17: When the Answer is “No”

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This is the story of a Jasmine-scented South African summer night.

This is a story about disappointment in God, and this is a conversation about the dreams that do NOT come true.

Christie and Lisa-Jo recorded this episode the week of Christie's twenty-second wedding anniversary. They marveled over the long years of their friendship, and all the dreams-come-true they have witnessed in each other's lives.

But what about those dreams that don't come true?

Can we trust a God who sometimes says NO? Is that God still good?

Lisa-Jo tells the story of her most bitter disappointment and the surprising encounter she had one warm, South African night.

Listener invitation: Come find us on Instagram using the #OutoftheOrdinaryPodcast hashtag and tell us about the "No" that became a different kind of "Yes."

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5 Comments

  1. Patricia S Ivie on January 16, 2019 at 12:07 pm

    Thank you! That story is absolutely priceless, because He longs for us, to see an hear us. What a precious gift 🎁 you have shared today!



  2. Erin T on January 17, 2019 at 1:21 pm

    I’m really wrestling with a specific portion of your story, and I don’t know if it’s my long history of being in the church or if it’s my inexperience with trauma. When you’re struggling with someone offering to pray over you, and you said you needed them to take you to the “spiritual emergency room,” what does that look like? I know when I went through a period of depression and anxiety this past summer, I had to seek professional Christian counseling. I had many friends and well concerned members in my community, but they were not qualified to fix me. The opportunity to sit with me and to trudge through with me was not a viable solution. I needed the intervention of a professional as well as copious amounts of intimate time in the Word and in worship. I needed an encounter with Him and His presence to heal me. Can you expound on what this looks like? How are we supposed to respond in those moments? Is it our place to respond or is that a means Christ uses to get us to rely solely on Him?



    • Christie on January 17, 2019 at 1:33 pm

      Such great questions, Erin. Thank you! Sometimes metaphors (like our metaphors of bandages and emergency rooms) only carry us so far. You are right that the specific details will vary situation to situation and sometimes our hurts need professional care. We hope Lisa-Jo’s story encourages Christians to remember that we won’t always be able to fix whatever hurts our friends are suffering, but we can still be bold to sit with them in their pain no matter how messy or hard. We may not be able to fix the situation, but we can still give the gift of our loving presence.



  3. Jody Collins on January 18, 2019 at 6:47 pm

    I have to stop listening to your stories while I’m driving…. I can’t see through my tears.
    Lisa Jo…. The bear hugging Jesus story did me in.
    Every week you two are a channel for God’s message to me.
    Keep going.



  4. Susan Chamberlain Shipe on January 23, 2019 at 11:11 am

    Always good.