Hope Unyielding

Today my good friend Rachel Opare-Sem is sharing her story of God’s faithfulness to her and her family as her mother battled, and eventually passed away from breast cancer. Although her family didn’t receive the answer they had hoped for, God showed up in amazing, specific ways that comforted Rachel and assured her of His presence and love. She also shares about her struggle with fearing death after her mother’s passing and how God has transformed that fear into hope. 

Rachel Opare-Sem is a Ghanaian-American who lives in Troy NY. She works as an architectural designer at architecture+. She’s lived in upstate New York for the past 6 years where she has met a wealth of inspirational people and found a community that keeps her encouraged and challenged. She continues to learn more about God and His goodness as she seeks to know and follow Him. She enjoys spending time  with her friends and family, arts and crafts, helping out in the community and a good nap on weekends!

When Alyssa Marshall found a large lump on her five year old daughter Amelie's arm, she knew her life was about to change drastically. Soon after, Amelie was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare, aggressive form of cancer. Today, Alyssa tells her story of walking through every parent's worst nightmare, and how in the midst of the questions, pain, and uncertainty, God showed her and her family His faithfulness.

Alyssa Marshall currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her three daughters and husband. When she isn’t homeschooling, having tea parties and folding the fifth princess dress that day she is found running her small e-commerce business Honeydew Goods, or writing on her and her husband's shared blog, HelpGallery. There are few things that bring her joy like that of a long intentional conversation over a good cup of (black) coffee with a friend. 

C.S. Lewis said it best: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

Join me for Part 3 of this 3 part series on myths I've believed about satisfaction in Christ. Today, I’m sharing some very personal stories as I tackle the final myth I believed about satisfaction in Christ, the myth that we can be fully satisfied with Christ during this life.

This series is an adaptation of my free eBook, Unsatisfied, which you can download here.

If you liked this episode, make sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 in this series.

Also, make sure to check out Dr. Matthew Tan's article "The Abyss of Desire," and his other thought-provoking work at https://www.awkwardasiantheologian.com/.

"A person can never satisfy you; only Jesus can do that!" I've received this response countless times over the years when I've expressed my desire for a spouse.
 
This answer always left me frustrated. I knew that a person couldn’t meet my deepest needs, but after years of following Jesus, I couldn’t say I felt that He was meeting my needs either. This satisfaction in Christ that my well-meaning mentors and friends spoke of seemed mysterious and unattainable, something they had experienced but I just couldn’t crack the code for.

Looking back, I think this frustration largely stemmed from a faulty understanding of what satisfaction in Christ should look like in my everyday life. In this short episode, I’m tackling a myth I believed about what satisfaction in Christ should look and feel like in my life, the myth that being satisfied in Christ meant I would always feel His love and presence.
 
This is part 2 in a 3-part series on myths I’ve believed about what it means to be satisfied in Christ when earthly desires go unfulfilled. Click here to listen to part 1. This series is an adaptation of my eBook, Unsatisfied, which you can download for free here or on my website.

Article referenced: ABC News. (2005). Rare Disorder Causes Endless Hunger. https://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=630943&page=1 

“If God put that desire in you for a spouse, He plans to fulfill it. And if it’s not in His will for you to marry, then He will change your desires,” my mentors told me.

But as I approached my 30s with no husband in sight, it certainly didn’t seem like God planned to fulfill this desire. So why wasn’t He changing my desires like they told me He would? If Jesus was enough to satisfy, then why did this yearning for human love still persist? 

I felt ashamed that after years of following Jesus, I hadn't achieved what I considered pure devotion to Him. But this shame, I realized, stemmed not from God, but from the myth that true satisfaction in Christ meant I would no longer desire marriage.

If you're in a similar place, I hope you'll join me on this journey from shame to freedom as I wrestle with being satisfied in and devoted to Jesus while still longing for an earthly romance. 

This is part 1 in a 3-part series on myths I’ve believed about what it means to be satisfied in Christ when earthly desires go unfulfilled. This series is an adaptation of my free eBook, Unsatisfied, which you can download for free here or find on my website.

Sources:

McDowell, J. (2014). Prophecies of Jesus Fulfilled. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=V8iyjJo2PPU 

Love Letter from God. https://www.arielleford.com/love-letter-from-god/
 
MacLaren, A. Expositions of Holy Scripture.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/psalms/37.htm 

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/fournobletruths_1.shtml 

Keller, T. (2009). Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters. New York: Dutton. 

Today, life coach Natalie Hixson shares vulnerably about her journey through destructive anger and how God transformed her relationship with her family. 

Natalie is a wife, mother, and certified professional life coach who helps discouraged Christian moms overcome destructive anger and burnout. After learning to thrive in motherhood and process anger in a healthy way, Natalie became convicted to help other moms avoid those dark years of motherhood by helping them to appreciate and process their anger, learn to identify their triggers, and ultimately control their reaction to those triggering situations. If you’re looking to learn healthier ways to process your anger, then this is the episode for you. 

Head over to https://nataliehixson.com/free-triggers-tracker/ to download Natalie's free Trigger Tracker!

The Trigger Tracker will help you identify your triggers, create awareness around them, and support you in changing your mindset.

My good friend Brittany Tyrrell shares about God's faithfulness in providing her with her Seeing Eye Dog, Valiant. Brittany has retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic condition that involves a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina, causing progressively worsening eyesight. Trying to get a Seeing Eye Dog in the middle of COVID was not easy, but God used the process to grow Brittany's trust and to show how He truly gives good gifts to His children. 

