Many of us would love nothing more than to forget the worst things that have happened to us. We want to keep them secret, to pretend that if we don’t talk or even think about them then maybe they didn’t ever really happen. We try to replace redemption with forgetfulness, and end up carrying pain that goes unhealed for far too long as a result.

This was Kelly Olson’s story when she experienced a sexual assault as a freshman in college. Kelly kept her pain quiet for years, until one day she learned firsthand the power of a shared story.

Now Kelly makes it her mission to help others experience the same kind of healing that she did. Kelly sits down with Davey to share her story and what she’s learned about the true meaning of redemption along the journey.

Crystal Paine is known to many as “The Money Saving Mom.” With a new book out on parenting, she has a reputation as a person with a lot of wisdom to share on parenting, finances, and more.

But Crystal’s wisdom didn’t come easy. When she went through a rough season with one of her children, Crystal learned all over again what it truly means to be a parent, and at the same time how deeply we are each loved by God.

Crystal sits down with Davey to share some of this story and the wisdom she’s gleaned along the way.

Ryan joins Davey to share some of his incredible story and what he’s learned from this journey.

Ryan Atkins started college like many others, full of plans, ambitions, and hopes for what he thought a successful life would look like. But all of that changed in an instant when an accident left Ryan paralyzed from the neck down.

Finding himself thrust into what seemed like a hopeless situation, Ryan learned what faith truly means and found a deeper hope beyond this life.

Ryan joins Davey to share some of his incredible story and what he’s learned from this journey.

We often expect pastors to have it all put together, to be the one’s who’s lives are so in order that they can help others with their own. Just a few years ago, Ken Baugh was just one such pastor.

But when a season of burnout found Ken without a job and questioning his ministry, it was only then that he found his true purpose in understanding God’s work in our minds on a whole new level.

Ken sits down with Davey to share about his journey and how he’s using what he’s learned to help countless others.

As someone with a very large, very prominent ministry, Angie Smith is the kind of person you would expect to “have it all together.” Through speaking, books, Bible studies, and more, Angie has helped thousands of people in their walks with Christ. But her platform didn’t come easy. Angie walked through some incredible seasons of pain, including the loss fo a newborn child, that redefined her relationship with God.

When pain inevitably gave way to seasons of doubt, Angie found herself seeing God in a new way, and in doing so learned more about each of our relationships with God and the seasons of pain and doubt that we all walk through. Angie sits down with Davey to share some of her story and how she’s using the lessons she’s learned in dark seasons to help countless other people.

In 2015, the small rural town of Austin, Indiana became the epicenter of the worst drug-fueled HIV outbreak in US history. As the only doctor in Austin, Dr. William Cooke saw firsthand the extreme poverty and toxic conditions that exist in small pockets of America, out of sight and out of mind for the more fortunate.

But in the middle of these horrific conditions, William was able to become the hands and feet of Jesus in a tangible way to those who needed it most. William sits down with Davey to share some of how he found purpose in walking with people through life’s toughest trials and working to repair the broken systems at the root of this pain.

When Amy Ford found herself pregnant outside of marriage at only 19 years old, she did what far too many women do — she went to have an abortion. But fortunately for Amy, God intervened in her story. A panic attack at the abortion clinic saved her unborn son and kept her from making a terrible mistake.

Now, Amy has made it her mission to help women who are considering abortion and those who have already gone through with it. Amy sits down with Davey to share some of her story and how God has turned her worst decisions into newfound purpose.

Michelle Donnelly found herself in an impossible situation. Married to her high school sweetheart with three young children, Michelle was stuck in a highly toxic relationship and didn’t see where else to go.

When the marriage finally ended, Michelle was left in a new uncomfortable season: being a Christian single mom. The church often doesn’t know how to handle single parents, and Michelle suddenly found herself dealing with faith, parenting, dating, and more challenges all while in this new season of being single.

To wrap up our Singleness Series, Michelle sits down with Davey to share her story and how she’s turned her pain around into a newfound purpose to help moms just like her.

Kait Warman is one of the preeminent voices on Christian dating, but that role hasn’t come easy. Kait’s wisdom on the topic is borne out of a long story of abuse, unhealthy relationships, and identity crises.

Kait spent years seeking validation from men in all the wrong ways, but she never could quite find what she was looking for. That is, until she leaned into God and let him teach her who she was in Christ.

To continue our Singleness Series, Kait sits down with Davey to share some of her story and the wisdom she’s learned from it for anyone whether they’re single, dating, married, or anywhere in between.

Brooke Talley would never have imagined being in a “singleness series” of a podcast. After all, she’d married her college sweetheart and started a family — the picture-perfect modern love story. What did singleness have to do with her? But all that changed in a moment, when Brooke lost her husband to suicide.

Now in addition to unimaginable grief, Brooke was faced with a daunting prospect that she never expected: a new season of singleness. To continue our Singleness Series, Brooke sits down with Davey to talk about her story and how this season has led her both to newfound purpose and a deeper knowledge of God.

If you had told the Christopher Yuan of years ago what his life would look like today, he probably wouldn’t believe you. As a promiscuous gay man who made his living selling drugs, Christopher’s life didn’t look anything like it does now. But an arrest, a prison sentence, and an HIV diagnosis turned out to be the things that would change Christopher’s life forever. Now, Christopher spends his days sharing the message of the gospel. To kick off our series on singleness, Christopher sits down with Davey to share some of his powerful story and how he’s learned to find his identity solely in Christ.

