When trauma enters our lives, it can be difficult to imagine a life beyond the pain and brokenness that we see. Many of us turn to the coping mechanisms we have learned over the years in hopes of finding relief from the hurt.

Yet often, we can find ourselves abandoning the one thing that can help put the broken pieces back together: connection.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Dr. Curt Thompson, author and psychiatrist, to discuss what healing looks like in the context of community and how hope can be found as we connect with one another in the midst of our painful stories.

Pain has a way of keeping us in the dark, of making sure that we don’t know how to cope and heal properly. When it feels like there’s nowhere else to turn, it’s all too easy to fall into harmful coping mechanisms and patterns that may deal with our pain in the moment, but only make things worse in the long run.

When Brittany Tinsley went through a painful season at a young age, this is exactly what happened to her. Unable to find anything else to make her feel better, Brittany discovered that, at least for a few moments, she could replace her greater emotional suffering with pain of a different kind.

Years of dealing with self harm left Brittany scarred both emotionally and physically, but thankfully that’s not the end of her story.

Brittany sits down with Davey to share some of her journey of healing and the wisdom she’s gained along the way.

On one fateful day, Jon Hagedorn gathered his wife and children to engage in a family tradition of theirs, something they did to make sure they always remembered God’s goodness and faithfulness. But they couldn’t have known how much that belief was going to be tested.

Mere hours later, Jon’s wife died suddenly. Facing life as a single father while dealing with his own grief, Jon had no choice to face the same questions that any of us would ask in that situation.

Is God really good or really faithful if he let this happen?

To conclude our Widowhood Series, Jon sits down with Davey to share his story and how he found a deeper, richer knowledge of God in the midst of unimaginable pain.

We all hope that our faith will leave a legacy, that our decisions to follow God even in the middle of incredible hardship will have affect the lives of people who haven’t even been born yet. Faithfulness, it turns out, has a way of rippling across generations to impact the lives of our children’s children’s children.

This is the story of Jim and Martha Blackburn. Having both lost their first spouses themselves, Jim and Martha found themselves in a unique position to minister to Davey, their grandson, in the wake of the loss of his late wife Amanda.

To continue our Widowhood Series, Davey sits down with his grandparents Jim and Martha as they share their story of loss, healing, faithfulness, and redemption.

There are certain words and phrases that we all dread to hear, and perhaps one of the worst is when a doctor says “cancer.” When Brandon Janous’ wife was diagnosed, he knew their family was in for a long, hard struggle. But sadly, Brandon’s wife wouldn’t make it through this season.

Suddenly left grieving one of the worst losses imaginable and with three children to take care of, Brandon found himself in an impossible situation.

In this installment of our Widowhood Series, Brandon sits down with Davey to share some of his story and what he’s learned about who God really is through this painful season.

Every partner of someone with an especially dangerous job has to face the reality that there is always a chance their husband or wife won’t make it home one day.

But no amount of theoretical expectations could have prepared Gracie Parrish for the day when two uniformed police officers showed up at her door to deliver the last piece of news she would have ever wanted.

Suddenly left as a single mother of two young children, Gracie found herself on a difficult journey that she could never have expected. To continue our widowhood series, Gracie sits down with Davey and Kristi to share her story of loss, grief, redemption, and newfound purpose.

The loss of a spouse is one of the deepest forms of pain that any of us can imagine. Marriage is one of life’s greatest joys, and when that is suddenly cut short, the pain that results is something that most of us can’t even begin to imagine.

Ron Hutchcraft, however, doesn’t have to imagine. In 2016, Ron’s wife of more than 50 years passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Through this unbelievable pain, Ron found a new, deeper understanding of God.

To kick off our Widowhood Series, Ron sits down with Davey to share his story of loss and healing, and how we can find hope in the middle of our deepest pain.

We are so honored to be releasing the 200th episode of the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast! We love hearing how much God is doing in our listeners’ lives as they hear the incredible stories and unbelievable wisdom that our guests have to share.

But sometimes, when we focus on everyone else, it’s easy to forget that God is writing a powerful story in our own lives.

To celebrate 200 episodes of this podcast, Davey and Aubrey share a bit about what’s been going on in their own lives, and how their relationships with God have deepened through the highs and lows of the last year.

If you’re following what’s happening at Nothing Is Wasted Ministries, you probably know that last week was a significant week for us.

Last Monday, the trial was set to begin for the man accused of murdering Amanda Blackburn, Davey’s late wife.

More than six years later, this chapter of the story was finally ready to come to an end. However, mere minutes before the trial was set to start, a careless mistake caused it to be declared a mistrial.

Now facing several more months of waiting, it seems like this season will never end, and we’re left asking “Where is God in this?”

On this special episode of the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast, Davey shares his reflections on the failed trial, and what God is teaching him and all of us when we’re stuck waiting.

