The Nothing Is Wasted Podcast

What does it look like to answer God's call in our life? How do we step into our calling when there is suffering that we never expected? For author, ministry leader, wife, and mom of 15, Katie Majors Davis, she could have never imagined all the ways in which God would call her into the unexpected places that He has over her life. As a young woman, Katie answered the calling of her life and became...

What do you do when the people of God fail and you find yourself questioning God because of it? How do you deconstruct your misunderstandings about God, His people and life without deconstructing your faith altogether? For author, Bible teacher, and medical doctor Lina AbuJamra healing from the hurt she experienced from her church led her on an unexpected journey in her faith. What started as a de...

What is the connection to our brain's health and our mental health? How can taking care of our brains help us heal from grief, trauma, depression or anxiety? Dr. Daniel Amen is a world renowned psychiatrist who began to notice early in his practice that there was a disconnect in psychiatry and the lack of study being done on the brain. It was through years of scanning brains through a technology c...

How do we experience true rest in a culture that demands striving and encourages fatigue? What does it even look like to live from a place of rest instead of burnout and exhaustion like most people around us do? For author, pastor, speaker, and mom of four, Jess Connolly, these were the questions she had to wrestle with in the face of all the demands coming at her from her various roles. When life...

How can you find hope when life shatters before your eyes? How can you continue to believe in the goodness of God after tragedy? For young mom Kellie Bullard, she couldn't imagine how quickly life could change. In an ordinary night, her life was turned completely upside down when her husband, Alex, died in a car accident less than a mile from their home. What was once a picture perfect life was ri...

What does the gospel have for us in our suffering? How do we apply theological truths in our pain? Author and Bible teacher Paul David Tripp had a deep understanding of theology, especially when it came to pain and suffering. It wasn't until he walked through a season of physical suffering and chronic fatigue that those understandings he had in his mind became embedded into his heart. Through the...

How do we lean into the tensions of life--the now and not yet? What does it look like to press into the different seasons as they come instead of constantly wanting something different? Author and artist Ruth Chou Simons knows what it is like to live in the hidden places as a mom to six boys. For years, her life centered around changing diapers, preparing meals and bandaging scraped knees. But it...

How do you step into what God is calling you towards when others seem to discourage you? What does it look like to use your gifts for the kingdom in the face of challenges? For author and Bible Teacher Kat Armstrong, it was her study of scripture that led her to rethink her own beliefs on her role in the kingdom as a woman. Having experienced pushback from others who seemed to not value her voice...

How do we hold onto faith in a world full of so much suffering and sorrow? Where do we find hope in the mystery of all the pain? For Recording Artist and Author Ellie Holcomb working out her faith through song has always been the way God has invited her into the hope that exists in suffering. After walking through several years of losses and devastating heartache in the lives of those she loved, E...

Warning: This episode discusses loss by suicide and may not be suitable for all listeners. What do we do when it comes to understanding God's role in the events of our lives? How do we interpret the pain we endure, the evil that exists in the world and God's sovereignty in it all? For author and professor of Old Testament Ingrid Faro, it was her own personal experience of pain and evil that led he...

What does redemption look like in our stories of pain and suffering? How do we step into the story of someone we love and hold space for them? For Nothing is Wasted co-founder, Kristi Blackburn, learning to be a place of refuge and healing for her husband, Davey, and son, Weston, years after they lost their first wife and mom, Amanda, has been no simple task. In the messiness of grief, blending fa...

How can music help us heal? What role does worship play in our most difficult seasons? Songwriter, worship leader and singer Mack Brock has written countless songs that have helped people connect with God. But there is one song that became a rally cry for Davey Blackburn after losing his wife, Amanda and their unborn child in a home invasion. It was the song Nothing is Wasted by Elevation Worship....

How do we begin to lead our generation through pain? What do we do with the tension of our heartache and the hope we have in Jesus? For author and pastor Levi Lusko, learning to grieve the loss of his daughter Lenya while leading others through their own pain has been a beautiful dance of both sorrow and hope. After losing Lenya from an asthma attack, Levi began to write down everything God was te...