In part 2 of our conversation on why you don't have to freak out about turning 30, Corinne DuBois, Greg Dubois, Samantha Vocarte and I talk about being single at age 30 and the unique struggles, joys, and unmet expectations we've had in our singleness.  We also talk about the joys of being single, singleness in the American church, and most importantly, what it means to follow Jesus in our singleness.

If you haven’t listened to part 1, "Turning 30 & True Success," make sure to check it out both since it’s a great conversation and so you have the context for some of our running jokes. Because we talk about Corinne’s love of horses. A lot.

About my outstanding guests:

Corinne DuBois is a redheaded piano tuner with a deep appreciation for nature and the outdoors. Mountains, lakes and forests are, to her, God’s cathedrals. When she is not tuning pianos or spending time with friends and family, she’s usually hatching plans for adventure. She attended college in NYC and earned a degree in politics, philosophy, and economics. Two years later, she stepped past her first white blaze on the Appalachian trail, knowing only the weight of her pack, hardly dreaming of the invaluable and sometimes difficult truths she would learn about herself, her fellow wanderers, and God. Listen to her story of the Appalachian Trail here!

Greg DuBois grew up with his triplet brother and sister Ethan and Corinne in Upstate New York. After graduating from The King's College , he moved to China and has lived there ever since. After spending one year working in Ningxia Huizu Autonomous Region in Northwest China, he moved to Shanghai to study for a Master's degree in Intercultural Communication at Shanghai International Studies University. After graduating in 2017 he continued on at SISU as a Lecturer, focusing on English language classes, as well as intercultural training and education. Greg spends most of his time teaching, coaching debate, playing frisbee, or otherwise spending time on campus with students, as that is where his primary passion lies--to serve and develop the SISU student community. Having spent almost all of his 20s living abroad (and most of it single), one topic which often occupies his mind is how to live well as a single person in a country and culture which is not his own.

Samantha Vocarte is a writer, artist, and small business owner living in Upstate NY. She has worked in Communications for over eight years, and shares her intimate (and often comical) journey with God through the written word…we love each other a lot so it’s messy and fun. She is an avid traveler, songwriter, language learner, and fitness junkie. Listen here for another episode with Samantha and me.

For more on this topic, check out my article, "Why You Don't Need to Freak Out About Turning 30."

Today I’m talking with Marie Matey, a missionary to refugees in the United States from closed countries where most live their entire lives without hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. God called Marie and her husband to be missionaries to Muslims from unreached people groups, and they thought this would mean packing their bags and moving to a closed country. But then, God brought refugees to their city from the very people groups God had laid on their heart. For the past several years, Marie and her husband have been missionaries to Muslims in their city, and God is doing amazing things! Today, Marie tells stories of how God is pursuing these people they love and opening their eyes to who Jesus is. 

To donate a one-time gift or to become a regular supporter of Marie and her husband, go to https://us.worldteam.org/give/ , and in the gift designation, write "Marie Matey" or the account number for their initiative: 014096

If your heart is being stirred to go to Muslims in the US or abroad, check out World Team's short to long term opportunities:

Compass: A 4 to 8 month program in the US with World Team's International Neighborhood Network

More opportunities in the US and abroad

My friends Corinne DuBois, Greg DuBois, and Samantha Vocarte join me to untangle some of the lies I've believed about turning 30. In this episode, we talk about where we expected we'd be at age 30, what informed those expectations, and whether we've felt internal or external pressures to be "successful" by the big 3-0. Most importantly, we talk about the concept of success in light of the Gospel and whether our ideas of success align with our call as followers of Jesus.

Corinne DuBois is a thirty-year-old, redheaded piano tuner with a deep appreciation for nature and the outdoors. Mountains, lakes and forests are, to her, God’s cathedrals. When she is not tuning pianos or spending time with friends and family, she’s usually hatching plans for adventure. She attended college in NYC and earned a degree in politics, philosophy, and economics. Two years later, she stepped past her first white blaze on the Appalachian trail, knowing only the weight of her pack, hardly dreaming of the invaluable and sometimes difficult truths she would learn about herself, her fellow wanderers, and God. Listen to her story of the Appalachian Trail here!

Greg DuBois grew up with his triplet brother and sister Ethan and Corinne in Upstate New York. After graduating from The King's College , he moved to China and has lived there ever since. After spending one year working in Ningxia Huizu Autonomous Region in Northwest China, he moved to Shanghai to study for a Master's degree in Intercultural Communication at Shanghai International Studies University. After graduating in 2017 he continued on at SISU as a Lecturer, focusing on English language classes, as well as intercultural training and education. Greg spends most of his time teaching, coaching debate, playing frisbee, or otherwise spending time on campus with students, as that is where his primary passion lies--to serve and develop the SISU student community. Having spent almost all of his 20s living abroad (and most of it single), one topic which often occupies his mind is how to live well as a single person in a country and culture which is not his own.

Samantha Vocarte is a writer, artist, and small business owner living in Upstate NY. She has worked in Communications for over eight years, and shares her intimate (and often comical) journey with God through the written word…we love each other a lot so it’s messy and fun. She is an avid traveler, songwriter, language learner, and fitness junkie. Listen here for another episode with Samantha and me.

For more on this topic, check out my article, "Why You Don't Need to Freak Out About Turning 30."