Are you hiding a story that God might want you to share?

Maybe you’re carrying something painful or messy that feels too vulnerable to speak about. Perhaps you’re protecting your reputation—or someone else’s—by staying silent. Or you might be wrestling with shame, believing certain parts of your story should stay hidden forever. If so, you’re not the only one who has thought these things.

IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING TO SHARE YOUR DIFFICULT STORY, THIS IS THE EPISODE FOR YOU!

Kirsten D Samuel understands the weight of carrying a painful story alone. When God first prompted her to share her personal testimony about her husband’s pornography addiction and their resulting marriage crisis, her answer was a firm “no.” She was comfortable mentoring young moms and staying in the background—until God had different plans.

This is part one of my conversation with Kirsten, and in it she vulnerably shares how God transformed her “no” into a powerful “yes” that resulted in a ministry that now brings hope and healing after marriage betrayal to hundreds of women who are her clients.

You’ll learn how she:

❤️‍🩹 moved from managing her reputation to embracing God’s invitation to heal,

🕯️discovered freedom by allowing God to redeem the messy parts of her story, and

✨stepped into a dream that felt impossible in her own strength

This conversation is about more than just telling your story—it’s about allowing God to heal you in the process of sharing it. It’s about trading shame for freedom and discovering that your painful past might just be the key to someone else’s healing.

Whether you’re carrying a difficult story or sensing God calling you to step out of the background, Kirsten’s journey reminds us that God doesn’t waste our pain. He transforms it into purpose when we trust His leading.

Come back every week this month as we explore the theme of knowing your value and worth as a woman of God.

CONNECT WITH MERRITT:

Website || Facebook || Instagram || Submit a Question

CONNECT WITH KIRSTEN:

Website || Facebook || Instagram || YouTube

New to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast?

START HERE → with my free guide: 17 Quick-Win Actions to Get Your Dream Moving Forward. It’ll help you build some momentum to keep taking steps toward your dream and help you discern where to go from there.

Enjoy This Episode?

Here are some additional episodes you might enjoy:

Ep 110: You Have Great Value and Worth | Apple | Spotify

Ep 107: Because You Are a Daughter of the Most High King | Apple | Spotify

Ep 126: How to Refocus Your Identity on Christ | Apple | Spotify

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Join the Dream Believers community waitlist: merrittonsa.com/dreamco

Resources:

If you are dealing with marriage betrayal trauma, you don’t have to go through this alone. Schedule a complimentary Find Hope Again session with Kirsten here.

Request an autographed copy of Kirsten’s story, Choosing A Way Out: When the Bottom Isn’t the Bottom, when you pay just $6 shipping. Domestic only.

Scripture:

I have called you by name, you are mine.
~ Isaiah 43:1 (ESV)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
~ Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
~ Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
~ Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
~ Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
~Philippians 3:8 (ESV)

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
~ John 10:10b (ESV)

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
~ Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

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The unedited transcript for this episode of The Devoted Dreamers Podcast follows:

Welcome to episode 327 of the Devoted Dreamers Podcast and today we are talking about Overcoming Betrayal to Embrace a God-Shaped Dream. Yes, God can and will use the hardest, most difficult parts of our life and one day, down the road, turn them into something for His glory.

And my guest today, Kirsten D Samuel understands first-hand the shock and pain of discovering a spouse’s pornography use. Today, as a coach, she has empowered hundreds of women to rediscover peace in the mess, heal broken hearts, regain confidence, and create a healthy path forward.

Kirsten has been featured on the Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast, Chris Fabry Live on the Moody Radio Network, and many relationship and recovery podcasts.

Women who work with her finally find freedom to be who they are beyond their partner's struggles and hope that there is a life worth living out there for them.

In this episode, you’ll hear Kirsten and I talk about: finding freedom and healing through sharing your difficult stories, how to break free from shame and recognize your inherent value—that’s still the theme here this month: finding your value and worth in Christ as you pursue your God-shaped dream; we’re going to talk about that here today—and then we talk about what to do with a dream that’s not at all possible on your own strength.

This one is all about what God can do with our imperfect, even terrified, yes and how He will transform us from the inside out as we step into our God-shaped dreams.

Just a note: this is part 1 of my 2-part interview with Kirsten D Samuel.

