Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith God Can Handle Our Brokenness: Andrew & Shawn Johnson East and Lisa Leonard
We don’t have to be perfect to receive God’s love. He longs to meet us in our brokenness so that He can be a part of our healing. Olympic gold medal gymnast Shawn Johnson East and her husband, NFL player Andrew East, share their love story that’s now blossomed into parenthood. And in their young marriage, Shawn and Andrew have weathered highs and lows, including a painful miscarriage, and they remember how sharing with their online community and hearing stories from thousands who had experienced the same pain helped them heal. Jewelry designer Lisa Leonard was juggling so much—a loving marriage, being a mom to two sons (one with special needs) and a passion for her burgeoning business—that she worked herself into a burnout, which took a toll especially on her marriage. As she began to work through these hard feelings, Lisa realized God didn’t require her to be perfect and put together all the time. Slowly but surely, Lisa’s zest for life returned, and she began to build a peaceful life that allowed her to keep creating new resources and loving others the way she always wanted.
Links, Products and Resources Mentioned:
Jesus Calling devotionalJesus Today
Jesus Calling exclusives from Barnes & Noble online
The Next Door Treatment Facility interviews on Jesus Calling podcast
Andrew & Shawn Johnson East
YouTube channel, The East Family
Shawn Johnson East website
Andrew East website
Be You book
Brave Love book Your Spark book
IMDB - Gary Sinise as “Lieutenant Dan” in the film Forrest Gump,
Interview Quotes:
“I remember going to the Olympics, winning an Olympic gold medal, standing on the medal podium with a gold medal around my neck and feeling almost empty.” - Shawn Johnson East
“Shawn's career was just kind of ending when we met, and my career was about to begin in the NFL. It's such a unique position, and I'm so thankful that Shawn is very uniquely qualified to be a part of the ups and downs of the NFL.” - Andrew East
“[Sharing about my miscarriage with my online community] helped me heal so much, just seeing how many thousands of stories came back of people who had gone through the same thing.” - Shawn Johnson East
“There's so much power in the community.” - Andrew East
“I'm excited about the marriage aspect of parenting, but I'm also excited about the responsibility of what it means to be a thoughtful parent and how you do that well.” - Shawn Johnson East
“I felt like I wanted to do something different and bring beauty into the world.” - Lisa Leonard
“I felt like as a mom with two boys, one with special needs, and my husband and my friends and my extended family, the easiest way to simplify things was to take my needs and wants and put them way up high on a shelf.” - Lisa Leonard
“God can handle our brokenness. He is not surprised by it. He's not scared of it. He's enough to fill that space.” - Lisa Leonard
“This is a journey. We don't have it all figured out. And there's grace, so this is love, right? We don't do everything perfectly, but we're in it together.” - Lisa Leonard
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Enjoy these videos on Jesus Calling YouTube channel:
Audio podcast: https://bit.ly/2uCnNM0
Original Series video podcast: https://bit.ly/2WzFY0O
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