Podcast: Play in new window
What do you when you have had cancer not once, not twice, but three times? What do you choose to believe about God? What do you choose to believe about yourself when you are dealing with a disability or physical challenge of some kind?
This honest conversation offers authentic answers to these questions as Michele Cushatt shares what she’s learned from the challenging road she’s traveled. Michele and I have talked before about what it meant to go through the difficult times. Today we talk about what it has meant for her to move forward in a life that has changed because of the hardship she has faced in her life. We have an honest discussion about what it means, even now, to honor the girl in her.
What does it mean to “come back to life” after tragedy, loss, difficulty, or pain? How do you take care of you without feeling guilty? How do you embrace both the grief and the joy that are apart of your experience without becoming bitter or being numb?
This podcast is packed full of wisdom from a woman who has been through so much and yet still believes that God has her right in the palm of His hand. The wonderful thing is that we are all in the palm of His hand and can learn to rest and trust in Him even in the darkest of days.
Highlight from Today’s Episode:
- How to make room for both grief and joy
- What meditation is and why you shouldn’t be afraid to dry it
- How to take care of you without feeling selfish
- Practical ways to be a good steward of your body.
Quick Links
==> Click to Tweet
- Our scars make us. They build us. They give us our testimony. – Chrystal Hurst
- There is worship in grief as well as in gladness. – Michele Cushatt
- Without both grief and joy, we will not live fully aware and alive. – Michele Cushatt
- God is real. He is good, he can be trusted. – Michele Cushatt
- Create safe spaces for honest conversations. – Michele Cushatt
==> Resources from Today’s Show
- Pre-Order She’s Still There now! Goodies disappear on August 7th!
- Connect with Michele Cushatt on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter
- Listen to my first podcast episode with Michele Cushatt!
- Buy Michelle’s Book! – I Am: A 60-Day Journey to Knowing Who You Are Because of Who He Is
==> General Links
Want to subscribe to the blog and grab a freebie? CLICK HERE
Did you miss last week’s podcast with Tammy Franklin? Check it out here!
Kingdom Woman by Chrystal Evans Hurst and Tony Evans
Let’s Talk!
After you’ve listened to the podcast, I’d love to continue the conversation. Be sure and leave a comment!
- How have you changed as a result of someone else’s struggle?
- Who are you now? How are you different than you were a year ago? Five years ago?
- How do you create healthy boundaries for yourself?
Connect with me…
How to Listen to The Podcast
If you’re new to podcasts, think of them like little radio shows that you can listen to at your convenience. They are perfect to listen to and learn from as you workout, fold laundry, wash dishes or conquer the world.
1. Listen right here on the blog. Click the little play button at the beginning of this post.
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You have been so great to join me on the journey here on the blog, I hope you jump right in do the same on the podcast!
“me time” is a dirty word, help us Lord. Guilty! We’re reading Cloud & Townsends’ Boundaries book at Bible study and this so aligns with what they present. “If I don’t do the work, the hard work of being real and bare and honest before God, I’m no good to anyone else.” YASS! Preach to my spirit. I have been blessed by EACH of your podcasts. I’m not one to leave comments but I just wanted to say I so identify with your “She’s Still There” programming and look forward to your book. And if I can be honest I’m excited to see another Black sister in Christ who is mature in the Lord and includes diverse women and topics in her blog. I feel comfortable sharing your work to others because of your authenticity and credibility. (found you from P31 blog!)
God bless you and your family.
Hi Chrystal and Michele,
Even though I haven’t had the chance yet to listen to this podcast, just reading the quick links and brief description, I know that this podcast is what I need.
I haven’t posted in awhile, as the last time I had posted, my husband was in the hospital with a broken neck and quadriplegia after a fall following a Grand mal seizure. We were believing God for a miraculous healing…and He did just that.
But ,not the way that we had envisioned it.
God healed my husband eternally through death on February 28,2017, at the tender age of 47. Leaving me a widow at 38 and a Mom & Step mom of 4 grieving daughters.
For question 1., I’d like to say I feel that I am changing (work in progress) in learning how not to complain when things are tough. The entire 5 1/2 months that my husband was being transferred from hospital to hospital to rehab back to the hospital to the nursing home, he never complained about his state. Of course, he had hard says, but he never blamed God for his “new normal” from being totally independent to becoming a quadriplegic overnight. He believed God all the way to the day that he no longer had strength to speak. When he went into cardiac arrest shortly after his initial night, he was able to tell me (months later after he was removed from the ventilator) that he had died and he stated that he saw himself in the casket and that I had planned the funeral. While he was watching the funeral, he said that he heard the voice of God tell him, “You’re not going anywhere. You have work to do.” And that’s when he was brought back the first time. His heart stopped 3 other times after that months before his Divine Healing.
To us that gave us hope that he would leaving the hospital eventually and going to declare to many of God’s goodness to him.
But, my husband didn’t wait until he was healed, but everyday and to everyone that would enter his hospital room, he would tell of God’s goodness. Many skeptics and believers alike would leave out the room in tears and with hope. One day it dawned on me, that the work that God had for him to do, Steve was doing it. I told him one day while he was reminding me again of God’s promise to him, that he was already beginning to do his work. My husband Steve finished well and he did what God promised.
As far as your comment about trusting God, you’re so right. God is Good! He can be trusted. Four days before my beloved slept way, the Holy Spirit able me with a song of praise at midnight and that was went He let me know that He was going to take Steve. From midnight to 530am , I cried and pleaded with God for my husband’s life. And in the midst of the pain, the Holy Spirit comforted me and kept reminding me that He never said that people wouldn’t die or leave me, but rather that He promised that He would never leave nor forsake me. He told me that He wanted me to trust Him with my husband’s life and my own. I got up and danced before Him with the tears still running hot down my face and told God, ok, I’m going to trust You.
So for my husband’s memorial service, I instructed the Minister of music and the worship leaders to give God everything they had in praising and worshipping Him. The presence of God was so strong in the sanctuary that no one could really be sad. We danced, we clapped our hands, played our tambourines and just blessed God. Because I wanted the people to know that just because it didn’t turn out the way that we “planned”, GOD DID NOT FAIL Us. That He is yet worthy!
But the trust doesn’t end there. Everyday I have to trust Him with my life, my finances, my purity when I desire my husband and there is no longer anyone there.
I’m going to stop there. I’ve said enough. But thank you in advance for this podcast ladies. I just know it’s exactly what I need. Keep me and my girls in your thoughts and prayers.
After listening to the podcast, it was just what I needed to hear and more. Michele, thank you for your transparency, courage and honesty. It really blessed me this day. Especially when you two talked about the necessity to face grief and how not to get trapped in it. While I allow myself some time to grieve my husband, I realize how afraid I am to really let go and grieve. I’m so afraid that it will overwhelm me beyond what I can stand or need right now as I have to provide and be present for my children. But I realize that I am walking numbly now through this situation as I have not had the courage to be real and acknowledge my need to grieve. Yes, God absolutely gave me strength and His peace to get through the memorial service and I will never deny that. But I am learning Him day by day as my Father, my Sustainer..my Everything. And Thank you Chrystal for knowing just the right questions to ask to make this such a real and practical podcast. Thanks for sharing about your Mom too as I do feel some of the physical effects of suppressing the grief. It’s definitely real. Thanks again to both of you
Great interview and insight. What a blessing!
That was awesome~ God bless!!
I loved the podcast! Michele is very encouraging and so brave! She is truly a blessing and I’m so ashamed for my whining over little things when Michele has been through so much and is so cheerful about it all.
OK, here’s the question, though. What’s the brand name or recipe for the chocolate granola she says is to die for
???