Just Nona

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How do you grieve someone who is still in your life, but the relationship you once hoped for no longer exists?

Not because you stopped loving them.

Not because you haven't forgiven them.

Not because you haven't surrendered the pain to God.

But because the person is still there, and the relationship is no longer what you needed, expected, or prayed it would be.

And now you're grieving someone who hasn't actually left your life.

In this new episode of Just Nona, I'm answering this question with insights from my new book, The Power of Petty Prayers, which is now available wherever books are sold.

Felicity from Jacksonville, Florida, asked how to navigate the pain that remains after genuine forgiveness and surrender. After experiencing years of hurt, disappointment, and broken expectations in a relationship, she made the difficult decision to limit access to someone she still loves. Although she's worked through the anger and resentment, the grief remains.

This is a real conversation about ambiguous loss, forgiveness, unresolved grief, emotional healing, boundaries, broken relationships, and learning how to love someone without losing yourself in the process.

I also share deeply personal experiences from my relationship with my mother and how God has helped me navigate the grief of loving someone who is physically present but emotionally and relationally absent.

Because sometimes the pain that remains after forgiveness isn't evidence that you haven't forgiven.

It's evidence that you're grieving.

And grief and forgiveness are not the same thing.

You can forgive someone completely and still grieve the relationship you hoped you would have.

You can love someone deeply and still establish healthy boundaries.

You can surrender your pain to God and still need His grace to heal the wounds that remain.

The goal isn't to pretend that the loss doesn't hurt.

It's to learn how to invite God's grace into the places where the pain still lives.

And sometimes healing means learning how to love someone according to the relationship you actually have, not the relationship you wish you had.

The Power of Petty Prayers is OUT NOW!

If you've genuinely forgiven someone but still carry the pain of what happened, this book will help you understand what remains after forgiveness and begin the deeper work of healing.

Order your copy TODAY:
https://www.nonajones.com/books

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What do you do when someone you treated like family hurts you, and you're left wondering how to forgive them without letting them back into your life?

Not because you stopped loving them.

Not because you want to hold on to resentment.

Not because you don't believe in forgiveness.

But because the relationship was more than professional. You invested in them. You cared about their family. You opened your heart to them. And when things fell apart, you weren't just losing an employee. You were grieving someone you loved.

In this new episode of Just Nona, I'm answering this question with insights from my new book, The Power of Petty Prayers, which is now available wherever books are sold.

A listener named Bettrena, a business owner in Georgia, asked how to navigate workplace forgiveness after experiencing disappointment from employees she treated like family. One relationship in particular involved a young woman she considered a daughter, whose children felt like her own grandchildren. Although they've parted ways, she still loves them deeply but struggles with whether she can trust them again.

This is a real conversation about workplace forgiveness, leadership, betrayal, grief, personal boundaries, accountability, rebuilding trust, and learning how to love people without losing yourself in the process.

I also share a personal experience that taught me how easily the lines between professional and personal relationships can become blurred, and why loving people deeply doesn't mean abandoning the boundaries that protect both the relationship and the business.

Because forgiveness does not mean reemployment.

Loving someone does not mean giving them unlimited access to your life.

And being a compassionate leader does not mean you have to carry responsibility for everyone you care about.

You can forgive someone and still let them go.

You can love someone and still establish boundaries.

You can keep your heart open without allowing past disappointments to change who God created you to be.

The answer is not to stop loving people.

It's to learn how to love with wisdom, structure, and accountability.

The Power of Petty Prayers is OUT NOW!

If you've forgiven someone but are still carrying the pain of what happened, this book will help you begin the deeper work of healing.

Order your copy TODAY:
https://www.nonajones.com/books

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What do you do when someone you trusted was secretly working against you?

Not a stranger.
Not an enemy.
But someone you looked up to. Someone who had influence, access, experience, and the ability to support your future.

In this new episode of Just Nona, Nona Jones is answering this question with insights from her new book, The Power of Petty Prayers, available tomorrow, October 13th.

Amuche asked how to heal after being deeply hurt by a mentor who told her he supported her promotion, only for her to find out he was actively working behind closed doors against it.

