Welcome to episode 091 of Mud Stories!
Mud Stories is a podcast dedicated to bringing you inspiration in your muddiest moments, hope to make it through your mud, and encouragement for you to know, you are not alone.
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This week I’m talking with Matt Bays, a speaker and worship leader from Indianapolis, Indiana, who has released his very first book entitled, Finding God in the Ruins: How God Redeems Pain.
Matt is passionate about our stories, God’s presence in them, and how God redeems pain. He is also calling people out of their clichés, and calling us out of our hiding places.
Matt firmly believes that our best stories live in our secrets, and that if we can find the courage to tell the truth of our stories–to ourselves and to others–we can change the broken spirit of humanity in this world.
In this episode Matt shares about:
- The abuse and incest he endured as a child
- The alcoholism he struggled with in his late twenties
- The doubts and anger he had about God
- And the bumper-sticker Christian clichés that were never helpful
Matt and I discuss:
- The importance of telling the entire truth about our stories
- How taking Bible verses out of context can be so dangerous
- The problem of how the church isn’t talking about our pain
- Whether God allows evil or actually purposes it for us
- Where God is, in the moments of abuse and trauma?
- And if God sees pain being inflicted on us, why doesn’t He stop it?
Matt shares his insights about:
- The truth that we all have brokenness inside
- How God’s strength and glory are made perfect in our weakness
- What the path of forgiveness looks like for each of us, and why it matters
- And why we all have a responsibility to share our stories with the world
I’m so thankful for all Matt shares.
He is paving the way for us to ask the hard questions in the aftermath of our pain and shows us how He has found that we have a God who can not only handle our questions, doubts, and anger but longs for us to engage with Him and be with us in it.
May this conversation an encouragement to you, no matter what pain you are facing today.
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SCRIPTURE:
I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
I, the Lord, am the one who does these things. Isaiah 45:7 (NLT)
Matt’s book:
- Finding God in the Ruins, paperback
- Finding God in the Ruins, audiobook
SOCIAL MEDIA:
LINKS:
- Insanity, a workout with Shaun T
- The Enneagram, a Christian Perspective, by Richard Rohr
- Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, by Richard Rohr
- Healing the Wounded Heart: The Heartache of Sexual Abuse and the Hope of Transformation, by Dan Allender
*some links are affiliate links
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Finding God In The Ruins How God Redeems Pain
[…] e a God who can not only handle our questions and doubts, and anger, but longs f […]