I’m your host, Merritt Onsa, a Christian life coach. I’m kind of like the Joanna Gaines for women of faith who have big dreams about how God might reorder the second half of your life so you can use your gifts and life experiences to usher in beauty, revolution, redemption, healing and service to others. It’s not a redesign of your home that we’re working on. It’s a brand-new way to live in freedom. Free from fear, free from second guessing yourself all the time, and free from the lies that the enemy has used to keep you quiet and playing small in the past. Isn’t it about time more of us who believe in Christ started living that way?

I’m on a mission to engage 10,000 women worldwide to start taking intentional and purposeful steps that will bring their God shaped dreams to life. If you believe in Jesus and you see his work in your life and you’re aware that you’ve been given gifts, talents and a life story that could serve and benefit others, maybe you’re among those 10,000. I hope that you are, because you’re here listening to a podcast about dreams.

Maybe you’re looking for a chance to see if your dream has legs. You want to try it on for size and figure out if it’s possible. You want to be inspired and encouraged that there’s hope for what you’ve been dreaming all these years. Maybe you’ve been too fearful in the past, or someone dashed your dreams with a comment that hit too close to home, or you just haven’t had time to figure out how to proceed.

Well, my friend, this is your time. This is your space. If you have big ideas for how God could use the gifts He’s given you and the years of your life that remain, and you have a dream that would serve others, let’s figure out how to turn that heartfelt hidden dream into real, actionable plans with impact for God’s kingdom work in the world.

Merritt Onsa:

Hey, Kirsten, welcome to the podcast.

Kirsten Samuel:

Hey Merritt. It's good to see you.

Merritt Onsa:

It's good to see you too. So we are talking about your God-shaped dream. Let's just start with you telling us just a little high level, what has God given you to do with this life?

Kirsten Samuel:

Well, you know, it's a God-shaped dream when it's more than you can handle and it's more than when you look at it you're like, this is impossible. There's no way I can do this.

And when God told me a few years ago that he wanted me to step into this betrayal trauma space, specifically dealing with women who are silent and are deeply wounded because they've discovered their husbands lurking around on the dark places of the Internet, I told him no. And I just went, no, no.

And yet he is so good because he kept telling me, he kept putting in my heart this dream of exposing the lie for women that you can't recover from something like this, that your life is over, that your marriage is over, that you will never, you'll never again be able to lift your head up in public.

And so I like to say that I'm now speaking up for women who are staying silent in their humiliation and shame and wounds. And I'm giving them a way to find that there is hope after the betrayal. There is healing, there is truth and there's freedom. And the only way I can do that is when God gives me the opportunity to speak out and to speak into women's lives. And they're his opportunities, they're not mine.

Merritt Onsa:

Yeah, I love how you describe that as like something only he can do. Because isn't that the truth? We can participate and, you know, be encouraged by it or terrified, whichever direction we choose.

Kirsten Samuel:

And I've been both.

Merritt Onsa:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Kirsten Samuel:

That's when you know, in fact, it's so funny that you asked me that question because this week I was just thinking about, as I was communicating with my followers, I was thinking about dreams. And you know, the whole thing of the God-sized dream is something that you absolutely cannot do on your own strength. That's how you know it's a God-sized dream.

Merritt Onsa:

Totally.

Kirsten Samuel:

Yeah.

Merritt Onsa:

Well, will you rewind a little bit for us and take us back to when you first recognized that this was a thing God had put on your heart and, you know, what was happening in your life? How did this all come about?

Kirsten Samuel:

Yeah, it was about. What year are we in? It's about 10 years ago now would have been. Yeah, 10 years ago this spring. I was minding my own business. You know, I was serving in a women's ministry in my church where I was mentoring young moms. Something on my heart and just really going along, and I was helping my… supporting my husband in his business and doing a lot of things that kept me in the background. I was in the background, and I heard God say to me one day, it's time to tell your story. And I said, okay, I'm writing every… You know, I've been journaling about what went on in my life and in our marriage and the crisis that we went through and all that. I've been journaling that. So my kids have the story, my kids know the story. That's all. And he goes, no, no, no, it's time to tell your story. And I said, I am.

And what he was prompting me to do was to start writing the story in a way that I could share it with other people. And I said, no. And he said, yes. And he kept pushing me. And then fast forward about six months, we were at an event, working with a business coach that was helping both of us, you know, in these business areas. And he walked up to me and he said, so what's the next thing you think God's asking you to do? And I knew exactly what it was. And I told him, I said, I think I'm supposed to write this story. And he goes, okay, well, tell me about it. Tell me what the story is. And I said, well, it's the ugly story. It's the hard story.

