Sacred Story Podcast

Angela shares her experience of resisting writing her story of her childhood hurt and finding led to do so while participating in a Sacred Story Retreat . She talks about how God changed her perspective from fear to  courage in facing the pain of her mother's abandonment and the rejection of her Disney-esque stepmom. Angela shares her story of coming to faith in Christ, renewing her relationship w...

Erica shares about marrying her "first love" and embracing her new life which she hoped would grow into the ideal Christian family. She describes to Laura the warning signs which came several years into marriage, signaling her marriage was unraveling. Despite efforts to remain true to each other, their relationship continued to be marked by betrayal, hurt, and confusion.  Erica shares how God gave...

Wendy attended a Sacred Story Retreat with a group of college friends where she reflected on God's work in her story. She shares with Laura how her relationship with her mother-in-law began with so much promise and yet unfolded in misunderstanding, hurt, and estrangement. Wendy describes how the tension began, what traumatic events caused a severing of the relationship, and how she and her husband...

Emily describes how she found herself unable to return to normal life due to a debilitating health struggle, and how she leaned into the Lord. When her healing did not manifest as expected, her heart moved from a posture of demanding from God to a greater surrender than ever. Emily describes how God delivered and healed her in more ways than imagined. Emily's story Not One Scar can be found in the...

Stephanie and Aaron serve the refugee community in Greece. They are part of lending the heart and hands of Jesus to those who have fled their countries due to persecution, hardship, and war.  Many come from Muslim backgrounds and are receiving the message of the Gospel with curiosity and joy. Stephanie and Laura talk about her personal story including her struggles with loneliness and the unknowns...

Laura and Becky begin the conversation with Becky hiding in her early years which contributed to her feeling unseen. Becky shares about brokenness as our human experience. She witnessed deficits in her parent's lives and felt the effects in her life. She shares more about processing pain in a person's upbringing, and at the same time, she looks back on her parent's struggles with empathy and incre...

Laura's conversation with Judy Douglass is full of rich insight from a Christ follower who has experienced God's faithfulness through many chapters. Judy shares about coming to faith and those who helped her grow. She talks candidly about her struggles to want her own way and how she responded to life events including a broken engagement and the adoption of her son Josh. Judy imparts life giving w...

Courtney Garrett, the creator of the 101: Christianity Series, talks with Laura about how she came to faith in Christ and how her passion grew for investing in others through discipleship.  She explains her heart behind the resources she wrote on exploring the basics of the faith and discovering the character of God . Laura and Courtney talk about the Living Your Story study they co-authored relat...

Laura's conversation with Erika begins with a crossroads in Erika's story. Erika and her husband found  themselves in a deficit in their finances and yet Erika felt led to talk more about hope in Jesus to her clients at her hair salon. Laura and Erika discuss what it means for her to risk bringing the hope of Christ into her conversations when she didn't know how her clients would respond and whet...

Laura's conversation with Teresa Snow begins with Teresa sharing how she came to faith in Jesus Christ while in high school.  Teresa's experience as a teenage girl who  grew in her faith from those who discipled her gave her a deep conviction to do the same for others. Teresa and Laura talk about being alongside others in life, and how to enter into their stories with love and a word of hope. This...

Betrayal by someone you love leaves a deep wound. Lisa shares her story of finding God's restoration in a devastating place where she thought she'd never overcome her past. She shares her struggle to forgive, not only the people who hurt her but also herself.

Laura and Taeler talk about the source of the attacks Taeler faced through social media. Taeler describes how the affects of her battle on her mentally, physically, and spiritually and the sources of intervention she sought. When she came to the end of her resources, she pours out her heart to the Lord and begins the continuing journey of working through bitterness and anger. She talks about helpf...

Laura and Sarah talk about damaging messages she received growing up  which made her feel like she didn't measure up or needed to project a certain image in order to be accepted. Sarah shares examples of the words spoken by her mother which emphasized the priority of her appearance and weight. Over time, Sarah's began to believe lies about herself, God, and others and shares the lies including how...

