The Nothing Is Wasted Podcast

How do you even begin to talk to God when life is unfolding in ways you never wanted? What can prayer do when the pain feels unbearably raw and deep? For Rachel Wojo, these questions became deeply personal. She never could have imagined the depth of suffering she would walk through—navigating her daughter’s terminal diagnosis and eventual passing, enduring betrayal in a first marriage that ended i...

How do we support those in pain when we ourselves don’t have all the answers? How can we be present when we’re uncomfortable with the silence, the sorrow, and the questions that come with loss and tragedy? Pastor Jerry McFarland felt a twinge uncertainty the day he received a phone call asking him to visit a stranger at a local children’s hospital. Unsure of what he could say or offer, he still ch...

How can leaders heal from their own wounds? Why does emotional and spiritual health matter so deeply for those who are called to lead? Historian and Seminary Professor Dr. Nicholas Rowe and his wife, SheilaWise Rowe, author and counselor, have seen the ways unprocessed pain and trauma can impact leaders. While countless resources aim to help leaders grow in skill and strategy, few address the inne...

What happens when our lived experience doesn’t align with what we believe about God? How do we hold on to faith when trauma, suffering, or loss shatters our spiritual foundation? Author and counselor Michael Cusick understands this tension intimately. As a survivor of childhood abuse, Michael found himself caught in self-destructive cycles that threatened his soul and relationships. Yet through hi...

How do we help kids build resilience, especially after facing trauma? How do we teach kids the skills they need to persevere after pain? Dr. Nicole Wilke had a front-row seat to the impact trauma can have on a child's development. Her parents had a heart for kids with the hardest stories and welcomed seventy children through foster care and adoption. This experience had a profound impact on Dr. Wi...

What do you do when you are faced with an unbearable decision? How do you walk firmly in faith when you know the outcome will most likely be devastation? For former local news anchor and author, Brooke Martin, and her husband, the choice to carry their daughter, Emma Noelle, to term even though she was diagnosed with a condition that meant she would not survive outside the womb, was one of trust....

Where can you find hope when a diagnosis is difficult to accept? How can you trust God when life's challenges feel insurmountable? For Alan Hester, finding out that he had ALS-a degenerative neurological disease-was devastating at first and yet, he now describes it as one of the best things that happened to him. Not because the suffering or the pain has been easy, but because of the depth and rich...

What do we do with the doubts, disillusionments, and dead ends that can come in our faith journey? How do we help someone who has questions in their walk with Jesus? Authors Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague each had a unique experience when it came to wrestling with doubt and disillusionment in their faith. They knew the confusion and pain that can come when you have questions and are struggling t...

How can we help a child who may not have the words to express their own grief? How can communities be support systems to those who have adopted? Cameron Lee Small's story began with loss. At the age of three years old, he was adopted from his birth country of South Korea and placed in a home thousands of miles away in America. As he grew up and began to understand the complexity of emotions that c...

What do we do when people fail us in our greatest time of need? How can the church do a better job at entering into people's pain and walking with them in their stories? Dr. Michelle Keener walked through her own season of suffering and eventually found herself deep diving into Biblical research on the book of Job in the Bible through the lens of trauma. It was through her scholarly research that...

What do we do with the seemingly never-ending emotions that can come in this generation? How do we manage the persistent feelings of anxiety and depression that can overtake our lives as believers? Dr. Kevin Chapman has worked with countless individuals struggling with anxiety and depression. As a believer and clinician, he has seen how powerful emotions can be in the lives of the people he helps....

How do you heal as a parent when your worst fears come true? How do you move through the pain of losing a child unexpectedly to a drug addiction? Pastor Lance Ward and his wife, Jeni, tried to fight the tight grip addiction had on their son Kyle but lost him suddenly to a fentanyl overdose. The secret life he was living was well-hidden until it was too late and Kyle succumbed to the pull of pills....

