What do you do when fear wants to rule your life after loss? How do you find freedom when anxiety threatens to steal your peace?

For Katie Piazza, it was the truth from God and His Word that set her free from what could have been a life full of unending anxiety. After losing her young daughter Colette to cancer, Katie faced a decision that would be difficult for any mother to make: would she allow fear and despair to rule over her life and home or would she choose the antidote to fear, Jesus? Though a long and difficult journey, Katie choose to place her hope in Christ even after such a devastating loss. From that, she has experienced freedom like never before.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Katie to talk about how to reconcile God's goodness in the midst of terrible circumstances, where to place our hope when life is hard, and how to live unafraid of the future in spite of all the pain and grief we face.

You don't have to know the deep ache of losing a child to encounter the incredible encouragement Katie's story and faith offers to anyone who wrestles with fear, despair or regret in a broken world.

In this episode, Megan joins Davey to talk about learning to take difficult seasons step by step, why knowing the truth of God's Word matters in the midst of it and how community can help us along the way in our pain.

Whether infertility is part of your story or not, this conversation will teach you how to walk in your own hurt over the loss of a dream as well as how to help others through theirs.

How do you grieve what never was? What does it look like when your grief is over a dream rather than a reality?

For Megan Smalley, learning to navigate the unseen grief and pain of infertility was difficult and at times, lonely. Megan experienced the whole range of emotions that came through her initial diagnosis of infertility to the arduous, sometimes discouraging path through IVF to the wrestlings that came after three miracle babies. At no point was her journey easy, but within it, God had important lessons and unending comfort to guide her through. And from that, she was able to in turn help others walking a similar path through an online community called The Infertility Sisterhood.

In this episode, Megan joins Davey to talk about learning to take difficult seasons step by step, why knowing the truth of God's Word matters in the midst of it and how community can help us along the way in our pain.

Whether infertility is part of your story or not, this conversation will teach you how to walk in your own hurt over the loss of a dream as well as how to help others through theirs.

How do you find your way back to faith when grief seems to tear it apart? For Pastor John Onwuchekwa, losing his brother Sam sent him down a path that he never expected.

Having spent his whole life teaching others about the goodness and power of God, John found himself questioning the very foundational truths he so often preached.

Grief made him feel like a liar. But he slowly began to see that it was in the wrestling that these truths and others he hadn't learned, could be found.

Through community, honesty with God and persistence, John traveled the road back from what seemed like a lost belief into a deeper faith than he ever could have imagined.

In this episode, join Davey as he and John talk about the importance of others walking with us in grief, the wrestlings that can come out of loss and why hindsight is better than insight.

If you are finding yourself drifting off the path of faith in your pain, this conversation will encourage you to find your way back.

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.

What do you do when you realize the things you've been taught don't quite match up with God's Word? How do you navigate when what you believed to be true of the body of Christ doesn't hold up when you need care and protection?

For Carlie Tice Cleveland, experiencing an abusive relationship was painful enough yet more hurt was heaped upon her when the response of Christian leaders was shaming and blaming. It was through that difficult season that Carlie began to rightfully question some of the lessons she had learned through the years about purity.

Her questions led her to untangle some prescriptive religious rules that ignored the heart of God's purpose in pursuing purity. In this episode, Carlie and Davey talk about the heart of the matter when it comes to sexual ethics, warning signs in abusive relationships and the importance of deconstructing ideas that don't align with scripture.

This conversation is so important for those who know or love young people who may be wrestling with what purity truly means.

What if your worst-case scenario happened? Could you still say that God is good? For military spouse Liset Navas, those questions prompted a searching and wrestling with God long before she lost her husband, US Marine Captain Mo Navas in combat in 2020.

Just days before the world shut down from Covid, Liset got the knock at the door that no military wife wants to receive.

In her grief, Liset found that she had to answer those hard questions about God and His goodness while walking her four young children through the painful loss of their father.

In this episode, Davey has a conversation with Liset about the importance of numbering our days as well as our spouse's, grieving with hope, and leaning into the fears and doubts that come before and after a loss.

Whether or not you are a military spouse, this episode is a powerful challenge for us all to keep a heavenward perspective about life and learn to live each day to the fullest.

What do you do when loss reveals more questions than answers? How do you navigate the doubts and anger that come when God doesn't answer a prayer or longing?

For Abbey Wedgeworth, finding beauty in the valley of miscarriage was no easy feat. It was through her wrestling in her pain, that she began to see the lessons her heart needed to learn, even though her mind knew the truth of God's Word.

