What do you do when you have a good theology of suffering and pain and yet struggle in the midst of your experience to believe that God is even present, let alone good? How do you hold the tension between your pain and what you know to be true about who God is?

For Pastor Adam Mabry, it was his own hardships and emotional struggles paired with the seeming silence of God that took him on a journey to reconcile his experience with God's character. He would go on to write about it in his book, When God Seems Gone: Finding Hope When Nothing Makes Sense. In the end, Adam concludes that there is hope in the messy middle of our story if we are willing to be honest with God and ourselves about what we are feeling.

In this impactful conversation, Davey sits down with Adam to discuss how you can know good theology and yet struggle with internalizing the truth in your pain, the difference between God's will and God's disposition, and why it's important to become curious about our emotions instead of escaping them.

If you've ever felt like God disappeared when you needed Him the most, this episode will remind you that there is hope when nothing makes sense

What does it look like to grow in your faith when you came from an environment that contradicted so many of the things of God? How do you become a follower of Jesus after experiencing a childhood riddled with so much trauma and pain?

For Preston Perry, growing up in the inner city and facing so many challenges from being fatherless and the collective pain of a community in crisis, Preston struggled to truly know God. As a young person, he found himself entrenched in street life, dealing drugs and watching so many around him succumb to the ills of gangs and crime. It was through being discipled by a friend who grew up in a similar environment and yet was so different from the life they both knew, that God became real to him. The power of that relationship was pivotal in changing Preston's life and leading him to Christ. Since then, Preston and his wife, Jackie, have devoted their lives to ministry. Preston is a speaker and apologist who has been able to take his experiences and speak to people who grew up in a similar context as he did as well as widen the Evangelical Christian perspective on topics like justice.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Preston to discuss how our environment can shape our worldview, the way to reach those in communities that are different than our own, the power of discipleship in leading others to Jesus and how to fight for holiness in marriage after stories of trauma.

Even if your life experiences are different, Preston's story is such a profound reminder of God's power in all of our pain and mess and how redemption can come after our trauma.

How do you continue on in faith when pain and tragedy seems to plague your life? How can you keep going towards healing and wholeness when heartache relentlessly comes into your life?

Those were the questions Rachel Faulkner Brown had to wrestle with after losing not one, but two husbands: one in an unexpected medical trauma and the other in a military plane crash. As a young widow twice, Rachel knew what it meant to experience pain, but learning to experience God's comfort took some time. It took her truly understanding God's abundant love for her, even when her circumstances felt quite the opposite. Since experiencing those losses, she has since remarried again and has walked with her husband through depression and anxiety and started a ministry for widows, encouraging them to hope in their pain to purpose journey. Through it all, Rachel has found a rich faith that is rooted in trusting Jesus in every season of life. While it has never been easy, it has been what has carried her through the valleys she has encountered.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Rachel to discuss the importance of knowing our identity and God's love for us before we can ever begin to heal, how our worship can become a weapon against the enemy, and the power of encountering God's comfort in our pain.

Chances are you haven't experienced the level of loss and pain that Rachel has, but this conversation will spur you on in your journey towards faith and hope in whatever hurt you are enduring.

Have you ever watched someone you love struggle through addiction? Or perhaps you were the one with an addiction and saw the devestating impact it had on those who loved you most? How do you heal, on either side of an addiction?

For Geoffrey Banks, a youthful curiousity turned into years long struggle with drug addiction while his father, James, endured the pain of watching his son walk through so much self-inflicted pain. Now, years later, Geoffrey is sober and has followed his father's footsteps into ministry. Both serve as pastors and they've taken their heartbreaking journey through the pain of addiction and shared their story with others who are on a similar path, either as the adult child or the parent. Together, they shared what they've walked through in their book, Hope Lies Ahead: Encouragement for Parents of Prodigals from a Family that’s Been There. Addiction can feel relentless with one step forward and three steps back, but Geoffrey and James prove that through Christ true healing can come.

In this episode, Davey talks with Geoffrey and James about the spiritual warfare that can take place amidst addictive struggles, how to love well those who wrestle with addiction, how our journey with Jesus doesn't always look neat and tidy, and the role identity can play in our pain and our healing.

Whether you've walked through an addiction or know someone who has, this conversation will remind you that even when things seem bleak, hope can restore even the most broken stories.

