Transcript

Bonus Episode
Season 1: Episode 12

Carol: 0:09

Welcome to the God is Good Podcast, where we share stories of everyday people who have reignited their faith in Jesus and experienced remarkable life transformations. My name is Carol O'Brien, and I'm the host for this podcast. Hello friends in Christ. As I'm prepping to head out for an Evangelization retreat for Acts missions, I'm also working on a very large episode. It's simply too big and I've run out of time. So instead, for this period's episode, I'm going to share some insights behind the scenes stories. Inspirations from our first four episodes. I'm excited to be doing this as I've been wanting to do an episode like this for a few months now. I've been so inspired by each of our storytellers in unique and different ways. I'm hoping this episode inspires you too, to share as well, either in the comments sections below, or even by becoming one of our storytellers. Okay, let's dig in. Monica's story was our first episode, and if you've listened to the episode, you'll know that she is the inspiration for this entire podcast. Monica is a spiritual powerhouse. In her episode, we talk about how people perceive each other's lives. We imagine that everyone around us is living their very best life We see on social media. All of life and rarely see the pain and heartache this. While everyone saw how put together and confident she was, no one knew that she was struggling with many aspects of her life and her marriage. Following her Acts retreat, she found a calling to be bold, to start revealing her life and her struggles and why she completely surrendered her trust to God in all areas of her life. This seemingly simple transformation opened up a whole new life of servant leadership, one in which Monica was brave enough to share her story and remarkably transform others by revealing the struggle she overcame with God's help. Her favorite scripture is Proverbs three, one through six, and it's so fitting because it tells us that we need to rely on God's love and will for our lives. Rather than on other human beings and our own understanding, and if you can trust him with your whole heart, he will make straight your paths. For me, one of the most powerful lessons of Monica's story and Proverbs three is that God never promises that if we follow him, he'll take away all of our troubles. That has been incredibly freeing for me. I used to believe that having troubles in my life meant that I was unworthy of God's peace and love. Monica's story revealed to me that while the storms of life are swirling around me, God is standing right beside me. Storms are always going to happen, and he's inviting me to hold out my hand and trust him because he loves me. Today when troubles arise, as they always will, I now try to lean on God first instead of my own understanding. I'm still a work in progress. Monica's story, which is season one, episode two is fittingly called Relying on God. Diane is our second storyteller. She is one of those special people who just see God's love everywhere she is, and whatever happens in her life. No matter the trials, she finds something to thank God for. In the preparation before her episode, we chatted about the struggles in her life. She called her life a miniseries, and as soon as we began her episode, I understood why. Her life started in trauma and then one difficult experience after another shaped and strengthened her love for God. I was just mentioning with Monica's episode that God doesn't promise us an easy life. Rather, he promises us his love and peace if we rely on him. Diane faced much suffering, but I think her true transformation came about when she left the situation to protect her son. Caused her pain, but she knew she could rely on God to get her through it. Her scripture is beautiful. Isaiah 12 verse two. It's called a Song of Thanksgiving, so we named her story the same. The verse guides us not to fear, but to trust God through our suffering. It's so reflective of Diane's life. Today, especially because of Diane's courage in sharing her story, I'm working on seeing the trials in my life as a blessing. I know that God uses those sufferings to bring us closer to him, and like Diane, now, I look for God everywhere. Diane's story is season one, episode three, and it's called A Song Thanksgiving. Jennifer's story is the next episode. Jennifer introduced us to a new concept, it's called offensive forgiveness. She wrote a chapter in a book called, Before She Knew Jesus, which is a spiritual guide. Jennifer's chapter is chapter three,"when forgiveness feels offensive." It's funny, before I even knew her story, just the title of it brought me to a really reflective place. I knew that forgiveness could be hard in the past. I struggled with how to forgive people in my life who intentionally hurt me. How could I forgive them, God, and what does it mean to do so? Do I have to let them back into my life? Do I have to forget what they did and move on? Then Jennifer shared her story of a forgiveness that is beyond our understanding as humans. Where, when the first thing we want to say is,"I was in the right and you were in the wrong," God asked us to put down our pride and cloak ourselves in humility. It doesn't seem fair to our human egos, and in those moments. God reveals his heart to us and shows us how much he loves us. Jennifer's favorite scripture is the same as Monica's, but it's the straight paths concept of Proverbs three that is so powerful in this situation. When we walk with God, he'll make our path straight. He'll guide us if we allow him to. And he'll give us that peace we so desperately long for. I mentioned that even before the taping of Jennifer's story, it put me a reflective mode. How many times did I ask the wrong questions of God? How many times did I forget to even ask God what I should do in a situation, especially when I was right? And what is happening in my life right now where God is asking me to be humble in front of him and to love difficult people in my life? Thanks to Jennifer introducing me to the concept of offensive forgiveness, I am now trying to put it into practice those things that I used to see as selfishness, unkindness, and outright transgressions of other people, I now try to see as callings from God to encourage me to grow in love and closeness to him. To rely on him to handle my troubles, and to allow him to make my path straight. Jennifer's story is season one, episode four: Straight Paths. Oh my goodness. Our next episode is Jacys story. I find myself constantly looking at my pictures of Jesus to see if they're breathing. I only have a few, the Sacred Heart, St. Faustina's Divine Mercy, and Jesus knocking at the door with no handle, but they are constantly in my line of vision and no, I haven't seen them breathe yet. I am only kind of kidding because I know that Jesus really shows us Himself where and how we each need to see him. For jacy, it was in a dramatic and remarkable way, perhaps because her life up until that point. Had been filled with dramatic experiences that left her young heart devastated. They caused her to make decisions that brought her pain and resulted in temporarily keeping her from the cleansing of her soul and heart. But when she cried out to Jesus, He answered. In a profound and, I think, miraculous way. Her story is an inspiration of allowing God to lead us outta the darkness, not always in the way that we hope or pray for, but in his own way, which is always better than ours. In reflecting on Jacy's story, I think at the times when I didn't know what God had planned for me, when I thought He wasn't there and when He wasn't listening to me. Well, When I look back on my life, I can now see the times he showed me Himself and His will for my life. I couldn't see it at the time because I was so focused on me and My suffering and my pain. He got me through each of those moments, even when I was angry with him and thought that he had left me to fend for myself. He never left me. And even though he doesn't show me himself as dramatically as he showed Jacy, I am beyond blessed that I know him and feel him every minute of every day of my life. Jacy's dramatic story is season one, episode five, and it is simply called, Jesus Breathed. Well, I hope you enjoyed this mini episode of the God Is Good podcast. If you feel called to become one of our storytellers and share your story of transformation from lukewarm to on fire for Jesus, please reach out. And if you would like just to support our episode, you can do so by liking and subscribing wherever you listen to your podcast. Financial support is also appreciated and helps us to produce the episodes. You can help us via our website: GodisGoodPodcast.com. Finally, please let me know if you like this type of episode. If you do, let us know in the comments section and let me know if the episodes inspire you. And stay tuned for our next full length episode. It's going to be very powerful. In the meantime, friends, remember God is good.