Sacred Story Podcast

Continuing the series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox welcomes Marissa, whose daughter Alice was diagnosed with cancer when she was four years old. Marissa shares how in the days surrounding Alice's initial symptoms and diagnosis, God kept leading her to read the book of Ephesians. Marissa found the very promises in Ephesians of God's deep and abiding love were exactly what she needed in those terrible days and months. Being a caregiver for a sick child was one of the many challenges of this dark valley in her life, and she writes honestly from that experience in her book, Who Cares for You?

While Marissa shares about the pain of witnessing her daughter's illness and not knowing the final outcome, she also shares how God comforted her, her husband and her daughters through His Word and an incredibly supportive church family. Find out more about Marissa's story and how you can be encouraged by visiting her website, https://marissabondurant.com/.

Every woman has a story of God's faithful presence through a difficult or challenging season of her life. Encourage the women at your church or small group to come together and tell your stories at a Sacred Story Retreat. 

As Sacred Story continues the series Unexpected Turns, host Laura Wilcox interviews Laurie, who talks about her crisis as a young Christian woman when she discovered she was pregnant. Not wanting to continue her relationship with the father of the baby, she felt desperate, alone and ashamed. Though initially thinking of ending the pregnancy, Laurie made the brave yet difficult decision to give up her baby for adoption. Join us for this remarkable episode celebrating God’s sovereignty and faithfulness through adoption. Laurie's story Surprise Pregnancy, Faithful God can be found in our online library. On this podcast, Laurie also mentions the resource BraveLove for pregnant women who are considering the choice of adoption for their babies. What are the stories of women in your community? Gather for a Sacred Story retreat to get to know each other better and learn to tell your stories. 

Kelsey shares with Laura about the hard places in her life as a young woman which caused her to lean on Jesus. She describes the fun story of meeting her husband Blake on Instagram and the ways they worked through a long distance relationship as they connected. She talks about how her spiritual life formed her views of God's design for sexual purity before marriage. Kelsey and Laura discuss the battles women face when pursuing purity and how to find the way back to obedience when a woman crosses boundaries. She also describes the qualities to look for in a godly man and the ways her relationship with Blake showed her God's care for her. Kelsey's full story can be found in the Bible study, Beautiful Surrender: Singleness & Marriage in the Book of Ruth. 

Nancy shares with Laura her story of pursuing fullness in the Lord as she walks through her single years much longer than expected. She shares about pivotal moments, painful break ups, feeling forgotten, adoption, and pressing into Jesus. Nancy married for the first time in her fifth decade and her story shows off God's faithfulness and intricate timing. Nancy's powerful story of meeting and marrying her husband Ben is published in Sacred Story's six-session study called Beautiful Surrender: Singleness & Marriage in the Book of Ruth. Nancy offers wise insight on engaging single women, pursuing sexual purity, and discerning when to move forward in a romantic relationship among other topics. 

Emily and Laura talk about expectations in the area of marriage from society. Emily describes her disrupted plans upon graduation from college, and how the Lord opened her hands to receive His dreams over her life. She shares about how wrestling through bitterness and feeling forgotten in her singleness led her to a greater knowledge of who God is. Her entire story can be read in the six-session Bible study called Beautiful Surrender: Singleness & Marriage in the book of Ruth. Laura and Emily process what it looks like to experience God's fullness and step into new perspective and roles no matter what season. Emily shares about battling comparison, living in community, and dating. 

Laura Wilcox and Kaitlyn Wurzbach, who serves on the board of Sacred Story, have a conversation about romance, singleness, and marriage in women's stories. Both share openly about their stories of bringing their longings to the Lord while trusting Him in unfulfilled desires and heartache. Laura and Kaitlyn co-authored a Bible study called Beautiful Surrender: Singleness & Marriage in the Book of Ruth. This six-session study focuses on the reward of surrender by digging deeper into the beautiful story of Ruth from the Old Testament.  Also included in Beautiful Surrender are 23 true stories from women about their journeys through singleness and dating, some who continue to walk out singleness and others who eventually married. This conversation is the kick off for a series of conversations with women about romance, singleness, and marriage.

Laura and Sofia share a conversation about Sofia's story of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Sophia talks about the spiritual climate in the Ukraine and how she felt moved to serve God on college campuses. She describes what it was like to suddenly leave her home country of the Ukraine when war broke out, and how she served refugees in Poland. Sofia traveled to the United States where she is casting vision for her work so that she can receive funding for her ministry and the humanitarian needs in the Ukraine. To find our more information about her ministry and/or contribute financially, follow this link to her personal ministry site. Through Sofia's ongoing prayers and steps of faith, she is celebrated as a faithful laborer in the harvest. Read other stories of hope during tragedy in the Sacred Story library. 

Remembering God's greater story around the world provides perspective to our personal stories. Laura shares an insightful conversation with two special sisters in Christ. Hanin and Ann (not their real names) talk about their unlikely friendship since Ann is an American and Hanin is a woman from the Middle East. Yet God brought both women joy through the intersection of their stories. Because Hanin speaks Arabic, Ann translates for her while also sharing about her experiences in the Arab world. Hanin and Ann discuss with Laura how Hanin came to faith, how she met her husband, what it's like to be a refugee, how Hanin serves in the harvest, and what are  her prayer requests for her family and for their ministry.  Laura shares that a portion of the funds received from Sacred Story Retreats are donated to the Adopt A Refugee program, and she invites listeners to consider giving too. The Adopt A Refugee program is a way to help Muslim background believers who have come to faith in Christ and who are planting churches among refugees from their own country. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few so we are prayerful at Sacred Story for more laborers to be sent into His harvest fields whether the harvest fields  are in your neighborhood or across the world.  Matthew 9:37-38

Angela shares her experience of resisting writing her story of her childhood hurt and finding led to do so while participating in a Sacred Story Retreat. She talks about how God changed her perspective from fear to  courage in facing the pain of her mother's abandonment and the rejection of her Disney-esque stepmom. Angela shares her story of coming to faith in Christ, renewing her relationship with her mother, and overcoming wounds brought into adulthood. Angela describes how God gave her a new experience of a family in her own, and the healing she's received. Angela's story A Foreboding Closet can be found in the Sacred Story library. Angela  and Laura also enjoy remembering  how their connection began when Angela was a college student and Laura had just began serving in full-time ministry upon graduation from college. 

Erica shares about marrying her "first love" and embracing her new life which she hoped would grow into the ideal Christian family. She describes to Laura the warning signs which came several years into marriage, signaling her marriage was unraveling. Despite efforts to remain true to each other, their relationship continued to be marked by betrayal, hurt, and confusion.  Erica shares how God gave her wisdom to navigate her relationship with a husband who wouldn't choose her over his addiction and how she found peace to move forward. She explains the wholeness she received as she healed. This conversation will encourage every woman who finds herself feeling helpless when someone she loves is in a destructive spiral, despairing when her dreams are dashed, and longing to be the woman God designed her to be. Do you have a story of hope to share? Gather friends for a Sacred Story Retreat.