Seth Haines looked like he had it all together. As a lawyer and a writer, no one would have suspected that he had a problem. Sure he drank pretty regularly, but who doesn’t? It didn’t seem to be affecting his home life or his career. He’d never gotten a DUI, never been abusive, never seen alcohol hurt his work. On the outside, it looked like Seth had it all under control, but on the inside he knew he had a problem. Drinking had become his escape from the world, and before he knew it he couldn’t get by without that escape. To kick off our addiction series, Seth shares some of his story with Davey about how he realized he had a problem and what he’s learned about himself and God in coming clean.

Esther Fleece’s childhood wasn’t easy. Having dealt with an abusive father and being abandoned by her mother before age 13, Esther went through more hardship as a child than many of us may hope to face in our lives. Her trials didn’t stop there though. When the now-adult Esther’s father showed up at her home after years of absence and began stalking her, it became clear that her trauma would not be confined to just childhood. Esther sits down with Davey to share some of her story and what she’s learned about what it means to be “saved” by God.

As a successful neurosurgeon, Dr. Lee Warren was no stranger to hopelessness. He often had the unenviable job of telling patients that their prognosis wasn’t good. Day in and day out, Lee lived in this tension. He believed in a God who brought hope, but he so frequently saw people who’s situation was hopeless. But this went from theoretical to physical for Lee when his son was found dead in his home. Lee found himself wrestling with God from a whole new angle as he was forced to confront the question “How do we hold onto hope when everything is hopeless?” Lee sits down with Davey to talk about his latest book I’ve Seen the End of You and how he’s learned that God brings hope to the most hopeless of situations.

Matt Hammitt had what looked like the perfect Christian life. As the lead singer of the successful Christian rock band, Sanctus Real, and a wife and kids at home, it seemed like he had found his purpose in life. But just as Sanctus Real’s biggest hit song was rocketing up the charts, Matt and his wife Sarah got news that their unborn son had a rare, life-threatening heart defect. As their young son went through surgeries and treatments, Matt began to feel like God was calling him away from his thriving career in music to live out a greater calling as a husband and father. Matt sits down with Davey to share his story of his son’s medical struggles, walking away from the band, and finding a new calling he never would have expected.

Three years ago this week, the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast was launched. Since then, we’ve seen more people find hope and healing than we could have ever imagined, and we are so thankful to all of you in our community for listening and sharing what God is doing in your lives through this ministry. One of the questions we get most often is “How did Nothing Is Wasted start?” So for our third birthday celebration, with thought it would be a good idea to turn things around a little bit. Davey sat down with our new co-host Aubrey Sampson to share his story of pain, loss, and healing, and how it led him to found Nothing Is Wasted Ministries.

On the last episode of this podcast, we promised a special episode this week to celebrate three years of the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast. The world seemed different when we made those plans. In light of the killing of George Floyd last week and the civil unrest that has permeated our country over the last several days, we felt like that wasn’t the message that our community needed right now. Perhaps more importantly, we felt like we are not the first voices that you should be listening to in this moment.

Most divorce stories don’t end in remarriage, but Jeff and Cheryl Scruggs are the exception. After seven years apart, the couple and their daughters were a whole family once again. But a wedding is only the start of a marriage, and Jeff and Cheryl’s second wedding was only their first step into a long journey of learning what a Godly marriage really looks like. Jeff and Cheryl return to talk more with Davey about what life has looked like since they remarried and the things they’ve learned along the way.

With a wife and two daughters, Jeff Scruggs thought he had everything he could want in life. His wife Cheryl felt differently. Dissatisfaction in the marriage eventually led to an affair, and no matter how hard Jeff fought for their marriage, the couple soon found themselves divorced. But the death of their marriage wasn’t the end of their story. Lonely and hurt, Cheryl and Jeff met Jesus and after years apart they began the slow, hard work of reconciliation. Jeff and Cheryl sit down with Davey to share their story of divorce, salvation, reconciliation, remarriage, and more.

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.

Luke Lezon’s life was already hard enough. Getting married and planting a church in the same year had turned out to be plenty challenging on its own. But Luke’s life got even harder when he suddenly contracted a mysterious illness. As doctor after doctor failed to diagnose just what was wrong with him, Luke found himself walking through the hardest trial he’d ever faced. Luke sits down with Davey to share some of what he learned about God both in the middle of hardship and in healing found in the most unlikely of sources.

“What is God’s will for my life?” If we’re honest, it’s a question we’ve all probably asked. For Mike Donehey, it’d be easy to think he’d figured out his answer. As the award-winning lead singer of Tenth Avenue North, it certainly seems like he’s doing exactly what God’s will for him is. But Mike found himself asking, “is this really God’s will?” And more than that, he even found himself wondering what “God’s will” even means. Mike sits down with Davey to talk about the things he’s learned, how he’s flipped the way he thinks, and what it looks like to live the title of his latest book Finding God’s Life for My Will.