While Abbey was well-versed in her knowledge of God's truth, the loss of a pregnancy brought a deeper understanding of the goodness of God in moments where she may not have fully felt it. And it was in one of her greatest pains that God brought forth an important and needed ministry for other women walking through a similar loss.

In this raw and honest episode, Davey and Abbey talk about what it looks like bring our honest questions to God, the ways suffering can teach us to depend on the Lord in a new way, and the humility pain and lament offer us.

You don't have to have experienced a miscarriage to glean from this rich conversation and find beauty in your own valley, whatever it may be.

After a near-death experience, how do you return to life? For Micah McElveen, it took almost losing his life to begin to live fully alive.

After diving head first into a wave as a teen, Micah found his story taking an unexpected turn due to a near fatal injury. In what can only be explained as a miracle, God gave Micah a second-chance at life and the realization that life was truly a vapor.

It was from the difficult journey through the physical, emotional and spiritual pain that God showed Micah the purpose He had for him. Years later, Micah began a world-changing ministry called Vapor that serves the most marginalized and in need people around the globe through clean water, medical care and meeting other physical needs while sharing the gospel.

It is through that work and his own story of suffering that Micah has been given a unique perspective on what it means to live fully alive, how to find purpose when life threatens to take it away, and the importance of caring for the least of these in the world.

Davey sits down with Micah for an important conversation that will help you look at your own story and know that you are alive to make a difference.

"We're letting you go." It's the words no employee wants to hear and yet, job loss is at a staggering high. What do you do when the company you've given your time and talents to tells you they no longer have a place for you?

Job loss and unemployment is more than just a financial loss, it can lead to a spectrum of emotional, spiritual and mental pain points as well.

Dale Kreienkamp knows all too well about the feelings that can come after being let go, having experienced it not once, but twice in his career as an executive.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Dale to talk about how to wrestle through the emotions of losing a job, practical steps to take in the waiting, and how to help those we love who may be going through unemployment.

Whether or not you personally are walking through this, you'll want to listen to this episode to gain insight on what to do when life takes an unexpected turn.

Have you ever asked yourself how life can be good again after a devastating loss? Have you found yourself having to learn to depend on God in your deepest pain?

Author and speaker Lisa Appelo knows all too well what it looks like to search for meaning and joy in life when your world falls apart. In the summer of 2011, she found herself a widow and single mom of seven children after the sudden, tragic loss of her husband, Dan.

Davey chats with Lisa about how she walked her children through their own painful grief, how death revealed her idol of self-sufficiency and how she learned to lean on God for everything in her journey towards healing.

Whether or not you have lost a spouse, Lisa's wisdom on how pain can shape us and wake us up to eternity is for you. Her story is a reminder, no matter what your pain, that life can be good again.

For many Americans, the recent headlines about the war in Ukraine came as a shock, but for the people living in the reality of the conflict, life has felt unstable for quite some time.

Ukrainian missionaries Yuriy and Madison Perekotiy know firsthand what it is like to live in a place where wars and rumors of wars exist as part of daily life. But when the most recent invasion happened while they were in the United States for a visit, the helplessness of being so far from home and the people they know, love and serve became a difficult reality to bear.

In this episode, Davey and Kristi have a candid conversation with the Perekotiy's about what is happening across the globe in Ukraine, the trauma that war can unleash on so many and how others can step in and help, no matter where they are.

If you've been watching the news and feeling at a loss as to what to do, you won't want to miss the insight and honesty the Perekotiy's share about how we as believers can help the most vulnerable in the world right now.

In a world so broken, it is no wonder that division can be seen everywhere, even within the walls of the Church. The past few years especially have shone a light on how pervasive the sin of racism still exists to this day within our communities and within the body of Christ.

Through his own personal experiences and his study of God's word, former NFL player turned pastor, Derwin Gray, has a vision for how healing can come where there is so much pain when it comes to the topic of race.

The early Church proves that God's desire for His people is diversity and healing our divides is possible through the power of Christ's resurrection.

Davey talks with Pastor Derwin Gray about what it looks like to heal our racial divide, encouragement for those who have experienced racial trauma, how to deal with the sin of racism in our hearts and a hope for a future in which we all see the beauty in God's design.

Let this conversation embolden you to become an agent of change in your church, your community, and your home.

When it comes to our struggles with our emotions, pain and story, one of the most difficult by-products to navigate is the loneliness that we can experience as a result of our journey.

A pervasive sense of being unseen and unknown can lead to a deep feeling of hopelessness. With raw honesty, Dr. Mark Mayfield shares his own personal journey in learning how his unhealed emotions led to a feeling of being alone and how finding language to identify what he was experiencing brought him to a place of healing.

