Sacred Story Podcast

Host Laura Wilcox welcomes Ashley back to the Sacred Story Podcast for a conversation about transformed lives in the Middle East. Ashley shares how the underground church in Iran is one of the fastest-growing underground churches in the world, despite intense persecution. Ashley describes her ministry in another Middle Eastern country where Iranians and other nationalities have settled. While she...

In this episode of Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox has a conversation with Madison, who recalls her worst day ever as a high school student years ago. On the same day, Madison experiences a breakup with her boyfriend, the discovery of a terrible rumor circulating in school about her, and a grade that falls well below the perfectionistic standards she places upon herself. At the end of this ter...

In this episode of Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox has a conversation with Kate, who was diagnosed with a rare venous malformation behind her right eye in her late teens. Though not cancerous, the location of Kate's mass of entangled veins posed dangers that only grew over time. Although Kate had come to faith in Christ in her childhood, she sought for many years to handle her condition in her...

In this episode of Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox has a conversation with Tranece, whose world was turned upside down when she learned that her 18-year-old son had been arrested for murder. Because Tranece had just gotten engaged the day before she received this devastating news, she wondered if her fiancé Terrence would want to keep their engagement. Yet Terrence assured her of his unconditi...

Our host Laura Wilcox welcomes Ahmet, an Iranian refugee to Turkey, for this episode of International Harvest. After a long and arduous journey over the mountains from Iran, Ahmet arrived in Turkey in search of a better life. He had no interest in pursuing any faith, yet when he broke his leg, he became a captive audience to his Christian brother's prayers. He relented and attended a church servic...

In this episode of Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox welcomes Lettie Carr. Lettie shares how God led her to consider a low-paying job as a women's prison chaplain in spite of her initial resistance. Lettie had recently made partner as a lawyer, and she and her husband had recently bought a new home. As she looked around for an opportunity that might give her more time with her 2-year-old son, tw...

In this episode of Unexpected Turns, our host Laura Wilcox speaks with Julie about beauty. Julie shares how, in her teen years, she thought her mother could use a few lessons on hairstyle and fashion. Julie competed in several beauty pageants, where she realized she would always find another woman whose beauty assets would outshine her own. As Julie grew older, she recognized that her mother's rea...

Host Laura speaks with guest Talida in this episode of Unexpected Turns. When Talida and her husband welcomed twin girls into their family, they looked forward to imparting both their faith and the rich culture of New York City. But an autism diagnosis for one of the girls interrupted their dreams. Talida tackled the challenge as a devoted, studious mother and shared notes on dealing with autism w...

In this episode of Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox speaks with guest Kate, who shares the personal devastation she experienced as her voice failed just as she graduated with a doctoral degree in vocal performance.  Kate had come to faith in Christ as a teenager, and she found Jesus right beside her as she dealt with terrible anger and depression as a result of her failed dreams. Although God d...

As we continue the series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox welcomes guest Gretchen, who recalls her move to a small town for her first job after college. As Gretchen struggled with loneliness and envy of her friends' lives in bigger cities, she also prayed God would help her unbelief (Mark 9:24).   Unsure about what God was up to, she stepped out in faith to do what she did feel sure about: fin...

In the ongoing series Unexpected Turns, Host Laura Wilcox welcomes guest Tanna, whose early search for validation from good grades and athletics led to her severe struggle with an eating disorder in her college years.  As Tanna reflects on her time denying the stronghold of her eating disorder, she describes it as a "bony prison." A bony frame was all she had left after she isolated herself to avo...

Host Laura Wilcox interviews Shiona for this episode of Unexpected Turns. Shiona comes to faith in Christ as a child, yet only her grandmother nurtures her young faith. Because of childhood sexual abuse, Shiona fights a battle against shame even after becoming part of a Christian community of believers in middle and high school. As a college student, Shiona's feelings of shame contribute to a seas...

