What if being afraid doesn’t actually mean you’re supposed to stop?

In this episode of Unpolished but Called, I’m talking about something I’m learning in real time: courage doesn’t always arrive after fear disappears. Sometimes obedience looks like being nervous, unsure, and still taking the next faithful step.

We’ll look at Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and other places in Scripture where fear and obedience existed at the same time—and why biblical courage isn’t reckless or based on emotion. There’s still prayer, Scripture, wisdom, and discernment. But when we believe God is leading us forward, fear alone doesn’t get to make the decision.

I also share what this has looked like for me as I’ve stepped into things I prayed for long before I felt ready for them. I’m still nervous. I still don’t know where all of this is going. And sometimes my prayer before taking the next step really is as simple as, “Lord, help me.”

Maybe the question isn’t whether you’re afraid. Maybe it’s whether you’re waiting on God—or waiting until you stop feeling scared.

❤️ Find my books, Bible studies, courses, podcasts, community, and more at kathrinshaffer.com

Keep walking with Him. Keep getting into His Word. And remember: none of us are polished. We’re just called.

Why do we need to hear what God has done in someone else’s life?

We talk a lot about sharing our testimony—but what about the importance of listening to someone else’s?

Since beginning Walking It Out with Kathrin, I’ve already had the privilege of sitting across from people and hearing their stories of faith. I started these conversations wanting to give others a place to share what God has done in their lives, but I didn’t fully anticipate how much hearing those stories would encourage me.

In this episode of Unpolished but Called, we’re looking at why testimony matters, why God repeatedly called His people to remember His faithfulness, and how another believer’s story can strengthen our faith without becoming a formula for what God must do in our own lives.

Someone else’s testimony doesn’t promise me that God will write my story the same way. It reminds me that the God writing my story is still faithful.

Scripture referenced (KJV):
Psalm 105:1–5
Joshua 4:6–7
Psalm 66:16
Romans 15:4
1 Samuel 17:34–37
Mark 5:18–20
Acts 22:6–8
Hebrews 10:24–25
2 Corinthians 12:9
1 Thessalonians 5:11
James 1:19

❤️ Keep Walking With Me

Find my books, Bible studies, courses, podcasts, community, and more at:
kathrinshaffer.com

YouTube: youtube.com/@kathrinshaffer
More links: linktr.ee/kathrinshaffer

Different stories. One faithful God.

Grace. Forgiveness. Loyalty. Privacy. Keeping the peace. Protecting someone's reputation.

All of those can be biblical—but what happens when we use a biblical principle to protect an unbiblical pattern?

In this episode, Kathrin looks at a form of enabling that doesn't always look like rescuing someone. Sometimes it looks like making excuses, staying silent, minimizing harmful behavior, absorbing consequences, or allowing everyone around one person to adapt so that person never has to face what's actually happening. That's the question that drives the recorded episode from the opening.

We'll look at the difference between covering someone with love and covering for them, privacy versus harmful secrecy, grace versus removing accountability, forgiveness versus pretending a pattern has changed, and why refusing to participate in harmful behavior doesn't necessarily mean rejecting the person.

Because sometimes the question isn't simply:

“Do I love this person?”

It's:

“What has my love taught me to protect?”

Scripture referenced:
Proverbs 28:13
1 Peter 4:8
Proverbs 10:12
Galatians 6:1
1 Corinthians 13:6
Proverbs 22:24–25
Romans 12:18
James 3:17
Proverbs 11:13
Ephesians 5:11
1 Timothy 5:22
Titus 2:11–12
Proverbs 27:5–6
Matthew 7:16
2 Thessalonians 3:14–15
James 1:5

🎙️ Unpolished but Called with Kathrin Shaffer

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@kathrinshaffer
Website: https://kathrinshaffer.com
More links & resources: https://linktr.ee/kathrinshaffer

When you say no, how much explanation do you actually owe someone?

Sometimes loving communication requires an explanation. Sometimes responsibility means having an uncomfortable conversation. But explaining a decision isn't the same as defending it indefinitely—and someone disagreeing with your boundary doesn't automatically make it negotiable.

In this episode, Kathrin walks through boundaries, people-pleasing, accountability, communication, and the biblical tension between bearing one another's burdens and carrying our own responsibilities.

Because sometimes the other person understands your answer perfectly well.

They just don't like it.