Kelly Streiff’s story of pain isn’t one where she’s already walked through grief and healed and overcame. Those stories are powerful, but that isn’t the one Kelly has to share right now. When she sat down with Davey to tell her story, Kelly was only six months out from losing her baby daughter Imogen. While walking through still fresh pain and grief, Kelly shares her story and talks about what it looks like to have faith not just on the mountaintop after the valley, but even in the middle of it.

“Blessing” is a word we throw around a lot in church circles. Every pastor has probably preached about it more times than they can count, and Mark Batterson is no exception. He’s even written about it in his newest book, Double Blessing. But what does a blessing actually look like? How do we know what is and isn’t a blessing? And what does it mean to see blessings even in the midst of trials? Mark unpacks all this and beyond in conversation with Davey about blessings, prayer, trials, and more.

Kasey Van Norman knows firsthand how God takes our trials and our pain and turns them around for good. She’s written a book called Nothing Wasted, and the title alone tells you that she is no stranger to the sort of things we talk about on this podcast. Kasey learned the hard way that God doesn’t waste anything when trauma early in her life left her with a disconnect between what she believed about God for others and what she believed for herself. Kasey sits down with Davey to share her story of sexual trauma, infidelity, cancer, and more, and how she’s learned firsthand through it all that nothing is wasted.

Trauma has a weird way of sneaking up on us. So many of us have experienced traumas big and small that we don’t even know the effects of to this day. These things that happen in the past live with us in the present and shape our lives without our noticing. This is at the root of the work that Aundi Kolber does. As a professional counselor and author, Aundi tries to help people to understand the trauma that they’ve experienced and how to heal from emotional wounds both seen and unseen. Aundi sits down with Davey to share some of her own story of dealing with trauma and the tools she’s learned to help others deal with theirs.

Nona Jones had what looked on the outside like success. She got a job at a Fortune 100 company at only 23, and her professional life only seemed to go up and to the right from there. Married to a pastor and with a deep faith of her own, it seemed that Nona had the “perfect” Christian life. But under the surface, trauma that had gone unaddressed built up until it could no longer be ignored, and Nora found herself in a crisis. Was all her success really enough? In her newest book Success from the Inside Out, Nona talks about how to deal with your past to have real success in the present. Nona sits down with Davey to share her story and how she’s learned to overcome her past traumas and help others do the same.

Justin Skeesuck and Patrick Gray are, quite literally, lifelong best friends. Born only a couple days apart in the same small-town hospital, there hasn’t been a day when the two weren’t close. But when a teenaged Justin was diagnosed with a degenerative neuromuscular disease, both of their lives and their friendship were changed forever. Through unimaginable trial, these two friends have dedicated their lives to bringing the hope of Jesus to whoever they encounter. Justin and Patrick sit down with Davey to share their story and the things they’ve learned about friendship and hope in the midst of trials.

From the outside, you could look at Ciara Weese’s life and see something close to a modern-day fairy tale. Married to her kindergarten best friend with a baby on the way and jobs as youth pastors at a church, Ciara’s life today bears little resemblance to the darkness in her past. Under the weight of trauma kept secret, unhealed wounds, and unspoken temptation, Ciara found herself cheating on her husband with other women. She walked away from her husband and from God, but that’s not where her story ends. God met Ciara in a New York apartment, hundreds of miles from the love of her life, dating another woman and contemplating suicide. Ciara sits down with Davey to share her powerful story in the conclusion to our Toxic Relationship Series.

When Gary Thomas wrote Sacred Marriage, he probably didn’t know the amount of impact he would have. Now, with nearly a million copies sold, his words have been responsible for helping heal and sustain countless marriages. Which is, in part, why it’s so interesting that his newest book is called When To Walk Away. In the years since his earlier book, Gary has learned that in any relationship, whether friendship, marriage, family, or anything else, staying in a relationship with a person is not always for the best. Gary sits down with Davey to continue our series on toxic relationships by discussing what he’s learned about dealing with toxic people, and when the best thing we can do for ourselves and them is to walk away.

It’s easy to think of human trafficking as something that happens “somewhere else.” We’d all agree that it’s a horrendous evil, but our subconscious minds dull its edges by framing it as happening in countries thousands of miles away or in the distant past. But for millions of people in the world today, human trafficking is a monster that must be confronted each and every day. For years, Rebecca Bender was one of those people. Caught in a relationship that wasn’t what it seemed, Rebecca was forced through deceit, threats, and abuse to do things she never would have chosen. To continue our Toxic Relationships Series, Rebecca sits down with Davey to share her story of how she escaped from the hell of human trafficking and how she’s found redemption and purpose on the other side.