The Nothing Is Wasted Podcast

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...

Warning: This episode briefly mentions suicidal ideation and may not be suitable for all listeners. What happens when we realize all our methods to find healing are merely ineffective attempts of self-help? How can pain lead us into a true understanding of our utter dependence and need for God in our lives? Former country music recording artist and author Granger Smith found himself attempting to...

How do you begin to experience freedom from the sin that grips you? What does it look like to walk in purpose while still struggling with that which holds you back? For author, pastor and podcaster, Tim Ross, finding his way towards healing after childhood sexual abuse led to his own patterns of pornography addiction, took some time. Through Jesus and therapy, Tim was able to learn how to get to t...

How do we live in hope in light of our suffering? How can live as people who aren't overcome by our pain, but who are overcomers in our pain? For pastor and author, Matt Chandler, his own journey in learning what it means to allow pain to push us towards hope began after a cancer diagnosis in 2009. Through his cancer journey and the surgeries and treatment that followed, he found himself growing i...

How do you keep choosing to truly live after losing one of the closest people in your life? What does it look like to show up when you're feeling the depths of grief? For our Nothing is Wasted podcast co-host, author, pastor and speaker, Aubrey Sampson, learning how to allow life to come in again through the cracks of her pain after losing her best friend, Jenn, was difficult. Finding her way thro...

How can you believe that God's good work will be done in a story that begins with so much loss and tragedy? Where can you find miracles in pain and life's difficulties? For author, Bible teacher and ministry leader Joyce Dalrymple, opening her eyes to the way the Lord was moving in her own life and through her daughter's adoption required intentional attention. By starting to notice the way God wa...

When trauma or tragedy strikes, how do you find the support you need? Who can you trust to be a wise guide on your path towards healing? In this special episode, Davey and Aubrey are joined by Nothing is Wasted coaches Ken Roberts, Teresa Glantz, Jen Ball and Karissa Sprinkle to discuss why having people to walk alongside us in our pain is so important. Each one of them have found themselves in th...

How often have you found yourself ready to give up? What do we do when it feels too hard to keep going? Pastor and author Nick Connolly knows what it is like to be ready to quit. As a pastor, he has faced challenges that have made him second guess his calling. Even in the midst of writing and launching his book, Don't Give Up Just Yet: Choosing Persistence in a World of Overwhelming Resistance, he...

How can you find laughter and joy when life is so unbearably difficult? Where is joy when pain and suffering seem to be a never ending part of life? For author and podcaster Molly Stillman, learning to laugh has been balm to her soul in some of her greatest losses. Having lost her mother as a teen, inheriting a sizable inheritance only to lose it shortly after and finding herself in debt and then...

How do you know when your way isn't working? What are the signs that tell you that perhaps you aren't abiding in God and instead relying on your own efforts to get through life? For pastor and author Kyle Idleman, it took a friend suggesting he see an executive coach before he realized that the indicator light of his life was on and that he needed to make some adjustments. There were so many signs...

What do we do with the hard questions that arise from the pain we are feeling? How do we acknowledge our fears and our doubts while holding onto our faith? For author Kristen LaValley, the process of moving from a formulaic faith that believed God wouldn't allow pain if she did all the right things into a genuine, messy belief and understanding of God came through several seasons of suffering. Fro...

How can the most difficult moments of our lives point us to our purpose? Where can we find God's will for our lives in the sufferings that we have faced? Raleigh Sadler, author and founder of the anti-trafficking organization, Let My People Go, experienced a shift in his life's trajectory after the tragic loss of his best friend to cancer. From that painful moment, God seemed to align a path that...

What does grace have to do with our suffering? How do we experience the fullness of who God is when life is full of pain? Author and journalist Philip Yancey has long sought out to understood the role grace plays in life and in our hurt. Having walked through a difficult childhood and untangling his understanding of God from church legalism steeped in racism and sin, Philip has offered what he has...

How do we navigate those questions we have in the middle of our struggles? How can we hold onto our faith when doubt seems to want to unravel what we know to be true? For author and podcaster Laura Wifler, walking through a season of doubt in the middle of life's challenges wasn't something she anticipated. As someone who spent much of her time encouraging other women on her well-known podcast and...