And I shared that briefly with him. He pulled my husband, who was also there, and said, hey, let's sit down and talk about this. What does this look like? And he, this business coach, empowered me and encouraged me to start writing this story. And so over the next 18 months, I wrote the story, Choosing A Way Out When The Bottom Isn't The Bottom, which is the story of our marriage crisis. But it was also the story of my personal crisis and what God took me through to get me beyond the crisis to the point where I could say freely what God has done for me.

Merritt Onsa:

And you said that God kept pushing you. What was that? Just like an inner sense or what was that like for you?

Kirsten Samuel:

There was a discontent, a disquiet in my spirit of... And it was like every time I would sit down and read the Bible and pray, I kept getting this. This prompting of, you need to tell your story. And I was like, but I am. You know, but I am. And I was so hesitant to tell the story because it's like I said, it was the hard, icky story.

Merritt Onsa:

Yeah.

Kirsten Samuel:

It wasn't the easy one. It wasn't like, oh, she's such a great. It was one that was going to not only affect me, but affect my husband. And I didn't want to cause pain to him. I didn't want to cause reputation, and it really came down to my reputation.

I was managing my reputation, and I was trying to manage my husband's reputation, and I was still dealing with… And this is the grace of God coming out, Merritt, I was still dealing with shame that this was part of my story. So God was not only asking me to tell the story, but in the process of telling the story, he was redeeming my story because he was allowing me to see his hand in a way I had never seen it before.

Merritt Onsa:

Yeah, shame is really powerful. And wants all those things to stay in the dark. Wants us to stay in hiding. Oh, my gosh.

Kirsten Samuel:

Yep.

Merritt Onsa:

And God knew. Yeah. All the lies. Yes. Like we talked about a couple weeks ago on the podcast. So many lies. And God knew that letting those lie, letting those secrets stay hidden, would continue the pain and the wound and the discontent.

Kirsten Samuel:

Yeah.

Merritt Onsa:

How kind of him, right? To push you.

Kirsten Samuel:

Yeah. I didn't feel kind at the time, but it was very kind because he wanted to take the messy parts of me and he wanted to heal them. And he knew that if I would write the story, if I would begin to verbalize that in that process, he would heal. You know, and I equate it to: You have a massively broken leg, like, you know, the bone sticking out type thing.

Merritt Onsa:

Yeah.

Kirsten Samuel:

And, you know, you're a hot mess, and people around you can obviously see that. Oh, that's ugly. And it's really gross. And, you know, it's making quite a mess in all this, and you're helpless to heal it on your own.

But you go to a surgeon and they have to go in and they have to cut away, they have to clean out. And this is what the Holy Spirit does for us. He comes in and he cleans and he cauterizes and he gives us new flesh where there was dead flesh.

And this is what he wanted to do, and he was just inviting me to go with him on the journey.

Merritt Onsa:

Yeah. And I think that's what's so amazing about our dreams. That, like you said, I think this wasn't something you asked for. You know, like you were not like, I want to be the person that's up there talking about, you know, all the hurt in my past.

But he knows that using this circumstance of your life, that, yes, was incredibly painful and was still festering. I don't know if you'd use that word, but still there. God said, let me have it, and let's comfort others with the comfort that I'm going to give you in it. And that's precious.

Kirsten Samuel:

When I was getting ready to release the book, God gave me a vision. And I don't say that just offhandedly, because I would say that this is maybe one of the very only visions I've ever had in my life. But it was so vivid that I actually drew it in my journal. Because I was like, oh, my goodness, what in the world? And I didn't know what this was when I first started drawing it. And as I was drawing it and because I kept seeing these flashes of images, and as I was drawing it, all of a sudden it started to take shape for me. And I realized it was an altar.

Kirsten Samuel:

And I realized that there were flames on this altar and there were two people in front of the altar. And as I kept drawing, I realized that the story was what God had me put on the altar.

And so this dream is not mine. Because he was asking me to give up the thing that was so painful, so much a part of what I was hiding behind, you know, trying to manage my reputation, trying to say that if somebody finds this out—this is that lie—you know, Dr. Marcus Warner talks about wounds, vows, lies and strongholds. You know, he calls it the radio station WVLS, which is not a good one.

