Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith Jenny Marrs and Struggle Jennings: When Life Breaks You, God Rebuilds You
*This episode contains content that may be triggering for some listeners.
This week, we’ll hear from Jenny Marrs, an author, designer, and passionate advocate for community transformation, family preservation, and orphan care worldwide, who hosts the HGTV show Fixer to Fabulous with her husband, Dave. Jenny shares the path that led her to the business she is in today, and the challenges of leaving all that you know to embrace the unknown.
Later in the episode, we’ll hear from Struggle Jennings, an independent music artist, father of seven, and prison ministry leader. Struggle shares how growing up in a famous musical family didn’t shield him from tragedy and poor choices, but how God used even the hardest seasons, including prison, to rebuild his life.
Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:
Past interview: Patricia Heaton
Upcoming interview: Dan and Sam Mathews
Jesus Listens: Prayers for Every Season
Trust God, Love People: Stories of My Openhanded Faith
Interview Quotes:
“We’re not meant to do life alone. In [a difficult] season, [my husband and I] needed to lean on each other and on God and get through it, and we realized we actually needed to let people in.” - Jenny Marrs
"[God] works through us; He works through our inadequacies, and often when we don't want to do it, He can—even if we think there's no way." - Jenny Marrs
"Identifying and spotting God's hand in all of it–the mundane, the hard, the beautiful, the mountain tops—all of those different experiences—we can spot His hand in that." - Jenny Marrs
"I want my kids to be able to look back at the faithfulness of God in their lives that they didn't even know about before they were born and have that moving forward." - Jenny Marrs
“I was introduced at an early age to both sides of the tracks—seeing Waylon with the security guards and the Cadillac and the Jaguar and the big house and [being a] successful country music icon. And then going back to my dad’s side of the family that lived in West Nashville who worked nine to fives and lived right at that poverty line.” - Struggle Jennings
“I was caught up in that world—gangs and drugs and a lot of the beliefs like, Feed your family by any means necessary. It’s okay to do wrong if you’re doing it for the right reason—those types of things that I had to eventually strip myself of.” - Struggle Jennings
“Many times God showed His face and showed His favor, even though I didn’t know why, because I didn’t understand what my purpose was.” - Struggle Jennings
“I knew that I finally had to strip down and take full responsibility and accountability and say, ‘This is my fault. I can’t blame the judge. I can’t blame the person that snitched on me. I can’t blame my circumstances or the cards I was dealt. I have the opportunity to turn this around.’” - Struggle Jennings
“I just really felt that God had a plan for me, and I wasn’t going to take it for granted.” - Struggle Jennings
“Even the times that I had doubts, it was the responsibility to God and to my fans and to my children [that kept me going]. When you’re purpose-driven and you have a reason for getting up every day and you know you’re living in God’s glory and God’s mercy, you have that strength and that confidence that I’ve made it through a lot of things and I don’t know what’s ahead of me, but I know that if I keep moving in the right direction with love in my heart and God in my heart, it’s going to work out okay. God gives His greatest warriors the toughest battles.” - Struggle Jennings
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Enjoy watching these additional videos from Jesus Calling YouTube channel!
Audio Episodes: https://bit.ly/3zvjbK7
Bonus Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3vfLlGw
Jesus Listens: Stories of Prayer: https://bit.ly/3Sd0a6C
Peace for Everyday Life: https://bit.ly/3zzwFoj
Peace in Uncertain Times: https://bit.ly/3cHfB6u
What’s Good? https://bit.ly/3vc2cKj
Enneagram: https://bit.ly/3hzRCCY
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