Read the full episode + resources here:

Becoming Natural website

https://becomingnatural.com/faith-through-hard-seasons/

Episode 70 is the story behind Becoming Natural.

In this episode:

• How chronic illness redirected my career

• Why obedience matters more than readiness

• How motherhood clarified my calling

• Why I choose to be heard rather than seen

If you’re walking through uncertainty, this is encouragement for faith through hard seasons.

God builds calling through detours.

Hosted by Penelope Sampler

Natural Wellness • Chronic Illness Journey • Faith & Wellness

📩 Join the Email List

🛒 My Trusted Resources Contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting the show.

📌 Note: I share what I’ve learned on my own journey — the things that have supported me in hard seasons. I offer personal experience, thoughtful research, and lots of encouragement. This podcast isn’t medical advice, and it shouldn’t replace care from a qualified professional. Always talk to someone you trust before making changes to your health routine.

© Becoming Natural Podcast.

70 | Turns Out My “Never” List Was God’s To-Do List: How Becoming Natural Was Born

Before we begin today, I want to pause for just a moment… because this episode marks number seventy.

And if you had told me even a few years ago that I would one day sit behind a microphone, week after week, speaking into the lives of women/moms/even husbands and men (who have been some of the most complimentary of this space!) I may never meet this side of heaven… I would have gently smiled and said, “You must have the wrong girl.”

Podcasting was firmly on my “never” list. Nowhere close to my bucket list.

But as I look back now, I can see something so clearly — turns out my “never” list was simply God’s to-do list.

And friend, if you are listening today, you are part of that story… and I am deeply grateful you’re here.

What I’m learning is that God rarely calls the one who feels ready — He calls the one willing to say yes

If you’ve been here from the beginning, you may recognize pieces of this story… but today I’m weaving them together in a way I never have before.

And if you’re new here — I’m so glad you found us. This is the heart behind everything I share.

Sometimes a similar story carries new meaning in a new season.

Today’s episode is going to feel a little different.

No deep dive into supplements.
No science-heavy breakdown.
No step-by-step wellness strategy.

Just… me, Penny or Penelope…whatever you choose!

This episode has been on my heart for a while.

Because when I sit down each week to record, I’m usually so focused on teaching something helpful in a short window of time that I rarely pause to share the full story of how I got here.

Many of you know pieces of my health journey. You know it was long. You know it was hard.

But what I’m sharing today isn’t my illness story — it’s the story of what God was writing around it.

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time rebuilding my website — and let me tell you, starting a podcast has been one of those giant “I will never do that” moments that somehow became something I absolutely love.

God has always had a great sense of humor with me.

As I was planning my time and trying to become more efficient — because this really is a one-woman show — I found myself getting unexpectedly reflective.

And I’m not saying that for applause. I’m saying it because there were seasons my body couldn’t carry much, and God still kept handing me one doable step at a time.

When I look back now, I can see something I never recognized in real time:

Every step — even the ones that felt random — was preparing me for the next moment and each moment forward that led to this moment.

Have you ever looked back on your life and thought,

“Oh… that’s why that happened.”

That is exactly how this season feels for me.

Turns out my “I will never” list was just God’s to-do list.

Let’s rewind all the way back to high school — stay with me, I promise this part moves quickly.

I took one of the most intensive aptitude tests you can imagine. Not the little bubble sheets that take an hour in class… this thing drained my brain for two full days.

At the time, I was convinced I wanted to be an architect.

Which is actually hilarious when you consider that visual-spatial skills were not exactly where I shined on that test.

That test revealed something surprising.

Research.
Medical writing.
Law.
Service-oriented work.

Helping people was the only thing that truly resonated… and interestingly, I loved anatomy.

Looking back now, it almost feels like a whisper over my life before I could hear it.

When I was a senior in high school, I was so focused on all the Senior things…I had no interest in looking to the details of college. For sure I chose my college on love and location with no idea of my major. My mom of course read the MAJORS book from TCU cover to cover (back when there was actually a book to read) and she suggested I look into Occupational Therapy.

I remember thinking… what even is that?

But one opportunity led to another, and before I had time to overthink it, I was accepted into a master’s program at Washington University in St. Louis after my junior year of college.

And let me tell you — I studied harder than I have ever studied in my life.

The kind of studying where you’re afraid to fall asleep the night before an exam because you’re convinced the information might evaporate from your brain.

Neuroscience was that and that was the weed-out class.

By the grace of God — I survived it. And actually survived it well.

I recently was telling my college-aged boys how different college was for us. No optional online class or hybrid “come if you want Jump online if you prefer”. My Wednesdays were always lab days and every semester of college until 5pm I was one lab class or another. I was truly a Lab Rat.

Without realizing it, I was developing the clinical thinking, research habits, and deep curiosity about the human body that still shapes me today.

