Episode 349- Finding Your Way Back to God in an Age of Deconstruction with Dr. Lina AbuJamra
What do you do when the people of God fail and you find yourself questioning God because of it? How do you deconstruct your misunderstandings about God, His people and life without deconstructing your faith altogether?
For author, Bible teacher, and medical doctor Lina AbuJamra healing from the hurt she experienced from her church led her on an unexpected journey in her faith. What started as a deep disappointment in people led her to feeling let down by God. It took a lot of time and realizations that what she had come to believe about God and how He worked wasn't based on His truth and that perhaps deconstructing the falsehoods and misunderstandings about God, wasn't a bad thing. However, as things were being taken apart in her understanding of who God was, she also needed to reconstruct what was true so that her faith would strengthen rather than fade away. It wasn't a quick process, but a holy one and one that she wrote about in her book, Fractured Faith: Finding Your Way Back to God in an Age of Deconstruction.
In this helpful conversation, Aubrey and Lina talk about why deconstruction is often rooted in our disappointments, ways in which we can heal from Church hurt, and how sometimes our doubts, questions and hurt can lead us into a deeper faith.
If you or someone you know has walked through being hurt by the Church and has found themselves unraveling, this episode will encourage you that perhaps through your hurt, God is wanting to rebuild in you a stronger, more resilient faith and life in Him.
Episode 348- The Impact of Brain Health on our Healing with Dr. Daniel Amen
What is the connection to our brain's health and our mental health? How can taking care of our brains help us heal from grief, trauma, depression or anxiety?
Dr. Daniel Amen is a world renowned psychiatrist who began to notice early in his practice that there was a disconnect in psychiatry and the lack of study being done on the brain. It was through years of scanning brains through a technology called SPECT that Dr. Amen began to recognize that what many considered mental health issues were actually brain health issues and that when you started to heal the brain, you could begin to see incredible healing with the myriad of symptoms plaguing his patients. Dr. Amen has spent his lifetime and practice teaching people the importance of brain health through his many books. He recently released Raising Mentally Strong Kids: How to Combine the Power of Neuroscience with Love and Logic to Grow Confident, Kind, Responsible, and Resilient Children and Young Adults to help parents.
In this episode, Kristi and Davey sit down with Dr. Amen to discuss why brain health matters with our mental health, how to heal our brains after trauma, and how brain science can help us in parenting.
If you or someone you love struggles with mental health or if you are trying to raise brain healthy kids, this conversation will teach you how to better care for the part of you that impacts your life the most.
Episode 347- Tired of Being Tired with Jess Connolly
How do we experience true rest in a culture that demands striving and encourages fatigue? What does it even look like to live from a place of rest instead of burnout and exhaustion like most people around us do?
For author, pastor, speaker, and mom of four, Jess Connolly, these were the questions she had to wrestle with in the face of all the demands coming at her from her various roles. When life hit a fever pitch and she seemed to reach a breaking point in every way, she knew that she needed more than some sort of watered down self-care answer. She needed to find a way to truly live from a place of trust in the goodness of God to provide and carry her through the noise and speed of life around her. It was through her own journey of figuring out how to deal with the soul-deep exhaustion that she decided to take others along in her latest book, Tired of Being Tired: Receive God’s Realistic Rest for Your Soul-Deep Exhaustion.
In this episode, Aubrey and Jess talk about how difficult it is to find rest in our modern culture, the different ways fatigue can show up, and how to lead in our pain and grief.
If you are tired of being tired--mentally, physically and spiritually--this conversation will show you that you don't need the world's false versions of rest, but you need an encounter with the one who offers you true rest in the depths of your being.
Episode 346- Finding Hope When Life Leaves You Feeling Shattered with Kellie Bullard
How can you find hope when life shatters before your eyes? How can you continue to believe in the goodness of God after tragedy?
For young mom Kellie Bullard, she couldn't imagine how quickly life could change. In an ordinary night, her life was turned completely upside down when her husband, Alex, died in a car accident less than a mile from their home. What was once a picture perfect life was ripped apart as she was left grieving the loss of her husband with a seven week old baby and a 2 year old. But even in the midst of her greatest pain, God showed up in small and tangible ways along her journey towards healing. She wrote about the truth of her grief and what God taught her along the way in her new book, Behind My Smile: Finding Hope When Life Leaves You Feeling Shattered.
