Trigger Warning: We want to let our listeners know that this episode includes mentions of physical abuse. If you are sensitive to this topic, we recommend you listen with caution.

Trauma is one of the hardest challenges to navigate in life. Whether it’s impacting you or someone you love, it can be easy to wish that trauma could be erased in an instant. But our latest guest’s powerful story reminds us that healing doesn’t happen with the snap of a finger. It takes the steady presence of others, the patience to water seeds we can’t yet see growing, and the courage to keep seeking God—even in the darkest moments.

After fifteen years of abuse and a childhood riddled with trauma, Austin Ludwig ended up in the foster care system until he aged out at 18. As he wrestled with the broken pieces of his past, he encountered the transformational love of Jesus and the opportunity for healing and restoration through the Gospel.

Today, Austin is a musical artist, writer and speaker who serves on staff with the WinShape Foundation.

In this episode, he shares about the brokenness in his childhood as well as the hidden beauty, why every person has an opportunity to respond to the trauma they have experienced, encouragement for foster parents who may currently have a tumultuous relationship with a child in their care, and much more!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/austin-ludwig-267/