  Host Laura Wilcox interviews Kristi in this episode of Unexpected Turns. After many years as a public-school teacher, the pandemic forces Kristi to step back and notice all the changes that have happened during her teaching career. Kristi also shares how this time gave her pause to consider her views about the culture around her and to evaluate her faith. A running partner and friend who had alw...

In the last episode of this series of Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox talks with Sarah, who became dangerously ill during a stopover visit in Barcelona, Spain, after spending a summer in Uganda. As she reflects on her experiences leading up to her illness in Barcelona, Sarah shares how originally her ministry with Invisible Children had taken her to Uganda years earlier. After this repeat visi...

Continuing the series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox talks with Diana, who recalls her decades-long marriage with Rick, a man who supported but did not share her faith in Christ. While Diana warns other young Christian women to marry a man who is already a believer, she also shares how God can redeem mistakes. After Diana's father died, she began thinking and praying more about her husband's...

Continuing the series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox welcomes guest Sandra, who shares about a struggle through a dark time in her life. Sandra came to faith as a child and had walked by faith many years when she first faced a crisis of faith because of her mother's death from cancer. Sandra was disappointed God had chosen not to heal her mother, yet Sandra chose to continue following God. A...

In the ongoing series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox talks with Suzan, a woman from Kenya who experienced a traumatic gang rape at the age of 16. Though Suzan had been raised in a Christian home, her sense of abandonment by God and the reactions of some family members to her trauma contributed to Suzan's years of wandering far away from God.  In her 20s, Suzan moved to the US and found hersel...

Continuing the series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox welcomes Marissa, whose daughter Alice was diagnosed with cancer when she was four years old. Marissa shares how in the days surrounding Alice's initial symptoms and diagnosis, God kept leading her to read the book of Ephesians . Marissa found the very promises in Ephesians of God's deep and abiding love were exactly what she needed in thos...

As Sacred Story continues the series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox interviews Laurie, who talks about her crisis as a young Christian woman when she discovered she was pregnant. Not wanting to continue her relationship with the father of the baby, she felt desperate, alone and ashamed. Though initially thinking of ending the pregnancy, Laurie made the brave yet difficult decision to give up...

Kelsey shares with Laura about the hard places in her life as a young woman which caused her to lean on Jesus. She describes the fun story of meeting her husband Blake on Instagram and the ways they worked through a long distance relationship as they connected. She talks about how her spiritual life formed her views of God's design for sexual purity before marriage. Kelsey and Laura discuss the ba...

Nancy shares with Laura her story of pursuing fullness in the Lord as she walks through her single years much longer than expected. She shares about pivotal moments, painful break ups, feeling forgotten, adoption, and pressing into Jesus. Nancy married for the first time in her fifth decade and her story shows off God's faithfulness and intricate timing. Nancy's powerful story of meeting and marry...

Emily and Laura talk about expectations in the area of marriage from society. Emily describes her disrupted plans upon graduation from college, and how the Lord opened her hands to receive His dreams over her life. She shares about how wrestling through bitterness and feeling forgotten in her singleness led her to a greater knowledge of who God is. Her entire story can be read in the six-session B...

Laura Wilcox and Kaitlyn Wurzbach, who serves on the board of Sacred Story, have a conversation about romance, singleness, and marriage in women's stories. Both share openly about their stories of bringing their longings to the Lord while trusting Him in unfulfilled desires and heartache. Laura and Kaitlyn co-authored a Bible study called Beautiful Surrender: Singleness & Marriage in the Book of R...

Laura and Sofia share a conversation about Sofia's story of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Sophia talks about the spiritual climate in the Ukraine and how she felt moved to serve God on college campuses. She describes what it was like to suddenly leave her home country of the Ukraine when war broke out, and how she served refugees in Poland. Sofia traveled to the United States where she is casti...

Remembering God's greater story around the world provides perspective to our personal stories. Laura shares an insightful conversation with two special sisters in Christ. Hanin and Ann (not their real names) talk about their unlikely friendship since Ann is an American and Hanin is a woman from the Middle East. Yet God brought both women joy through the intersection of their stories. Because Hanin...