In this episode, Davey talks to Kellie about what it looks like to step out in faith when life is uncertain, how we can see God in our story, and the ways in which we can help young kids through their experience of grief and loss.
If you've ever experienced life changing in an instant, this conversation you show you how to see the goodness of God and find hope again amidst the shattered pieces of the life you once knew.
Episode 345- Suffering and the Gospel with Paul David Tripp
What does the gospel have for us in our suffering? How do we apply theological truths in our pain?
Author and Bible teacher Paul David Tripp had a deep understanding of theology, especially when it came to pain and suffering. It wasn't until he walked through a season of physical suffering and chronic fatigue that those understandings he had in his mind became embedded into his heart. Through the difficulties and challenges of a medical condition that forever changed his capacity and revealed his limitations, Paul learned how the hope of the gospel can meet us in even the most painful days. His journey through that season and the lessons God taught him along the way are chronicled in his book Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense.
In this conversation, Eric sits with Paul to discuss how suffering can lead to a deeper trust in Christ, the role prayer plays in our pain, and how God will bring a new level of understanding of theological truths when we are hurting.
If you've found yourself wondering how the gospel applies to your pain, this episode will show you that the good news of Christ is for you in whatever you are facing.
Episode 344- Now and Not Yet with Ruth Chou Simons
How do we lean into the tensions of life--the now and not yet? What does it look like to press into the different seasons as they come instead of constantly wanting something different?
Author and artist Ruth Chou Simons knows what it is like to live in the hidden places as a mom to six boys. For years, her life centered around changing diapers, preparing meals and bandaging scraped knees. But it was in that time that God taught her the importance of stewarding what she had been given. It was in that mundane, quiet season that God cultivated in her a reliance upon Him. Now, she is a well-known author and artist for her company, Gracelaced, but she will be the first to tell you that her work is simply an overflow of those quiet, hidden, faithful years of doing the work God had called her to in her family. Her latest book, Now and Not Yet: Pressing in When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More, looks at how to handle those times where your soul is waiting or feeling restless and how to trust God when life isn't what you thought it would be.
In this episode, Davey and Ruth have a meaningful discussion about the importance of recognizing your season in life, what restlessness could really be a symptom of, and how so often, we become what we behold.
If you have felt yourself in a time of waiting or feeling restless, this conversation will remind you that even in the hidden, unseen moments of your life, God is inviting you to trust and know Him more.
Episode 343- Stepping into God's Calling with Kat Armstrong
How do you step into what God is calling you towards when others seem to discourage you? What does it look like to use your gifts for the kingdom in the face of challenges?
For author and Bible Teacher Kat Armstrong, it was her study of scripture that led her to rethink her own beliefs on her role in the kingdom as a woman. Having experienced pushback from others who seemed to not value her voice and giftings as a scholar and woman in ministry, Kat began to see how her own misinterpretations led to her not stepping fully into the call God had on her life. As she examined some of the strange ways in which people had taught about women in the Bible and their role in the kingdom of God, she began to grow in God-given confidence that she was made to teach and lead.
In this episode, Aubrey sits with Kat to discuss how women are used by God throughout scripture, what it looks like to step into your calling, and how our storylines intersect with God's greater one.
If you've ever found yourself shrinking back from what you've been called to do, this conversation will encourage you that if God has called you towards something, nothing can stop you.
Episode 342- Finding Hope in the Mystery of Suffering with Ellie Holcomb
How do we hold onto faith in a world full of so much suffering and sorrow? Where do we find hope in the mystery of all the pain?
For Recording Artist and Author Ellie Holcomb working out her faith through song has always been the way God has invited her into the hope that exists in suffering. After walking through several years of losses and devastating heartache in the lives of those she loved, Ellie began to notice the ways in which so much of the goodness and joy in her life came birthed out of the pain. It is through music that she often shares her own wrestlings and the ways in which God allows us each the opportunity to experience hope in the canyons of the most difficult times. Her latest album, All of My Days, are Psalms set to music that have given her hope in the pain and suffering of this life.
In this episode, Davey and Ellie consider how we can get comfortable with the questions and doubts that arise out of our pain, where we can see God in the valleys of life and the incredible invitation to hope in the midst of it all.
If you've ever struggled to understand the mystery so present in pain, this conversation will be a balm to your soul as you are reminded that God is big enough to handle every question, every doubt, and every frustration we have in our most difficult days.
