How do we live in hope in light of our suffering? How can live as people who aren't overcome by our pain, but who are overcomers in our pain?

For pastor and author, Matt Chandler, his own journey in learning what it means to allow pain to push us towards hope began after a cancer diagnosis in 2009. Through his cancer journey and the surgeries and treatment that followed, he found himself growing in understanding as a pastor in leading others through their own suffering. In his most recent book, The Overcomers: God's Vision for You to Thrive in an Age of Anxiety and Outrage, Matt explores how the book of Revelation shows believers that they were made for this time and are called to be overcomers in whatever challenges they face.

In this episode, Davey and Matt talk about how we can be encouraged by those who have gone before us in obedience in challenges and difficulties, why our theology on suffering matters so much, and the importance of looking to the cross in light of our pain.

If you've ever struggled with feeling like a victim to the circumstances of your life, this conversation will inspire you to become an overcomer in an age of anxiety and outrage.

How do you keep choosing to truly live after losing one of the closest people in your life? What does it look like to show up when you're feeling the depths of grief?

For our Nothing is Wasted podcast co-host, author, pastor and speaker, Aubrey Sampson, learning how to allow life to come in again through the cracks of her pain after losing her best friend, Jenn, was difficult. Finding her way through the grief without having the person she could always process pain with felt impossible. And yet, through it all, Aubrey began to see how even in one of her greatest losses, there were moments where she could keep death from winning by choosing to find joy and life in what was in front of her. It was there that she could begin to see God's redemption in her heartache and fight back against darkness.

In this vulnerable conversation, Davey sits down with Aubrey to discuss how redemption often doesn't look like we think it will, how to begin to move forward after losing someone you love, and what to do when God's presence feels more like absence in your pain.

If you've ever experienced the loss of a best friend or have wondered how to even begin to live again in grief, this episode will inspire you to keep choosing to show up fully in the one, precious life you've been given.

How can the most difficult moments of our lives point us to our purpose? Where can we find God's will for our lives in the sufferings that we have faced?

Raleigh Sadler, author and founder of the anti-trafficking organization, Let My People Go, experienced a shift in his life's trajectory after the tragic loss of his best friend to cancer. From that painful moment, God seemed to align a path that he had never considered by helping the most vulnerable and yet his first task was leaning into his own vulnerability in the aftermath of his pain. Since then, Raleigh has led many churches in the fight against the injustice of human trafficking and has seen his own purpose emerge in the process.

In this conversation, Eric and Raleigh discuss how our vulnerability often unlocks our life's purpose, how the gospel applies to the most forgotten of people, and the way in which suffering forges deeper meaning in our lives than we could have ever imagined for ourselves.

If your pain has left you wondering if God could use you, this episode will show you that every moment of suffering is illuminating a path forward in helping others heal if you allow vulnerability to lead the way.

What do we do when there is no cure for our pain? How do we live with joy and thanksgiving when our physical reality is a chronic condition?

For author Andrea Herzer, learning to find joy in her chronic pain and incurable diagnoses was a feat. While her mind longed to be grateful, her physical condition made it seem impossible. And yet through her journey with chronic pain, cancer, and an accident, she was able to see God's kindness to her in the middle of her literal aches. Learning to rely on others and keeping her faith when God doesn't heal has been a struggle and yet through it, she has experienced more and more of the Lord's goodness in her life. It was through her own story that she was able to take the lessons God was teaching her and write Incurable Faith: 120 Devotions of Lasting Hope for Lingering Health Issues.

In this conversation with Eric, Andrea shares how to hold on to your faith when God doesn't answer your prayers in the way you wish He would, where Jesus can be found in our physical pain, and why we can't expect medical professionals to be our saviors.

If you're experiencing any form of suffering that is chronic in nature, this episode will remind you that God gives us unimaginable strength in our greatest weaknesses.

How do you find the words to pray when you are in the middle of loss and suffering? How do mark the holy moments, both big and small, in a special way?

