Angela Donadio is a seasoned ministry leader, trusted Bible teacher, and award-winning author. A survivor of two near-death health crises she encourages others to Make Life Matter as they engage with God's Word, embrace His call, and experience a life of Kingdom purpose.

Angela holds a Master's Degree in Leadership and Ministry and partners with her husband to lead River of Life, a vibrant and diverse church near Washington, D.C.

She is the founder of the Communicators' Collective Retreat, offering soul care for female leaders, and Voice of the Voiceless, providing empowerment and education initiatives for women globally. She leads international missions teams and has ministered through worship and the Word in more the than twenty countries across four continents. She loves adventure and being a mom to two young adults.

Hi, I'm Angel.

This mission starts right in our home.

So for my wife and three sons, thank you for standing with us.

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God chose 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, Angel.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

I am in Virginia, right outside of Washington, D.C. Very cool, or very warm as you mentioned.

Yeah, it's very, very warm here today, almost 100 degrees.

Oh, very cool.

Please tell me, how did you come to meet Jesus?

You know, I'm a pastor's daughter, so I could kind of jokingly say I grew up on a pew in a church, but there comes a place in all of our lives, no matter what our background is, whether we know the Lord or had any family history with it or not, where we have to make that decision for ourselves.

So, as a young child, I made the decision to serve the Lord and gave my life to Christ.

And, you know, we have our ups and downs in life and had struggles of owning that decision at times, but by the time I was a teenager, I really just knew that Jesus was who he said he is and was so grateful that he loved me enough to want a relationship with me.

Were you always in Virginia?

No.

Oh, my, you know, my parents moved around as pastors, so we lived in a number of different states.

I met my husband then at Evangel University, which is a Christian liberal arts university, and his degree was in law and mine was in music.

But then we went on to pursue the ministry, and he went on and got his Master's of Divinity, and I eventually got my Master's of Leadership in Ministry.

And so, as we then got married, we actually served in Maui, Hawaii for one year at a church, Cathedral of the King.

In fact, we were able to go back there, and earlier this year, after 30 years to return, where we started, and that church has mothered almost a thousand other churches.

So, that was kind of boot camp, you know, for us in ministry, and then moved back to the mainland and have lived in Virginia since then.

Isn't it intriguing that you were able, in that paragraph, to cover, what, almost 30 years or three decades of life?

Yeah, that's a very condensed version of a lot of, a million steps of obedience in between, if you know what I'm talking about.

Was it as beautiful as people would think when they hear Hawaii and you're doing ministry?

Is it as easy as it sounds?

It's as beautiful as it looks.

It wasn't as easy as it sounds.

I think being that far away from the mainland, my husband is the son of missionaries to Eskimo and Indian villages across Alaska.

So, he grew up, you know, very isolated from what they would call the lower 48, and Hawaii is very isolated from the mainland.

It's almost all the way to Japan from the U.S., from the mainland.

So, you know, as a newlywed couple, we were a long way from our home and our family, but in a way, that's part of what God used to stretch us and to show us different models of ministry and ways of leading and doing things, and I think it broadened our horizons.

So, I think we came back as different people than we left.

It was intense.

That was a year of intense ministry, but I think it grounded us to really want to do what all God called us to do, no matter what the cost, and to see what obedience looked like and what that can look like in fruit for the kingdom.

I don't regret it.

I wouldn't do it again.

It was a really hard year.

It was an intense year,

but I think it's good for all of us to challenge ourselves, and if we can do everything in our own

strength and we're in our own comfort zone, we never really have to fully depend on the Holy

Spirit, and so I think these kind of stretching experiences, and it really framed for me a greater

heart for overseas ministry and missions, and so since then, I've ministered in 30 countries across

four continents, and yeah, a couple dozen times to the continent of Africa, and I just don't know

for certainty that that would have happened without that original stretching year to broaden

the horizons of what the kingdom of God looks like when we choose obedience.

Let's dive into that.

You talk about the fruit that came as a result of that.

When you look back, even for the person who is listening who may be in that seeding time and thinking, what is this worth?

What can this ever be for, right?

What would you say to that person?

You know, I would say we don't ever see the fruit in the middle of the planting, so our responsibility as Christ followers is to stay connected to the vine, to stay rooted in who Jesus is, to stay in his presence.

That's through practical ways like the word of God and prayer and community with other believers.

The fruit comes sometimes immediately, and sometimes it comes after a season that we see that, but we can always trust that fruit follows obedience, and so our obedience is our worship.

Our obedience is our yes, and from that, the fruit is discipleship.

It's whatever the Holy Spirit gives us as an idea that then we can say yes to, but that's birthed out of those private places between us and God.

I see the fruit as the overflow that others get to experience.

Not that there's not fruit in our own lives, but the fruit isn't just for us.

It's for the growth and the good of others as well as for the, you know, whatever God is wanting to do and how he's choosing to use us, so if you're in a season of planning where it feels hard or you don't see it yet, don't quit in that season.

