Rejection Was My Redirection!

Content Note: This episode contains honest discussion of childhood sexual trauma, promiscuity, pornography, manipulation, and unhealthy relationship patterns. Please listen with care.In Episode 9 of Healing Out Loud with Isha Reed, I open up about what I was really searching for through sex.For me, sex was not always about pleasure. Sometimes it was about filling emotional emptiness, numbing childhood pain, feeling desired, maintaining control, and proving that somebody had chosen me.I discuss how having my innocence taken by an older man affected my understanding of intimacy, why I sometimes chose younger men, and how I used sex and manipulation to feel powerful after once being made powerless. I also share what it means to take accountability for my adult choices without blaming or shaming the younger version of myself who was trying to survive.This episode explores:• Why attention, sex, access, and love are not the same
• How trauma can affect intimacy and relationship choices
• The difference between accountability and self-condemnation
• Why control and manipulation do not create emotional safety
• Replacing one habit with another while leaving the underlying wound untreated
• Pornography, soul ties, celibacy, boundaries, and renewing the mind
• Choosing distance when you know an area of your life is still healing
• Learning to choose yourself over temporary attentionThe trauma was not my fault—but healing has become my responsibility.Reference Scriptures:
1 Corinthians 6:16–20, MSG
Romans 12:1–2, MSG
Psalm 51:10, MSG📖 Purchase my book, Healing Out Loud
Available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover:
https://a.co/d/01P9oIeO✍🏾 Healing Out Loud Book Signing
Saturday, November 7, 2026
1:00–3:00 PM
Blendsations Beverage Bar
20 S. 16th Street
Wilmington, NC 28401🫖 Empowerment Tea Party—Winter Edition
Pouring From a Full Cup: Reflection, Gratitude & Giving
Saturday, December 12, 2026
12:00–3:00 PM
UNCW McNeill Hall, Room 1030🎧 Listen to Healing Out Loud with Isha Reed on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/healing-out-loud/id6818512986Healing Out Loud is also available on Spotify, Pandora, and Substack.Until next time, keep choosing yourself, keep trusting God, and remember: healing does not have to be quiet.Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved.

In Episode 8 of Healing Out Loud with Isha Reed, we explore how rejection can make us question our identity, value, and worth—but being rejected does not mean we are unworthy.Isha discusses rejection from family, friendships, relationships, church, and employment; how rejection can lead to people-pleasing; and why we sometimes keep forcing doors God has already closed. She also shares how a painful closed door created room for her book, podcast, speaking opportunities, healing, and purpose.This episode challenges listeners to ask:What am I forcing?What am I afraid to release?What could God be redirecting me toward?What has this closed door made room for?Aren’t I worthy of something healthier?Sometimes rejection is protection. Sometimes separation is preparation. And sometimes a closed door is God pointing you in a new direction.Reference Scriptures: Genesis 50:20 and Proverbs 3:5–6, MSG.📖 Purchase Healing Out Loud on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, or hardcover:
https://a.co/d/01P9oIeO🎧 Healing Out Loud with Isha Reed is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pandora.Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved.

Have you ever lost yourself trying to remain connected to people? Have you ever said yes when you wanted to say no because you were afraid someone would leave, become upset, or call you selfish?In Episode 7 of Healing Out Loud with Aisha Reed, we discuss finding your identity in God, establishing healthy boundaries, and refusing to shrink to keep other people comfortable.We explore:• Why being needed is not the same as being loved
• How rejection, trauma, and people-pleasing affect your identity
• The difference between a healthy boundary and punishment
• Why forgiveness does not always require continued access
• Setting boundaries with family, friends, church, dating, money, and time
• The grief that can accompany obedience to God
• Why having peace about a decision does not mean it will not hurt
• Knowing your worth as a man or woman
• Believing that you are who God says you areSometimes your yes to God requires a no to people you genuinely love. You can cry, grieve, and miss someone while still knowing that obedience was necessary. Do not confuse grief with regret, and do not return to something unhealthy simply because separation hurts.Referenced Scriptures:• 1 Peter 2:9
• Proverbs 4:23
• Matthew 5:37
• Galatians 1:10📖 Go deeper into my journey through rejection, relationships, identity, faith, and healing in my book, Healing Out Loud. It is available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover:https://a.co/d/01P9oIeO🎧 Healing Out Loud with Isha Reed is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pandora.Keep choosing yourself, keep trusting God, and remember: healing does not have to be quiet.Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved.