Laura talks with Autumn Crew about her journey of coming to faith in Jesus as a young woman who  found safe people to process her doubts and questions. She shares her story of being called into the battle against sex trafficking in Cambodia and the Middle East. Working in Iraq during the height of the refugee crisis, Autumn talks about facing personal safety, addressing the needs of the vulnerable...

Laura talks with Ashlee whose story of turning to Jesus while in college and discovering God leading her to reach out to Muslim women in the Middle East is highlighted in Episode #7 . In this conversation, Ashlee shares an exciting personal update as well as a ministry update about how God is growing His church Iran. Even though believers face hardship and persecution, the Spirit of God is moving...

Laura's conversation with Melanie begins with Melanie sharing her story of a growing friendship which caused her heart break when her friend pulls away. She describes how the friend let her into her life and seemed to embrace shared beliefs about God and the walk of faith. When the friend decides to take a path that was in contrast to her former stance, the result is hurt and wounds from the inter...

Laura asks Suzan about her struggle to conceive. After giving birth to a beautiful and healthy girl, Suzan describes her emotional and physical  roller coaster including feeling disconnected to her newborn and being unable to sleep and cope with regular life. She discovers she is battling postpartum depression and seeks God's wisdom through medical intervention. Suzan describes some unhelpful resp...

Laura talks with Paige about her beautiful story of her world turning upside down when she loses her husband  to cancer as a mother of two young daughters and a third on the way. Paige describes how God met her in her grief and in the unknown of what the future will look like. She talks about her crisis of belief to stand on the promises in the Word of God when there's temptation to shut down and...

Laura's conversation with Michelle begins with her story of coming to faith as a college student. Michelle describes her life change and being introduced to God's greater story around the world. Her course took an unexpected turn when facing a time of transition in her career and realizing God is leading her to move overseas. Michelle shares about the barriers to making such a big leap such a fina...

Laura talks with Amber about her disillusionment after meeting and marrying her husband while they both attended seminary. She shares her struggle to relate as they faced tension on even small things - like where to put the bread! Amber describes her emotional connection to another man which became something she felt like she couldn't be without. Her story continues with how the Lord met her when...

Helpless, frightened, confused, and frustrated. Addiction threatened to claim Laura's daughter while she and her husband struggled to know how to support her. Laura shares how their efforts to help became futile as their entire family experienced pain and fear; then the battle of making the decision to enlist the help of a treatment center. Laura describes how her faith and trust in God grew as sh...

Laura's conversation begins with Renee's story of leaving her life behind in the United States to live on a Caribbean island in her late 20's. Renee's dream of island life unfolds with a new place to live, adopting a dog, and meeting a boyfriend. As her boyfriend becomes more violent, Renee faces the reality that this chapter of her story is not turning out the way she imagined. Renee recounts how...

Laura and Jean's conversation begins with Jean sharing about her desire to move, feeling stuck, and then being forced out of her home by Hurricane Harvey. Jean describes the aftermath of being flooded, how God came through for her family, and led them to take an RV trip that lasted for almost a year. She is candid about life on the road as well as the barriers to dreaming and taking a risk to do s...

Laura talks with Paty about coming to faith in Jesus as a young girl in Mexico. Paty shares how she heard God speak to her about being part of His greater story around the world and the barriers she faced to following Him. She provides more detail about the adventure of serving in Athens, Greece and standing against the evils of sex traffiking. She explains sex traffiking, the ways she is a vessel...

How do we think about our story when a debilitating health condition strikes? Kelly shares about suffering a major stroke in her 30s. With the loss of her health and marriage, she honestly talks about her journey to recover physically while turning to God for strength and wisdom. Receive a copy of Kelly's story in a care package as a gift upon making a donation to Sacred Story . A care package inc...