That just means the harvest hasn't happened yet or you don't see it yet.

That doesn't mean it's not happening.

Sometimes we pray, and we don't see the fulfillment of those prayers in our lifetime, but only until heaven when we fully know the full fruit of giving God our yes even when we don't understand it.

What's your story in terms of the biggest challenge you've had?

You know, we don't have hours, so let me give you a very tight version of that, but even though I said I was raised in the ministry and then I married eventually who would become a pastor, my life has not been easy, and part of that has been that I've had some very severe health challenges.

So in 2001, I had a hysterectomy for endometriosis, and I nearly hemorrhaged to death after that.

I was fully awake.

It was very traumatizing, and I came out of that, and I said to the Lord, I don't ever want to feel that desperate again, and he said to me, Angela, that's how I always want you to feel.

Is that desperate for me and that dependent on me, and that

began a different way of me looking at not only my relationship with the Lord,

but how I served him, and that was a life of dependence and not self-reliance, a life of trust

and not operating out of fear or perfectionism, but allowing God to lead, and then not even two

years later, I was back in the hospital again with a very severe diagnosis called superior mesenteric

artery syndrome where an artery was compressing on my intestines and acting like an obstruction.

So after 11 days in the hospital with nothing to eat or drink, my parents flew in.

It looked very dire.

It looked like I was not going to make it.

My heart rate and blood pressure was plummeting.

I had lost a significant amount of weight.

I was dying, and they finally ordered one last test, and that test revealed the problem, but it was in that test, and I'm just saying that for anyone who's listening.

I don't know what test you're walking through.

It might not be a health challenge, but when we go through a test, there's going to be a moment like what came from me.

This test was supposed to take an hour, and it took almost seven hours, and on hour seven, I heard the Lord say to me, Angela, I know you can worship me on the platform.

I want to know if you can worship me here, and that was the greatest yes, the moment I wanted to say no, and God, I don't like you, and why are you allowing this in my life?

When we're going through trials and tests, we want to blame God.

We want to blame someone or something, and sometimes God allows tests for our growth, for our good, and ultimately for His glory, so I chose to worship Him in that moment, and that shifted the trajectory of my life.

They discovered what was wrong.

I had a major surgery the next day.

I spent a long time recovering from it, but it's kept me in a posture of dependency on the Holy Spirit, and I wouldn't trade that.

If you could ask me if I could go back and not have that happen, I don't think I'd be the same person.

Every book I ever authored was after that.

Every international ministry I ever did was after that.

I'm not the same person I was, just like when the three men were in the fire.

It said they came out of it, and not even their hair smelled like smoke, but they were different, and so interestingly enough, their names are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and my disease was superior mesenteric artery syndrome, which is SMA syndrome, so I saw that one day in Scripture.

I was like, very funny, God, but I felt like it was a reminder from the Lord.

You were never alone.

I was with you in it.

Sometimes we want Him to deliver us from it, but what I have found far more often in my life is that He delivers us through it.

He changes us through it, and He does something in us so that He can do something through us on the other side of it, and that's just been my own experience in my own life.

We have the picture of you in Hawaii.

We have the picture of you going through the surgeries.

We have the picture of you coming out and serving others, doing the time on the ground on the mission field.

Were there any children in the midst of this?

There are.

I have two adult kids.

I have a son who actually is living with us and is a clothing designer and uses biblical themes to express.

His company is called Lamb, and so that's one piece of our life is him still being with us, and he's single, and then I have a daughter who's married.

She got married in May, so our family is growing and expanding, and yeah, so we've had two kids.

In fact, the Lord gave us these children.

Back when I had endometriosis, I was told I would never have children, and the Lord blessed us with two kids, so they're miracle children, and then I went on to have that surgery after that, but so grateful that that's been a part of our journey and that ministry and family has always been just top priority for me.

Five years from today, you're listening to this conversation.

What's a message you'd leave for future you?

Wow, that's so great.

Boy, it would almost just be the same message that I've been saying is just keep trusting God.

Keep trusting Him for the next step.

Keep trusting that He will give you the grace you need for the next assignment of God that's on your life.

Don't do anything that He's not calling you to do, and if He's calling you to it, He will absolutely give you the strength and the empowerment to do it, so narrow your focus to only moving forward in what God is calling you to do because that's where grace is.

That's where power is.

That's where anointing is, and that's where results are for the kingdom, so I don't have a five-year plan, because I don't know what God wants to do, but I do know that God's already there.

He's already in our future, and He's so trustworthy.

It's been an honor speaking with you, Angela.

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

No, I just want to encourage your audience.

195 countries around the world, we may not ever get to meet this side of heaven, but you put your faith in God, and He will never steer you wrong.

Whatever test you might be going through, it is for your good and for His glory, and I just pray that you sense His strength and His power in your life today.

I appreciate you.

You're absolutely amazing.

Again, Angela, a pleasure, a treasure.

Thank you for being what has inspired my 12,000 convoys.