That kind of betrayal does not just make you question the person who hurt you.

It can make you question your judgment.
It can make you question your worth.
It can make you wonder if you were truly valued — or simply useful.

This is a real conversation about sabotage, mentor betrayal, workplace hurt, broken trust, discernment, usefulness, identity, guardedness, and how to heal without becoming cynical, closed off, or afraid to trust again.

Because one person’s betrayal does not mean everyone is unsafe.

And being used by someone does not mean you are only useful.

You are still worthy of being seen, known, loved, and valued for who you are — not just for what you can produce.

Order The Power of Petty Prayers, available tomorrow, October 13th, wherever books are sold:
https://www.nonajones.com/books

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What do you do when you forgave them; but it still stings?

Not because your forgiveness was fake.
Not because you are bitter.
Not because you did not “forgive for real.”

But because forgiveness and healing are not the same thing. You can release the debt, release the anger, release the right to retaliation, and still feel the sting of what happened because forgiveness is the decision; healing is the process.

In this new episode of Just Nona, I’m answering this question with insights from my new book, The Power of Petty Prayers. Dr. Chanté, a physician and resilience coach, asked how to rebuild when there are still remnants of betrayal — especially betrayal from people she deeply loved and trusted.

This is a real conversation about forgiveness, healing, betrayal, empathy, rebuilding trust, grieving what was lost, and understanding why the pain may still remain even after you have genuinely forgiven.

Because sometimes the issue is not that you have not forgiven.

Sometimes the issue is that no one taught you how to heal from the hurt that remained.

Order The Power of Petty Prayers TODAY by clicking here:
https://www.nonajones.com/books

This conversation also connects to my new free webinar, When Forgiveness Doesn’t Heal, where I share principles from The Power of Petty Prayers to help you heal when you’re wounded, weary, and still carrying pain after forgiveness.

Register for the first FREE session here:
https://insideoutleadership.easywebinar.live/WFDH

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What do you do when you forgave them; but you are still hurt?

Not because you are bitter.
Not because you are immature.
Not because you did not “forgive for real.”

But because they never acknowledged what they did. They never showed remorse. They never took accountability. They never tried to repair the damage. And now you are left trying to keep your heart soft while carrying pain they may never admit they caused.

In this new episode of Just Nona, I’m answering this question with insights from my new book, The Power of Petty Prayers. A podcast listener named Peju asked how to sustain forgiveness after a significant betrayal when the person who hurt her has no remorse; especially while still being in close proximity to them.

This is a real conversation about forgiveness, remorse, repentance, trust, boundaries, and the pain that remains when the person who wounded you keeps living like nothing happened. 

Order The Power of Petty Prayers TODAY by clicking here: https://www.nonajones.com/books

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There is a particular kind of exhaustion that belongs to people who are genuinely gifted.

Not the exhaustion of someone struggling to keep up. But the exhaustion of someone who keeps getting asked — because they are capable, because they show up, because the joy they carry makes people want them in the room. 

And so the invitations keep coming. The boards. The committees. The volunteer roles. The ministry assignments. The professional responsibilities. Until the weight of everything feels less like purpose and more like pressure.

In this new episode of Just Nona, I am answering a heart question from a listener named Genile, who carries joy as a God-given gift — and has found that the very gift that draws people to her has also drawn her into more responsibility than feels sustainable. She is asking the question so many gifted, called, loving people carry quietly: how do you balance all of it without letting any of the pieces fall to the wayside?

This is a real conversation about calling, capacity, and the difference between what God assigned and what we accumulated. You are not called to carry everything. You are called to carry what is specifically yours. And the most faithful thing you can do is not say yes to everything — it is say yes to the right things.

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There is a particular kind of loneliness that belongs to the trial season.
Not the loneliness of being unknown. But the loneliness of being known — by people who have walked with you for years — and discovering, in the moment you needed them most, that they are nowhere to be found. And then there is the silence. Not just from people. But from God. The prayers that feel like they are hitting the ceiling. The quietness where you expected a word.