Episode 341- Demystifying Evil with Ingrid Faro
Warning: This episode discusses loss by suicide and may not be suitable for all listeners.
What do we do when it comes to understanding God's role in the events of our lives? How do we interpret the pain we endure, the evil that exists in the world and God's sovereignty in it all?
For author and professor of Old Testament Ingrid Faro, it was her own personal experience of pain and evil that led her to dig deeply into scripture in order to better understand how God works in the midst of suffering. Having experienced domestic abuse and divorce, a remarriage than ended when her husband died by suicide, and so much more, Ingrid began to ask questions when it came to pain and suffering and evil in our experience as humans. It was through her own story and scholarly study that she wrote Demystifying Evil: A Biblical and Personal Exploration, in which she examines the impact of evil and how to undo its power in our lives.
In this episode, Aubrey and Ingrid talk about how our stories can lead us to our life's work, the power of lament and what to do in the face of evil.
If you've ever struggled to make sense of the things that have been done to you, this conversation is a reminder that God can handle all our anger and questions, doubts and fears, and invites us to be honest with the pain that we are experiencing.
Episode 340- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Kristi Blackburn
What does redemption look like in our stories of pain and suffering? How do we step into the story of someone we love and hold space for them?
For Nothing is Wasted co-founder, Kristi Blackburn, learning to be a place of refuge and healing for her husband, Davey, and son, Weston, years after they lost their first wife and mom, Amanda, has been no simple task. In the messiness of grief, blending families, and navigating the impact of trauma, Kristi has had to step into the call of being a wife and mother without a manual but only the grace of God to guide her. She has had to learn how to do it all from a place of faith and not fear, while also tending to her own story of shame, loss and grief. While it hasn't been easy, she has found that in the midst of it all, God has given her the strength and wisdom she has needed to be a source of healing and help to both Davey and Weston as they continue to put the pieces together of their shattered hearts.
In this heartwarming episode, Davey and Kristi have the opportunity to share candidly about what it has been like to step into each other's pain, the difference between redemption and restoration, and how to parent kids who have faced the unimaginable.
If you've ever struggled to see God's redemption plan play out in your story, this conversation will show you that perhaps it already has and you just haven't recognized it yet.
Episode 339- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Mack Brock
How can music help us heal? What role does worship play in our most difficult seasons?
Songwriter, worship leader and singer Mack Brock has written countless songs that have helped people connect with God. But there is one song that became a rally cry for Davey Blackburn after losing his wife, Amanda and their unborn child in a home invasion. It was the song Nothing is Wasted by Elevation Worship. Mack was one of the songwriters and the singer on the release of that song. Mack could never have known that the words he penned years ago, would become a glimmer of hope to Davey in his darkest moment and a living reminder on which he would later build a ministry.
In this full circle conversation, Davey and Mack talk about the impact of the song Nothing is Wasted had on Davey personally, how God can use worship and music in our healing and why it is so important to take small steps of faith into a bigger, unforeseen purpose.
If you've ever been impacted by a song in your journey towards healing, this episode will teach you that God will use even the music that we hear to speak to us in our pain and remind us that nothing is wasted.
Episode 338- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Levi Lusko
How do we begin to lead our generation through pain? What do we do with the tension of our heartache and the hope we have in Jesus?
For author and pastor Levi Lusko, learning to grieve the loss of his daughter Lenya while leading others through their own pain has been a beautiful dance of both sorrow and hope. After losing Lenya from an asthma attack, Levi began to write down everything God was teaching him in the aftermath. Those lessons would eventually become a part of his best-selling book, Through the Eyes of a Lion: Facing Impossible Pain, Finding Incredible Power. Years later as Davey found himself in the depths of his pain after losing his wife Amanda, it was a text from Levi that would encourage his spirit and help him to find a way through his own grief.
In this encouraging conversation, Davey and Levi talk about how to deal with the feelings of guilt that can sometimes accompany a loss, why building a strong marriage is so important before a major trial, and the ways in which each new grief is unique.
If you've struggled to hold the tension between the hurt you've experienced and the hope you have in Christ, this episode will remind you that even with hope, our hurt will still hurt and God is with us through it all.
Episode 337- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Daniel and Brittany Brooker
How do you learn to feel the pain instead of just filling it? What does surrender look like when we've entered a story that we never imagined for ourselves?
