What does it really mean to trust God when you still feel afraid, disappointed, uncertain, or tempted to take control?

In this episode of the God Made Podcast, Greg and Kristi Rains talk honestly about why even faithful Christians can struggle to trust God. Trusting God sounds simple until life gets hard, prayers seem unanswered, fear creeps in, or disappointment leaves us wondering what God is doing.

This conversation looks at what the Bible teaches about trusting God, why trust is difficult even after years of following Christ, and how believers can grow in faith when life feels uncertain. We talk about biblical examples like Abraham, David, Peter, and Job, and how their stories remind us that struggling does not mean you have failed. It means God is still teaching you to depend on Him.

If you have ever thought, “I trust God… but I’m still afraid,” this episode is for you.

In this episode, we discuss:

What it really means to trust God
 Why Christians still struggle with fear and doubt
 How control can quietly replace faith
 What unanswered prayer does to our trust
 How disappointment affects our walk with God
 Biblical examples of people who learned to trust God
 Practical ways to grow your faith and surrender to God

Trusting God is not pretending everything is easy. It is learning to believe that He is good, faithful, and present even when life does not make sense.

🎙️ God Made Podcast - Real conversations about Christian life, faith, family, and following Jesus in the everyday moments.

You are not a bad parent. You are just pouring into your kids' world — and quietly leaving eternity on the table.

This is a conversation about godly parenting in a culture that never stops adding to the calendar. Greg and Kristi Rains offer honest christian parenting advice for the family that is doing everything right and still feels like something is missing. Drawing from biblical parenting principles in the book of James, they talk about the slow drift that happens when busyness quietly crowds out the most important things — and what it actually looks like to build a christian family around what lasts. If raising godly children matters to you, this conversation will give you something real to take home.

Part of the God Made Podcast — parenting tips and faith conversations that help you move from Sunday into everyday life.

Why do smart people keep making dumb decisions?

The problem is not always a lack of information. Sometimes being smart simply makes us better at justifying what our hearts already want.

In this solo episode of the God Made Podcast, Greg unpacks James 3:13–18 and the difference between intelligence and biblical wisdom. James warns us that not everything that sounds reasonable is actually wise. Some decisions may look logical on the surface while being driven by jealousy, selfish ambition, pride, or fear.

So how can you tell whether a decision is truly wise?

The answer is not found only in the argument you can make. It is found in the fruit your decision produces.

In this episode:

Why intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing
How we rationalize choices we already want to make
The warning signs that your heart may be misleading you
The difference between earthly wisdom and wisdom from above
Why defensiveness may reveal more than you realize
Three questions to ask before making an important decision
How to seek biblical wisdom in everyday life

Before you make your next major decision, ask yourself:

What do I want badly enough that I may be rationalizing it?
What kind of fruit is this decision already producing?
Am I genuinely willing to yield if God shows me that I am wrong?

A bad decision does not become wise just because you can explain it well.

Do not judge wisdom by the explanation. Judge it by the harvest.

📖 Scripture: James 3:13–18
🎙️ The God Made Podcast helps Christians move faith from Sunday into everyday life.

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Words don't just hurt — they break. And most of us have made the promise to change. We meant it every single time. So why do we keep failing?

Greg and Kristi sit down for a raw, honest conversation about what it actually looks like to live with the weight of your words — inside a marriage, a family, and a real life. They talk about sarcasm that became a weapon, promises made and broken, and why no amount of trying harder ever touches the root of this problem.

This isn't a sermon recap. It's the conversation that happens after the sermon — when you go home and have to actually live it.
Based on James 3:1–12.

Where the sermon meets the struggle.

What if the most dangerous kind of faith isn’t unbelief — but belief without surrender?

In this episode, we explore the sobering reality that someone can follow Jesus closely and still miss Him. Using the example of Judas and the teaching from James 2, we unpack the difference between dead faith, demonic faith, and dynamic faith.

We discuss:

•  What “dead faith” really means 
•  The difference between knowing truth and submitting to it 
•  How cultural Christianity can drift into spiritual complacency 
•  The tension between belief and obedience 
•  Practical ways surrender shows up in everyday life 

This episode is an invitation to honest self-examination — not condemnation.

Faith isn’t just agreement.

It’s allegiance.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your faith is active, real, and surrendered — this conversation is for you.

What does James 2 really mean when it talks about favoritism?

In this episode, we discuss what it looks like to live out the principles of James 2 in everyday church life — especially when it comes to who we welcome, who we overlook, and who makes us uncomfortable.

It’s easy to say “everyone belongs.” But do we actually move toward the people Jesus moved toward?

We talk honestly about:

Subtle favoritism in church culture
Why we’re drawn to influence and “shine”
The connection between mercy received and mercy extended
What it means that mercy triumphs over judgment

Whether you’ve been in church your whole life or you’re still figuring out where you fit, this episode is an invitation to examine our hearts and reflect the mercy we’ve been shown.

He made room for you. Make room for them.

Are you showing up, hearing all the right things, and still 
walking out unchanged? James has a word for that.

In Episode 3 of The God Made Podcast, Greg and Kristi Rains 
have an honest conversation about the gap between what we 
believe and how we actually live — and why the book of James 
calls that gap exactly what it is: self-deception.

This isn't a lecture. It's a real conversation between two 
people who are still figuring this out too. Whether you've 
been in church your whole life or you're just asking honest 
questions, this one's for you.

Because Sunday doesn't fix everything.

——

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

→ The uncomfortable question James opens with — and why 
  most of us already know the answer
→ Why showing up isn't the same as showing out
→ Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger — what that 
  actually looks like when life is hard
→ The two dogs story — and which one you've been feeding
→ What God actually thinks when He thinks about you
→ What genuine, transformed faith looks like on a 
  Monday morning in real life

——

SCRIPTURE REFERENCED:
James 1:19–27 (NLT)

Most of us have a list of reasons why we can't seem to break the cycle. This week Kristi asks Greg the questions most people think but don't say out loud — what does it feel like to know the truth and still feel the pull, what does a pastor lose that he preaches against, and what's the honest first step when conviction hits and you don't know what to do with it.

No scripts. No polish. Just two people telling the truth.

Because Sunday doesn't fix everything.

I launched this podcast this week. The whole plan was to record it with my wife Kristi as co-host. Then she got sick. Episode one, solo, on a podcast about faith meeting real life — and real life showed up before I hit record.

This week's sermon was about choosing joy in the middle of trials from James 1:1-8. This episode takes that one step further — what does that actually look like when Monday hits? Not a re-preach. Just an honest conversation about the difference between joy and happiness, what we actually do instead of choosing joy, and the two things that work in a hard season that nobody wants to do.

Because Sunday doesn't fix everything.

📍 Northview Church — Kodak, Tennessee New episodes every week.