Episode 349 - Finding Your Way Back to God in an Age of Deconstruction with Dr. Lina AbuJamra

How do you find purpose when your life as you knew it is permanently changed? How can you learn to surrender the plans and path you once saw for yourself? For Natalie Buchoz, Director of Media for world renowned author and psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen, she could have never imagined the new path her life would follow after a skiing accident left her with a permanent spinal cord injury as a teenager. Once an active, athletic teen, Natalie's new life would be filled with doctors and a wheelchair. Now 15 years later, Natalie can see the ways in which God has used this new life and path to grow her spiritually in her relationship with Him. But it only came when she was willing to open her hands and let go of the life she expected. In this episode, Aubrey talks with Natalie about how Jesus can show up in our most isolating experiences, the importance of post-traumatic growth, and how to find your true identity and worth after a life-altering change. If you've ever struggled to let go of the life you thought you should have, this conversation will encourage you that surrender will give you a way forward that is beyond what you could ever imagine and that God is in the business of transformation.   Instagram: www.instagram.com/nataliebuchoz Are you reeling from the hurt caused by those within the four walls of a church? Our masterclass, When People Fail: Healing From Church Hurt with Natalie Runion, will help you find healing after hurt: nothingiswasted.com/masterclass You asked for it. And we listened! Bring the message of Nothing is Wasted wherever you go with our official Nothing is Wasted Sweatshirts. Get yours today at: nothingiswasted.com/sweatshirt Looking for a tangible gift for a friend who is hurting? The restorbox is a beautifully curated gift box that will show your loved one you care: nothingiswasted.com/restorbox

How do we return to a childlike faith, full of possibility and awe, after experiencing hurt? How can we lift other's eyes to the beauty that exists even when life is hard and painful sometimes? Bob Goff is known for his big, bright, joyful personality. A self-described dreamer and author, coach, and speaker, Bob has encouraged countless people to embody a faith that shows up and loves others well. And while he has used much of his platform and influence to invite people to Catch Whimsy, the title of his latest book, many who know him, know he is also the type of guy to show up in practical and meaningful ways in people's pain and lowest moments. How did he learn to be both an orchestrator of fun and delight while stepping into the depths with those who are hurting? Davey and Bob sit down to talk about how Bob was instrumental in Davey's healing journey as well as what we can learn from those in pain, how to love people well while steering clear from cynicism, and the incredible power of making ourselves available to others. If you've ever felt like suffering and joy cannot coexist, this conversation is a reminder that whimsy can lead us back to a childlike faith that can help us endure the most painful seasons of our lives.   Website: https://www.bobgoff.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobgoff/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bobgoffis Book: Catching Whimsy: 365 Days of Possibility https://a.co/d/6ZlhcOS Check out nothingiswasted.com/shop each day starting December 1st through the 12th for the 12 Days of Christmas deal for incredible discounts and offers on our products and services. Get our latest masterclass, Parenting a Child with a Disability: Hope in the Challenges with Misty Snyder at nothingiswasted.com/masterclass Looking for a tangible gift for a friend who is hurting? The restorbox is a beautifully curated gift box that will show your loved one you care: nothingiswasted.com/restorbox

How does hope begin to form in the face of our greatest pain? Why do some people seem to rise out of the rubble of suffering with a new sense of eternal expectation while others seem forever stuck in their heartbreak? Dr. Curt Thompson is a Psychiatrist who has studied and seen the the impact of interpersonal neurobiology and how hope is formed. He knows that healing from the greatest traumas and tragedies is possible, but requires a unique kind of safe community to hear and hold of our stories of hurt and harm in order to heal. In his latest book, The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope, he explores how hope can be born after our pain, especially when we are willing to connect with others and share our journey. In this episode, Davey and Dr. Thompson talk about how durable hope is essential to our healing, the way neuroplasticity can help us increase hope, and the undeniable power of confessional communities in our healing. If you've ever wondered how you can muster any semblance of hope after heartache, this conversation will remind you that hope can grow and that no matter what you've walked through, with God and others, you can find the hope your heart is longing for.   Website: www.curtthompsonmd.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/curtthompsonmd Facebook: www.facebook.com/CurtThompsonMD YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BeingKnownPodcast Book: The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope https://a.co/d/hFZyQ72 Get our latest masterclass, Parenting a Child with a Disability: Hope in the Challenges with Misty Snyder at nothingiswasted.com/masterclass Check out nothingiswasted.com/shop each day starting December 1st through the 12th for the 12 Days of Christmas deal for incredible discounts and offers on our products and services. You asked for it. And we listened! Bring the message of Nothing is Wasted wherever you go with our official Nothing is Wasted Sweatshirts. Get yours today at: nothingiswasted.com/sweatshirt