In this conversation, Davey and Mark sit down to talk about what loneliness is, what it can to do us and how we can find the path out of loneliness.

Whether you've felt bouts of loneliness because of the recent pandemic, have felt isolated as a pastor or church leader or if depression and anxiety have made you feel alone, this conversation is for you.

What happens when the excitement of a pregnancy comes to a screeching halt with the words you never expected to hear: Down syndrome?

For many parents, it can feel like a life sentence of fear and unknowns. What started out as a grief over the life Misty Snyder was expecting to have with her second-born child, ended up to be one of her greatest gifts.

While she wrestled through the anxieties and mourned the expectations of what she thought motherhood of two would be like, Misty has found a richer, more fuller life than she could have ever imagined. She has taken her pain and turned it into a vibrant, encouraging community called Happiness is Down Syndrome to support other parents grappling with the challenges and joys that come with loving a child with Down syndrome.

Join Davey and Misty as they talk about what to do when life takes an unexpected turn and how to find happiness in the midst of it. Whether you are a parent of a child with special needs or just know one, this episode will help you see the good in the hardest moments of life.

How can you experience God's breakthrough when your circumstances seem to go from bad to worse? For Traci McCombs, that journey was a long and difficult one as she endured several miscarriages, a season of infertility and a cancer diagnosis while also facing the challenges of being a military spouse.

Just when she thought all hope was lost, God broke through in unexpected ways. In this conversation, Davey and Traci sit down to talk about what it can look like to learn to trust God instead of the outcome of our situation and how God's peace and love are available to us no matter what unfolds in our story.

How do we learn to walk with grief? Clarissa Moll has been learning to do just that ever since losing her husband, Rob, in a tragic hiking accident in 2019. Through her pain, Clarissa has seen grief transform her into a more compassionate person while teaching her how to live more fully in the midst of great loss.

In this conversation, Davey and Clarissa sit down to talk about what to do with the most intimate, sacred parts of your story, how to transform your trauma into post-traumatic growth and ways to help others who are hurting while still in your own pain.

There are certain issues that the church is silent on too often. Whether it’s from fear of controversy or just not knowing what to say, it’s all too easy for many Christians to be afraid of talking about topics that can seem “messy.”

Jackie Hill Perry is not one of those people. Having dealt with sexual abuse, pornography, gender confusion, same-sex attraction, and more, Jackie is well versed in these topics that many Christians fear to talk about.

And as an author, speaker, poet, and more, Jackie has found herself in a unique position to speak up about these important issues.

This week on the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast, Jackie sits down with Davey to share some of her story and how it relates to pain, healing, redemption, and more.

It seems like every day we hear about yet another abuse of power from a political, spiritual or business leader. It can make you wonder how many people saw something before the ultimate downfall.

For Tiffany Bluhm, there was not only the pain of witnessing an abuse of power but also the pain of remaining unheard even after she spoke up against the injustice she saw.

In this episode, Tiffany and Davey talk about what we can do when we come face to face with an abuse of power either as a victim or a bystander and how we can all work together to follow Christ's example of honoring every human being irregardless of status in power structures.

Learning to boldly speak up, whatever our position may be, is an invitation from Jesus to promote justice and recognize the Imago Dei in each and every person.

How do you find purpose in pain that seems to have no end in sight?

Pastor and former athlete Jesse Bradley found himself facing that question when anti-malaria drugs sent him on a ten year journey of healing from chronic pain and health issues.

Jesse sat down with Davey to have a conversation about what it looks like to find purpose in our pain when it doesn't seem to be getting better. It was in the hardships of that experience as well as others that Jesse found his true path towards healing and becoming a conduit of healing for others.

His journey has included being a child of divorce, fostering and adoption in his own family as well as becoming a pastor passionate about sharing the love and truth of the gospel.

This conversation will inspire you towards hope and healing no matter what pain you are facing.

What happens when the place that is supposed to be a source of comfort ends up causing you some of the greatest pain of your life?

The avenue God created for both healing and sharing the good news of the gospel can sometimes be where many of us are intentionally or unintentionally wounded by the people within its doors.

In this episode, Davey sits down with author Catherine McNiel as she tenderly shares her experience with being wounded by the Church. As a young girl, Catherine felt completely abandoned by the community she once knew and found herself grappling well into adulthood with how to trust again in the context of Church.

Where fear threatened to keep her isolated, God offered her another way, the way of love. No matter what the cause of church hurt may be, accepting God's invitation into love and freedom rather than fear and distrust is the only way forward.