Scripture referenced:

Exodus 18:17–18

Mark 1:35–38

Ephesians 4:15

Matthew 5:37

Proverbs 18:13

Galatians 1:10

Romans 12:18

Galatians 6:2, 5

Proverbs 12:15

Philippians 2:4

James 5:12

🎙️ Unpolished but Called with Kathrin Shaffer

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@kathrinshaffer

Website: https://kathrinshaffer.com

More links & resources: https://linktr.ee/kathrinshaffer

Can someone practice witchcraft and still call it Christian—as long as they're using it for good?

That question sent me straight to Scripture.

The Bible is undeniably supernatural. We see prophecy, healing, miracles, spiritual gifts, and even people raised from the dead. But does the existence of supernatural works in Scripture mean every supernatural practice can be incorporated into Christianity?

In this episode of Unpolished but Called, we're looking at the difference between biblical miracles and magic, prophecy and divination, and why something being accurate, helpful, or even supernatural doesn't automatically mean it came from God.

We'll look at the woman with the spirit of divination in Acts 16, Simon's desire for spiritual power in Acts 8, God's warnings in Deuteronomy, and the biblical command to “try the spirits whether they are of God.”

Because “but it worked” isn't enough.

Good intentions are not the same thing as biblical truth—and Christianity isn't about learning how to control the supernatural. It's about surrendering ourselves to God.

Scripture referenced:
Deuteronomy 18:10–12
Acts 9:40
2 Peter 1:21
Acts 16:17–18
Deuteronomy 13:1–3
Acts 8:18–20
1 Thessalonians 5:21
Matthew 22:37
Luke 10:20
1 John 4:1

🎥 YouTube: youtube.com/@kathrinshaffer
🌐 More from Kathrin: kathrinshaffer.com
🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unpolishedbutcalled

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One year ago, Unpolished but Called began with one yes.

I didn't know what the podcast would become, how many episodes there would be, who would listen, or how much God would change me along the way.

Now, one year later, I'm looking back—not simply at what was built, but at what God taught me while I kept showing up.

In this special anniversary episode, we're talking about the ordinary side of faithfulness: continuing when the excitement wears off, learning without demanding perfection, adapting through changing seasons, listening to correction without living for approval, and refusing to let numbers determine whether obedience was worthwhile.

We're also talking about something I didn't fully expect when this podcast began: God can use the very thing He calls us to do to keep working on us. What started as a burden for new believers grew into honest conversations about the Christian walk we're all living—the trials, messy middle, conviction, growth, and places where God is still refining us.

Maybe faithfulness isn't built through one enormous yes.

Maybe it's built through hundreds of ordinary ones.

One recording. One step. One day at a time.

🎙️ S2 E166: What God Taught Me in One Year of Showing Up

Scripture: Psalm 119:105; 1 Corinthians 4:2; Zechariah 4:10; James 1:22; 2 Corinthians 8:12; Galatians 1:10; Isaiah 55:11; Philippians 1:6; 1 Corinthians 3:6–7; Luke 16:10

🌐 Books, Bible studies & more:
KathrinShaffer.com

🔗 All Other Links:

https://linktr.ee/unpolishedbutcalled

Can you be angry with a God you don't believe in?

That question stopped me in the middle of an episode of House—not because I think every person who doesn't believe in God is secretly angry with Him, but because it made me think about the people who say:

“I used to believe.”

Then something happened.

Loss. Grief. An unanswered prayer. Betrayal. Suffering. Something they begged God to change that He didn't. And somewhere between “God, why did You let this happen?” and “I don't believe in God anymore,” something broke.

In this episode, we're talking about the difference between questioning whether God exists and struggling to trust the God we once believed was good. We'll look at Naomi, Martha, David and Job—people in Scripture who experienced grief, disappointment and difficult questions without hiding what they were feeling from God.

We're also talking about how Christians respond when somebody's faith is hurting, why every painful question doesn't need an immediate theological explanation, and whether the way back to God might begin with something as simple—and honest—as talking to Him again.

Maybe the prayer isn't polished.

Maybe it's simply:

“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

🎙️ S2 E165: Can You Be Angry With a God You Don’t Believe In?

Scripture: Psalm 73:1; Ruth 1:20–21; John 11:21–22; Psalm 13:1–2, 5–6; Job 30:20; Romans 12:15; Job 2:13; Isaiah 55:8–9; Mark 9:24

🌐 Books, Bible studies & more:
KathrinShaffer.com

🔗All Other Link:

https://linktr.ee/unpolishedbutcalled

“Lukewarm Christian.”