After graduating from graduate school and my licensing exam, I landed my first position in an acute care position— inside a Level 1 hospital, meaning highest level of care, life flight, severe cases. While also boasting of a Level 4 (the opposite measurement) Neonatal ICU meaning we had the highest level of care of premature babies, complicated births and neonatal surgeries.

ICU. Trauma. Stroke. Cardiac. Neonatal.

The very environment I had confidently declared:

“I will NEVER work there.”

And of course… I loved it.

Isn’t that just like God?

That season taught me something I still lean on today:

Sometimes the door you’re afraid of is the very one that makes you brave.

I learned at a pace that felt like drinking from a firehose. Every patient sent me home researching, studying, wanting to understand more.

Medical school quietly sat on the horizon…

But my body had other plans.

My symptoms related to Crohn’s disease began escalating.

Emergency surgeries followed — more than once.

And eventually I had to face a difficult truth: I needed a path that allowed my body to survive.

I didn’t just grieve the surgery.

I grieved the version of my life I thought I was building.

If you’ve ever had a dream rerouted by something outside your control… you understand that kind of grief.

So during one recovery, almost on a whim, I sent a couple resumes to pharmaceutical companies as my sister was in the industry.

Then one day, months later, I came home to a message on my answering machine — some of you are smiling right now remembering a true answering machine— about a job.

I called back casually, assuming I was scheduling an interview.

Nope.

That WAS the interview.

When he asked my greatest weakness, my mind went completely blank… and I blurted out:

“Well… I guess I’m perfect.”

I still laugh thinking about it.

It was not quite the professional, rehearsed interview response I should have given or that either of us was expecting, but By some miracle — he loved the honesty.

And I ultimately got the job.

Pharmaceutical sales gave my body breathing room.

But more importantly — it widened my lens.

I saw healthcare from a completely different angle. I saw pressures physicians faced. I saw how decisions were made.

At the time, I thought I was stepping sideways.

In reality, God was expanding my understanding for my future self.

Nothing about this season was wasted. And I really did enjoy my job. I just really missed patient care.

Marriage came. Babies followed. Then a move.

Somewhere in that season, blogging was just beginning to emerge, and I started a family blog simply to post pictures and tell stories about my boys so my family could keep up with us from hundreds of miles away.

No plan to be anything but a family journal. Just connection. I had great subjects that easily provided their own hilarious content. And I loved working on my writing. For the first time since I was forced to write in school, I found myself truly enjoying the art of writing and telling stories.

Being new to our city, I had time on my hands during nap times and decided to write a blog more intentionally for the public about my favorite things. I loved to share products with friends or great gifts. And I REALLY loved learning how to design a website and all the intricacies involved.

Then one day I walked into a skincare office and saw a post I had written — printed and framed on their waiting room table.

I about fell over. Soon after a friend asked me if I was using affiliate links (this is BEFORE all the affiliate bloggers emerged) and I remember saying, “Affiliate what?” I was truly writing and posting my favorite things for the sake of sharing. I had no idea you could monetize a blog.

That was my introduction to affiliate marketing before most people even knew what that meant, including myself.

Soon I launched an online shop from my couch during a season when my health again forced me to slow down.

No computer background. No business training.

Just determination.

I hunted wholesalers, built another website as a store, learning everything from scratch.

I was learning confidence the same way you learn strength in rehab — small reps, done imperfectly, over time.

Eventually I purchased a stationery company… negotiated the deal while hospitalized… streamlined operations…and loved everything I learned and each of the customers I served.

After 6 years, I had to release it when life shifted again.

But every step gave me something priceless:

Proof that starting messy is still starting.

Eventually my body — and honestly my nervous system — needed something new.

Slowing down.

Healing deeper wounds.

EMDR helped me process years I had simply pushed through.

And for the first time in my life… I learned to say no.

After a year of saying “No” to the less important things, a shift quietly arrived.

I began sensing it was time to say yes again — but differently.

Only to what truly mattered.

When my “yes” to writing a chapter in an anthology became the book coach giving me a checklist. I was good all the way up to the final check… you really need to start a podcast, I laughed internally.

Another outward, “Hmmm”. That was an internal “never.”

Until I discovered something that changed everything:

The people meant to hear you… will find you. I learned that Podcasts are driven by SEO (word searches) vs the typical social media algorithms. And I leaned in.

For someone who never loved social media, that felt amazingly freeing. I could research. Teach. Speak. No filters required. When I posted on Facebook, I always worried I was putting something in someone’s feed they didn’t want to hear. But if I created a podcast, only the people who want to hear what you have to say find you. I loved it!

I stumbled upon a freebie one week “how to podcast” course and after 3 days I was sold. When I signed up for the freebie course I fully intended not to be swayed to enroll in the 6 month intensive course.

