In this episode, we cover:

• Surviving vs. Healing: Lauren reflects on her current season of life, sharing how physical panic attacks and emotional burnout over the summer forced her to stop and realize that the survival resilience that got her through childhood trauma was never meant to replace genuine spiritual and emotional healing.

• Early Childhood & Family Roots: Born on New Year's Eve in Chicago before moving to Southwest Missouri, Lauren grew up as the oldest of four girls in a sweet, close-knit family with a stay-at-home mom and a dad working in the medical field.

• A Mother's Cancer Battle & Legacy: At age eight, Lauren’s mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer, leading to a five-year battle that ended when Lauren was thirteen. Lauren shares the heartbreaking memory of saying goodbye in the hospital without fully understanding it was the end until sitting in the car afterward. She recalls her mom’s vibrant faith, her love for hymns like "It Is Well With My Soul," and her mom's desire for an altar call at her own funeral, where lives were transformed.

• Parental Rejection & Foster Care: Less than a year after her mother's death, Lauren's father remarried. An unsafe and emotionally abusive environment led to the state removing all four girls from the home. When her father chose his new wife over taking the girls back, Lauren experienced profound rejection from her only living parent.

• God as the Ultimate Father: In the midst of fatherly abandonment, Lauren turned to God not with anger, but as her true Father, clinging to Psalm 103:1 and discovering that while earthly fathers may fail, the Lord never leaves.

• Anchors of Community: Lauren details her time in kinship foster care living with her grandmother, aunt, and eventually her cousin Samantha and her husband James in a safe, loving Christian home. She highlights how her local church youth group served as her lifelong anchor and refuge through every storm.

Our Challenge to You

If you have survived hard things by burying your pain behind a wall of "resilience," know that Jesus doesn't just want you to survive. He wants to bring true healing to your heart. Take time this week to slow down, get quiet before the Lord, and allow Him into the places you've been afraid to feel.

Scripture & Resources

• Psalm 34:18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
• Proverbs 3:5–6 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..."
• Psalm 103:1 -"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name."