As a prolific pastor, speaker, and author, Scott Sauls has helped countless people in their own journeys in life. His wisdom didn’t come easy, though.

Having walked through childhood trauma, anxiety, depression, and so much more, Scott is well acquainted with pain and suffering.

But in the middle of these trials, Scott has found a deeper, richer knowledge of God, and a calling to share that knowledge with as many people as possible.

Scott sits down with Davey to share a bit of his story and some of the wisdom he’s learned along the way.

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.

Claire Culwell’s story in one that has to be heard to be believed. As the adopted daughter of two loving parents, Claire eventually found herself wanting to meet her birth mother. When she was finally able to, she could never have foreseen how that first conversation would go.

What Claire’s birth mother revealed to her on that day would shock Claire to her very core, and her life would never be the same.

Claire sits down with Davey to share her unbelievable story and how she’s learned more about God, forgiveness, and the value of life through this incredible journey.

What do we do when life doesn’t go the way we think it should? What do these seasons mean for our faith?

When Mitchel Lee was stepping into professional ministry, he thought he had a clear path ahead in life. After all, he was serving God full time. Certainly everything would go right, wouldn’t it?

But Mitchel soon learned, as so many of us do, that life rarely goes the way we plan. When disappointments and trials come our way, what does that mean for our faith?

Mitchel sits down with Davey to share his story and how he’s found a deeper, more authentic faith by embracing the idea that God is still good even if life lets us down.

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.

Suicide is an epidemic that is claiming an unimaginable amount of lives in our country and around the world today.

And while the church should be a bastion of hope that people can cling to in those dark moments when they contemplate taking their own lives, that isn’t always the case.

Far too many Christians are content to stay quiet on this issue, to turn a blind eye and hope the problem just goes away. Dr. Matthew Sleeth is not one of them.

As a former ER doctor, Matthew has seen people tragically lose their lives to suicide too many times, and he’s made it his mission to try to change that.

Matthew sits down with Davey to share some of the wisdom he’s gleaned about this topic over the years and why it’s a critical conversation for the church to have right now.

At a young age, Naomi Widmer experienced sexual and spiritual abuse that would haunt her for years to come. Naomi would go on to carry the pain of these early events for decades, unable to find true healing anywhere she looked. That is, until she met Teresa Glantz.

Teresa’s story is not too dissimilar from Naomi’s. She’s gone through similar pain and trauma, and has walked a long, hard healing journey. Teresa is one of our Pain to Purpose Certified Guides, and she walked Naomi step by step along a path that has led to true, lasting healing.

Naomi and Teresa sit down with Davey to share their story of finding each other and how Teresa’s pain journey led to her being an agent of healing in Naomi’s life.

We often say that pain is the common denominator of life. But while that is true, there is another common denominator: laughter. Even in the middle of the darkest seasons, we all find ourselves laughing at times. It’s a part of the human experience, just like pain. Michael Jr. knows this firsthand.

As a comedian, his job is to make people laugh. But Michael’s comedy is far from an escape that tries to pretend that pain doesn’t exist. Through his own painful experiences and the stories of others that he’s witnessed, Michael has learned how laughter can reach us in our pain and bring newfound hope.

Michael sits down with Davey to share some of his story and the wisdom he’s gained along the journey.

Many of us would love nothing more than to forget the worst things that have happened to us. We want to keep them secret, to pretend that if we don’t talk or even think about them then maybe they didn’t ever really happen. We try to replace redemption with forgetfulness, and end up carrying pain that goes unhealed for far too long as a result.

This was Kelly Olson’s story when she experienced a sexual assault as a freshman in college. Kelly kept her pain quiet for years, until one day she learned firsthand the power of a shared story.

Now Kelly makes it her mission to help others experience the same kind of healing that she did. Kelly sits down with Davey to share her story and what she’s learned about the true meaning of redemption along the journey.

Crystal Paine is known to many as “The Money Saving Mom.” With a new book out on parenting, she has a reputation as a person with a lot of wisdom to share on parenting, finances, and more.

But Crystal’s wisdom didn’t come easy. When she went through a rough season with one of her children, Crystal learned all over again what it truly means to be a parent, and at the same time how deeply we are each loved by God.

Crystal sits down with Davey to share some of this story and the wisdom she’s gleaned along the way.

Ryan joins Davey to share some of his incredible story and what he’s learned from this journey.

Ryan Atkins started college like many others, full of plans, ambitions, and hopes for what he thought a successful life would look like. But all of that changed in an instant when an accident left Ryan paralyzed from the neck down.

Finding himself thrust into what seemed like a hopeless situation, Ryan learned what faith truly means and found a deeper hope beyond this life.

Ryan joins Davey to share some of his incredible story and what he’s learned from this journey.