What does being kept by God actually look like when nobody is watching?In Episode 6 of Healing Out Loud with Isha Reed, I share the part of the testimony that isn’t always pretty—the depression, exhaustion, medical treatment, learning to receive help, and the days when simply getting out of bed was progress.I also open up about serving while struggling privately, feeling overlooked, moving in with my daughter, and learning that I cannot serve beyond my capacity. God’s provision did not always arrive the way I expected. Sometimes, it came through the family, friends, and village He placed around me.This episode is about surrender, obedience, gratitude, rest, and trusting God while the testimony is still being written.Reference Scripture: Isaiah 46:4
“I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you, and I will rescue you.”📖 Get my book, Healing Out Loud, available on Kindle, paperback, and hardcover:
https://a.co/d/01P9oIeO🫖 Upcoming Event:
Empowerment Tea Party—Winter Edition
Pouring from a Full Cup: Reflection, Gratitude & Giving
Saturday, December 12, 2026
12:00–3:00 PM
UNCW McNeill Hall, Room 1030Keep choosing yourself, keep trusting God, and remember: healing does not have to be quiet.

This October marks one year without full-time employment. Although I worked side hustles and received a part-time opportunity through Queen Esther Teas before my breast-cancer diagnosis, this season required me to depend on God in a way I never had before.In this episode, I talk honestly about facing adversity, moving in with my daughter, experiencing depression, learning the humility of receiving help, and wondering how my needs would be met—yet never going without what I needed.During the same season that appeared to be breaking me, God was developing the author, podcast host, public speaker, and woman who finally stopped shrinking. I published Healing Out Loud, started this podcast, completed breast-cancer surgery and radiation, and discovered that provision does not always look like a paycheck.Guided by Philippians 4:19, this episode is a testimony that an uncomfortable season is not necessarily an unproductive one. Sometimes what feels like your life falling apart is God making room for purpose.

In this deeply personal episode of Healing Out Loud, I share the real stories behind my recovery—approaching 13 years clean from PCP, four years without marijuana, and nearly three years without alcohol.I talk honestly about how my grandsons influenced my decisions to stop, how God sustained me when adversity came, and why recovery means more than simply giving up a substance. Recovery means facing your pain, telling yourself the truth, and choosing not to return to the things that once kept you bound.My grandson even makes a brief, unplanned appearance during the episode—a beautiful reminder of one of the reasons I chose recovery.Guided by 2 Corinthians 5:17, this episode is about becoming a new creation, staying committed when life gets difficult, and trusting that your past does not get the final word.

In this episode of Healing Out Loud, I celebrate God’s faithfulness after completing 20 radiation treatments, publishing my book, Healing Out Loud, and expanding the podcast to Apple Podcasts.But harvest is not only about money, success, or material possessions. Sometimes the greatest harvest is becoming the person God called you to be. I share what it means to remain humble, grateful, and obedient while celebrating answered prayers—and why you don’t have to be completely healed before walking in your purpose.Healing Out Loud is now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover.https://a.co/d/01P9oIeO

In Episode 2 of Healing Out Loud, Isha Reed explores what it means to know who you are and remain true to yourself when people misunderstand, reject, criticize, or try to define you.Isha shares lessons about correction versus condemnation, setting healthy boundaries, releasing the need for approval, and refusing to let another person’s hatred change your heart. She also reads a powerful passage from her newly published book, Healing Out Loud, about becoming fully present in her life after years of using relationships, substances, work, and distractions to escape herself.This episode is a reminder that you are not your mistakes, your hardest season, or the worst thing someone has said about you. You can remain accountable, protect your peace, trust who God says you are, and continue becoming—without shrinking or becoming bitter.

In Episode 1 of Healing Out Loud, Isha Reed shares her honest experience with depression while continuing to work, serve in church, encourage others, and appear strong on the outside.She explores what depression can really look like, the ways people sometimes use busyness, relationships, alcohol, and service to avoid facing their pain, and why true healing begins with honesty and accountability.This episode is a reminder that you don’t have to be completely healed before you begin living, creating, serving, and walking in your purpose. You can still hurt and have purpose. You can tell the truth about where you are without being ashamed—because healing doesn’t have to be quiet.

Healing Out Loud is a space for real, courageous conversations about mental health, recovery, grief, relationships, sex, faith, God, mistakes, growth, and everything that happens when you decide your past does not get the final word.Hosted by Isha Reed—a Peer Support Specialist, community advocate, founder of EPIC, and woman with lived experience—this podcast makes room for the truths people are often ashamed or afraid to say. Isha is still writing her story and still healing, too. She does not come with all the answers; she comes ready to tell the truth.Because healing is not always quiet. Sometimes, healing gets loud.