[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, friend. Welcome to Perspectives into Practice, a place where life's stories meet practical wisdom. Together, we'll explore how faith filled perspectives can transform the way we live, love, and grow.
So grab a seat, settle in, and join us on this journey to turn inspiration into action.
Let's dive in foreign.
Hey, friend. Welcome back to Perspectives into Practice. Today we're talking about what it looks like when God rebuilds us in the valley and how choosing joy can become one of the most powerful ways we fight back against the hard seasons in life.
I'm sitting down with my new friend Melissa, and what drew me to her story is the season that she's walking through right now. Melissa's been through some really hard things. I. A massive brain infection that left her with neurological damage. Years of healing. But what really stood out to me when I heard her story wasn't the hardship. It was the way that she's watching God rebuild her in the middle of it, how he's teaching her to slow down and listen to the Holy Spirit. He's restoring joy in places that felt lost. And he's even using horses and life on a ranch to put part of that healing journey together.
Welcome, Melissa. I'm so glad you're here.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me, Jessica.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Absolutely.
So before we go any deeper, y' all know I love a good fun fact. And Melissa was a synchronized figure skater growing up, so sequins, team routines, the whole thing. And with the Olympics happening recently, I have to ask, when you were skating back then, did you ever dream about going to the Olympics?
[00:01:44] Speaker B: No, it wasn't that good.
But I. I mean, I. I wasn't bad, but I wasn't like that amazing. But I had hoped that Sacred Eyes was going to make it to the Olympics and they never have, and that's a super bummer thing.
But no, it was a lot of fun. I did it for a handful of years and it. A lot of teamwork and yeah, it was a lot of fun.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Do.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: So do you have a favorite costume? Because I imagine with synchronized skating came some pretty awesome outfits.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Yeah, we did a number to the can can, like the French, you know, and that was a really cute outfit. I. Yeah, it was probably my favorite.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Yeah. That's awesome. Was it in reds? Color reds. I feel like that would be.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: No, it was cat pink and black and white, actually.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Yeah. That's awesome. I can imagine. If it, if it gets too big, do you, can you get stuck in your skates? Do Costumes get stuck in your skates if you're doing moves.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Nope. Not these.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: No.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Because they're all like dresses.
Yeah.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: So. Wow. That's. I, I have a lot to learn about synchronized skating. I don't know.
It sounds amazing. It's something that I couldn't do.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Yeah. It's a group of 20 some women that are. Or I mean there could be guys in it too, but they're relying on each other the whole time.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: That's amazing. Wow. So amazing. Your life looks a little bit different these days and God has been doing some really deep work in your life over the last few years. So I'd love to, for you to share a little bit with us. So for someone meeting you for the first time today, what season of life would you say that you're in right now?
[00:03:23] Speaker B: I'm very much in. God's moving me out of my comfort zone.
I prefer, I think a lot of us prefer to have a comfort bubble, you know that it's just easier in. You feel safe. But he has really been speaking to me to just get outside of that and step into what he's calling me to do. Even when it's really challenging.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's the, you know, that obedience when he asks us to do things. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy, but it's always worth it on the other side. And I know that you've walked through some really hard years in your health and your healing. So looking back, where did you see God meeting you in that journey?
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Oh, well, I got sick first eight years ago and I didn't grow up with, with the Lord. I found him when I met my husband and before we got married. I ended up accepting the Lord.
But it was through trials that I've grown closer and closer and closer to him.
And when I got sick, that was a massive, years long trial that he.
It's kind of like one of those you have no choice but to find the Lord because it's your only hope because you're so, so sick. And your circles get smaller when you're sick too, because you're at home. You kind of people just life goes on, but you're, you know, you're just kind of stuck with this chronic illness. So he met me so much in, I would say most in when I was sick.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: And so you've been in that season for a while and I know that you said that you've been living led by the Holy Spirit. So what has changed the most inside of you over the last Few years, yeah.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: So in those moments he met me, it seemed to be when I would wake up in the middle of the night and I couldn't sleep. And you know, you're just kind of beside yourself because things are just, they're not going well and you're just like, where are you?
And that's when I started to realize like he was really, he wants to speak to us. He wants us to be still with him. He wants those moments when we sit down and we read scripture and he can speak to us through it. And those were the moments that started to really shape my relationship with him. And being Holy Spirit led.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And so being Holy Spirit led, that's, I'm guessing, where it's coming to bring you out of your comfort zone. What does that look like today and coming out of that?