How can you heal from what you can't erase? What do you do to transform your mental, emotional, and spiritual health from the inside out? For author, speaker and coach Christopher Cook, losing his mom to a long battle with cancer and his own difficult Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis taught him the power of decision in pain. While he couldn't change the outcomes, learning to make the changes in his perspective was what propelled him forward as he healed from the grief and disappointment he faced. In his latest book, Healing What You Can't Erase: Transform Your Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health from the Inside Out, he offers readers a way forward in what feels impossible. In this episode, Aubrey and Christopher talk about the choice for change in our stories that are unchangeable, why learning to surrender is such an important step, and how to untangle shame in the places where we need the most healing. If you've ever wondered if healing is possible in the parts of your story that are never going to change, this episode will encourage you that no matter what, God is able to bring transformation in whatever you walk through.   Website: www.WINTODAY.tv Instagram: www.instagram.WINTODAYChris Facebook: www.facebook.com/WINTODAYChris Book: Healing What You Can't Erase: Transform Your Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Health from the Inside Out https://a.co/d/bfhnfem Check out nothingiswasted.com/shop each day starting December 1st through the 12th for the 12 Days of Christmas deal for incredible discounts and offers on our products and services. Get the masterclass Restoring Trust in Marriage: Finding a Way Forward After Hurt with Cameron and Karissa Sprinkle at nothingiswasted.com/masterclass Use the code BLACKFRIDAY20 to get 20% off almost anything in the Nothing is Wasted Store between now and December 1st at nothingiswasted.com/store

WARNING: This episode contains conversations about suicide and may not be suitable for all listeners/viewers. What do you do when your worst nightmare comes true after a painful battle with a loved one's mental illness? How do you hold the tension between hope and the mysteries of God in your life after loss? For author, speaker, advocate and pastor's wife Kay Warren, learning to hold onto hope after losing her son Matthew while accepting the mysteries of all she did not understand was difficult. Kay and her husband, author and Pastor Rick Warren, had walked a long, difficult journey through Matthew's lifelong struggle with mental health and faced every parent's worst fear coming true when their adult son died by suicide. Kay experienced the depths of grief and sorrow as she wrestled with God to make sense of such a tragedy. But her pain has given her the opportunity to become an advocate for mental health in the church and a voice of hope for parents who are facing a similar journey. In this honest conversation, Davey and Kay talk about how reality, grief, and hope must all co-exist together, why we need both hope and mystery as we look back on our pain, and how to deal with the shame and guilt after losing a loved one to suicide. If you've found it hard to hold on to hope in the darkness of your suffering, this episode will light a pathway towards it.   Website: kaywarren.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/kaywarren75 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KayWarrensPage/?paipv=0&eav=AfY_xOqKU-Jx2D7qUIrDyTcC06fvFdOpDN2jQGtWx5eaM8oDWFTo5QgQAdWocCmQs_A&_rdr Get the masterclass Restoring Trust in Marriage: Finding a Way Forward After Hurt with Cameron and Karissa Sprinkle at nothingiswasted.com/masterclass Use the code BLACKFRIDAY20 to get 20% off almost anything in the Nothing is Wasted Store between now and December 1st at nothingiswasted.com/store You asked for it. And we listened! Bring the message of Nothing is Wasted wherever you go with our official Nothing is Wasted Sweatshirts. Get yours today at: nothingiswasted.com/sweatshirt