How does our personality impact how we respond after a loss or heartache? Why does knowing more about our inner world matter when it comes to healing?

Beth and Jeff McCord have been using the tool of the Enneagram to help countless people understand the connection between their core longings and the unhealthy ways they are showing up in the world. Using a gospel lens, they have found the value in understanding more about the wounds we carry and the scripts we've been following that are keeping us from the abundant life Jesus promises. Centering on the way in which Christ longs to meet our needs and heal our pain, the McCords offer practical wisdom when it comes to seeing how a deep dive into our personality can bring greater understanding of not only ourselves, but others.

In this conversation, Davey and the McCords talk about how we can find God's truth in the tools that are out there, the way in which understanding ourselves can help us navigate our relationships and our trauma, and what God's Word says about our identity.

If you've ever wondered how several people can experience a similar loss or tragedy and deal with it completely differently from one another, this episode will give you insight into the why and help you find grace and compassion for those in your lives.

Have you ever felt like you've just gotten to a good place in life only to have it completely unravel unexpectedly? What do you do when you had finally reached a mountaintop and then find yourself in the deepest valley?

Danita Jenae knows all to well how life can be looking up only to seemingly fall apart in a moment. After struggling with chronic health issues and finally finding some relief, her world was forever changed when her husband passed away. New to town, without a community and just before the world changed for everyone with the pandemic, Danita didn't even have the resources she needed to make it through such a devastating loss. But God was gracious and even in the isolation, the loneliness, and the doubts, He proved Himself faithful in Danita's story.

Davey and Danita both know the pain of losing a spouse and how it can forever change your life. In this conversation, they talk about what to do in the silence and doubt after loss, why lament is so imperative for finding our way through grief, and how to help kids through grief when we don't know what to do.

Whether you've seen mountains crumble around you or not, this episode is a reminder that in our greatest pain, God is still making a way for us.

How does the hope of the gospel apply in the midst of a miscarriage or season of infertility? Where can we find comfort when our desire for a child isn't being fulfilled?

So often this conversation is focused on the experience women have but silently suffering are the men who too face the grief and pain after pregnancy loss or infertility. Eric Schumacher, pastor and author, walked through several pregnancy losses with his wife and found himself wrestling with shame and sadness. It was his own feelings of sorrow and thinking that he didn't deserve the space to grieve that God used in his writing: Ours: Biblical Comfort for Men Grieving Miscarriage. Suffering can feel like punishment and it was in his own wrestling that Eric began to see how the gospel can meet us so deeply in our pain.

In this conversation, Davey and Eric discuss how gospel hope applies in every pain we endure, what scripture offers us in suffering, and why honesty is so important when we are hurting.

If you've ever wondered how the gospel can meet you in what you're facing, this episode is a reminder that the hope of Christ is available for us all in every circumstance and every type of loss.

You can be doing everything "right" and still find yourself struggling in the grips of depression and anxiety. The fact remains that depression and anxiety are indiscriminate when it comes to who will encounter it. How can you get to the spiritual root of what you are facing and experience freedom in the pit of pain?

As a clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bengtson thought she had every tool anyone could ever need when it came to mental health. And yet, when her own story plunged her into the depths of depression and anxiety, she found herself at a loss. Post-partum depression and anxiety left her searching for tools from her tool box that weren't working like she thought they would. It wasn't until the Lord encouraged her to deal with the spiritual root of some of her pain that she finally found a way forward. Because of her own personal experience, she found herself even more equipped to help her patients in their own journey through depression and anxiety as well as countless others through her books and podcast.

In this insightful episode, Davey and Dr. Bengtson talk about how even being an expert doesn't keep you from certain pains, how to address the spiritual roots of depression, and the warning signs and contributing factors that can negatively impact our mental health.

If you are tired of band-aids for depression and anxiety, this conversation will remind you that addressing mental health requires a multifaceted approach and God wants to do a deeper work of healing in your life.

How do we create safe environments for our children when it comes to emotions? How do we allow those within our home to feel like they can share their feelings and find healing when there is disconnection?