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Yeah, well, we have horses here on the farm and we have a ministry and he called me to write a book and all this stuff. And so it's like he's saying, okay, now's the time for you to tell people about it. And that's really challenging for an introvert that likes a comfort bubble.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: So.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: But you know, you're not going to help anybody if you don't share your story, your testimony. We all have a testimony. Everybody goes through trials, everybody and pain and suffering in some way or another. And you kind of become somebody else's lifeline when you share your story. And so I know I need to do it. It's just, it's hard putting yourself out there.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: It is, it is because you don't know how it will be received and know that you are in a very safe place here and that everyone listening is, is just like you and they are scared to share as well. And you know, I, I think that healing isn't just physical, it's emotional and it's spiritual as well. And when we allow the Lord to do that all throughout us, you know, it really does change, change our lives in a lot of really great ways. So what is, what is something that the Lord has been asking you besides like sharing your story? What is that getting out of your comfort zone look like in a day to day manner?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Well, he wants me to share my story on social media because there's so many people with chronic illness, there's so many people struggling and battling hard things.
And the introvert in me doesn't like to be on social media and I've been dragging my feet. I'm going to just be completely honest for a while. Like he was kind of like hey, you know, your book's coming out. You probably should start posting on social media like two months ago. And I just kept ignoring it. Yeah. Because it was like, this is so out of my comfort zone. Lord, I. I just don't want to do it. And long story short, you know, there's marketing for the book. They put my press kit out and he kind of pulled a funny one on me, which I do think he has a good sense of humor. Is. It's like, okay, if you're not going to go on social media, the local news is going to come to your house. I woke up one morning and it said an email, urgent local news wants to come to your home and record you with the horses and all this stuff and share your testimony. And it was like, okay, I guess he's. He's pushing me. You know, sometimes he will do that where it's like you're dragging your feet and I need you to move. And so that kind of was also a gift from him to me of saying, you, you don't need to have this imposter syndrome. Because, like, I don't know if a lot of people know what that is, but it's just. It's kind of where you. You don't think you're capable of doing what he's calling you to do, but you are. He is. And if he wants you to do it, he's gonna sometimes cattle prod you into it. And that really was. I mean, it was like the news out in. We live in Michigan, which it's spring and nasty the muddy. But then God sent five inches of snow before they came, and it made for a beautiful setting. He was so with me. He gave me supernatural peace. And that's my whole thing. When he calls you to do something extremely hard, he's gonna give you the means to do it. And sometimes it's gonna be a good push, but it's the push you need. So.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: Yeah. When did you first realize that he was pushing you to get out of your comfort zone and that you really had to obey in that?
[00:09:47] Speaker B: I would say when I was still very. Going through my healing journey back probably three years ago, I had done all this physical healing.
I found a really good infectious disease doctor. He saved my life.
Did a lot of holistic things too, because I had late stage neurological Lyme disease, but I just felt like I wasn't completely healed. It was just like, I'm not where I want to be. And that's when I felt the Lord say, okay, you've went after the physical. It's now time to go after the mental and spiritual healing, because that's just as important. And I thought, well, I don't know how to do that. You know, like, you know, how do you want me to do that? I'm already drawing near to him, but I still just felt very, very stuck. Stuck. And that's when I clearly heard him say, in another time, in the middle of the night. And I always say this. If you go to bed struggling, just spend some time with them, or he's gonna wake you up in the middle of the night and make you spend time then.
So I heard him say, use the horses. And I didn't know what that really meant. And that's when I found unbridled. And I got certified in trauma recovery. We went to Minnesota. That was completely out of my comfort zone. So that's kind of where I feel like it started, was going and getting certified.
I did not grow up with horses. That's a fun fact. I hadn't even been around them until eight years ago, seven years ago, something like that.
So I. I'm a testimony that if there's something you want to do, it's never too late. I hadn't even pet a horse until I was 30.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: So we had accumulated all these horses, and that's a story for another day. But he said, use your horses. And so getting out of our comfort zone was huge. That was the start of it, of going and getting certified in this. And it was at that clinic, I realized that why I was stuck. Like, God gave me this major revelation because it was on trauma, that I had all this buried trauma from childhood and a lot of other things.
And until I healed myself, I couldn't help others. And so that's. That's when the call of getting out of my comfort zone really started.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, I love. I love that so much. Because you. I mean, you're right. Like. Like I said earlier, the healing isn't just physical. And God often does a deeper work within us, and it changes our perspectives and our hearts and minds, too. And you said something earlier that really stood out, and you mentioned that joy is a choice. And so I want to know is, when did you first start realizing that joy was something that we could choose even in the hard season that you were going through?
[00:12:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. It was in that certification. They. They were teaching me all this stuff, and it was like, I never heard of this ever in my life, you know, and how you have to have joy capacity in your brain. You got to build joy to help combat the hard.
And so then it was like, oh, okay, I get it. Like, it is a choice, because some days just feel really hard and it's like, how am I going to pick joy today? But sometimes you have to think of a past memory, even of joy to build that joy capacity in your brain.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it definitely is a building platform that it. Sometimes it doesn't just come. You have to remember what. What God has been faithful for in the past to remember. Okay. He is still faithful now and to continue working that joy muscle, if you will. And. And that's. I mean, that's exactly what it is. And you. You mentioned a specific verse in Psalm 18 that really became meaningful in your healing journey. What was it about that chapter that spoke to you so deeply?
[00:13:40] Speaker B: A lot of the psalms spoke to me through my healing journey like that. I turned to them a lot. But Psalm 18 is about him being a rescuer and David's crying out in that psalm. And then at the end, you know, he. He praises God for rescuing him. And it. In the workbook that I did with another ministry, they taught that. That you not to stay in, like a victim mentality. You know what I mean? That God will rescue you. There is hope.
And so that was a really good psalm for that time frame. Yeah.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: And there's a shift in our heart when we start putting in God's praises and God's Word into our bodies and allow him to work through us in that. And it usually, as we're building this up, begins to overflow into our everyday choices. And. And so what. What does joy choosing joy actually look like in your daily life now?
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Well, I have a method that's in my book, and it's called the yeehaw.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:48] Speaker B: Yeah. And so it's just. You go down through each letter and you just work through a. A joy moment. And then you sit and you just meditate and give gratitude to God for that. That joy moment is basically how I try to do a yeehaw as often as I possibly can.
I know it's kind of cheesy, but my. My whole book's a little bit like that because of my brain stuff that I have going on, I have to have it. I always say cheesy equals easy, so I'll remember. And so that's why I always. I. And same thing. In the morning, I do a howdy. I say, have. Have you remember to say howdy to the Holy Spirit. And so I sit down and I get quiet with him and so if I remember those things, I need to do a howdy. I need to do Yee haw. As cheesy as they are, I don't care. It's how I remember them, so. And that's how I connect to him.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: So, yeah. Yeah, I love that. And, yeah, he doesn't care about our cheesy. He cares about the fact that we're doing something. And that. That is amazing. So for the woman listening right now, that feels like her battle has been long and exhausting, or what would you want her to know about what God can do in her valley season?
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. I. I just would say I see you. I get it. Gosh, it's hard.
There's a song, Flowers. I don't know if you've ever heard it. And it's about being in the valley and looking down and there's flowers that did grow in the valley.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: And so what I say is just keep drawing near to him and letting him grow you, even when it doesn't feel like you. Maybe he is. He is. Just keep it. And believe me, I had so many days. It was just to survive the day. I mean, I was sick for years.
But if you just keep pushing forward and drawing to him, he's going to give you the direction. I mean, is it always going to be immediate? I wish, but that's not how. How it works.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: So, yeah, I would just say keep. Just keep drawing near to him, and eventually there is another side. You know, it's just. It can be a long battle.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Melissa, thank you so much for being here. I love that your story isn't just about surviving the hard season. It's about the way that God continues to rebuild and strengthen you through it. And now you're sharing that with others, which is just so amazing. I want to ask you a question that I ask every guest on the podcast, and that is what. What is one perspective that you would encourage listeners to apply today?
[00:17:26] Speaker B: My perspective is we all know we live in this chaotic world. It's. There's a lot going on. And so I just want to encourage people to slow down enough to live. Holy Spirit led.
And for that, for me, it's been changing habits.
And that is that can look like just taking time daily to be still with him. Dive into scripture, journal. I love to journal.
Uh, that's part of the howdy is you journal in it and dissect his word, Pray to him, Tell God how you're feeling. He cares about how you're feeling. A lot of people think, oh, I don't. I don't want to do that. Well, no, he does truly care about every aspect. And then acknowledge those moments of gratitude and joy, and that's going to bring a closeness and strength that you need. And he'll give you to, you know, get through hard times and out of your comfort zone.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: I love that.
Oh, that's beautiful. Beautiful. Thank you so much, friend. If you are walking through a valley right now, hear this. God is not wasting it. He is rebuilding something steady and strong in you. And before we close, I want to say something for those of you listening that you listen every single week. Some of you have been here for a long time. You listen to these stories. You hear what God is doing in other people's lives, and maybe there's a nudge in your heart that says, maybe I should share my story, too. But then the questions come. Maybe you don't feel ready. Maybe you're not sure if your story matters. Maybe you feel like you don't have the time. Or maybe sharing just feels scary. Whatever the reason might be, if you feel God nudging you to share something here, I want to encourage you to listen to that. This podcast has become a really special space. It's a safe place where people share honestly, where. Where healing happens and where God uses real stories to encourage someone who might be walking through something similar. You never know how God might use your obedience or your story to reach someone else. So if there's a nudge there, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out to
[email protected] your story might be the exact perspective that someone else needs today. And remember, even small shifts in perspective can lead to big changes. Now go put those perspectives into practice. Talk to you next time.