How do we step into conversations with one another that may feel difficult or uncomfortable around the topic of race? What does it look like to love well our black neighbors? Author, journalist, and artist Chanté Griffin wanted to help those who were not black know how to better step into the space of healing the divide caused by racism and racial pain. She understood that this conversation requires us all to be humble and take on the perspective of Christ as we move towards one another in love. In her new book, Loving Your Black Neighbor as Yourself: A Guide to Closing the Space Between Us, she gives practical steps and guidance for those who want to be a part of closing the historical divide that has plagued individuals, churches, and our country. In this insightful conversation, Aubrey sits down with Chanté to discuss the tension that can exist between our best intentions and the effect it can have on others, why humility is essential when we work towards healing the racial divide, and why we must begin with love as we have these important conversations. Whatever your race, this episode will help you examine your heart as you engage in the hard and holy work of bringing unity and healing in your neighborhood, your community, and your church.   Website: www.yougochante.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/yougochante Book: Loving Your Black Neighbor as Yourself: A Guide to Closing the Space Between Us https://a.co/d/dnEySV7 Use the code BLACKFRIDAY20 to get 20% off almost anything in the Nothing is Wasted Store between November 18th and December 1st at nothingiswasted.com/store Get the masterclass Healing for Veterans: Navigating the Unseen Scars of Military Service or any of our other masterclasses at: www.nothingiswasted.com/masterclass Looking for the perfect gift for someone in pain? The restorbox is a meaningful and intentional curated gift box of some of our favorite Nothing is Wasted products and is a great gift to encourage those who are hurting in your life. Order one today at: nothingiswasted.com/restorbox

What does it look like to answer God's call in our life? How do we step into our calling when there is suffering that we never expected? For author, ministry leader, wife, and mom of 15, Katie Majors Davis, she could have never imagined all the ways in which God would call her into the unexpected places that He has over her life. As a young woman, Katie answered the calling of her life and became a missionary in Uganda. Through that time, God called her to start a ministry called Amazima and adopt 13 girls from Uganda. While many have marveled at her inspiring story of faithfulness, it was often met with unseen difficulties and trials as she cared for the poor, walked her children through their own stories of trauma and suffering, and faced the unrelenting challenges of life and ministry. Her most recent book, Safe All Along: Trading Our Fears and Anxieties for God's Unshakable Peace, offers readers her own reflections on how to find peace in a world full of fears. In this deep conversation, Davey and Katie talk about how calling looks much different than we anticipate it to, the ways in which wrestling can lead us to more intimacy with God and why pointing our kids to Jesus in their pain is the most loving thing we can do. If you've ever found yourself in the midst of suffering after answering what you thought was God's call, this episode will remind you that even in the middle of God's invitation there can be both pain and joy coexisting as you step out in faith.   Website:https://katiedavismajors.com/ https://amazima.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katieinuganda_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatieinUganda Book: Safe All Along: Trading Our Fears and Anxieties for God's Unshakable Peace https://a.co/d/dblYLji Get the masterclass Healing for Veterans: Navigating the Unseen Scars of Military Service or any of our other masterclasses at: www.nothingiswasted.com/masterclass You asked for it. And we listened! Bring the message of Nothing is Wasted wherever you go with our official Nothing is Wasted Sweatshirts. Get yours today at: nothingiswasted.com/sweatshirt Looking for the perfect gift for someone in pain? The restorbox is a meaningful and intentional curated gift box of some of our favorite Nothing is Wasted products and is a great gift to encourage those who are hurting in your life. Order one today at: nothingiswasted.com/restorbox

What do you do when the people of God fail and you find yourself questioning God because of it? How do you deconstruct your misunderstandings about God, His people and life without deconstructing your faith altogether? For author, Bible teacher, and medical doctor Lina AbuJamra healing from the hurt she experienced from her church led her on an unexpected journey in her faith. What started as a deep disappointment in people led her to feeling let down by God. It took a lot of time and realizations that what she had come to believe about God and how He worked wasn't based on His truth and that perhaps deconstructing the falsehoods and misunderstandings about God, wasn't a bad thing. However, as things were being taken apart in her understanding of who God was, she also needed to reconstruct what was true so that her faith would strengthen rather than fade away. It wasn't a quick process, but a holy one and one that she wrote about in her book, Fractured Faith: Finding Your Way Back to God in an Age of Deconstruction. In this helpful conversation, Aubrey and Lina talk about why deconstruction is often rooted in our disappointments, ways in which we can heal from Church hurt, and how sometimes our doubts, questions and hurt can lead us into a deeper faith. If you or someone you know has walked through being hurt by the Church and has found themselves unraveling, this episode will encourage you that perhaps through your hurt, God is wanting to rebuild in you a stronger, more resilient faith and life in Him.   Website: https://www.livingwithpower.org/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/linaabujamra Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingwithpower/ Book: Unshakeable Moxie: Growing a Resilient Faith https://a.co/d/34veaB2 Fractured Faith: Finding Your Way Back to God in an Age of Deconstruction https://a.co/d/8B3xmyM Don't Tell Anyone You're Reading This: A Christian Doctor's Thoughts on Sex, Shame, and Other Troublesome Issues https://a.co/d/32hNHjX You asked for it. And we answered! The Official Nothing is Wasted Sweatshirt is now available for pre-order: nothingiswasted.com/sweatshirt It's so hard to watch someone who is hurting after a recent loss or trauma has changed everything for them. The When Everything Changes: Navigating the Early Days of Loss, Trauma, and Tragedy mini-course will help those you love walk through the early days of grief and suffering and find hope on the other side: www.nothingiswasted.com/everythingchanges Get your copy of the Nothing is Wasted Book today: www.nothingiswastedbook.com