Author Doug McKelvey and artist Ned Bustard have collaborated on three volumes of Every Moment Holy, books filled with liturgies to help people find the words in the joyful, the mundane and the most difficult moments of life. In their second volume, Every Moment Holy: Death, Grief, and Hope they offer prayers for those who are in the middle of life's most painful seasons. From helping those who are caregivers to offering words for those who are facing their own mortality, their book combines both visual art and words when it is hard to know what to even say.

Ned would eventually experience the art he was creating to help others serve as a balm to his own heartache in the loss of his wife. It was through the power of Doug's writing and Ned's creative process that Ned felt the power of this work in his own personal pain.

In this episode, guest co-host Eric Schumacher discusses with Doug and Ned how liturgies can help us find the words to pray, the creative process in creating meaningful work, and what happens when what you create for others ends up ministering to you.

If you've ever found it hard to pray in either the moments of grief or in the everyday moments, this conversation will teach you the power of liturgy in our journey as believers.

How can we begin to process our stories after a life-altering loss? Where can hope be found in the midst of insufferable pain? How do we connect the dots and find God's hand in our lives when suffering overshadows?

For Joan Kelley, those were difficult questions to answer after losing her teenage son, Will, to cancer. Yet, she found healing through looking at her life and the ways God has shown up, even in her worst pain. By going back in her own story, she has since been able to help walk alongside others in theirs by offering a listening ear or spiritual direction. And she has used what pain has taught her to bring hope and healing to those she encounters. While Joan knows she doesn't have all the answers, her journey has brought incredible lessons of faith, endurance, and how God can be trusted even in our darkest seasons.

In this episode, Davey sits down to talk with Joan about how everyone can use their unique wirings to bring hope to the hurting, why we have to make the time for our grief, and how processing your own story is pivotal in whatever healing path you are on.

Whatever the loss, Joan's story reminds us that we can all get to the place in our grief where we can still dare to hope.

How do you live life with the end in mind, especially when you are told your days are numbered? We all know that Scripture calls us to live life through the lens of heaven, but how do we really do that?

For Colleen Chao, finding out she had Stage 4 Cancer forced her to think about living the way God called her to in spite of the fact or perhaps because of the fact, that she is dying. Having expected life to go in a much different direction, Colleen has been learning to see the beauty in the most unexpected places like suffering and pain.

In this episode, Davey has a raw conversation with Colleen on seeing God's beauty in the darkness of suffering, the transformative power of gratitude, and how the blood of Jesus can keep us from dwelling in our regrets.

You don't have to have a life-altering diagnosis to be encouraged by Colleen's story of living life fully when heaven is closer than you anticipated.

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.

Michele Cushatt was already no stranger to pain and hardship when she faced her biggest challenge yet. Michele made her living as a successful communicator, which made it that much more heartbreaking when a doctor told her she had cancer in her tongue. They removed the cancer, and it came back again and again, until Michele was left in a state of constant pain for months and with effects that would last the rest of her life. Michele sits down with Davey to talk about her new book Relentless and how she’s learned how to walk with God through so many trials.

If you looked at Nick Charalambous several years ago, you’d never have guessed what his story is today. You’d see a young journalist is South Carolina with no interest at all in religion, writing a story about churches in the area because it was his job. Today, you’d see man with an incredible story of miraculous healing and a testimony to God’s power. Nick sits down with Davey to talk about coming to faith, overcoming cancer, and so much more.

Learn more about their story of faith and how they learned to walk with God in seasons where things didn't go as planned. To hear the bold way that they trust God and how they learned to lean on Him in the toughest of times will encourage and challenge you - no matter what season you're in. 

Samantha Smith's conversation with Davey continues as they talk about some of the ways they've dealt with grief, the importance of community, finding new purpose in the wake of tragedy, and more

When Samantha Smith married her high school sweetheart Andrew, she never would have guessed that cancer would leave her a widow after just a few years. In this episode, Samantha sits down with Davey to talk about the shock of loss, mourning, and what to do when it seems like God disappoints you.