Rachael Joy Gilbert is a Licensed Professional Counselor, wife, mom, speaker, author of Image Restored, owner of BBC Health, and adjunct professor at The King’s University. She earned her BS in Exercise Physiology from the University of Oklahoma and her MA in Marriage & Family Therapy from The King’s University. Rachael Joy is trained in EMDR trauma therapy, Gottman Therapy for Couples, and Prepare-Enrich.

She hosted the popular podcast Real Talk with Rachael for seven years before launching The Rachael Joy Show. With over 21 years of marriage and raising three teenagers, Rachael Joy blends clinical expertise, biblical truth, and real-life experience to help women walk in freedom while discovering lasting peace and joy in Jesus.

Rachael enjoys spending time in the great outdoors and hiking with her family. She resides in Texas with her husband, Matt, and three children. Learn more at rachaeljoygilbert.com, http://bbchealth.com , and connect on Instagram at rachaeljgilbert.

All websites and social channels:

• http://rachaeljoygilbert.com
• http://therachaeljoyshow.com
• imagerestoredbook.com
• http://bbchealth.com
• http://instagram.com/rachaeljgilbert
• http://facebook.com/rachaeljoygilbert

Hi, I'm Angel.

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God chose for us to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Rachel.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I am coming to you from Dallas, Texas.

Wow, love the accent right there.

I'm coming to you from Dallas, Texas.

How did you come to meet Jesus?

Oh man, I'm so glad you asked.

I actually grew up in Oklahoma and my dad is a pastor.

He was a pastor for 30 years.

He has a really cool salvation story.

And you know, here's the interesting thing though, even though I was a pastor's kid, the youngest of five, I grew up in church and we were there every time the doors were open.

So I knew of Jesus most of my life, but me actually deciding to make it my personal relationship.

I once had a professor tell me, God doesn't have grandkids, right?

So even though I was brought up in church, it still has to become our own decision.

And for me, that was when I was a young adult is when I came to not only know of Jesus and who he was, but he became my best friend.

Is there a specific time when you felt as though the presence of God was not with you?

Hmm.

Yeah, actually, when I was in, and you know, that's an interesting question because I think I would have said he wasn't with me, but in hindsight, I realized, oh, he was there.

I just wasn't, I just wasn't tuning into him.

He was protecting me when I wasn't asking him to.

But I, in high school, went a started making some choices that I knew, you know, weren't the best and didn't line up with the Christian faith that my parents had taught me.

But I just honestly didn't care.

I was like, I'm just marching in the opposite direction.

I'm going to do my own thing.

And I think I know better than my parents and all those kinds of things and made a lot of really poor decisions.

And then in that time also ended up having, went through a pretty traumatic event when I was 17 years old and I hit rock bottom.

And what's interesting is when I was in that season of rebellion and just living how I wanted to and not really following the Lord or things that my parents sort of like me to do, I did feel like I couldn't hear God.

And I think part of that was because I, I didn't want to talk to him back there.

I had a really skewed view that it only, you could only talk to God if you were doing right.

And I thought I'm sending too much.

He doesn't want anything to do with me.

But now, man, even as we sit here and talk, it brings tears to my eyes when I think about, huh, Jesus was actually walking right alongside me and holding me up and keeping me from getting into further trouble and walking further away.

And the reason I know that is because when I hit that rock bottom and I lost all my friends, I lost, I mean, I went through a really hard time.

That's where I actually met Jesus because I was, I was ready to talk to him.

I was ready for him to be my best friend.

And he did.

My senior year of high school, he became, he became my very best friend because I lost all my other friends.

And so he's who I talk to all the time.

And yeah, so yes, I don't know if that answers your question that I felt like God was not there, but in hindsight, I'm like, oh, he was there.

I just wasn't paying attention to him.

The visual that comes to mind is the, the radio, or I guess to modernize it, the podcast that, like, have you ever told someone about the podcast app?

