. And just like in the natural, if you were to have a wound and it were to become infected, the infection would be spreading. And so, using my own example where of unworthiness, I had a wound, an abandonment wound from my father. And so that infection of unworthiness was sweeping through my whole body and it it was sweeping through my vision. It was it swept through the way that I saw myself, and so I needed God to stitch that wound of abandonment that but to clear away all of the infection so that actually I could show up in his truth that I'm accepted in the beloved rather than I'm not accepted and I'm not worthy because this is what my father has done to me. So that's what that chapter dives into.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

That is so good. Can you give somebody a strategy that might allow them to experience this healing the way you just described?

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Do you know something? What something that I advocate for, and something that I feel like the body of Christ is becoming more aware of, is that God has already already made the provision for our healing. The word says by his stripes we are healed. So when Jesus was being tortured and crucified, that healing was not only for our physical healing, it was also for our mental healing and for our emotional healing. And because we are Christ's hands and feet on earth as his body, the church, there is a lot that God has placed within us as individuals that can help others to heal. I've been down the professional route, I've had counseling, and I think that's a brilliant thing to do. I think that's a safe thing to do. But my personal experience and my story is that it's been the power of God working through others that have brought the most significant healing in my life. And it's nothing complex or complicated, but it could be a prayer that sometimes just breaks something instantly in my life, or begins me on a journey or a process where I'm beginning to walk with God and He's beginning to um walk with me closely to show me areas of my life where he's refining and healing and changing. And so I always say, if you want to heal, you need to be in a healthy church community because you're not going to really go far if you're in isolation. And being in that healthy community, you have to be transparent. Like God will show you who you can trust. But real good shepherds have a grace and a gifting on their life to shepherd and to really help you in difficulties with your life, whether that's something present or something that you're walking through, a trauma that you're walking through from your past. That's I feel like that's a grace and a gift that God places on his leaders and on his children.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Um, you talked beautifully about walking with him as part of this healing process. And this podcast being walking with the savior. I love the imagery of me going on a walk and talk with the savior. I love contemplating sitting with him and just experiencing his love and and sharing that. What does your walk look like? And how do you grow that, develop that, and how's it become more real to you?

SPEAKER_02 38:41

I think for me, I'm a woman of prayer, and so that is something that I walk with the savior. And even in times of great difficulty and distress, his peace and his comfort that comes, you you know that it can only be God that can meet you at that need because he knows you and he understands you more than any person on this entire earth. He knows you better than you even know your own self. And so when I for myself, I've built that fellowship with Christ through prayer and seeing him work in my life and answer my prayers, or just through his guidance and his wisdom of how to navigate a healing process and not look like what I've been through at the end of it. Because if you know me, if you're around me, you would never know that I've experienced so much adversity in my childhood and my teenage life, because I don't look like that. It's it's Christ's power within me and seeing his provision, his love, and his care, and how God, you you've done this for me. Like you didn't have to do this. There's so many broken people in this world. But when I pray to you, or when others pray for me on my behalf, you love and care for me so much that you're answering prayers for these internal, emotional, mental needs that I didn't even grow up understanding that God cared about those things. I grew up in a church where you were holy and you did what God wanted you to do. And if you were sick, you call for the elders, they will pray for you, uh, God would God would heal. Um, there were there were different testimonies about people getting jobs. I didn't know that God cared about actually how we felt. But when you think about even our earthly relationships, it's the the people that you are most intimate with that you share the deepest of thoughts, your your deepest of fears, your worries. And to know that God understands those things more than any human could, and he knows how to minister to your needs. It it's just like, how could I not just depend on this God? Like he's so faithful, he's so loving, he's so true. I I've grown to trust him. And there I'm not going to say that you know this was an easy process. It was a process that came through years of journeying with the Father and seeing his faithfulness and seeing that, God, you're really working all things up for my good, just as your word says. And I've seen that not only in my healing, I've seen that in my marriage, I've seen that in my parenting, I've seen that in my career. So he's he's just so amazing. I don't know how people do this life without God. I just don't know. Having experienced him, there's no way that I could live without him.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Oh, that is what this podcast is all about. Radiating and feel the goodness of the Savior Jesus Christ and our Father. Man, what a beautiful testimony. You just and and not only that, but you radiate this calm, dignified confidence of a person who has a healed glass. That uh somebody who went through some breaking, and in reality, we all go through the breaking, it's part of life, and I think part of that purpose of that breaking is just so we'll hopefully turn to him.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

I agree. I I I always say that. I my brokenness led me to the arms of the Father. Whereas for some, I know that it it drives them away, it makes them question, God, do you even exist? But I think it should actually point to there's more than this, there's somebody that is good, completely good, that I need to run to. And I know that that might seem to the world foolishness, but it it's it's true. It's true, and it's it's it's worked for me and it's changed my life, and it's changed countless other people that I know as well. And I know that that is something, it's an experience that is available for everybody, it's not for special chosen few. Like God, his arms are open to anybody that comes uh to him, just as his word says, Come to me, all those who are weary and heavy laden, and I can give you rest. And I've experienced that rest from all of my troubles, all of my traumas in him. And so it's just my dream just to keep on sharing to say that this is available to all.

SPEAKER_01 44:11

Thank you so much for joining me today, Marilyn.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

We will have links to your book and any other links in the show notes if people want to find Marilyn. Thank you so much, and thank you everybody for joining us on this week's episode of Walking with the Savior. Most of all, enjoy your walk this week with the savior. And remember, you, my friend, are awesome. Have a great week, everybody. Your future is bright when you walk with Christ.