Dr. Josh and Christi Straub have been on a mission to teach families what emotional health looks like and how to prioritize it in the home. Having worked with many ministry and business leaders who have experienced moral failures, they have seen first hand how emotional unhealth can destroy a family. It is why they started Famous At Home, to provide resources and coaching to families struggling with how to deal with emotions. Their work has led them to help families through books, their podcast and coaching not only name what they are feeling, but know how to navigate the uncomfortable emotions. It was also through their own personal story that they learned what can truly help in the emotional chaos of life. When Christi found herself on what she describes as "the bottom rung of life" after difficult pregnancies and exhaustion from parenthood, Josh and Christi leaned into the pain and found a way through. It wasn't just one thing, but a plethora of practices, communication and support that led them through that season.

In this conversation, Davey, Josh and Christi talk about why we need to be known in order to be emotionally healthy, what are kids need most (and it's not perfection!), and how to get curious about our emotional responses in order to gain insight into what is truly happening within us.

Families need to know how to talk about and handle the different emotions that come on ordinary days and in the days when facing a trauma or crisis. This episode will give you the tools to start the conversations that will lead to greater freedom and healing in your home.

How do you lead when your own story is full of pain? What is the cost of control when it comes to ministry, leadership and marriage?

For Ike and Sharon Hodde Miller, learning to navigate the difficulties in ministry these past few years since church planting and a pandemic has led to some insight into their own hearts. As an adult child of an alcoholic, Ike began to see the way his past was impacting his leadership. Sharon started to notice how her desire for control came at a cost to her soul and her relationships. Together, they have done the important work of healing their own wounds and stories while recognizing what they needed to let go of in order to be healthy leaders of Bright City Church in Durham, NC.

In this honest conversation, Ike and Sharon talk with Aubrey about how to lead in a divisive climate, what happens when we reach for control as leaders, and the importance of boundaries in marriage when we lead together.

Whether you're a leader in ministry, business or your home, this episode will encourage you to do the vital inner work to bring healing to your interior world so that you can lead out of health and wholeness.

What do you do when you're overcome with anxiety? How can we connect our faith with our physical and mental health?

These are questions that Jenn Tucker began to ask after first walking her young daughter through anxiety and panic attacks, only to discover she herself was dealing with anxiety as well. As Jenn was on the journey of having a child who was struggling with both mental health challenges as well as a physical one, she started to recognize how little control she had in her world. What was often covered up under the guise of perfectionism and planning was soon recognized as her own deep seated anxiety. It wasn't until Jenn learned the spiritual discipline of breath prayer that she began to feel the peace and comfort of God, even when circumstances didn't completely change. It is through breath prayer that Jenn was able to learn to calm her body and soul and a tool God gave her as she continued to trust Him in her story.

In this conversation, Davey talks with Jenn about how we can often wrestle with the shame of perfectionism and control, why empathy grows out of our own struggles and the way that trusting God through our very breath and our prayer can be the way through whatever we are facing.

If you or someone you love have ever suffered from anxiety, this episode will give you both a practical way to find healing and the hope to keep going when life doesn't seem to go as planned.

Imagine waking up in a hospital room and finding out that you no longer remembered the last thirteen years of your life. Think about the fear, the confusion and the uncertainty that would set in when you realized you had just been in a coma and parts of your life were no longer in your memory.

Most of us have never experienced something as traumatic as that and can hardly imagine such a scene playing out in real life. But for artist Marcy Gregg, this was her story. After complications from giving birth led to her being in a coma, she awoke to a life she didn't know. Thirteen years of her memories were gone and she didn't recognize her husband or her kids. In order to be released from the hospital, she pretended that her memory was coming back. But once home, the weight of such a big secret began to overwhelm her and she turned to alcohol to cope with her anxiety and pain. Pretty soon, she found herself struggling with alcohol addiction, but through a divine intervention, the Lord spoke to her and she walked away from numbing her pain with alcohol. Her life has been met with more challenges, but through it all, she has chosen to trust God with her life and her story. Like a painting in progress, she has seen God as the ultimate artist who is not done yet with the canvas of her life.

In this episode, Davey talks with Marcy about how to surrender in the face of uncertainty, choosing to live differently when life takes us on an unexpected path, and why trust requires us to lean in.

Marcy's story is unique, but through it, you'll find a reminder in your own to trust God with the plan He has for your life, even when you can't see the whole picture quite yet.