In this episode of Just Nona, I am answering a heart question from a listener named Ellen from McDonough, Georgia, who is navigating a trial season in which both things are true at the same time: God feels silent, and the people she counted on are absent. She is also raising a deeper question about what it actually means for the body of Christ to carry each other's burdens — and why it so rarely looks like what Scripture describes.

This is a real, honest, pastoral conversation about two of the hardest experiences a person of faith can face simultaneously.

We talk about:
What God's silence actually is — and the critical difference between God being quiet and God being gone
Why silence is often the environment in which the deepest formation happens — and what it is producing beneath the surface that noise would have drowned out
The story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 — and what God did before He spoke, and how He spoke when He finally did
Why some people are absent in your trial season — and what God may be revealing through their absence
What genuine burden-bearing actually looks like in practice — and why so many people help in the way that is comfortable for them rather than the way that is actually needed

The identity distortion that happens when silence and human absence arrive together — and why the conclusion it produces is not the truth
And the practical steps for staying engaged with God when He feels quiet and rebuilding the right support when the wrong people have disappeared
God is not gone. The silence is not empty. And what He is forming in you in this season is worth the cost of the quiet.

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There is a particular kind of pain that comes when you do everything right and it still falls apart.

Not the pain of consequences. Not the result of a bad decision. But the pain of obedience. Of following what you genuinely believed God told you to do; and finding yourself in the hardest season of your life as a result.

In this episode of Just Nona, I am answering a heart question from a listener named Sonya, who left a position of affirmed leadership after what she believed was God's instruction; only to find herself in a prolonged wilderness marked by public humiliation, mischaracterization, depleted savings, strain on her marriage, and a genuine identity crisis about whether she is meant to rebuild in corporate leadership or step into entrepreneurship. She knows God has not forgotten her. And she is asking the most practical question a person in the wilderness can ask: what do I actually do while I am here?

This is a real answer. Not a motivational pep talk. A practical, honest, scripturally grounded guide to navigating the wilderness with intention.

We talk about:
Why the wilderness is not a detour from God's plan; and what it is specifically designed to produce that no other season can

The psychological reality of a meaning crisis and why it cannot be resolved by effort, hustle, or thinking harder

The particular grief of the person whose obedience led them into the wilderness — and why that grief matters

What Jeremiah 29:5–7 says God told exiles to do while they were waiting and what it means for Sonya right now

Seven practical steps for navigating the wilderness with intention; including how to grieve, how to protect your marriage, how to separate the injustice from the narrative, and how to build while you wait

Why the corporate versus entrepreneurship question may not be answerable yet and what to do instead of forcing it

And what Isaiah 43:19 means when God says He is making a way in the wilderness; even when you cannot perceive it yet

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There is a grief that does not get talked about enough.
Not the grief of losing someone to death. Not the grief of a dramatic betrayal. But the quieter, more confusing grief of losing someone whose season in your life simply ended. Someone you loved deeply. Someone you assumed would be there for the long haul. Someone you never imagined having to release.

In this episode of Just Nona, I am answering a heart question from a listener named Marcella, who loves people with her whole heart, and keeps finding that the people she loves most are the ones whose departure hurts the deepest. She is asking: how many layers of the heart are going to get hurt? And how do you loosen your grip and release the people who cannot go with you into the next season, without closing your heart in the process?

This is one of the most tender and important questions a passionate person can ask. And it deserves a real answer.

We talk about:
Why the people closest to us have the deepest access, and why that is exactly why their loss hurts the most
What the grip actually is and the difference between holding tightly out of love and holding tightly out of fear
Why seasonal relationships are not failures and what it means when God determines a relationship is complete
What John 15:2 says about pruning and why it always feels like loss before it feels like growth
The identity distortion that happens when relational separation leads us to conclude that we loved wrongly or should love less
The direct answer to how many layers will get hurt and what changes with each one that is navigated well
What a healed heart with boldness and boundaries actually looks like in practice and how it reflects Christ more fully than a guarded one ever could

The goal is not to reach a point where the heart no longer gets hurt. The goal is to reach a point where the hurt no longer produces a grip.