We use that phrase pretty easily. Someone isn't reading their Bible enough, praying enough, attending enough, sharing their faith enough—or simply doesn't seem as passionate about Christianity as we think they should be.

But is that actually what Jesus meant?

In this episode, we're going back to Revelation 3 and Christ's warning to the church at Laodicea. Instead of building a spiritual temperature chart from one verse, we're looking at what Jesus says was actually happening beneath their lukewarm condition—and the enormous difference between how this church saw itself and how Christ saw it.

We'll also talk about why struggling isn't necessarily the same thing as being lukewarm, how spiritual appearance can hide our actual condition, and the danger of becoming comfortable with something God is trying to address. Because there's a difference between fighting a battle and deciding there isn't one.

And Christ's message doesn't end with “I will spew thee out of my mouth.” There's rebuke—but there's also love, repentance, an invitation to fellowship and a promise.

Maybe Revelation 3 wasn't intended to give us another label to put on somebody else.

Maybe it was meant to make us listen.

🎙️ S2 E164: Are We Using “Lukewarm Christian” Wrong?

Scripture: Revelation 3:14–22; 1 Samuel 16:7; Romans 7:18–19, 24–25; James 1:22–24; Hebrews 12:10–11; Proverbs 28:13; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Psalm 139:23–24

🌐 Books, Bible studies & more:
KathrinShaffer.com

🔗All Other Links:

https://linktr.ee/unpolishedbutcalled

Someone leaves our church and suddenly the relationship changes.

The calls stop. Invitations disappear. People who once called each other brother and sister barely know what to say when they run into each other at Walmart.

But did that person actually leave the church—or did they simply leave our church?

In this episode, we’re talking about the difference between biblical church involvement and loyalty that quietly becomes tribalism, what happens to friendships when proximity changes, and why another Christian’s decision to worship somewhere else doesn’t automatically make them disloyal to us—or to Christ.

We’ll also put some necessary guardrails around this conversation. Biblical separation and church discipline are real, but they aren’t the same thing as socially rejecting somebody because they changed congregations. And when conflict is involved, we need to be especially careful about inheriting somebody else’s offense and feeling pressured to choose a side.

Because if we called somebody our brother or sister while they sat beside us on Sunday, what happens to that relationship when they worship somewhere else?

Maybe the question isn't “Why did they leave?”

Maybe it's “How are we going to love them now?”

🎙️ S2 E163: Did They Leave the Church—or Just Your Church?

Scripture: Hebrews 10:24–25; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13; Proverbs 17:17; 1 Corinthians 3:3–7; Romans 14:4; Matthew 18:15–17; 1 Corinthians 5; Proverbs 18:13,17; John 13:34–35; Galatians 6:10

🌐 Books, Bible studies & more:

KathrinShaffer.com

🔗All Links Available:

https://linktr.ee/unpolishedbutcalled

We’ve probably all heard an apology that contained the words “I’m sorry” but somehow didn’t feel much like an apology.

“I’m sorry you were offended.”
“I’m sorry, but…”
“I apologized. What else do you want from me?”

But for Christians, there’s a bigger question than whether we said the right words: was there actually repentance?

In this episode, we’re getting into the difference between being sorry and biblical repentance, what happens when an apology comes with an excuse attached, and why taking responsibility sometimes requires more than simply saying the words. Because when our actions caused damage, repentance may ask something of us afterward.

We’ll also talk about forgiveness, reconciliation and trust—and why those three things aren’t necessarily interchangeable. What happens when we genuinely apologize and the other person is still hurt? What if they forgive us but don’t immediately trust us again? And how do we know when our repentance is actually producing fruit?

This one turns the question back toward us, because sometimes “I’m sorry” is the beginning of repentance—and sometimes “I’m sorry” is how we try to avoid it.

🎙️ S2 E162: Is “I’m Sorry” Actually an Apology?

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:9–10; Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9; Luke 19:8; Romans 12:18; Luke 16:10; Matthew 3:8; Psalm 51:3–4; Colossians 3:13

🌐 Books, Bible studies & more:
KathrinShaffer.com

🔗 More links & ways to listen:
Kathrin's Linktree

https://linktr.ee/unpolishedbutcalled