And of course… I joined. It truly set me up for success, required research and homework and pushing my comfort zone for sure!

From that course, I Recorded an intro… then froze for months. Waiting to perfect a plan or the audio or the website.

Finally, in September, I thru caution to the wind and released my first episode with no grand strategy at all.

Just a desire to help someone care for their body and share the story my pastor told me I needed to share.

Initially, I thought Crohn’s would be my central focus.

But I quickly realized — it was still too tender, too emotional reading posts in crohns communities of their pain and struggles. I wanted to help. But I knew where I was in those valleys and while everyone WANTED to help me, I was certain I was too sick for any suggestion coming from a non-medical doctor. While I was on the side of healing and relief, the emotional baggage I was still carrying was still too much for Crohn’s to be my primary focus day in and day out. Of course, I wanted to help anyone who was in the trenches I shared with them, but I felt my calling might be in a different direction. I was still searching.

And then, clarity emerged.

Crohn’s taught me endurance… but motherhood taught me urgency — because I wasn’t just fighting for me anymore.

My heart beats for the overwhelmed mom.

The one raising children while running on empty.

The one who knows something needs to change but has no idea where to begin.

Because I was her.

Three kids. Chronic illness. Determined not to let them experience a “sick mom.”

So Becoming Natural was born from something very simple:

Helping women take small, doable steps toward better health without drowning in information.

Not perfection.

Progress. Messy, imperfect baby step kind of progress. That was me when I needed a hand.

Today I’m deeply committed to this space.

There is far more behind this microphone than most people see.

Hours of research.
Stacks of books.
A quiet morning rhythm that honestly feels sacred.

Remember that aptitude test?

Research. Writing. Medicine. Helping people.

Every thread now tied together.

Only God could weave something so intentional.

If you’re in a season where you feel behind… broken… or like you took the long way…

You need to know:

God builds calling through detours. Thru chaos and immeasurable pain. When life seems bleak, He is still writing your story.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped asking God to make life easier… and started trusting Him to make me stronger.

I am wildly imperfect.

Healthy eating has never come naturally to me.

But when most of your small intestine is gone… your body becomes a very honest teacher.

So I keep learning.
Keep adjusting.
Keep sharing.

Not because I have arrived…

But because I remember what it felt like to be overwhelmed and searching.

I didn’t become “Becoming Natural” because life got easier…

I came to this place because God taught me how to take the next small step anyway. Even in the midst of life and all its craziness.

If Becoming Natural helps even one person feel less alone…

It is worth it to me.

Because we truly are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Designed with a capacity for restoration that still humbles me.

I want you to hear something clearly — I am not standing on the other side of this journey pretending to have it all figured out.

I am still being shaped. Still learning. Still growing.

The research I spend my mornings immersed in… the conversations… the studying… it isn’t just information I pass along — it is forming who I am still becoming.

And maybe that’s the invitation for all of us… to remain teachable, to stay curious, and to trust that God continues writing our story long after we think it should already be finished.

Growth didn’t stop when the podcast began… in many ways, it’s just getting started.

I don’t believe we ever truly arrive. If we ‘arrive’ that seems like a destination point where you stop striving… I think we are always becoming — shaped by what we learn, how we heal, and the courage to keep taking the next step.

And when I look back now, I can see that every step — even the ones that seemed completely unrelated to health — was quietly placing tools into a belt I didn’t yet know I would carry. Turns out… God knew exactly what He was doing.

The science… the clinical training… the business attempts… the seasons of slowing down… even the detours I never would have chosen — all of it was preparation for the work I feel called to today.

And in the spirit of full transparency, that work is still unfolding. I am still studying, still growing, still stretching to keep pace with where this message is reaching. Not from pressure… but from deep responsibility. Because if you are trusting me with your time, your health journey, and pieces of your story — I want to steward that well.

I’m not very present on social media, and that is an intentional choice. There is nothing inherently wrong with being seen — but for me, the calling has always felt clearer in being heard. I’ve never been drawn to noise… only to meaning. So while the world grows louder, my hope is that this space continues to feel steady — a place you can come to learn, to breathe, and perhaps to feel a little less alone.

And if there is one thing my life has taught me, it’s that God never wastes a single chapter. The experiences you question… the skills you underestimate… the paths that seem disconnected — they may be forming you in ways you cannot yet see.

So wherever this finds you today — whether you feel like you are just beginning, starting over, or walking through a season you never would have chosen — trust that your story is still being written. Mine certainly is.

If something in today’s conversation spoke to your heart, consider sharing it with someone who may need that same encouragement. And if this podcast has been a steady voice in your week, leaving a rating or review is one of the kindest ways you can help it reach more women. Thank you for being here… for spending part of your day with me… and for taking small, faithful steps toward living well. Keep becoming, one small step at a time.