On this first ever live Nothing is Wasted podcast episode from the Nothing is Wasted Book Launch event, Davey and Kristi Blackburn are joined by Daniel and Brittany Brooker to discuss the messy road of healing and redemption. The Brookers know pain--having both lost a spouse at a young age while parenting small children. Their process towards healing and hope and finding one another along the way has been full of incredible joy and difficult heartaches. Finding friendship with the Blackburns, another couple who understands the impact of trauma on a marriage and children and who are also blending together a family, has been a gift in the journey of grief, loss, and redemption.
In this conversation, the Blackburns and the Brookers discuss why we have to feel our pain and not just fill it, the importance of surrender in our deepest valleys, and how God gives us people along the way that can be a part of his healing plan for us.
If you've ever struggled to allow yourself the opportunity to really feel the emotions that come from a loss or your unique path of suffering, this episode will help you to realize that healing cannot happen until you admit there is hurt and allow God to meet you in the messy middle of it.
Episode 336- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Kenneth Wagner
What does true friendship look like in the midst of the darkest moments in our lives? How do we show up for our friends who are hurting after a tragedy?
The Bible says, "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity." (Proverbs 17:17) It can be hard to find the kind of friend that will stick with you in difficulties, but for Davey, Kenneth Wagner was the epitome of that type of friend. Davey and Kenneth's friendship began in college and grew through each season of life: marriage, starting their families, and pastoring. It also grew through the most devastating time when Davey lost his wife Amanda and their unborn child in a home invasion. Kenneth did what any true friend would do in the unimaginable: he showed up. And he kept showing up in each and every way he could as Davey tried to rebuild his life and find healing after heartache.
In this heartfelt episode, Davey sits down with his best friend, Kenneth, to hear his unique perspective as he watched the tragedy and subsequent redemption unfold in Davey's life. They discuss what it looks like to be a good friend, how powerful the ministry of presence can be, and the importance of seeing God's kindness in our lives.
If you're walking beside a friend who is hurting, this conversation will encourage you to step into the space of their pain where no words are necessary but where all that is needed is your presence that reminds them that they are not alone.
Episode 335- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Dr. John Walker
What happens when we attempt to selectively numb our pain? How does a season in the wilderness of suffering transform us if we allow it?
Dr. John Walker has been a guiding voice and encouragement to countless pastors who find themselves in the throes of trauma, tragedy or burnout. He has offered a safe landing place for those who are tasked with shepherding others through the organization he founded called Blessings Ranch, a counseling and coaching ministry to help leaders live, lead, and finish well. For Davey, Dr. Walker was a vital voice on his healing journey, offering him a lifeline in the traumatic aftermath of losing his wife, Amanda.
In this very meaningful conversation, Davey gets to sit down with the very counselor who helped guide him on a path of healing and transformation after the immense pain and suffering he endured. They talk about the coping mechanisms we often look to after sorrow, why self-care is so important for our emotional and spiritual health, and how transformation happens.
If you've ever found yourself trying to ignore the pain you're feeling, this episode will convince you that going around it isn't an option, but if you choose to go through it, you will not only find healing on the other side but joy and life again as well.
Episode 334- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Dave and Brenda Blackburn
How do you help an adult child who is experiencing an unimaginable loss? What does it look like to parent our kids who are grown and who are walking through difficult seasons?
For Davey's parents, Dave and Brenda Blackburn, navigating how to help Davey walk through his own grief while also taking the time to grieve their own pain of losing their daughter-in-law, Amanda, and unborn grandchild was at times very difficult. Yet through their own hurt and watching Davey walk through his, they learned that many of the same parenting principles they had used throughout Davey's life applied in his season of suffering as well. It was through prayer, giving Davey space when he needed it, being there for him, and loving him through the ups and the down that God showed Dave and Brenda how to be the kind of parents their adult son needed as he walked through a tragedy.
In this episode, Davey sits down with his parents to talk about the difficulty of watching your adult child hurting after loss, how to be there for your kids, and what it looks like to build a foundation of faith in your children before they experience pain and suffering.
If you are a parent walking through a season of heartache of any kind with your adult child, this conversation will give you hard-won wisdom as to how to even begin to love and show up for your children, even when they are grown and living their own lives out of your home.
Episode 333- The Narrow Path with Rich Villodas
What does God invite us into in our pain? How do we learn to bring our honest emotions and thoughts to God?
