How do we move through our deepest hurts in marriage? What do we do when the marriage we envisioned is not the one we are living in?

For authors and podcast hosts Aaron and Jennifer Smith, the difficulty they endured in the early days in their marriage made them wonder if they would even make it as a couple. Troubles with physical intimacy and disappointment threatened to undo their union. It took them learning to be vulnerable and transparent within safe Biblical community for God to start to heal the places of brokenness in their marriage. And it was through learning how to be honest with others that God began to reveal an opportunity for them to serve others in their marriages by sharing about their own. Through the Marriage After God podcast and their many books on marriage, including their latest, The Marriage Gift: A Daily Devotional Journey to Inspire, Encourage, and Transform Us and Our Prayer Life, the Smiths have been able to help others find healing in their relationships and to turn to God every step of the way.

In this insightful conversation with Davey, Aaron and Jennifer share how the struggles in their marriage taught them the power of prayer, how community can be an agent of healing in our relationships, and the way God can use our own vulnerability to welcome others to share their pain.

If you're in a season of difficulty in your marriage or know someone who is, this episode will encourage you to keep praying, even when you feel like giving up.

How does the gospel apply in the loss of a marriage? Where can everyone involved find hope after the pain of divorce?

Having grown up as a pastor's kid of a world renowned theologian, John Piper, Barnabas Piper knew the right theological answers in life. It was through his own personal journey of pain after an unwanted divorce that led him to a newfound understanding of God's grace and mercy in his hurt and ultimately, his life. Since then, as a pastor, Barnabas has been able to help others through their own feelings of shame and heartache and has pointed them to the ways in which the gospel applies to all.

In this honest conversation, Nothing is Wasted guest host, Eric Schumacher sits down with Barnabas to talk about the transition between theological knowledge into a true understanding, what the gospel says to everyone who is affected by a divorce, and how the Church can love people well through the pain of a broken marriage.

This episode is for anyone who has walked through or has loved someone who has walked through a divorce as it reminds us all that God's redemptive love and the hope of the gospel applies to every pain we will ever endure.

How do we take the immense heartaches we experience and use them for God's glory? How do we continue to trust in the Lord's goodness when our experience feels quite the opposite in our pain?

For author Tim Challies, losing his 20 year old son tragically and unexpectedly gave him the opportunity to lean into all he believed to be true about God as he resolved to steward his sorrow well. Through his writing of his book, Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God, Tim gave a real-time account of his grieving process and his ultimate conclusion that God was still good and the provider of comfort even in our greatest losses. His writing was not only a way for his own heart to process and heal, but it has become a beacon of hope to so many others encountering their own sorrows and pain.

In this episode, Tim sits down with Aubrey to discuss what it looks like to lead our family through pain when we too are enduring it, how writing can be a helpful part of healing and the importance of knowing our true identity in the face of our losses.

Losing a child is an agonizing and heartbreaking experience and yet Tim's reminder to all of us, whether we have known that kind of pain or not, is that God is our ultimate comfort.

How do you stay afloat when it feels like waves of grief and trauma keep crashing over you? How can you keep a marriage together when it feels like everything is trying to tear you apart?

For Jeff and Sarah Walton, navigating the relentless storms of a child's neurological challenges, losing a job, and the impact of Lyme disease in their home seemed impossible. It felt like the story of Job where every aspect of their lives were touched by pain and suffering. In writing their book, Together Through the Storms: Biblical Encouragements for Your Marriage When Life Hurts, they shared their own journey through the unending trials of life and how they continue to find hope in the midst of all the pain they have endured and are still facing.

In this conversation, Davey sits down with Jeff and Sarah to talk about how God's Word can be a lifeline in the storms of life, why honest lament is a gift, how to endure suffering with hope as a couple and where to even begin when talking to our kids about the trials we endure as a family.

If you need to be encouraged by those who are still in the storm, this episode will show you that you can ride the waves between the reality you are living and the hope you have for a better future and find Jesus right where you are.

How do we create safe environments for our children when it comes to emotions? How do we allow those within our home to feel like they can share their feelings and find healing when there is disconnection?