But I had all these wounds. I had these vows that I didn't even realize I had taken that were holding me back. You know, I was going to keep quiet. I wouldn't speak about this because I didn't want to cause embarrassment. I didn't want someone to think worse of my husband or me than, you know, what they probably already did. And then the lies of: If you tell this, if you tell this, you will be completely rejected. And so then that creates that stronghold of self-protection, and you put the walls up, and here's this vision of God saying, I want you to lay it down. And not only are you going to lay it down, but I'm going to burn it. I'm going to purify it. I'm going to purify it.

Kirsten Samuel:

And so when things have gotten tough, when I've doubted this dream that the Lord has put in front of me, when I realized that I'm fighting against society's norms and I'm saying things that even in the church, they don't want you to say. I have this vision that I can hold onto. And God says, no, this is my story lived out in you.

Merritt Onsa:

I hope you’re enjoying today’s conversation and considering what you’re hearing that can apply to your own big dream.

We were never meant to do these things alone, so I’ve got something for you that might help…

Imagine a space where everyone understands your journey without explanation.

Where a story shared makes you think, “Finally, someone who gets it!” and you instantly feel at home with this group of women.

Where admitting fear, perfectionism, or procrastination isn’t just venting; it’s the next step toward renewing your mindset, and a reminder of our hope in Christ, not in our performance or results.

It’s a place where imposter syndrome doesn’t get a foothold because we are secure in our identity, value and worth in Jesus (but maybe we just needed a sister to speak a little truth over us that day).

This is the Dream Believers community that I’m talking about – a virtual space bringing together some of the most heartfelt, Jesus-loving women with big dreams that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Although our particular dreams are as different as we are unique image bearers of God, we are walking the same road, fighting back lies of the enemy, ditching procrastination, and beginning to believe we are capable of the next right steps.

Some of the best connections happen in the smallest moments in the community. A struggle shared on a Tuesday afternoon, by evening there’s a collection of ideas and a few “me-too” replies.

If you’re ready for a community to surround you in pursuing your God-shaped dream or figuring out how to begin, then Dream Believers is for you.

I only open the doors a few times each year, so this is your moment to get your name on the list for exclusive early-bird access when that time comes. Go to merrittonsa.com/dreamco; that’s merrittonsa.com/dreamco.

These are the women you’ll be thanking by name when you’re looking back a year from now, amazed at what God has done with the dream He’s given you.

Again, the link to get on the list is merrittonsa.com/dreamco

And now, back to the conversation…

Merritt Onsa:

And so as we're, this month, our focus is on knowing our value and worth in Christ. And so we talked about earlier what a great tie-in this is since that was something that you were wrestling with in the midst of this. So can you speak to that a little bit in terms of maybe, like, what shift needed to happen for you in order to, like, yes, God's given you this dream. He's given you this vision. You probably had some ideas formulating about, like, okay, well, what now what? Like, tell the story and now what?

But what was the wrestling in there of coming to understand his great love for you woven into this dream?

Kirsten Samuel:

When I was growing up, I had a very, very sensitive nature. And I would, like, if there was somebody that I really cared about and they were hurt, they were not feeling well, whatever, I would get physical symptoms and I would cry because they were crying or they were hurting. I just had this huge sensitivity.

And my dad, I loved my dad dearly. My dad was a wonderful father. Great, great guy. I miss him. He's been gone now over 17 years, and I miss him just desperately. But he had this tender heart as well. And he kept telling me, you can't wear your heart on your sleeve. You've got to protect your heart.

Now, as a child, I didn't know what that meant, and so I thought there was something wrong with me. And so I was like, there's something wrong with me that I'm feeling all of this that, you know, so I have to quit feeling. I have to, you know…

So I took this vow that I didn't understand. And as God was having me write this story, I had to start reliving these feelings again. And as I went through the counseling and the coaching and all the recovery work that it took, the emotional toll that of all of this that I had this childhood vow that I had shoved everything down and shoved it down. And God was saying, no, I created you with this sensitivity that you would sense things, that you would hear me.

And see, I couldn't hear God. I couldn't… My relationship with God was very academic, I guess, is the best way to say it. You know, read my Bible, I prayed, I went to church, I served in church. You know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was the good wife. I. You know, I was trying to be the best mother I could be. You know, I was very careful to make everybody happy around me, on and on and on and on and on.

