What do we do with the messages that imprint themselves on our souls from our earliest memories? How do we overcome the most difficult parts of our story when our circumstances seemingly want to make us a statistic? For author, speaker and advocate Tori Hope Petersen, growing up in an abusive home and entering the foster care system at a young age made her start to believe that her life didn't matter. But somehow in the midst of the darkest moments, God met her and showed her His unfailing love in the face of people's failures to love and care for her and that her life had a greater purpose. Since that season, Tori has written about her experience through the system in her book, Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care and has become an advocate for others. She is also now a mom, undoing the brokenness from her family of origin and creating a beautiful tapestry called family through biological, adoption and foster parenting. In this important conversation, Aubrey sits with Tori to discuss the questions that can come when you're wrestling through a life riddled with pain, the value of community in healing from our trauma, and how the Church can become the foundation for care and love for those in the foster care system. Whether or not your life has been touched by foster care, this episode will remind you that no matter the messages you received as a child, God's message for you is clear: you are dearly loved and none of your pain is ever wasted.   Website: https://www.torihopepetersen.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torihopepetersen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/torihopepetersen/ Book: Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care Are you a pastor or church leader who wants to see redemptive healing take place in your church? Find out more about how you can bring Pain to Purpose to your church: www.nothingiswasted.com/churches Want to see healing and life transformation after the pain you've encountered? Check out the Pain to Purpose course and start the path towards healing today: www.course.nothingiswasted.com Want to be a part of the Nothing is Wasted Prayer team? Sign up today: www.nothingiswasted.com/prayerteam

What happens when we experience wounding at the hands of one of the most influential people in our lives...our father? How can we even begin to heal ourselves, our relationships and how we see God when our dad has let us down? For author Kia Stephens, the impact of an absentee father had lasting effects on her life. She started to notice the void of desiring to have a father in her life and not receiving the care she had wished she had from him in her life. This wound impacted everything from her own identity to how she related to God as a father. It was through writing about her own experience that she discovered many people, especially women, were struggling with the lasting imprint of a father wound, whether from divorce, incarceration, abandonment, or rejection. With one in four people growing up in fatherless homes, Kia knew she had to speak up about how God healed her own father wound. It was through her book, Overcoming Father Wounds: Exchanging Your Pain for God’s Perfect Love, that Kia shared her story and how she found healing from her father wound. In this important conversation, Davey and Kia sit down to talk about what a father wound is, the way the enemy seeks to continue destructive generational patterns, and how to forgive your father after whatever you have endured. Chances are you or someone you know has experienced the damage of not having a father fulfill his calling in leading and loving his children. If you are a dad, this episode will help you to understand the importance your presence plays in the lives of your kids. And if you have been wounded by your father, you'll learn to exchange your pain for God's perfect love.   Website: www.kiastephens.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/kianstephens Book: Overcoming Father Wounds: Exchanging Your Pain for God’s Perfect Love We want to know how Nothing is Wasted has impacted YOUR story! Share with us at: nothingiswasted.com/stories We know every pain is unique. That's why we created Curated Pathways to give you everything we have that applies to your specific pain point. www.nothingiswasted.com/pathways Do you need someone to walk with you one-on-one through your valley? Our certified coaches are ready to meet you where you are and help you find a way forward: www.nothingiswasted.com/coaching

How do you keep trusting God when life doesn't get perfectly "fixed"? How can you begin to see God's glory move in your story within all its imperfections? For author Kristen Wetherell, chronic pain became a debilitating reminder that her plans and her life were not fully under her control. It was through a Lyme disease diagnosis and the subsequent pain and challenges she faced that God began to reveal to her how important it was to live a surrendered life before the Lord and see His grace and compassion in the midst of suffering. In her book, Hope When it Hurts (co-authored with previous guest, Sarah Walton, Episode #274), she encourages those battling any sort of pain, to see the hope God offers in our aches and hold onto Him when we want to let go. In this episode, Davey sits down with Kristen to unpack how we can begin to discern the will of God in our lives, what it looks like to walk by faith in our suffering, and the importance of leaning into others when we can't stand on our own. With profound wisdom, Kristen points out how God remains faithful to us when our story takes unexpected twists and turns and how we can keep trusting Him even though life unfolds in unexpected ways.   Website: www.kristenwetherell.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/kristen_wetherell Books: Hope When It Hurts: Biblical Reflections to Help You Grasp God’s Purpose in Your Suffering Humble Moms: How the Work of Christ Sustains the Work of Motherhood Fight Your Fears: Trusting God's Character and Promises When You Are Afraid Want to find out how you too can remove the debris of crisis in your life and move forward with a renewed sense of victory and purpose? Learn more about the Pain to Purpose course at: www.course.nothingiswasted.com Are you ready to take a step towards healing? Join Davey on our next FREE, live Zoom call and learn 5 Steps to Taking Back your Story. Sign up today at: www.nothingiswasted.com/starthere We want to know how Nothing is Wasted has impacted YOUR story! Share with us at: nothingiswasted.com/stories