Dr. Josh and Christi Straub have been on a mission to teach families what emotional health looks like and how to prioritize it in the home. Having worked with many ministry and business leaders who have experienced moral failures, they have seen first hand how emotional unhealth can destroy a family. It is why they started Famous At Home, to provide resources and coaching to families struggling with how to deal with emotions. Their work has led them to help families through books, their podcast and coaching not only name what they are feeling, but know how to navigate the uncomfortable emotions. It was also through their own personal story that they learned what can truly help in the emotional chaos of life. When Christi found herself on what she describes as "the bottom rung of life" after difficult pregnancies and exhaustion from parenthood, Josh and Christi leaned into the pain and found a way through. It wasn't just one thing, but a plethora of practices, communication and support that led them through that season.

In this conversation, Davey, Josh and Christi talk about why we need to be known in order to be emotionally healthy, what are kids need most (and it's not perfection!), and how to get curious about our emotional responses in order to gain insight into what is truly happening within us.

Families need to know how to talk about and handle the different emotions that come on ordinary days and in the days when facing a trauma or crisis. This episode will give you the tools to start the conversations that will lead to greater freedom and healing in your home.

How do you lead when your own story is full of pain? What is the cost of control when it comes to ministry, leadership and marriage?

For Ike and Sharon Hodde Miller, learning to navigate the difficulties in ministry these past few years since church planting and a pandemic has led to some insight into their own hearts. As an adult child of an alcoholic, Ike began to see the way his past was impacting his leadership. Sharon started to notice how her desire for control came at a cost to her soul and her relationships. Together, they have done the important work of healing their own wounds and stories while recognizing what they needed to let go of in order to be healthy leaders of Bright City Church in Durham, NC.

In this honest conversation, Ike and Sharon talk with Aubrey about how to lead in a divisive climate, what happens when we reach for control as leaders, and the importance of boundaries in marriage when we lead together.

Whether you're a leader in ministry, business or your home, this episode will encourage you to do the vital inner work to bring healing to your interior world so that you can lead out of health and wholeness.

So often, we tend to think very little about our story and how our past impacts our present. But, what if the key to healing the wounds we are experiencing now is inextricably tied to engaging our whole story including our past?

For professional counselor and podcaster Adam Young, it was when he began to engage his story, the wounds of his past and his family of origin, that he started to see the ways in which God wanted to meet him in his pain. This idea of not just dealing with the symptoms of past wounds, but looking at the arc of our lives became the most important tool Adam had in his private practice with others who were wanting to heal from the past. It also connected perfectly with what we know to be true about the human brain and how it makes sense of the things that have happened to us.

In this deeply profound conversation, Davey and Adam talk about why it is so important to engage our stories, the difference between trauma and adversity, how to handle people who have wounded us, and how this work can lead to healing and health in our relationships, including our closest ones like in our marriage.

If you've ever wondered how to connect the dots between your earliest memories and what you are experiencing now, this episode is full of insightful wisdom on how to step into your story with compassion and curiosity.

How do you prepare yourself for loss? What do you do in the days before your world encounters a seismic shift? Can you ever truly be ready to face your greatest pain?

For Melissa Swain, nothing could fully prepare her for the unexpected loss of her husband, Chris, in 2021 but in the days long before such a tragic grief, she had made the decision to trust God no matter what. Just a few years before in 2019, her family faced the unexpected death of her brother, Aaron. In a way, the Lord used that difficult time to prepare her heart for more grief she would walk through as a widow. As Melissa wrestled through the pain of losing her sibling and then her husband, she was faced with more unexpected circumstances when the fate of her husband's almost finished manuscript laid in the hands of his publisher. Was she the one to take his work and bring it across the finish line? She did and the book they completed unexpectedly together called "Write it On Their Hearts: Practical Help for Discipling Your Kids" was not only a way to keep her connected to Chris after his death, but it also served as a means for him to continue to love and parent his children in the days that followed while helping other families as well.

In this candid conversation, Davey talks with Melissa about what it looks like to grieve well, why our pre-decisions about God are so important when it comes to preparing us for pain, and how to wait on God when you aren't sure what is next.

If you've ever wondered how you could prepare your heart for the suffering that inevitably comes this side of heaven, Melissa's hard-won wisdom will encourage you to decide who you think God is before you ever get that phone call that changes everything.

We all come into marriage with our past hurts and hangups. How do you begin to untangle the knots from your previous life and start to build a new, healthy one together? What do you do when shame seems to overshadow everything within your relationship?

For Quinton and Tameca Graham, it took a lot of open communication and grace from God in order to heal their hearts individually and together in their marriage. Tameca's past of being a teen mom in a single-parent home plus the trauma she endured made it hard to feel worthy for the love of Quinton. Quinton, a pastor who had his own story of heartbreak, wasn't quick to give up and stepped into the difficulties in order to have a thriving marriage.