Pastor and author Rich Villodas has learned and taught others the importance of choosing honesty through lament when it comes to engaging with feelings of grief, anxiety and every other emotion that is a part of the human condition. As he has pastored in one of the most diverse parts of the country, he has walked with many individuals through their own stories of pain from their families of origin, loss, and disappointment and has led them towards the invitation from God to confess and name what they are feeling while leaning into the practice of lament.
In his latest book, The Narrow Way: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls, Rich teaches how the Sermon on the Mount is an invitation to a countercultural way of living that will lead to peace, love, and fulfillment in a generation where anxiety, depression, and polarizing politics seem to lead the way.
In this episode, Aubrey and Rich talk about why vulnerability and inner work are so important for both leaders and lay people alike, how we can begin to address our pain, and the difference between good and bad self-awareness.
If you have found yourself running from the reality of your pain, this conversation will encourage you to take the brave step of facing what you're feeling and allow God to meet you in the truth of where you are.
Episode 332- The Gift of Limitations with Sara Hagerty
What do we do with all of our limitations? How do we begin to reframe the limits of our bodies and our lives in a way that allows God to use the boundary lines He has placed around us?
For speaker, author and mom of seven, Sara Hagerty, it was the many limits of her journey with infertility, motherhood, walking her kids through their own pain and grief after adoption, and the daily reminders of her finite ability to deal with all the challenges she was facing that led her to look at what God may be doing in her limitations. In her latest book, The Gift of Limitations: Finding Beauty in Your Boundaries, Sara explores how our limits may actually be the grace of God rather than a withholding of something better.
In this insightful conversation, Davey and Sara talk about what God may be doing in our limitations, how we can find the beauty in the small, and the power of naming our limits.
If you've ever found yourself discouraged by the very things that reveal your humanity, this episode will encourage you to reframe the way you see the boundaries in your life and find beauty in the gift of your God-given limitations.
Episode 331 - The Power of Personal Revival with Lisa Whittle
How do we live a more connected life with Jesus when this world offers so many distractions? What would it look like for individuals to experience personal revival in their own faith that could spark revival in other's lives as well?
For author, podcaster and Bible teacher Lisa Whittle, it was her own journey towards seeking more of God that led her to write about it. As a woman in ministry, Lisa has seen and faced many challenges, but through it all, she was able to find God more and more. By asking God for her own personal revival, Lisa began to see all the ways the enemy of her soul attempts to keep her from it. From people pleasing and anxiety to social media and the celebrity culture that has infiltrated the Christian spaces she has been in, Lisa knows that there are many things that can derail her from living out of a whole hearted devotion to God. It is why she decided to update and re-release her book, I Want God: How to Love Him with Your Whole Heart and Revive Your Soul. As God continued to draw her own heart into personal revival, she realized the message she wrote years ago had even more relevance for our current culture.
In this episode, Aubrey and Lisa talk about the challenges many women face in ministry and how to overcome them, what personal revival looks like in both seasons of normalcy and seasons of pain, and how the fear of man can keep us from the freedom God so longs to give us.
If you've ever desired to experience more of God in your own heart and life but don't know how, this conversation will teach you the simplicity of loving Him and reviving your soul in the process.
Episode 330 - Helping Our Kids and Teens Navigate Anxiety with Dr. Chinwé Williams
WARNING: This episode discusses teen suicide and may not be suitable for all audiences.
How do we begin to understand the staggering increase in mental health issues amongst teens? Why are the suicide rates moving in an upward trend, especially amongst younger children?
Our world has undoubtedly changed because of the advent of smart phones and social media, but no one could have predicted the impact these devices have had on our kids. Dr. Chinwé Williams, an author, speaker and teen and child mental health counselor, has seen the ways our current culture has effected youth in this country. Because of what she has seen clinically, she has been on a mission to help resource parents through her books and trainings with the tools they need to handle the challenges that many kids and teens are facing, including anxiety.
In this episode, Davey sits down with Dr. Williams to discuss the role empathy should play in helping our kids through difficulty, why we must first address our own issues with anxiety and the value in teaching our kids to develop grit in order to face whatever may come.
If you are a parent or if you are someone who has kids and teens in your life, this conversation will give you the tools you need to begin to recognize the signs and symptoms of anxiety and how you can help the kids you love through it.