What is the connection to our brain's health and our mental health? How can taking care of our brains help us heal from grief, trauma, depression or anxiety? Dr. Daniel Amen is a world renowned psychiatrist who began to notice early in his practice that there was a disconnect in psychiatry and the lack of study being done on the brain. It was through years of scanning brains through a technology called SPECT that Dr. Amen began to recognize that what many considered mental health issues were actually brain health issues and that when you started to heal the brain, you could begin to see incredible healing with the myriad of symptoms plaguing his patients. Dr. Amen has spent his lifetime and practice teaching people the importance of brain health through his many books. He recently released Raising Mentally Strong Kids: How to Combine the Power of Neuroscience with Love and Logic to Grow Confident, Kind, Responsible, and Resilient Children and Young Adults to help parents. In this episode, Kristi and Davey sit down with Dr. Amen to discuss why brain health matters with our mental health, how to heal our brains after trauma, and how brain science can help us in parenting. If you or someone you love struggles with mental health or if you are trying to raise brain healthy kids, this conversation will teach you how to better care for the part of you that impacts your life the most.   Website: https://danielamenmd.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doc_amen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdanielamen Book: Raising Mentally Strong Kids: How to Combine the Power of Neuroscience with Love and Logic to Grow Confident, Kind, Responsible, and Resilient Children and Young Adults https://a.co/d/0b9usB7o You asked for it. And we answered! The Official Nothing is Wasted Sweatshirt is now available for pre-order: nothingiswasted.com/sweatshirt Need some hope right now in your valley? Or have a friend who could use some encouragement through suffering? The Pain to Purpose 42-Day Devotional is the perfect companion in your pain. Get your copy and gift one to a friend who needs it: www.nothingiswasted.com/store/pain-to-purpose-devotional Get your copy of the Nothing is Wasted Book today: nothingiswastedbook.com

How do we experience true rest in a culture that demands striving and encourages fatigue? What does it even look like to live from a place of rest instead of burnout and exhaustion like most people around us do? For author, pastor, speaker, and mom of four, Jess Connolly, these were the questions she had to wrestle with in the face of all the demands coming at her from her various roles. When life hit a fever pitch and she seemed to reach a breaking point in every way, she knew that she needed more than some sort of watered down self-care answer. She needed to find a way to truly live from a place of trust in the goodness of God to provide and carry her through the noise and speed of life around her. It was through her own journey of figuring out how to deal with the soul-deep exhaustion that she decided to take others along in her latest book, Tired of Being Tired: Receive God’s Realistic Rest for Your Soul-Deep Exhaustion. In this episode, Aubrey and Jess talk about how difficult it is to find rest in our modern culture, the different ways fatigue can show up, and how to lead in our pain and grief. If you are tired of being tired--mentally, physically and spiritually--this conversation will show you that you don't need the world's false versions of rest, but you need an encounter with the one who offers you true rest in the depths of your being.   Website: www.jessconnolly.com/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessaconnolly/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/jessaconnolly Book: Tired of Being Tired: Receive God’s Realistic Rest for Your Soul-Deep Exhaustion https://a.co/d/aVAzy5X Do you need someone to walk with you one-on-one through your valley? Our certified coaches are ready to meet you where you are and help you find a way forward: www.nothingiswasted.com/coaching Are you a pastor or church leader who wants to see redemptive healing take place in your church? Find out more about how you can bring Pain to Purpose to your church: www.nothingiswasted.com/churches Do you need a reminder that in your story nothing is wasted? Get your copy of the Nothing is Wasted book now where ever books are sold: www.nothingiswasted.com/book