Boundaries can feel impossible sometimes, especially if you have lived your life without them. How do you begin to draw the line when it comes to what you are willing to accept in a relationship? How do you know when it is beyond the point of healing and time to let go of a toxic relationship?

Author, speaker and Bible teacher Lysa TerKeurst never dreamed that her life would look the way it does now. After finding out about her husband's infidelity, Lysa was committed to healing and restoration of her marriage. But as time went by, Lysa endured the most difficult season of her life and had to face the most difficult decision. Ultimately, her marriage ended and she was left to pick up the pieces. As she has walked the journey of healing, she has begun to see how her own inability to set boundaries contributed to the chaos in her relationship.

In this episode, Lysa talks to Aubrey about how boundaries are not just a good thing but also a God thing, how to determine the amount of access someone should have in our lives and why boundaries can keep the best of who we are front and center.

If you find yourself putting clear boundaries up, especially in relationships that need them most, this conversation will give you the courage to live in a way that will help you and those you love flourish.

How can we look at our lives and see God's faithfulness throughout the knots of disappointment, betrayal, criticism or abuse? How can we trust the goodness of God when so much has gone wrong in our lives?

For Bible teacher and author Beth Moore, her life has been a series of knots. From being sexually abused as a child to extreme criticism from those who proclaim Christ, Beth's life has been full of pain to untangle. But with every difficulty, every pain, Beth has seen her desperate need for Jesus even more. It has been through the twists and turns of life that she has come to realize that no person and no set of circumstances can satisfy like the love of Jesus. Openly and honestly, Beth has journeyed this path with the Lord for a lifetime to find that He is worth every step of it.

In this profound conversation, Beth talks with Davey and Aubrey about how the crucible of life can bring about a fountain of deep passion for the Lord, the only way to endure criticism as a leader, and how our crushing can lead to more of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

If you need encouragement from a seasoned believer to finish your race well in the midst of all that you are facing, this episode will give you the strength to keep fighting the good fight of faith.

What happens when we start to share our story of pain and loss? How can retelling what we've walked through help us in healing?

For Jonathan Pitts, sharing the story of how he lost his wife, Wynter, has been a part of the process God has used to heal his greatest loss. In 2018, life was going well for Jonathan and his family. With an exciting upcoming move to the Nashville area and a new position as a pastor, Jonathan, Wynter and their four girls were excited about what was ahead. But within moments, their lives took a tragic turn that none of them could have imagined when Wynter died suddenly from a heart related issue. Just like that, Jonathan and his girls were on a new trajectory in their lives as they continued on with the move and began a completely new life without Wynter.

In this episode, Davey and Jonathan talk about how so much of our healing can come as we share parts of our story, the importance of having permission to feel what we feel, and ways we can combat shame in our grief.

Life has taken unexpected turns for the Pitts family as Jonathan has now remarried and pivoted in his professional life, but this conversation is a reminder that as much as life can change in an instant, God remains the same.

Sometimes, we can try to cover up our past pain with that which we can control—achievement, performance, productivity. But at some point, those coping mechanisms cannot mask the hurt we are feeling deep inside anymore. What do you do when what you've done to run from your past no longer works to hide what you're truly feeling?

For Dr. Elizabeth (Ellie) Stevens, there came a point when what she did to keep the pain from her childhood sexual abuse at bay, no longer worked. She found that she could no longer hide behind performance and her achievements and instead had to face what was below the surface. It took another string of traumas including a sexual assault and traumatic brain injury to bring up the ache she had been ignoring, but when she did, she found that God invited her towards something new— freedom. Even when her poor decisions heaped shame on top of all she was enduring, she was able to start to experience the depth of God's love in the middle of the mess of emotions she was enduring. Now, as a psychiatrist, trauma survivor and veteran, Dr. Stevens has taken what she has learned in her own journey to help veterans and first responders in theirs.

In this conversation, Davey talks with Dr. Stevens about how we often use achievement and performance to cope with our past, the power of God shown through our weakness, and how trauma can help us move from conditional to unconditional love.

If you find yourself trying to hide your past pain through achievement and performance and you are ready to experience the freedom God has for you, this episode will encourage you that God wants to release you from that which threatens to hold you back from

Parenting is complicated whichever way you come into it. When grief and trauma are part of the equation, it can add even more layers to navigate. How do you sit in the messiness of adoption and fostering while learning to see the joys and the wins in the midst of it?