And God was saying, that's not what I've called you to. I called you to exemplify my tender heart, to be a conduit to other people of compassion and care. Now, I'm not saying I do that well, to this day, I'm still learning. But this part of me that had been shoved down and told it shouldn't have a voice. Not intentionally, but because a child doesn't know how to process that information, I didn't know the questions to ask. I just thought, well, there's something wrong with me.

Then, as I matured and as I became a believer and as I started growing in my faith, I realized that I would be in conversations with people and there would be things that came out of my mouth, and I was like, whoa, where did that come from? You know? And they were always very direct. They were very pointed, and they went beneath the surface of what the person was saying. And I was very embarrassed by that. And I said, you know, and I would think, keep your mouth shut. What in the world is going on?

Well, then as I learned and I studied and I grew, I started saying, Lord, is this the Holy Spirit? And I had a mentor of mine who said, that's the gift of exhortation. And I said, I don't want it. And she said, well, you don't really get to pick.

God puts people around me that have a great sense of humor because I need it, you know, And I was so embarrassed by that. I said, Lord… Jill Briscoe wrote an article or it was in a book that she wrote years ago. And she said, help, I think I have a gift I'm not supposed to have.

And I kept saying, Lord, this can't be a gift. This cannot be a gift. Because when I say it, it's so direct and often I don't even know that I'm saying it until it has, you know, come out.

Now, I'm not going to blame the Holy Spirit for my stupidity, okay? But there have been times when something like that has come out and I've gone: I have no idea where that came from, but it was exactly what somebody needed to hear. And so I've had to ask the Lord, is this what you want? Because I also grew up believing that I had a big mouth, because I did. I had no, very few filters, and I would just blurt things out and say things and I have a big laugh.

And through this whole experience, up until about 2015, when the Lord said, it's time to tell your story, I had been playing small. I had been hiding. I had been holding everything back so that I could be the image of the good Christian woman. And yet there was within me this, but I need to speak up in these situations. I see this woman who's hurting. I see that she's not being heard. I see, this is not okay, what I see going on.

And then when our marriage hit the rocks and everything blew up in our lives, it was like God said, God pinned me to the floor. And he said, now, it's time to deal. And you and I are going to hash this out. And I say that my husband getting caught looking at the dark places of the Internet was the grace in my life for me to become free.

Merritt Onsa:

Wow.

Kirsten Samuel:

That's God's grace.

Merritt Onsa:

Yeah.

Kirsten Samuel:

I don't know if I answered your question.

Merritt Onsa:

Well, so I'll tell you what I heard…

I love that story, because what it tells me is—I think a lot of us struggle with this—there's something about us that we feel it is not the norm. It doesn't fit into the pattern of what we think we're supposed to be or do. And God revealed to you that he didn't make a mistake when he made you a certain way, when he helped you see and connect with other people's emotions and gave you, you know, you called it a big mouth to speak into other people's lives. Yeah. It's a lie that we have to be just like everybody else in order to be accepted or loved or fit in in our church or our family or whatever.

So what you answered was how God enlightened you to who he made you, kind of interwoven with this dream, so…

Kirsten Samuel:

Yeah, he said, you know, the last 17 plus years now, I have been on this journey to discover what it means to live for Jesus and no one else.

Merritt Onsa:

Huge.

Kirsten Samuel:

Yeah, it's huge. And it's a huge journey. And it is. You know, it is this. You know, the verses that have stood out for me is, I have called you by name. You are mine, from Isaiah 43. You know, reading Psalm 139 and sitting in that and realizing that God didn't make a mistake with me. Are there things that need to be refined? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm not walking in my righteousness. I don't have any right... mine is… Jeremiah tells us, mine is filthy rags. Mine is like dung heap.

Merritt Onsa:

Same. Yep.

Kirsten Samuel:

But we are clothed in Jesus, and what a secure place to be. And God says in Zechariah 3, that. Or in Zephaniah 3, he adores us. He delights in us. Well, if God could delight in me, then this wasn't wrong. I didn't know how to temper it. I didn't have filters. I didn't have Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wrapping me in and doing that. But I wasn't created wrong.