Women are leaving churches in record numbers at higher rates than ever before. Yet, all of us are in need of healthy community more than ever. What is causing this mass exodus and how can the Church and women recognize their need for one another? Journalist and author Ericka Andersen wanted to know why and started to investigate the staggering statistics. In turn, she found the deeper reasons such a vital part of the body of Christ was finding its way to the exit. She offers an explanation of why this is happening plus an encouraging call for women to reengage in the Church in her book, Reason to Return: Why Women Need the Church and the Church Needs Women. There she encourages women to see not only their need for Christ-centered community, but also the Church's need for the unique gifts of women. In it, she also shares her personal journey with alcoholism and how the Church played such a vital role in her own healing. In this episode, Davey sits down with Ericka to discuss how women are leaving the Church at faster rates than ever before, how the anger of those who leave is often not against God, and why it is so important to go first and create a safe space for people to share their stories with vulnerability. If you've found yourself ready to quit the Church because of the wounds that people have inflicted upon your or if you've left Church and don't know how to take the first step back towards community, this conversation will encourage you that even in its brokenness, the people of God are an integral part of our lives of faith.   Website: https://erickaandersen.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericka_andersen/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErickaAndersenSylvester Book: Reason to Return: Why Women Need the Church and the Church Needs Women Would you love to help those in your church partner with God to take back their stories of pain and trauma? Bring the Pain to Purpose course to your church and let the healing begin: www.nothingiswasted.com/churches We want to know how Nothing is Wasted has impacted YOUR story! Share with us at: nothingiswasted.com/stories We know every pain is unique. That's why we created Curated Pathways to give you everything we have that applies to your specific pain point: www.nothingiswasted.com/pathways

How do we take the immense heartaches we experience and use them for God's glory? How do we continue to trust in the Lord's goodness when our experience feels quite the opposite in our pain? For author Tim Challies, losing his 20 year old son tragically and unexpectedly gave him the opportunity to lean into all he believed to be true about God as he resolved to steward his sorrow well. Through his writing of his book, Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God, Tim gave a real-time account of his grieving process and his ultimate conclusion that God was still good and the provider of comfort even in our greatest losses. His writing was not only a way for his own heart to process and heal, but it has become a beacon of hope to so many others encountering their own sorrows and pain. In this episode, Tim sits down with Aubrey to discuss what it looks like to lead our family through pain when we too are enduring it, how writing can be a helpful part of healing and the importance of knowing our true identity in the face of our losses. Losing a child is an agonizing and heartbreaking experience and yet Tim's reminder to all of us, whether we have known that kind of pain or not, is that God is our ultimate comfort.   Website: www.challies.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/challies Book: Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God We want to know how Nothing is Wasted has impacted YOUR story! Share with us at: nothingiswasted.com/stories Pastors, looking for a way to establish a path towards healing and redemption within your church? Join Davey Blackburn for a live call on how Nothing is Wasted can help: www.nothingiswasted.com/pastors Want to see healing and life transformation after the pain you've encountered? Check out the Pain to Purpose course and start the path towards healing today: www.course.nothingiswasted.com

