Hoping Forward - God Stories in Everyday

I recorded this episode while my daughter, Sarah, was away at a respite house and it reminded me of respites/breaks I used to get when my roommate, Natasha would watch Sarah while I went and stayed in a hotel for a weekend. During one of those stays, I wrote Sarah a letter detailing her early life and all the amazing, miraculous things God had done to make us a family.

After listening to the recording, I realized that I had gotten some of the earliest dates wrong in the letter, but decided against correcting them for the podcast because none of them change the Glory of God on display in Sarah's early life. I have gotten permission from Sarah to share her story on the podcast and even to share the typed copy of the letter. If you would like a copy of the letter, send me an email at lori.r.whitney@gmail.com. I am happy to do it and Sarah and I both hope her story helps you to see God a little more clearly in your story!

Have you ever found yourself in a deep darkness? A time when you felt defeated, lost, hopeless? This episode discusses the value of the darkness in the way it helps us notice and appreciate the goodness of God when we see it. I hope you will listen and think about what God has been doing in your life.

Sometimes God gives little gifts along the way and I've been fortunate enough to receive many of them! Have you noticed any of these in your life? They might come in the form of a text from a friend when you needed some encouragement, or maybe it's a miraculous healing of some kind, or a bill that gets paid unexpectedly. This episode tells about two God hugs I've experienced recently. They weren't big or flashy, but they let me know that I was seen, loved, and cared for by the Creator of the Universe.

Why do I always immediately go to worry and "figure things out on my own" instead of giving the situation to God? You would think with all the podcasts I have done, talking about the big and small things I have seen God do in my life, I would learn to trust Him to take care of what I need! In this episode, I am going to tell you about some more instances when God came through for me in amazing and unexpected ways. He can and will take care of us and our needs. Does that mean we should do nothing ourselves and just sit back and wait for Him to do everything for us? Of course not, we should do what He has given us the ability to accomplish, but when there is something outside of our ability, He will make a way. We just need to trust Him to do that and give the control over to Him.

The Bible verse mentioned in this episode is Proverbs 3:5-6 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (NIV)

Sometimes God gives you a calling/promise and you don't even realize when He brings it to fruition. At least that happened to me and in this episode I tell you about it. When God let me know He was going to start the blessings flowing after I received "an offer of space", I couldn't have imagined that would have resulted in all the wonderful things going on in my life now. He truly is doing more than I could ever have asked or imagined!

Verses mentioned in this episode include: 

Exodus 14:14 - The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Ephesians 3:20-21 - Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

1 Kings 18:43-46 - "Go and look toward the sea," he (Elijah) told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back." The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'" Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the LORD came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

I hope that you all are noticing what God is doing in your lives. He is working in big and small ways all the time and He wants to involve you in His plans. Just open your eyes and your heart and jump into all that He has for you!

I actually recorded most of this episode in April when God was first showering me with amazing blessings. I hope listening to this will give you hope and encouragement that God really can do as Paul promises in Ephesians 3:20, “immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.” These blessings were totally unexpected and are still continuing to unfold.

If you are in the Newnan area and are interested in volunteering at the Hoping Forward Hangouts or if you would like to donate to help fund them, send me an email or reach out to me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lori.whitney.79. I would love to hear from you and would appreciate the support!

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow us so you don't miss any of the stories about what our amazing God can do. What has He done in your life? Has He asked you to do something that seems completely out of your comfort zone? Tell me about it! Test Him and see that He is completely trustworthy. He will be faithful to walk with you and give you everything you need to accomplish His purposes.

Hadley Stephens is an advocate working towards the goal of a more inclusive world for people with disabilities. Hadley is a senior at Murray State University studying Nonprofit Leadership and a minor in Special Education. When in high school, Stephens started a blog called Rolling in Faith discussing disability & Christianity & her personal experiences as a disabled person in the faith community. Soon after starting the blog, Hadley realized that the lack of access that people had to churches that understood disabilities on a Biblical and functional level was staggering. Seeing this issue Hadley started Rolling in Faith a faith-based Nonprofit that is dedicated to providing fellowship & enrichment skills to people living with disabilities through events, camps, & other training all done in a faith-based setting. Rolling in Faith has started a summer skills program teaching life skills to adults & teens with disabilities. Taking participants into their community and teaching them skills necessary to succeed in life. After graduation, Hadley hopes to pursue her efforts with Rolling in Faith full time. 

If you want to learn more about Rolling in Faith or Hadley Stephens, here are some ways to do that:

Have you ever felt alone or unloved? In this episode, I tell about a time I felt that way and what God did to remind me I’m never alone and He will love me forever. 

If you know me in real life, you know I am a planner - I thrive in structure and control, and living outside of that is hard for me. In 2019, God decided He wanted me to work on that and come to a place where I could give Him total control and trust. This episode is about that time and the incredible things I saw God do during it. God had already used a friend to give me the verse Exodus 14:14 to let me know that I was in a time of waiting. He used a couple of friends in my small group to give me the verses Ephesians 3:20 and Isaiah 43:18-19. These have become verses I cling to as much as I do my favorite, Jeremiah 29:11 (and 13).

In this episode, I reference Gideon's story from Judges 6. The whole story is Judges 6:11-40; the part about the fleece that I read was Judges 6:36-40. It is very cool that God doesn't get angry when we ask for a sign. He is more than happy to prove to us that He really does have a plan for us if we will just follow it.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow us so you don't miss any of the stories about what our amazing God can do. What has He done in your life? Has He asked you to do something that seems completely out of your comfort zone? Tell me about it! Test Him and see that He is completely trustworthy. He will be faithful to walk with you and give you everything you need to accomplish His purposes.

In this episode, I tell about how God worked in the woman that was Sarah's nanny  for the first 5 years she was with me. She loved Sarah so well and it wasn't until the end of that 5 years that I found out how much of redemptive work God had done in her to make that possible!

Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow us so you don't miss any of the stories about what our amazing God can do. What has He done in your life?

This is a bonus episode that came from a discussion with my daughter about obedience. It occurred to me during our talk how much our obedience to do what God leads us to impacts others and can change the lives of people we don't even know. We are often scared to do the new thing, the obedient thing, but if it is what God has for us, it can be life changing for someone else. In my case, when God called me to go to China, I was scared and fought against going at first. When He called me to adopt Sarah, I also said no at first out of fear. Both of these situations impacted my life, but my obedience impacted Sarah even more; if I had continued in my disobedience, she would not have been adopted and her life would have turned out very differently.

In this episode, I talk about how I experienced God's calling to serve overseas as a teacher. It took some convincing and some miraculous situations for God to convince me to go to China, but in the end He proved Himself incredibly faithful and trustworthy.  

Verses mentioned in the episode were Jeremiah 29:11 and Ephesians 3:20-21.

Links mentioned: 

Thanks so much for listening! I hope this episode encourages you to look back at your life to notice times when God provided for you.

In this episode, I share how God showed up for me during one of the darkest times in my life- my divorce. He brought peace that I can't describe, a Bible that had been lost for years reappeared (God hug!), and an invitation to DivorceCare.

In this episode, you will hear about my favorite week of the year - Hope Heals Camp! God used our first week of camp to begin speaking to me about a new vision/mission for me. He later used a friend to share the verse Exodus 14:14 with me to let me know that this was God’s battle to fight and not mine! I hope you enjoy this God story and share it with someone else that needs the encouragement! Thanks for listening! 

Links mentioned: 

Thanks for listening! 

In this episode, I introduce myself a bit and tell the story of God pursuing me. He sought a relationship with me and, through that relationship, changed my life. 

Referenced in this episode are: