This week’s episode is different. April shares from a place of grief, prayer, and reflection after the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, the murder of a young woman on a train, ongoing school shootings, and other tragedies shaking our nation. Rather than diving into politics, this is a conversation about how Christians can process these events through the lens of faith. April talks about the weight of constant news, why our spirits were never meant to carry it all, and the importance of stepping back to listen for what God is calling us to do in these times. Whether that calling is prayer, teaching, showing mercy, or simply loving people we disagree with—this episode reminds us that the heart of our faith is love. If the world feels dark and heavy, may you walk away comforted, encouraged, and reminded that your hope is secure in Christ.

📖 Key Scriptures:

• John 11:35 – Jesus wept.
• Matthew 5:14–16 – You are the light of the world.
• Romans 12:21 – Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
• 1 John 4:19 – We love because he first loved us.
• Philippians 4:7 – The peace of God…will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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Transcription

This week’s episode on the podcast is going to be a little bit different.
There has been so much that has
happened in our nation in the last two weeks that has just been sitting heavy on my heart and has called for a lot of reflection and a lot of prayer and a lot of Scripture digging and just the ability to sit with it and not immediately start going into the politics of it all. This is not a political podcast by any stretch of the imagination, nor will it ever turn into one. This is a Christian platform, though, and I feel that as a Christian, there are some things that I want to remember and I feel need to be said. So I hope that you will stick with me through this episode. Are you struggling to stay positive and hopeful while dealing with your chronic illness? Has your illness impacted your relationship with family and friends? Do you want to regain your sense of belonging and have more love and compassion for yourself. Welcome to the invisible illness club. If you’re ready to learn how to live a hope filled life with your chronic illness, grab your favorite drink and listen in. In the last two weeks, there have been so many things happen between the young woman on the train brutally murdered in a way that never should have happened
to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, to school
shootings, multiple school shootings, and police officers I heard about today that got shot
by some guy lying in white for them they went to, you
know, administer arrest warrant. Um, there’s there’s so much going on in the world right now, and there’s never been a time in my life that I have seen such polarizing views, to the extent that it would cause someone to feel like an assassination is okay.
My heart is heavy about
all of this right now. I, I took a lot of time after this happened. I didn’t watch a lot of news. I mean, I saw everything that needed to be seen or not needed to be seen, as you know, and I I really just took a lot of time to pray about it and not get caught up in the politics of the conversations and not get caught up in the grief of it. Although I am grieved in my spirit, I will tell you I cried when Charlie Kirk got shot because I felt like this is a turning point in our country. But again, this isn’t about politics. For me. This is about God and our heart and our state of mind. So I want to say a few things. It’s going to be a little all over the place. This is a very different episode than what I normally do, but I just feel it’s right. First, we’re not meant to see everything we see. We were never meant to take these cell phones and be able to view all the things around the world that are happening. That was never meant for our minds to be able to take in this much information at any given point of the day. So if you are feeling heavy in in your cell phone and you find yourself just not being able to stop scroll when you think about that, because not only is it not good for our mental health, but especially those of us with chronic illness. If we get to that place so deep in our spirit that we are just living in the scroll, instead of trying to find joy in our day,
we’re going to have more
physical problems. So I want to encourage you to try to put some of this aside. I am not saying do not know what is going on in the world today. I think that it is important that we know the big talking points. I think it’s important that we keep up to date with politics. I have opinions. I have strong opinions, and I stand very firm on those. That’s an important thing to do. But I don’t think that it should weigh us down. I don’t think that God ever meant for us to be so weighed down by the events of the world that we can’t function. The other thing that I really want to say about all of this as a Christian, as a Christian podcaster, is that I believe God is calling us to take a look at our spirits and our hearts and our thoughts and what we’re doing with our lives. God put a call on each one of us.
US, and
some of us are going to be like Charlie Kirk, and we’re going to be political, and we’re going to be a voice, and we’re going to be out there trying to spread the Gospel and to further the world in things that are political in nature. That is fantastic. I applaud people that that is a calling for some of us are going to be teachers trying to shape the world of the young people in our purview, I used to be a teacher, so I know that calling. I know that that spirit that happens when we are with those kids, wanting them to have a better life. I also know that some of us are called to pray.
We are called to
to be in the Word. We are called to encourage. We are called to mercy and grace. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that we are soft, or that we are soft spoken or quiet or, you know, letting everybody run us over. That’s not what I mean. I mean that we are called to really be Jesus in skin, and that means we actually go out there and do something with that, which is what I’m trying to do here on this podcast. I want you to feel loved whoever you are. We don’t have to agree. I don’t have to believe in your lifestyle to love you. I don’t have to agree with your politics. To love you. I don’t have to say or display any of what you believe for me to love on you, and that’s what my podcast is about. I want to love on you. I want you to see Jesus through me, no matter what we agree or disagree on.
And so I hope
that that is
I hope that helps you stay here.
I know that as a Christian podcaster, I will probably lose followers.
I’m okay with that.
I think that my people will find me
no matter what, and the people that need to hear from me will find me no matter what. I follow and have followers on Instagram and Tiktok that I don’t agree with the lifestyle that they have, and they probably don’t agree with mine,
but I love them anyway,
and that is the biggest call that I feel like God has given, or the biggest word that I feel like God has given me in all of this in the last two weeks, is that we really need to come back to a place of it’s okay to disagree. It’s okay if you hate me, but I’m going to love you anyway, because I know that that’s what matters. I’m not going to celebrate the death of someone I didn’t like. I’m not going to celebrate that someone got canceled because they made some dumb quote on late night TV. I’m going to celebrate that you’re in my world, that you are listening and that you are hearing things that help you, and that you are hopefully seeing love. Like I said, it’s a little all over the place today. This is a very different episode than what I normally post, but I really feel, I really felt like this was something that needed so I hope that you’ll stick around and continue to listen as we go back to normal chronic illness talk and finding joy in the middle of our day. Thanks for taking the time. Thanks for hanging out with me today. If this episode spoke to you, share it with a friend who gets it, and if you haven’t yet, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss what’s coming next until then, take care of yourself. You’re doing better than you think. You.