And they said, oh, that's on the phone.

Yes, it's on the phone.

Yes, it was actually always there.

You just probably didn't notice it or tap on it to open the thing and then be able to tune in.

Yeah.

That's very cool.

So all right, take me from that point where you were in a dark place and confirm with me if that dark place connected to the ministry that you're in today.

A hundred percent it does.

And when I was in that dark place, I, because I'd come to just such the end of myself and was just so broken.

I had made a kind of a, and this isn't a good thing.

This is a, I made a little inner vow is what I call it, that I wanted to go to college and I wanted to just put my head down and not get to know anybody.

I, cause when I was in high school, before I hit rock bottom, I was had a season of being popular as the captain of the cheerleading team.

I was the president of the student council, you know, it was all those things.

And after I hit my rock bottom and, and met Jesus in that rock bottom, I was just like, I don't want any of it.

I'm going to go keep to myself.

I'm going to just do my thing, keep my head down.

And I remember the longer I walked with Jesus through college and, you know, I started to get freedom.

I started to get healing, um, just was walking a lot of victory.

Uh, I felt, you know, somebody had actually asked me to speak.

And I said, Oh, I'm not a speaker is what I told him.

And he's like, well, do you want to pray about it?

And I was like, sure, I'll pray about it.

But I honestly didn't pray about it.

Cause I was, I was a little bit shy at the time.

Plus, I just remember I was keeping my head down.

I don't want to be known.

And, um, I felt like the Lord in that moment gave me a vision.

Um, uh, I, I could see myself kind of walking down a long winding sidewalk and there was lots of people on either side watching me walk.

And I remember feeling awkward that they were watching me walk, but I get to the end of this sidewalk and I see a girl curled up in a little ball, uh, about the same age I was when I hit my rock bottom and I reached out my hand and I helped her up and we walked out of the winding sidewalk together.

But I was like, just keeping my head down, doing my thing and ignoring the people watching.

Um, and I felt like the Lord said, Rachel, would you go back for the one?

Would you go be the woman that you needed when you were going through your really hard season?

And I said, yes, sir.

Like then that vision has just carried me.

And so that really, um, launched me into starting to write and speak.

And then I ended up getting, uh, becoming a licensed counselor to, um, the, just felt called to go do that as well.

Wow.

What's the difference, uh, from walking with someone versus just simply telling them what they need to do?

Well, it's the whole getting in the trenches, right?

It's saying, Hey, I'm not just going to preach at you and tell you what you need to do.

I'm going to actually hold your hand.

I'm going to be your, you know, your support, your community, your, uh, wise counsel and walk alongside you.

And really, isn't that what most of us need in our life?

We need somebody who maybe is one step ahead of us, right?

Who's like, Hey, I don't have it all figured out necessarily either, but I do know, I know the one who has it all figured out as Jesus.

I have empowered by the Holy spirit to keep moving forward.

And I know I'm going in the right direction.

Um, I, yeah, I might still fall, make mistakes and everything, but I do, I know that, um, that the Holy spirit convicts me when I do make those mistakes and I make any amends.

And, um, that's what walking alongside people looks like is they get to watch you do that.

And I think that's such a beautiful gift that we can give to each other.

Are you married and do you have children?

And if yes, what has that been like walking alongside them?

Ooh, yes.

Yes.

So I am married.

My husband and I just celebrated 21 years of marriage.

And then we have three kids.

They are 19, 17 and 15.

And my husband and I actually got married quite young.

And, um, you know, I know everybody's a little bit different story when it comes to marriage and all of that.

But for me, my, my story is that I, I didn't fully realize, and I think this is true for most married couples, how broken I was.

And I don't think my husband realized how broken he was until you come into marriage and you know, that's the, the most intimate you'll ever be with anybody.

Um, and they're going to see things about you that nobody else will ever see about you.

Right.

And, and that's in many ways is a great thing about marriage is even though it's like that sandpaper, it's uncomfortable, but it's also, you know, smoothing you down and, and, you know, taking away some of those rough edges.

