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Episode 326 - Leading Through Pain with Toni Collier

What do we do when we are a leader and our life as we know it unravels? How do we continue to lead in the depths of our pain?

For ministry leader, author, speaker and podcaster Toni Collier, she thought she was finally living her redemption story in her second marriage, only to watch her relationship crumble very quickly when she learned of continued betrayal within it. Immediately after getting some of the most devastating news of her life, she saw God's kindness in that she was just doors down from some of her best friends. It was this group of women, some of the members of her confessional community and the constant reminders of God's with-ness, what she calls "God Winks," that sustained her through a very public divorce and all that followed. As she walked through the heartache of losing the marriage that she thought was an answer to her past pain, she learned how to lead in the midst of her greatest hurts. By sharing vulnerably her story and what she was dealing with in real time, she offered others the freedom to speak out and share their own suffering. She continues to offer women the opportunity to find healing through her ministry, Broken Crayons Still Color, and her podcast, Still Coloring.

In this honest and raw conversation with Davey, Toni shares what it looks like to lead through our pain, why we need to pay attention to God's goodness in our hurt, and how a confessional community can help us heal.

If you're a leader walking through the unexpected and wondering how you can keep going in the middle of it, this episode will serve as a reminder that even in our brokenness, God can use our lives to color a beautiful picture of His grace and redemption in life for others.

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Episode 294 - Helping Men Find Strength and Tenderness After Trauma with Chris Bruno

When it comes to addressing trauma in our stories, it can seem as though cultural expectations and the messages received as young boys can keep men from engaging in their pain and ultimately, experiencing true healing. How can men better address their stories of hurt and heartache in a way that helps them to move forward with both strength and tenderness?

Counselor and author Chris Bruno began to see a pattern emerge in his own story and in the countless others of those he counseled. Men who didn't receive a clear path in terms of their journey from boyhood to manhood and who didn't address their wounds, often struggled with maladaptive behavior patterns that hurt themselves and others. When there wasn't intentional attunement to their stories of pain, their lives and the ones around them were deeply impacted. It was through this realization that Chris based the work in his practice and his books in order to help men find a way through the terrain of their own hearts and lives into the healing and redemption that God intended. His latest book, Sage: A Man's Guide into his Second Passage, helps men navigate midlife and beyond.

In this deep conversation, Davey sits down with Chris to talk about how there is always a story behind our behaviors, the impact of how boys are raised in their emotional health as men, and the stages of every man's journey.

This episode is a reminder that God longs to enter into the painful parts of our story and help us find a way to turn that pain into tender strength for those around us.

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Episode 288 - Releasing Shame and Finding Grace in Our Stories with Ines Franklin

What do you do if much of your pain is caused by your own choices? How do you begin to break free from shame and find God's grace in your past?

For author, pastor and Bible teacher, Ines Franklin the journey towards healing has taken some time, but God has been with her every step of the way. Having grown up without a father, Ines found the wounds of her past and her own decisions led her to living with immense shame. She divorced twice, had two abortions, and had been engaged in an affair. When she came to know Jesus, she still carried around the scars that her pain and shame had left on her.

As she began to more fully embrace the gift of God's grace in her life and as she told her story more openly, she started to see the shame lift and God used her brokenness to help others. In her latest book, Uncharted: Navigating Your Unique Journey of Faith, Ines looks at how each of us have our own road to walk when it comes to our faith and how even our greatest struggles can be used as a part of God's greater plan for our lives.

In this episode, guest host Vaneetha Risner sits down with Ines to discuss how to disentangle shame from our stories, learning to understand God's grace in our lives and the importance of absorbing the pain we've caused others.

If part of your pain is because of your own decisions, this conversation will encourage you that God can use even your worst choices to bring about healing and hope for yourself and others.

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Episode 281 - Better Than Okay after Your Marriage Ends with Brandi Wilson

How do you begin to pick up the pieces when your life shatters in an instant? What do you do when your ministry and your family seem to crumble in a moment? How do you move forward after signing divorce papers?

For former pastor's wife and author, Brandi Wilson, she could not have imagined the way her story would go. She had helped to build an incredibly successful church with her then-husband and had served faithfully alongside him as the congregation grew and thrived. Then, she found her whole world come crashing down when her husband decided to leave the church and their marriage. Not only did Brandi have to navigate the personal pain, but there was also the very public attention on her greatest sorrow. It was through her journey towards healing that Brandi learned how to endure the darkest seasons of life and find hope on the other side. She would go on to share her personal story of pain and healing in her new book, Better Than Okay: Finding Hope and Healing After Your Marriage Ends.

In this vulnerable episode, Davey sits down with Brandi to talk about what to do when you see signs of unhealthy patterns in your marriage, how to shepherd your kids through the pain of divorce and the best ways we can show up for those who have endured the loss of a marriage in church and in life.

You don't have to have experienced the loss of a marriage to be encouraged by this conversation on finding hope, healing and restoration after our most terrible days.

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Episode 261-Good Boundaries and Goodbyes with Lysa TerKeurst

Boundaries can feel impossible sometimes, especially if you have lived your life without them. How do you begin to draw the line when it comes to what you are willing to accept in a relationship? How do you know when it is beyond the point of healing and time to let go of a toxic relationship?

Author, speaker and Bible teacher Lysa TerKeurst never dreamed that her life would look the way it does now. After finding out about her husband's infidelity, Lysa was committed to healing and restoration of her marriage. But as time went by, Lysa endured the most difficult season of her life and had to face the most difficult decision. Ultimately, her marriage ended and she was left to pick up the pieces. As she has walked the journey of healing, she has begun to see how her own inability to set boundaries contributed to the chaos in her relationship.