And so understanding that. And this was the other thing that my dad taught me that I didn't get until I was in my 50s. I'm still working on it. But it was the only opinion that matters is Jesus's. And he told me, if you're doing what God's told you to do, then you're doing the right thing. So he said, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. Now that'll preach, you know, and that's what he's saying. God says, I've created you for a specific purpose.

I love Ephesians 2:10, where he says—you know, it's translated workmanship, but it's… we are his poem. This creative, beautiful work of art. We are his poem. And if we could get that. And I'm speaking to me because I'm like, come on, girl.

A poem takes time. A poem is intentional. It's not like he, you know, even though he probably did snap his fingers, but, you know, He was intentional. You are created with the gifts and talents and abilities that he wants you to have. Not for your sake, but because we need you.

Merritt Onsa:

Yes.

Kirsten Samuel:

And that's the beauty of the body, you know, so when I started to figure this out, when I started to go, oh, okay. Becoming more like Jesus means throwing myself back into his arms and letting him wrap me in his righteousness and resting in the fact that I'm not going to do it perfectly. He didn't call me to do it perfectly. He called me to follow him and to do what he told me to do, whether anybody else likes it or not.

Merritt Onsa:

Yeah. And he's going to use it in ways that you might see and then some you might never see.

Kirsten Samuel:

I might never see. And that's not the point. Right? The point isn't for me to see. The point is for me to obey and follow

Merritt Onsa:

Trust and believe.

Kirsten Samuel:

Yep.

Merritt Onsa:

Yep. Okay. Well, we're going to get into some more tactical sides of what your dream is, how it's playing out in the world. Some of the things that you did at the beginning to start off, to help those of our listeners who are in that place of, like, trying to figure theirs out.

All of that is going to be in next week's episode, part two of my conversation with Kirsten Samuel.

But before we close out this one, Kirsten, I feel like you have said this in many ways, in answer to this question I'm about to ask you, but I want you to just pause again for a minute and think about who you were before this dream and how God has transformed you through it, and then just pour out some glory on him.

Kirsten Samuel:

Okay. Before this dream, I thought I was a woman who had her act together, who was a good Christian, who knew the right answers according to the Bible. Because I'd been to Bible college. I, you know, I'd studied the Bible for years. I was well educated, had a lot of knowledge. I grew up in a Christian home. I had Christian heritage. I married a man who grew up in a Christian home.

We were raising our kids according to Christian principles. I was working for Christian organizations. My husband was working for Christian organizations. Go on, ad nauseam. And I thought I had all the answers.

And then God allowed in his grace for my world to fall apart. Because he loved me enough to say that none of that matters. Because he wanted my heart. He wanted me to fall in love with Jesus.

And the transformation has been to understand where Paul and I count everything loss, except for knowing Jesus Christ. That if nothing else ever happens in my life, I have Jesus and that's enough. He is my everything.

And God said, if you will just come to me and let me do in you the work I want to do, you will have that abundant life that Jesus talks about. Because Jesus said, I want to give you life and life more abundant. Not just abundant, but more abundant than you can even ask or think. Now I have a vivid imagination, and that's from God too, and I can't even imagine.

And when our pastor several years ago said that we swim in oceans of grace, that we can never get to the bottom of it, we can't get to the edge of it, that that is what God has given us in Jesus for his pleasure, for his honor and for his glory. That if we will just submit.

And I picture myself now as a little girl— and you have girls—I picture myself as a little girl who climbs up on her daddy's lap. And he's big and he's strong, and he's always going to be big and strong. And Daddy can take care of everything. And I put my head on his chest and I hear his heart and I feel his arms around me. And God says, I've got you and I delight in you. There is freedom and it's only there. I don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. I don't even know what tonight's gonna bring. But I know Jesus, and he's enough.

Merritt Onsa:

My friends, tune in every week. Like I said, this is going to be a weekly show this year. Invite your friends. Share this episode and mostly trust God’s guidance for the dream that he has given you.

Finally, Daughter of the King, you were made for a beautiful purpose. Your identity and security rest in him, as does your dream, because the Lord is good and his ways are always good. No weapon formed against you will prosper because you belong to Him.

Until next week, stay faithful, keep dreaming. And remember, trusting God with your next step doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be scary. It means taking the step anyway. That’s what faith is.

You are welcome here among women braving those scary steps in faith, knowing our dreams matter because they are His.

Until next time, I’m Merritt Onsa, your dream coach and sister in Christ walking by faith with you in the dream.

Have a great week.