The Nothing Is Wasted Podcast

How do you find your way back to faith when grief seems to tear it apart? For Pastor John Onwuchekwa, losing his brother Sam sent him down a path that he never expected. Having spent his whole life teaching others about the goodness and power of God, John found himself questioning the very foundational truths he so often preached. Grief made him feel like a liar. But he slowly began to see that it...

What happens when the life you've built turns to dust? For Steph Teague, it began with just a few short sentences: "I don't think I believe in God anymore and I want a divorce". Hearing those words from her high school sweetheart, Chris, was devastating and yet, she slowly began to rebuild her life after such a deep hurt. Chris was on a seemingly separate journey through addiction, doubts, and dec...

What do you do when you realize the things you've been taught don't quite match up with God's Word? How do you navigate when what you believed to be true of the body of Christ doesn't hold up when you need care and protection? For Carlie Cleveland, experiencing an abusive relationship was painful enough yet more hurt was heaped upon her when the response of Christian leaders was shaming and blamin...

What if your worst-case scenario happened? Could you still say that God is good? For military spouse Liset Navas, those questions prompted a searching and wrestling with God long before she lost her husband, US Marine Captain Mo Navas in combat in 2020. Just days before the world shut down from Covid, Liset got the knock at the door that no military wife wants to receive. In her grief, Liset found...

What do you do when loss reveals more questions than answers? How do you navigate the doubts and anger that come when God doesn't answer a prayer or longing? For Abbey Wedgeworth, finding beauty in the valley of miscarriage was no easy feat. It was through her wrestling in her pain, that she began to see the lessons her heart needed to learn, even though her mind knew the truth of God's Word. Whil...

After a near-death experience, how do you return to life? For Micah McElveen, it took almost losing his life to begin to live fully alive. After diving head first into a wave as a teen, Micah found his story taking an unexpected turn due to a near fatal injury. In what can only be explained as a miracle, God gave Micah a second-chance at life and the realization that life was truly a vapor. It was...

"We're letting you go." It's the words no employee wants to hear and yet, job loss is at a staggering high. What do you do when the company you've given your time and talents to tells you they no longer have a place for you? Job loss and unemployment is more than just a financial loss, it can lead to a spectrum of emotional, spiritual and mental pain points as well. Dale Kreienkamp knows all too w...

Have you ever asked yourself how life can be good again after a devastating loss? Have you found yourself having to learn to depend on God in your deepest pain? Author and speaker Lisa Appelo knows all too well what it looks like to search for meaning and joy in life when your world falls apart. In the summer of 2011, she found herself a widow and single mom of seven children after the sudden, tra...

For many Americans, the recent headlines about the war in Ukraine came as a shock, but for the people living in the reality of the conflict, life has felt unstable for quite some time. Ukrainian missionaries Yuriy and Madison Perekotiy know firsthand what it is like to live in a place where wars and rumors of wars exist as part of daily life. But when the most recent invasion happened while they w...

In a world so broken, it is no wonder that division can be seen everywhere, even within the walls of the Church. The past few years especially have shone a light on how pervasive the sin of racism still exists to this day within our communities and within the body of Christ. Through his own personal experiences and his study of God's word, former NFL player turned pastor, Derwin Gray, has a vision...

When it comes to our struggles with our emotions, pain and story, one of the most difficult by-products to navigate is the loneliness that we can experience as a result of our journey. A pervasive sense of being unseen and unknown can lead to a deep feeling of hopelessness. With raw honesty, Dr. Mark Mayfield shares his own personal journey in learning how his unhealed emotions led to a feeling of...

What happens when the excitement of a pregnancy comes to a screeching halt with the words you never expected to hear: Down syndrome? For many parents, it can feel like a life sentence of fear and unknowns. What started out as a grief over the life Misty Snyder was expecting to have with her second-born child, ended up to be one of her greatest gifts. While she wrestled through the anxieties and mo...

How can you experience God's breakthrough when your circumstances seem to go from bad to worse? For Traci McCombs, that journey was a long and difficult one as she endured several miscarriages, a season of infertility and a cancer diagnosis while also facing the challenges of being a military spouse. Just when she thought all hope was lost, God broke through in unexpected ways. In this conversatio...