In this episode, Lysa talks to Aubrey about how boundaries are not just a good thing but also a God thing, how to determine the amount of access someone should have in our lives and why boundaries can keep the best of who we are front and center.

If you find yourself putting clear boundaries up, especially in relationships that need them most, this conversation will give you the courage to live in a way that will help you and those you love flourish.

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Episode 255-The Importance of Engaging Your Story and Trauma with Adam Young

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.

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Episode 224 - Redemption Out of the Dust with Chris and Steph Teague

What happens when the life you've built turns to dust? For Steph Teague, it began with just a few short sentences: "I don't think I believe in God anymore and I want a divorce".

Hearing those words from her high school sweetheart, Chris, was devastating and yet, she slowly began to rebuild her life after such a deep hurt. Chris was on a seemingly separate journey through addiction, doubts, and deconstruction.

In time, the Lord got a hold of Chris' heart and he experienced true life transformation, only to realize the mistake he had made in leaving his wife. Through God's kindness, the two would later reconcile, remarry and go on to start a band called Out of the Dust, where they would write songs of the loss and redemption in their story.

Join Davey, Chris, and Steph as they talk about how to trust God when those we love wrestle with doubts and deconstruction, healing a marriage after brokenness, and the importance of community in whatever pain we face.

This episode is an encouragement for anyone who feels like life's circumstances are beyond repair and who longs for redemption out of the dust.

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Episode 197 - Taylor Carlier

As kids, many of us tend to idolize our parents. And while we all eventually come to see them as imperfect humans like ourselves, for some that revelation is truer than others.

Taylor Carlier thought she had a great family and a close, healthy relationship with her parents, until one shocking realization about her father set that relationship on a course that would change it forever.

As Taylor endured years of new betrayals, revelations, and deeper hurts from someone that should have been so much more for her, she gained hard-earned wisdom and firsthand knowledge about healing, forgiveness, and restoration.

Taylor, now the producer of this very podcast, sits down with Davey and Aubrey to share her story and some of what she’s learned along the way.

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Episode 168 - Lysa Terkeurst

For most of us, forgiveness is a tricky subject. We know in our minds that it’s the right thing to do, and we probably try to forgive minor offenses as best we can. But when we are wronged in a much larger sense, forgiveness feels like the last thing we want to do. Lysa Terkeurst is all too familiar with that feeling. Not only is she a hugely successful ministry leader and bestselling author, but Lysa has walked through incredible amounts of hurt in her own life. Through this journey, Lysa has learned what forgiveness really is and how it unlocks the door for us to heal from our own wounds regardless of whether or not we are reconciled with those that wounded us. Lysa sits down with Davey to share some of what she’s learned about forgiveness and reconciliation, and the ways they factor into bringing healing in each of our stories.

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Episode 163 - Vaneetha Risner

Most of us believe in God in our minds. We think all the right things, that God is in control, that he is good, that nothing is wasted. But when these beliefs only live in our head, there’s only so far they can take us. It’s when we walk through intense suffering that these ideas move from our heads to our hearts, and that’s when God truly becomes real to us. Vaneetha Risner knows this all too well. Through chronic disease, miscarriage, sexual betrayal, the loss of a child, and more, Vaneetha has come to know God deeply through unimaginable pain. Vaneetha sits down with Davey to share some how she’s learned to thrive in the midst of suffering by taking back her story.

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Episode 153 - Marriage Series - Hilarie and Joe Barry

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.

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Episode 115 - Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs Pt. 2

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.

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Episode 114 - Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs Pt. 1

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.

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Episode 113 - Michele Cushatt

Michele Cushatt was already no stranger to pain and hardship when she faced her biggest challenge yet. Michele made her living as a successful communicator, which made it that much more heartbreaking when a doctor told her she had cancer in her tongue. They removed the cancer, and it came back again and again, until Michele was left in a state of constant pain for months and with effects that would last the rest of her life. Michele sits down with Davey to talk about her new book Relentless and how she’s learned how to walk with God through so many trials.

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Episode 83 - Sexual Betrayal Series - Kristin and Michael Cary

Kristin and Michael were both married to different people, but their relationships shared some dark common threads. Michael said “I do” for the first time hoping that marriage would be the answer to his addiction to pornography. Kristin’s fiancé had confessed the same struggles to her before they were married, but she thought they were in the past. But when neither husband dealt with the underlying issues, the results were the same. Addiction gave way to infidelity, and neither marriage survived. Now Michael and Kristin sit down with Davey to talk about how they found each other, healed from the brokenness of their pasts, and found purpose in helping others in the conclusion to our Sexual Betrayal Series.

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Episode 80 - Sexual Betrayal Series - Karissa and Cameron Sprinkle Pt. 2

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.

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Episode 79 - Sexual Betrayal Series - Karissa and Cameron Sprinkle Pt. 1

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.

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Episode 74 - Molly Huffman

It’s hard enough when one challenge hits your life, but what if it’s not just one? Sometimes trials don’t come alone, and we can find ourselves walking through one difficult season after another. Every new circumstance brings new levels of pain and grief, and it can be hard to draw near to God when everything seems to be going wrong. This is exactly what Molly Huffman faced. After her mother’s death, a miscarriage, the loss of her newborn son, and a divorce, it seemed like the whole world was against her.

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Episode 38 - Lysa Terkeurst

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.

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