Together, their own stories plus their one together have become a ministry to other couples struggling to learn how to walk through past trauma into the freedom and joy God has for them. In this conversation, Quinton and Tameca share with Davey how past trauma showed up in their relationship, how they helped each other through their story, and why shame needs to be healed.

This episode is a powerful reminder that our past hurts are opportunities to serve and minister to others in their struggles and through it, we can all better see God's glory unfold.

For too many of the brave men and women who serve in our armed forces, death isn’t an abstract concept. It’s something they face every day.

But that doesn’t make it any easier to face when the person you love most in this world dies. That was what happened to both Jim and Ginger Ravella.

They both lost their spouses at an early age, and it sent them reeling. Their story is one of incredible pain and loss, but also unbelievable hope and a picture of God’s provision and redemption that is at work in each of our lives, even when it might not seem like it.

In this special conversation to honor Veteran’s Day, Jim and Ginger sit down with Davey to share their stories and some of the wisdom they’ve learned along the way.

One of the most defining characteristics of marriage is the promise of faithfulness. There is something sacred that happens when we stand before God and promise to love one person only, until death do us part. But for far too many, that promise ends up broken. Too often, we’re left asking “what now?” That was Hilarie and Joe Barry’s story. Both the product of a previous failed marriage, everything came crashing down in their lives when Hilarie discovered that Joe had repeatedly been unfaithful. In this installment of our marriage series, Hilarie and Joe sit down with Davey to share what it looked like to walk through this season and how they’ve taken back their story, and their marriage, from the clutches of infidelity.

Most divorce stories don’t end in remarriage, but Jeff and Cheryl Scruggs are the exception. After seven years apart, the couple and their daughters were a whole family once again. But a wedding is only the start of a marriage, and Jeff and Cheryl’s second wedding was only their first step into a long journey of learning what a Godly marriage really looks like. Jeff and Cheryl return to talk more with Davey about what life has looked like since they remarried and the things they’ve learned along the way.

With a wife and two daughters, Jeff Scruggs thought he had everything he could want in life. His wife Cheryl felt differently. Dissatisfaction in the marriage eventually led to an affair, and no matter how hard Jeff fought for their marriage, the couple soon found themselves divorced. But the death of their marriage wasn’t the end of their story. Lonely and hurt, Cheryl and Jeff met Jesus and after years apart they began the slow, hard work of reconciliation. Jeff and Cheryl sit down with Davey to share their story of divorce, salvation, reconciliation, remarriage, and more.

Cameron and Karissa’s lives were changed in an instant, but that night was really only the tipping point in a long journey. Issues left unresolved for years had grown to their climax when Cameron confessed his affair to Karissa. But that night was also only the tip of the iceberg in their healing. The confession was a first step, but there was an unimaginable load of hard work between the two of them and the healing that they hoped for. In the second part of their conversation, Cameron and Karissa share some of the long road they walked to find healing and restoration on the other side of brokenness.

It’s easy to put people in ministry on a pedestal, to expect that they have their lives together. No one expects the people they see on stage on a Sunday to fall from grace. But a strong exterior life can sometimes only mask deeper problems, as Karissa Sprinkle found out when her husband Cameron walked into their home one night and made a confession that would change both of their lives forever. Cameron and Karissa’s journey hasn’t been easy, but it’s an incredible story of pain and healing, hopelessness and hope, failure and redemption. In the first part of their interview, Cameron and Karissa kick off our series on sexual betrayal by sharing some of the most painful parts of their story and how God was with them even then.

It might be hard to find a Christian woman in America whose life hasn’t been changed by Lysa TerKeurst. Her organization, Proverbs 31 Ministries, is one of the largest Christian women’s ministries, and thousands upon thousands have been helped by her best-selling books and prolific speaking. But if you think this success translates to an easy life, you’d be wrong. She’s walked through health scares, a cancer diagnosis, her husband’s affair, and so much more. Lysa sits down with Davey to talk about walking with faith through unimaginable hardship.

Carlos Whittaker joins Davey on the podcast this month to share ... in the most authentic and vulnerable way you've ever heard ... his story.  They talk about following Jesus in the ups and downs of life and ministry, Carlos shares some of his lowest moments and how he's learned to find and kill the spiders in his life.