Midlife Repurposed

Are you ready to tackle big challenges and pursue your passion and purpose? This week I talked about a big decision I had to make in order to pursue the purpose God has given me. Now it’s your turn!

As I weigh out what is important to me and where to invest my time, I’ve also been burning the candle at both ends many days. So, I have weighed things out to figure out what to keep and what to let go of. This week, I share how I’ve processed through advice from friends, comparing it with what God has called me to. I also ask you the question: What is standing in the way of God’s purposed for you? 

Podcasting is at the heart of what I want to do because it’s an extension of the ministry that I believe God called me to. The ministry of reaching people who are hurting and broken and helping them find hope in the midst of the trashy stuff of life. However, the paying freelance work and the volunteer work had started to crowd out my passion.  

I’m honored to do work for some great clients, but bottom line, I believe God is not honored when I forsake what he has called me to do—write and podcast—to spend all my time pursuing a paycheck.  

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Where Meaghan Jackson’s life was once overwhelming and chaotic, now she has replaced that with a peaceful existence where she coaches others. As a highly sensitive person, she has coping skills to keep her mindset in the right place.

Where Meaghan Jackson’s life was once overwhelming and chaotic, now she has replaced that with a peaceful existence where she coaches others. She talked about being a highly sensitive person and how she copes with being over-stimulated by sound, visual input, sensations, etc. As a mom of all boys, she’s learned how to help them cope, which has taught her something about her own challenges and needs. 

What challenged Meaghan’s faith most was her second miscarriage. At the end of herself, she learned to lean on God’s power, to find community, and to be more intentional about her thoughts.  

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Marlene was missing for 8 months after a trafficker kidnapped her and took her away. Now she rescues others from trafficking, and she’s found hope and healing through faith. She's a "sur-thriver."

When Dr. Marlene Carson was 15 years old, a neighbor couple befriended her, which led to a weekend away where she was trafficked. Days after that, her perpetrator kidnapped her for 8 months and took her away from her family. They had no idea where she was.  

She didn’t finish high school when she was returned home pregnant. But later she would further her education and eventually get a doctorate degree. 

She now rescues girls from trafficking through Rahab’s Hope of Ohio, and organization she founded. 

Marlene believes she was targeted because of her charisma and friendliness. Traffickers might be drawn to people for their entrepreneurial spirit. She said it was her strengths, not her weaknesses that she believes made her a target. “The greatest level of your anointing can also be the greatest level of your attack,” she said. 

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Becky Hofstad was 39 when she met her husband after a long season of wondering if she would ever marry. From marriage, to infertility, to adoption, she has has discovered that God might simply delay what she thinks he has denied.

Becky Hofstad talked about how God has used delays in her life to enrich her experience and her story. She met her husband at age 39 after a long process of people setting her up on dates, online dating, and singles groups. A successful chemist, she had a satisfying career and was content with her life. But a blind date changed all that. 

She shared how she felt most alone when she was single and searching for where she fit in with others in her church family. That community was ultimately a place to learn and grow while she waited for God’s next. 

When she did meet her husband, one of the things they talked through was having children. Becky had been content with the idea that she probably wouldn’t have children, but her husband really did want a family. When they weren’t able to conceive, they turned to adoption. 

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Who needs a new year to set goals? You can get started at any time! Just make sure they are EASY goals. In this episode: tips and resources to accomplish what you’ve been dreaming about.

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When a painful chronic condition changed Amy Marcoux’s active lifestyle, she needed a reminder that her life has purpose, even on the difficult days. She repurposes her own pain to inspire others.

Amy Marcoux is a young adventure-lover, but an injury that wouldn’t heal changed her active life. After a surgery didn’t correct the issue, she continued to see doctors. Eventually, she was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a term that describes excess and prolonged pain and inflammation that follows an injury to an arm or leg. 

It changed Amy’s active lifestyle from avid hiker and Pilates instructor to someone who spent days on the couch because of a disability. Amy talked about setting aside her pride and receiving help. She also talked about trying to do it all on her own. 

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Terri Prahl knows what it’s like to leave the hospital with empty arms after the loss of a child. She talks about processing through grief and learning to trust God fully amid unimaginable emotional pain.

Terri and her husband were a young college-aged couple, married for three years, when a heartbreaking loss changed their lives forever.  

With her home nursery all set up to welcome their first child, Terri left the hospital with empty arms, and instead of sending out birth announcements, she and her husband were planning a funeral.  

In this episode, Terri walks us through what it was like to process from numb to self-harm, to deep pain. One of the most raw and tender episodes I’ve ever recorded, this interview touched me so much.  

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Maureen Hager understands what it means to land in the wrong place when searching for connection. Her search led her to a motorcycle gang, two gunshot wounds, and eventually to Jesus.

A misguided search for love and acceptance lured Maureen Hager into the life of an outlaw motorcycle gang. Caught up in a violent gang war, she sustained two gunshot wounds when a rival gang opened fire on their clubhouse with M16 rifles. While severely wounded, this act of violence was a catalyst for God to work in her life and gave her a way of escape from captivity. After suffering physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma, she heard the gospel and accepted Christ, and her road to a restored life began. 

This week, Maureen tells her story.  

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Whatever life phase you’re in, why wait for someday to pursue that thing you’ve always wanted to do? This week, Deb DeArmond talks about making the rest of your life the best of your life.

This week, Deb DeArmond talked about what it was like raising three boys and working full-time. Never did she have “become a writer” on that list until someone told her she should write a book. Her journey to this goal began at age 55, and now she inspires people of all ages to consider what comes next. What is your “next”? 

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Do we make productivity into a gospel? Being busy doesn’t make you more valuable. Checking boxes or being prolific doesn’t make you a better person.

Productivity is not bad, but it isn’t the gospel. I’m currently reading a good book, but it almost implies that success is a hustle that includes sleep deprivation, pushing your limits, and learning to live with the stress of all that. I say there is an in between. Rather than defining ourselves by how much we do, let’s take a different approach that helps us to know if productivity has become our new gospel.  

Three questions to ask yourself about productivity 

1. What is my motivation? 


2. How often am I willing to pause productivity to be with people?  


3. What is the cost of my drive to produce? 

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