When we experience something traumatic, it affects far more than we often realize. We often carry our worst moments with us in both our minds and our bodies. Take Michelle Moore for example. Michelle spent much of her life carrying the trauma of watching her mother die at a young age. Entering motherhood herself caused Michelle to experience the trauma at a whole new level, but it seemed like Michelle’s worries were coming true as medical issues threatened both her life and that of her child at the same time. But through it all, Michelle learned to find God in the midst of pain, and from there to find healing from trauma both new and old. Michelle sits down with Davey to share some of her story and how she’s turned it into her purpose to help other mothers who face the same challenges they did.

Where is God in our worst moments? For those of us who have experienced some event that caused immense pain, it can be nearly impossible to see how God was present in that moment. After all, if he was there, wouldn’t he have saved us? Kurt Willems wrestled with this question as he spent his life struggling to heal from the abuse he experienced as a child. Now, Kurt spends his life teaching others the things he learned in his own healing journey and helping people to answer that question in their own stories. Kurt sits down with Davey to share some of his story and the things he’s learned about the presence of God in the midst of our sufferings.

Our faith in God can be tested beyond our wildest dreams in a moment. We can think our faith is strong one minute, and the next minute a single event, something as small as a conversation or a phone call, can shatter our delusions and bring us face to face with reality. Kristy Furlow experienced this when doctors told her that her husband had a rare, terminal form of cancer. With only a few months left together on this earth, Kristy and her husband learned to see God for who He really is in the midst of trials, and found a deeper, truer faith out of all of it. Kristy sits down with Davey to share some of her story of losing her husband and the purpose she has found out of the ashes of this pain.

The last year and half or so has had long-lasting effects on all of us. Studies have shown that reports of mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression have skyrocketed between 2019 and today. But for some, these issues are not brought on by one particular season, but rather they are something that we face our entire lives. Paul Asay is one such person. While he didn’t have the words for it at the time, Paul began facing anxiety as a child, and by the time he was in college that had morphed into severe depression. This depression has followed him his entire adult life, and he has had to struggle with what it means to be a follower of Jesus and also be chronically depressed. After all, shouldn’t the hope of Christ be enough to beat back depression for good? But through this season, Paul has learned what it means to follow God in the midst of darkness and to see Him on a deeper level because of it. Paul sits down with Davey to share some of his story and the wisdom he’s learned about going through depression, whether it be seasonal or a lifelong battle.

As a mother, Amy Sylvestre wears a lot of hats. She’s both a biological mom and an adoptive mom. She’s a heart mom, and tragically, a mother of child loss. Walking through the pain of losing your infant child is one of the worst nightmares for any parent can face, and that became Amy’s reality when her son Hudson was born with a severe heart defect. Despite countless attempts by some of the best medical professionals in the country, Hudson didn’t make it long past his birth. Through unimaginable pain, Amy has learned what it means to have a faith that goes beyond your head and into the deepest parts of your being. To wrap up our parenting series, Amy sits down with Aubrey to share her story of loss and some of the ministry that has come out of it.

When we grow into adulthood, our relationships with our parents naturally shift. For some, our parents are still close. We view them as confidants, and guides or perhaps even friends of a sort. For others of us, those relationships can become strained or even broken entirely. No matter the situation, these relationships always take work. Our relationships with our parents will never be as healthy as they could be unless we invest in them and fight to make them better. Blythe Daniel and Dr. Helen McIntosh are modeling this. When Blythe approached her mother, Helen, about writing a book about healthy mother/daughter relationships, it was clear that they had the opportunity to help a lot of people. To continue our Parenting Series, Blythe and Helen sit down with Davey to share some of their story and the wisdom they’ve learned about repairing and maintaining healthy relationships with our parents.

As we heard on our last episode, Ron and Nan Deal have walked through incredible pain in their lives, and gleaned wisdom and a deep understanding of God from that journey. But apart from their story of loss, Ron also shares his wisdom with others in his job as a marriage and family therapist, specifically focusing on blending families. Ron’s own story isn’t one of a blended family, but his work with these families throughout the years combined with his own experiences of walking with God through struggles have made him one of the foremost experts on this topic in the Christian world. Ron sits down with Davey to share some practical wisdom about blending families in this installment of our Parenting Series.

Ron Deal is a bestselling author, therapist, and speaker who specializes in family ministries and especially in blending families. But before Ron was as successful as he is today, he and his wife Nan walked through an unimaginably painful season. Twelve years ago, Ron and Nan took their son Connor to the doctor after he’d been complaining of a headache. What seemed like a minor illness turned out to be much more serious, and not long later, Connor was gone. Through incredible pain, Ron and Nan learned firsthand what grieving as a family looks like. To continue our Parenting Series, Ron and Nan sit down with Davey to share the story of losing their son and what they’ve learned through the long, hard healing journey they’ve walked through in the years since.

There are few, if any, challenges as difficult and important as being a mother. From conception to adulthood, moms are tasked with raising their children, taking care of them, and making sure they grow up in a loving, safe home where they can become the best people they can be. This task is simultaneously incredibly rewarding and unimaginably challenging. Every mom knows that being a mother comes with pains and trials that none of us would ask for.To kick off our Parenting Series, Aubrey is joined by Kristi Blackburn for a special conversation about the joys and pains of motherhood. Aubrey and Kristi’s motherhood stories are very different, but they are both intimately familiar with the challenges and pains that come with this responsibility. And more importantly, they both know how God has met them in the midst of these challenges. Aubrey and Kristi share some of their mothering stories and the wisdom they’ve learned along the way in this special conversation.