For Jillana Goble, it has been through the challenges of parenting via birth, foster care, and adoption that she has learned to welcome the invitations the Lord offers in the tensions of it all. As she said yes to the difficulties and joys, she has seen her own understanding of God and family widen in an unimaginable way. She has learned that parenting of any kind does not come with a road map or a formula with a promise, but rather it is the small, daily obediences to say yes to loving our children well in all circumstances. It is there that we begin to see God show up in places that were once thought to be irrevocably broken.

In this conversation, Davey sits down with Jillana to discuss the often complicated nature of adoption and fostering that we don't always see as well as how understanding how integrated we are-mind, body and soul-can help us love kids who have gone through unfathomable loss and trauma and how in it all, Jesus shows up in the mess.

Whether you have adopted or fostered or know someone who has, this episode will help you see that God invites us to know Him more through the imperfect and often difficult stories we all walk through.

Perhaps one of the greatest questions that comes after trauma or tragedy is how do we help our kids navigate pain? What do we as parents need to look for after loss or in the everyday struggles that kids are facing? When do we need to bring in an expert to help and what can we do in the in between?

David Thomas knows all too well the questions that emerge when families encounter crisis and the everyday difficulties plaguing our children. As a licensed counselor at Daystar Counseling in Nashville, TN, he has met with hundreds of kids and has walked with them through all sorts of challenges from trauma, grief and loss to anxiety and depression. What he has noticed in his clinical experience is that above all else, kids need parents willing to do the same emotional work of healing that they are wanting for their children. When we as parents start to look at our own stories, we can better help our children through theirs.

In this practical and timely conversation, Davey sits down with David to discuss why we need to do our own work as parents, the importance of following our child's lead after pain, understanding behavior as communication as well as how to help kids navigate anxiety and technology.

If you are struggling to know what to do with the pain or challenges your child is experiencing, this episode is full of helpful wisdom to help you parent well in the midst of it.

So often, we tend to think very little about our story and how our past impacts our present. But, what if the key to healing the wounds we are experiencing now is inextricably tied to engaging our whole story including our past?

For professional counselor and podcaster Adam Young, it was when he began to engage his story, the wounds of his past and his family of origin, that he started to see the ways in which God wanted to meet him in his pain. This idea of not just dealing with the symptoms of past wounds, but looking at the arc of our lives became the most important tool Adam had in his private practice with others who were wanting to heal from the past. It also connected perfectly with what we know to be true about the human brain and how it makes sense of the things that have happened to us.

In this deeply profound conversation, Davey and Adam talk about why it is so important to engage our stories, the difference between trauma and adversity, how to handle people who have wounded us, and how this work can lead to healing and health in our relationships, including our closest ones like in our marriage.

If you've ever wondered how to connect the dots between your earliest memories and what you are experiencing now, this episode is full of insightful wisdom on how to step into your story with compassion and curiosity.

WARNING: This episode contains conversations about suicide ideation and may not be suitable for all listeners/viewers.

Having a baby seems like it will be a season full of unending joy, but for many mothers, the elation of a new child can bring with it an unforeseen darkness too. Recent studies suggest one in every eight women experience postpartum depression. It can be jarring to experience the joy of new life while also enduring the pain of depression and anxiety in the wake. How do you move through the darkness into the light when it feels impossible?

For Julie Thomas, she couldn't have imagined the way in which darkness would seem to take over. Well after the birth of her child, she was experiencing a depression that would not lift. It felt hopeless and isolating, so much so that she contemplated taking her own life. While her story isn't one of instantaneous healing, God taught her the slow and steady way He can heal when we turn to Him in the depths of our pain. For her, it was a combination of safe people, leaning into scripture and sharing her story with others that would eventually help the fog of depression clear.

In this episode, Davey and Julie talk about what to do when you become afraid of both the darkness and the light, how to help someone through a season of depression, and why telling your story can become a catalyst towards healing.

This conversation will help the one who needs hope in the most desperate of places as well as the one who wants to be a help when someone they love are suffering in the dark. And it will remind us all that no matter what difficulties we are facing, we are not alone.