What do you do when you find yourself in a crisis of faith? How can you help someone walking through the questions and doubts they are experiencing? Ian Harber came to a critical junction in his own faith after experiencing loss after loss. Doubts began to rise and yet, he didn't have a safe space to process the questions that can so often come in our journey in knowing and understanding God. But...

What do we do with the secrets that keep us hidden in shame and despair? How do we tell our story in such a way that we can experience the true freedom that God has for us? For author, entrepreneur, and founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Anne Beiler, the pain that came after losing a child in a tragic accident and the abuse she experienced at the hands of someone who should have helped her in her...

How do we, no matter what our cultural lens may be, embrace a gospel vision in conversations around racial healing and justice? How do we root our understanding of our own experiences in the truth of Christ? Author, speaker, Bible teacher and counselor Dr. Sarita Lyons has been seeking the answer to these questions as she walks besides those in her church and local community and as she helps the b...

Theologian Dallas Willard was once asked how he would describe Jesus in just 1 word. He replied with the word: relaxed. How can we learn to walk and live like Jesus in a world that wants us to go as fast as we can? What does it look like to deeply trust and surrender when we are walking through pain? For author and pastor Megan Fate Marshman, those were hard questions to answer after losing her hu...

How do we begin to help young children understand loss? What can we do to help little ones grieve while we are walking through it alongside them? For author, speaker, and podcaster Annie F. Downs, these questions became real when her infant nephew, TJ, passed away from a severe medical condition less than two months after he was born. Wanting to help her sister, Tatum Green, and her young son, Sam...

How do we heal a marriage that has been broken by betrayal? Is it even possible to move past the shame and condemnation that can come after choices that harm our closest relationship? There was a time when author and podcaster Jill Savage could not see a road to redemption after her husband, Mark, then a pastor, had an affair and was ready to end their marriage. Through what can only be described...

Bonus Episode: Check out this episode from our newest podcast, What We Find in the Dark with host Aubrey SampsonWhen we find ourselves in the dark after loss, big questions often follow: Where is God now? Why can’t I see Him here? Why can’t we sense His presence? How can I trust that God is good? Why did this happen? The deep theological wrestlings that often arise after the pain of grief can be j...

How do you move past your greatest insecurities in order to step into what God has for you? What do you do when pain creates new insecurities and doubts about who you are? Author and pastor Oneka McClellan understands the way self-doubt and insecurity can creep in when you are trying to step into your God given calling and purpose. As a ministry leader and as a woman, she has found herself lacking...

What happens to our relationship with God in the midst of suffering? How do we stay connected to Jesus when we are walking through pain? Author John Eldredge has been guiding people through practices that can help keep us in union with Christ, especially when the pain of life threatens to erode our connection. He has seen the ways in which the enemy will attempt to break our spirit and discourage...

How do we make it through the difficult seasons that every marriage encounters? What does contentment look like when our circumstances aren't changing? For musicians Cubbie Fink and Rebecca St. James, they could not have predicted the many twists and turns life would take on after they said, "I do." Through the personal pain of miscarriage and fertility struggles, the ups and downs of two successf...

How do we navigate those long and difficult seasons of waiting? What do we do when we don't know what to do or how to move forward in life? Author and pastor Mark Vroegop doesn't love waiting. But it has been in those moments when life wasn't going as expected or plans weren't unfolding as he anticipated that he experienced a different kind of connection with God. Learning to wait, he says, is a c...

How do we get out of the negative patterns in our marriage? What impact does learning to regulate our own emotions have on our relationships? For authors Ron and Nan Deal, it wasn't until they learned to self-regulate their own emotions after the built up pain from their stories and the loss of their child that they began to find healing in the destructive cycles in their marriage. When their rela...

How can we deal with our addictions in a way that brings true healing? What does the Twelve Steps Program offer all of us when it comes to getting to the root of what keeps us bound by poor coping strategies? Ian Morgan Cron is a well-known author and podcastor around the Enneagram, a personality typing system, but his story didn't start there. After a difficult and traumatic childhood, Ian found...