How do you learn to feel the pain instead of just filling it? What does surrender look like when we've entered a story that we never imagined for ourselves? On this first ever live Nothing is Wasted podcast episode from the Nothing is Wasted Book Launch event, Davey and Kristi Blackburn are joined by Daniel and Brittany Brooker to discuss the messy road of healing and redemption. The Brookers know...

What does true friendship look like in the midst of the darkest moments in our lives? How do we show up for our friends who are hurting after a tragedy? The Bible says, "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity." (Proverbs 17:17) It can be hard to find the kind of friend that will stick with you in difficulties, but for Davey, Kenneth Wagner was the epitome of that type of f...

What happens when we attempt to selectively numb our pain? How does a season in the wilderness of suffering transform us if we allow it? Dr. John Walker has been a guiding voice and encouragement to countless pastors who find themselves in the throes of trauma, tragedy or burnout. He has offered a safe landing place for those who are tasked with shepherding others through the organization he found...

How do you help an adult child who is experiencing an unimaginable loss? What does it look like to parent our kids who are grown and who are walking through difficult seasons? For Davey's parents, Dave and Brenda Blackburn, navigating how to help Davey walk through his own grief while also taking the time to grieve their own pain of losing their daughter-in-law, Amanda, and unborn grandchild was a...

What does God invite us into in our pain? How do we learn to bring our honest emotions and thoughts to God? Pastor and author Rich Villodas has learned and taught others the importance of choosing honesty through lament when it comes to engaging with feelings of grief, anxiety and every other emotion that is a part of the human condition. As he has pastored in one of the most diverse parts of the...

What do we do with all of our limitations? How do we begin to reframe the limits of our bodies and our lives in a way that allows God to use the boundary lines He has placed around us? For speaker, author and mom of seven, Sara Hagerty, it was the many limits of her journey with infertility, motherhood, walking her kids through their own pain and grief after adoption, and the daily reminders of he...

How do we live a more connected life with Jesus when this world offers so many distractions? What would it look like for individuals to experience personal revival in their own faith that could spark revival in other's lives as well? For author, podcaster and Bible teacher Lisa Whittle, it was her own journey towards seeking more of God that led her to write about it. As a woman in ministry, Lisa...

WARNING: This episode discusses teen suicide and may not be suitable for all audiences. How do we begin to understand the staggering increase in mental health issues amongst teens? Why are the suicide rates moving in an upward trend, especially amongst younger children? Our world has undoubtedly changed because of the advent of smart phones and social media, but no one could have predicted the imp...

What does humility have to do with our suffering? How can it lead to what we long for most--peace? For theologian, author, and podcaster Joel Muddamalle, a study of humility led him to understand that processing our suffering begins with coming to the end of ourselves. As we release pride, we can experience a perspective shift that can help us better see God's presence in our pain. In his book, Th...

What do we do when our faith feels like the darkness of night? How do we find our way through when God is hard to see or feel? Author and speaker Dr. Alicia Britt Chole was never afraid of asking questions. In fact, it was her own father's willingness to hear and respond to the many curiosities in her spirit that gave her a picture for God's willingness to listen to and speak to all the questions,...

What do we do with our frailties? How can we begin to see God's gift in our weakness? For author, pastor, and Nothing is Wasted guest host, Eric Schumacher, reframing his perspective on the areas where he was weak took some time. Struggling with his own imperfections and insecurities, God began to reveal to him that the very things that made him feel weak were exactly what God wanted to work throu...

What do we do when we are a leader and our life as we know it unravels? How do we continue to lead in the depths of our pain? For ministry leader, author, speaker and podcaster Toni Collier, she thought she was finally living her redemption story in her second marriage, only to watch her relationship crumble very quickly when she learned of continued betrayal within it. Immediately after getting s...