And so for my husband and I, marriage has been very healing, um, in many ways, and we've got to walk alongside each other in that.

And that's where, you know, us being equally yoked with each other has been tremendously valuable because we can build each other up when one's down, we help lift the other one up and we can call out each other's blind spots.

And, um, yeah, so we've just got to kind of grow up together in that way.

And the children, what's that been like, especially having the vision of a curled up child?

Is that something that you are adamant about not allowing your children to enter into that space of becoming a child who is just, you know, by themselves, lonely, sad?

Yeah, absolutely.

In fact, that's where, you know, part of my resistance to go into ministry, um, and, you know, be too much outside the home was I still firmly believe my greatest ministry is within the walls of my own home.

And I believe that my husband and my children should get the best of me, not my leftovers.

Um, and so that has, they always have been my first priority.

And any time I, um, decide to do anything ministry related, whether it be writing a book or whatever it is, that's going to be a big project.

I take it to my family first.

And I say, Hey guys, this is a family decision.

This isn't just a mom decision.

And we all pray about it and we all need to be on board with it.

And then, yeah, like, especially I have two daughters and then a son and, um, it was actually really sweet, you know, um, I, I was 17 years old when, um, I, you know, hit my rock bottom.

And so for both my girls, when they've hit that age, I have, I've sat down with them and I've talked with them and I've actually told them my whole story and things that I wish I knew when I was 17.

In fact, my, my currently 17 year old daughter and I, we spoke together at a youth event recently about that.

And, you know, I shared a little my story and she shared, um, her, you know, a teenager in this same age, her story.

And, and so that has been super sweet for me, very full circle to get to minister to my own daughters and, um, be there for them and talk with them about things that, uh, it's just been really sweet that the Lord's allowed me to do that.

Coming back to that vision of you walking down and seeing what possibly was the younger version of yourself here.

What would you say to the person who's listening who's actually in that place?

Jesus loves you so much.

Jesus loves you so much.

Um, the father loves you.

I just, that I know that's a foundational truth and it's maybe something we, if you grew up in church, like I did, we saying, yes, Jesus loves me for the Bible tells you.

So, um, I believe getting that down in the belly of our soul just changes everything because then we live loved, right?

We, we live from a place of love.

We live instead of striving, instead of, I need to pull myself together and then I can go hang out with Jesus.

No, he actually wants to sit down with you in the muck, in the mud, in the lowest part.

Like you're not too far gone.

You're you haven't made too many wrong choices.

It's not over for you.

Um, in fact, maybe just like me, it's just getting started.

If you just open up and receive and say, Jesus, I receive you.

I receive your love.

I receive your, your friendship.

You're my wise counselor.

You're my best friend.

You're my savior.

And, um, and then here's the cool thing.

Jesus, even if you're listening and you're going, Rachel, I don't have that person who's going to walk alongside me.

Like you mentioned, Jesus will, Jesus will.

And he's the very best, best friend that can walk alongside you.

Five years from today, listening to this conversation, you would have heard the evolution of Rachel Joy, right?

What would you imagine future you would need to hear from present you?

I would say back to that basic that I just shared, um, Hey, Jesus loves you.

Pressure off, pressure down, fun up.

Right.

Like, I just felt like I need that reminder so much over and over again, because every new season comes with new challenges and things that might challenge, you know, our identity.

And so five years from now, Rachel, I'll be an empty nester and, um, it's going to be a new season for me.

So, hey, Rachel Joy, if you're listening, pressure down, fun up, embrace your season.

And remember that Jesus is right there in the journey with you.

It's been an honor to have this conversation.

In closing, is there anything else you'd like to share?

Um, no, I just, thank you so much for having me.

It's always an honor to be a guest.

You're welcome.

Rachel Joy Gilbert, a pleasure.

I treasure, thank you for being what has inspired my 12 minute content.