How do we learn to walk with grief? Clarissa Moll has been learning to do just that ever since losing her husband, Rob, in a tragic hiking accident in 2019. Through her pain, Clarissa has seen grief transform her into a more compassionate person while teaching her how to live more fully in the midst of great loss. In this conversation, Davey and Clarissa sit down to talk about what to do with the...

There are certain issues that the church is silent on too often. Whether it’s from fear of controversy or just not knowing what to say, it’s all too easy for many Christians to be afraid of talking about topics that can seem “messy.” Jackie Hill Perry is not one of those people. Having dealt with sexual abuse, pornography, gender confusion, same-sex attraction, and more, Jackie is well versed in t...

It seems like every day we hear about yet another abuse of power from a political, spiritual or business leader. It can make you wonder how many people saw something before the ultimate downfall. For Tiffany Bluhm, there was not only the pain of witnessing an abuse of power but also the pain of remaining unheard even after she spoke up against the injustice she saw. In this episode, Tiffany and Da...

How do you find purpose in pain that seems to have no end in sight? Pastor and former athlete Jesse Bradley found himself facing that question when anti-malaria drugs sent him on a ten year journey of healing from chronic pain and health issues. Jesse sat down with Davey to have a conversation about what it looks like to find purpose in our pain when it doesn't seem to be getting better. It was in...

What happens when the place that is supposed to be a source of comfort ends up causing you some of the greatest pain of your life? The avenue God created for both healing and sharing the good news of the gospel can sometimes be where many of us are intentionally or unintentionally wounded by the people within its doors. In this episode, Davey sits down with author Catherine McNiel as she tenderly...

When trauma enters our lives, it can be difficult to imagine a life beyond the pain and brokenness that we see. Many of us turn to the coping mechanisms we have learned over the years in hopes of finding relief from the hurt. Yet often, we can find ourselves abandoning the one thing that can help put the broken pieces back together: connection. In this episode, Davey sits down with Dr. Curt Thomps...

Pain has a way of keeping us in the dark, of making sure that we don’t know how to cope and heal properly. When it feels like there’s nowhere else to turn, it’s all too easy to fall into harmful coping mechanisms and patterns that may deal with our pain in the moment, but only make things worse in the long run. When Brittany Tinsley went through a painful season at a young age, this is exactly wha...

WIDOWHOOD SERIES PART FIVE   On one fateful day, Jon Hagedorn gathered his wife and children to engage in a family tradition of theirs, something they did to make sure they always remembered God’s goodness and faithfulness. But they couldn’t have known how much that belief was going to be tested. Mere hours later, Jon’s wife died suddenly. Facing life as a single father while dealing with his own...

WIDOWHOOD SERIES PART FOUR   We all hope that our faith will leave a legacy, that our decisions to follow God even in the middle of incredible hardship will have affect the lives of people who haven’t even been born yet. Faithfulness, it turns out, has a way of rippling across generations to impact the lives of our children’s children’s children. This is the story of Jim and Martha Blackburn. Havi...

WIDOWHOOD SERIES PART THREE   There are certain words and phrases that we all dread to hear, and perhaps one of the worst is when a doctor says “cancer.” When Brandon Janous’ wife was diagnosed, he knew their family was in for a long, hard struggle. But sadly, Brandon’s wife wouldn’t make it through this season. Suddenly left grieving one of the worst losses imaginable and with three children to t...

WIDOWHOOD SERIES PART TWO   Every partner of someone with an especially dangerous job has to face the reality that there is always a chance their husband or wife won’t make it home one day. But no amount of theoretical expectations could have prepared Gracie Parrish for the day when two uniformed police officers showed up at her door to deliver the last piece of news she would have ever wanted. Su...

WIDOWHOOD SERIES PART ONE   The loss of a spouse is one of the deepest forms of pain that any of us can imagine. Marriage is one of life’s greatest joys, and when that is suddenly cut short, the pain that results is something that most of us can’t even begin to imagine. Ron Hutchcraft, however, doesn’t have to imagine. In 2016, Ron’s wife of more than 50 years passed away suddenly and unexpectedly...