Finding someplace we’ve never been is a fairly low-stress thing these days using navigation systems. You just put in the address and off you go. It wasn’t always like that. Back in the day with MapQuest or even paper maps, the routes didn’t automatically just re-calculate and course-correct us if we took a wrong turn.
The road of our lives is also filled with wrong turns, or maybe a better way to phrase that would be unexpected turns. These detours might shake things up for just a season, but often they set us on a different path for a lifetime. In our last episode we featured two wonderful women we call the “Hope Ladies” who wrote a book called Destination Hope: A Travel Companion When Life Falls Apart.
In this week’s bonus episode, we bring you a part of our chat we didn’t include in the original. April and Marilyn sum up their best advice for those going through life’s interruptions with hope and faith. We pray you’ll find it an inspiring and enlightening few minutes.
Listen to Episode Holding On To Hope w/Guests, Marylin Nutter & April White
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Sandy Kovach [00:00:01]:
I'm Sandy. And on behalf of Lanee and I, welcome to Imagine Yourself, where we help you imagine the next chapter of life with grace, gratitude, courage, and faith. But what happens when life is interrupted, whether it's for a season or whether it's for a lifetime? And what happens when those interruptions are not welcome. In our last episode, we talked to April White and Marilyn Nutter. They wrote the book, "Destination Hope, a Travel Companion When Life Falls Apart". April was diagnosed with a rare chronic disease that changed almost everything about her life making it very difficult. Marilyn lost her husband a couple of days before Christmas. Since then, the ladies have been and on a journey with their book encouraging others who are going through changes that are similar or maybe not so similar, but are still extremely significant with the help of God. In this bonus episode, we're gonna feature a part of the conversation that wasn't in the last episode, but is April and Marilyn, summarizing their best advice for people who were dealing with difficult circumstances. And, really, it's something we can all learn from.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:14]:
If there is just 1 statement, one bold thing that you wanna make sure That anyone listening takes away, what would that be?
April White [00:01:25]:
Oh, that's easy for me to say. You are not alone. You are not alone. And, honestly, that's the premise of why I began penning words that eventually became this book that Marilyn and I co wrote. I was sitting in my Counselor's office because, girl, you know I had to get some counseling when I was going through all this.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:47]:
Yes, ma'am.
April White [00:01:47]:
And I had pages and pages poured out. And I had told my counselor, I just do you have any books that you can recommend? I just don't see anything like this, You know, like, for what I'm going through for this specific thing, and she says, no. She says, but why don't you write the book that you need? Bam. Bam.
Sandy Kovach [00:02:08]:
Wow. That's right.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:10]:
Create what you want to see. I love that. How about Marilyn? Besides You Are Not Alone, what do we have from Marilyn? Since
Marilyn Nutter [00:02:20]:
my since 10 years ago on December 23rd, when my life drastically changed, I have clung to three Principles in Lamentations 3:22 through 23, and that God is faithful, His compassions never fail me, and his mercies are new every day, but they're not anybody's Mercies, and they're not even yesterday's mercies. They are handcrafted personal new mercies for me. And so as I walk through the changes, the uncertainties, I really don't like new normal because I don't think anything's really normal. That that is where I rest in God's faithfulness, and I I may not like my day. I'll be honest. Do you know? I may, I may think, boy, do I really need your compassions today because this is rough. It's not that it's smooth sailing, but I know that's truth. But one other thing I would like to add is as we talk about destination hope, because I really have 2 answers. May I give you 2 answers? Oh, yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:03:29]:
We will take it. Yes.
Marilyn Nutter [00:03:31]:
Is how we define hope. People think, Oh, I hope it doesn't rain this week because we have a beach vacation. You know? I hope my daughter gets Into that university, we hope, we wishful think, or whatever it is, but we look at hope in these life Changes that may not change. You know? They're not gonna be fixed. That we hope in a god whose character is constant It never changes, and God who keeps his promises. Now are his promises going to be that For financial gain or whatever it is. No. His promises are I'm telling you, he tells me, Marilyn, I said I'd give you grace for this moment. I have it for you. I said I'm gonna give you strength to get through such and such. I have it for you. I said, you needed wisdom because I'm making all kinds of solo decisions that I never had to make before. I mean, involving moving from one state to an x. And God says, you know, I do tell you that if you want wisdom, I'll give it to you. And so that's where we are with hope. When April and I were writing this together, We thought, what is our hope? What's god is who he says he is, and he keeps his promises.
Sandy Kovach [00:04:45]:
Yeah. And no matter what we go through, good times, bad times, Mhmm. God never changes, and his grace is enough. I think we need to break out into song at this point, Linae.
Lanée Blaise [00:04:58]:
I wish I could. I think that's one of those things that God knew would not be a good thing because then I would just forget all about everybody, and that's it. And then try to be Beyonce.
Sandy Kovach [00:05:07]:
We had some fun. We had a great conversation and learned a lot from April and Marilyn. So if you haven't had a chance to check that episode out, it's the one right before this, holding on to hope. As always, that's wherever you listen to podcasts or imagine yourself podcast.com, and we'll Go ahead and put a link to it in the show notes as well. If you have a chance to scroll down and give us a rating, we would definitely appreciate that. That helps Other people find us as well. And if you would like to share a story or ask a question of us or one of our guests, Please hit us up at imagine yourself podcast.com or connect with us on social media, and we'll have, again, all those links in the show notes. Until next time when we have something new to imagine, let's all hold on to hope