How do you stay afloat when it feels like waves of grief and trauma keep crashing over you? How can you keep a marriage together when it feels like everything is trying to tear you apart? For Jeff and Sarah Walton, navigating the relentless storms of a child's neurological challenges, losing a job, and the impact of Lyme disease in their home seemed impossible. It felt like the story of Job where every aspect of their lives were touched by pain and suffering. In writing their book, Together Through the Storms: Biblical Encouragements for Your Marriage When Life Hurts, they shared their own journey through the unending trials of life and how they continue to find hope in the midst of all the pain they have endured and are still facing. In this conversation, Davey sits down with Jeff and Sarah to talk about how God's Word can be a lifeline in the storms of life, why honest lament is a gift, how to endure suffering with hope as a couple and where to even begin when talking to our kids about the trials we endure as a family. If you need to be encouraged by those who are still in the storm, this episode will show you that you can ride the waves between the reality you are living and the hope you have for a better future and find Jesus right where you are.   Website: www.togetherthroughthestorms.com www.setapart.net Instagram: www.instagram.com/sarahpwalton www.instagram.com/JeffandSarahWalton www.instagram.com/Walton4J Book: Together Through the Storms: Biblical Encouragements for Your Marriage When Life Hurts We want to know how Nothing is Wasted has impacted YOUR story! Share with us at: nothingiswasted.com/stories Need some hope right now in your valley? Or have a friend who could use some encouragement through suffering? The Pain to Purpose 42-Day Devotional is the perfect companion in your pain. Get your copy and gift one to a friend who needs it: www.nothingiswasted.com/store/pain-to-purpose-devotional Do you need resources to help guide you in your specific pain point? Our Curated Pathways are designed to give you everything we offer in one place when it comes to your unique journey: www.nothingiswasted.com/pathways

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.   Website: www.adammabry.org Instagram: www.instagram.com/theadammabry  Facebook: www.facebook.com/pastoradammabry Book: When God Seems Gone: Finding Hope When Nothing Makes Sense Get 25% off of Adam's book When God Seems Gone at thegoodbook.com with code the code: NIW Have a friend who is walking through something difficult? Invite them to our next 5 Steps to Taking Back Your Story zoom call with Davey Blackburn. Send them this link to sign up: www.nothingiswasted.com/starthere Are you a pastor or church leader who wants to see redemptive healing take place in your church? Find out more about how you can bring Pain to Purpose to your church: www.nothingiswasted.com/churches Do you need a reminder in your pain that God isn't done with your story? Sign up for our free, 7 day devotional delivered straight to your inbox: www.nothingiswasted.com/7-day-devo

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.   Website: https://withtheperrys.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/preston_n_perry/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prestonperrythepoet Twitter: https://twitter.com/Preston_n_Perry Want to learn more about Pain to Purpose? Learn more: www.course.nothingiswasted.com Are you ready to take a step towards healing? Join Davey on our next FREE, live Zoom call and learn 5 Steps to Taking Back your Story. Sign up today at: www.nothingiswasted.com/starthere Want to access all that Nothing is Wasted has to offer to help you in your healing journey? Join Community Plus and get resources like our masterclasses, Curated Pathways, and more for just $20/month. www.nothingiswasted.com/communityplus

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.   Website: www.rachelfaulknerbrown.net www.bestillministries.net Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelfaulknerbrown www.instagram.com/neveralonewidows Want to find out how you too can remove the debris of crisis in your life and move forward with a renewed sense of victory and purpose? Learn more about the Pain to Purpose course at: www.mypaintopurposeplan.com Want to be a part of the Nothing is Wasted Prayer team? Sign up today: www.nothingiswasted.com/prayerteam Are you ready to take a step towards healing? Join Davey on our next FREE, live Zoom call and learn 5 Steps to Taking Back your Story. Sign up today at: www.nothingiswasted.com/starthere

Have you ever watched someone you love struggle through addiction? Or perhaps you were the one with an addiction and saw the devastating impact it had on those who loved you most? How do you heal, on either side of an addiction? For Geoffrey Banks, a youthful curiosity 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.   Website: www.jamesbanks.org Instagram: www.instagram.com/encouragingprayer www.instagram.com/geoffreyjbanksy Facebook: www.facebook.com/drjamesbanks Book: Hope Lies Ahead: Encouragement for Parents of Prodigals from a Family that’s Been There  Want to see healing and life transformation after the pain you've encountered? Check out the Pain to Purpose course and start the path towards healing today: www.mypaintopurposeplan.com Have a friend who is walking through something difficult? Invite them to our next 5 Steps to Taking Back Your Story zoom call with Davey Blackburn. Send them this link to sign up: www.nothingiswasted.com/starthere We know every pain is unique. That's why we created Curated Pathways to give you everything we have that applies to your specific pain point. www.nothingiswasted.com/pathways