Show Notes
Today I’m sitting down with a woman who is living out the message of this podcast: Suffering is not the end of your story. It’s the beginning of a new story. My friend Courtney Pray Duke became a widow when she was just 29 years old. She was left to raise three small children all on her own. Courtney has experienced the deepest kind of loss, yet she never misses an opportunity to proclaim the goodness of God. If you’re navigating a situation that feels hopeless, let Courtney be a voice of authority in your grief and disappointment. Her life is proof that God has the power to redeem even the most broken stories.
Show Notes What we mentioned: And She Got Up: Shattered by Loss, Restored by Jesus by Courtney Pray Duke Louie Giglio’s message from Passion 2013 - https://passionequip.com/talks/raised-to-life-by-the-breath-of-a-living-god Never Alone Widows - https://www.neveralonewidows.com/ Scriptures we referenced: Ezekiel 37 Psalm 68:5 Isaiah 43:19 Habakkuk 3:17-18 Where to find more from Courtney: @courtneyprayduke courtneyprayduke.com For more messages of hope, free resources, and opportunities to connect with me: https://hopeheals.com/ Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopeheals/ Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-hard-story-podcast/id1496882479 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0OYz6G9Q2tNNVOX9YSdmFb?si=043bd6b10a664beb Want a little hope in your inbox? Sign up for the Hope Note, a monthly digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from me and a curated roundup of the Internet’s most redemptive content: http://eepurl.com/gGUnlf Get to know us: Hope Heals: https://hopeheals.com/spaces Hope Heals Camp: https://hopeheals.com/camp Mend Coffee: https://www.mendcoffee.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopeheals/
More from The GoodHard Story Podcast
What if the only way to bear our grief is to share it? My friend Mayer Buisson is living with the “invisible wheelchair” of Huntington’s Disease. The shame she felt around her diagnosis caused her to keep it a secret. Eventually, carrying it alone became unbearable. Today, Mayer lives with a radical acceptance of her story, and she’s inviting us into the “collateral gifts” of her grief. In this special conversation, you’ll get to sit down in a version of one of my beloved S.O.S. group gatherings to witness that it’s possible to move from shame to surrender, just like Mayer.
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How are we expected to live well on this side of the sky? Sometimes we need wisdom for the deep, hard, dark suffering. But most of the time, we just need encouragement for the normal lives we’re living on this side of heaven. Laura Wifler is a mother and poet who finds endless inspiration in the mundanity and mess of her everyday life. In our conversation, Laura shares what’s changed in her theology of the body, why she’s relying on the grace of the present, and how a crisis of faith invited her to doubt “toward God.”
What is the first step of moving forward from the worst thing that’s ever happened to you? Join me today for a solo episode as I process some recent thoughts I’ve been having about how healing actually begins with heartbreak. I share some of the painful (and downright bizarre!) early memories of “waking up” from my stroke and being in total denial about my situation. That season taught me just how critical it is to confront the reality of our stories if we ever hope to move forward. In this episode, we’ll process through some insights about how Jesus named his pain, what true lament looks like, and a simple exercise you can borrow to confront reality for yourself.
Episode 126 - Martin Deacon on the “Weird and Wonderful” Gift of Disability What if our disabilities might give us as much—or more—as they take from us? Disability gives us the gift of dependence. That’s the mantra of Martin Deacon, the CEO of Teach Every Nation, who began to lose his vision when he was just twelve years old. In our conversation, Martin shows how his disability transformed an ordinary life into an extraordinary one. Mentioned in this episode: Hippo Lakes - https://visit.hippolakes.com/hopeheals