Faith and Healing: Leah Chrest's Journey Through Grief and Joy

Some of the most profound life transformations happen after moments of loss, doubt, and spiritual awakening. Leah Chrest's jaw-dropping near-death experiences and unwavering faith reveal the truth about God's love that could change how you see your entire life. If you've ever questioned whether life after death is real—or if you're searching for deeper purpose—this episode will challenge your beliefs and ignite your hope.

Leah, a Christian author and former skeptic, shares how a life-changing near-death experience turned her doubt into absolute certainty. She took a leap of faith after discovering scientific proof of an afterlife in Jeffrey Long’s "God in the Afterlife," and it unlocked a flood of love and joy she never knew possible. When her husband passed away unexpectedly, her deep spiritual connection and mystical encounters helped her find peace amid grief. Now, she teaches others how to harness these divine experiences to live with purpose, confidence, and unshakable trust in God's plan.

You'll discover:  
- The powerful role near-death experiences can play in solidifying faith  
- The mystical signs and revelations that reinforce life beyond this world  
- How to recognize and embrace spiritual encounters safely and meaningfully  
- Practical tools like prayer, meditation, and reframing trauma to deepen your relationship with God  
- Why understanding your divine worth transforms pain into growth and purpose

This episode pushes you to reflect on the unseen realities that shape our lives and how embracing divine love can heal wounds, guide decisions, and reveal your true purpose. Leah’s story is an invitation to trust more fully, surrender fear, and experience the peace only faith can offer.

If you're seeking hope beyond life's hardships—if you’re ready to believe in something greater—then you won’t want to miss this conversation. Perfect for believers, skeptics, and anyone curious about the divine mysteries that surround us. Get ready to see your life through a lens of divine love and unstoppable faith.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Hello, thank you again for joining me on another episode of the Today we have what's um he uh today we have um Leah Crest. She is a lifelong Christian author who began a life began with a life-grounding Bascal rigger by but was deeply influenced by her grandfather's uncapable faith. His advice to give it time proved pathetic. Her spiritual journey was transformed through the Holy Spirit's guidance and stunky's research into her near death experiences, culminating in her first book at the edge of the roaring with his deeply impacted readers and solidified her own faith. Tragedy struck the day after her deport's release when her husband of 13 years passed away. In the midst of grief, she drew closer to God, finding unexpected peace and joy. This led to her second book, It's Okay to Be Okay, chronicling grief and a path to healing and new life. She's now remarried and she is a devoted mother and stepmother, a lay preacher, and a teacher of Christian meditation. Granny has included mystical experiences, but she emphasizes intimacy with Christ and totally surrendered the whole the Holy Spirit as the heart of true faith. Dear, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Wow, that was an amazing intro. Well done, sir. I really feel like you captured who I am and what I'm about so well. Thank you for that.

Grandfather’s Grief And Joy As Witness

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yes. So tell us a little bit about your background, you know. I from what I read and what I understand is you used to have the mindset of, you know, if there's a God, there's a God, if there's not, then so be it type of attitude. But your grandfather seemed to be the stronghold of in his faith, and he's the one that, you know, ministered to you and spoke spoke to you. How did you when and how did you finally decide to, you know, get stronger in your faith and get rid of that attitude of, you know, if there's a God so be it type of attitude.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

You know, I think, Dorsey, it was seeing how joyful my grandfather was. You know, he went through um the loss of his wife. They were in their early 80s when she passed away. And um the way he handled that, I expected him to just crumble with um when she passed because of how close they were and how strong of a marriage they had. And um, when the opposite happened, that he just took it in stride, still had the same joy. I mean, there were moments when I saw him cry and just feel fully his grief. And then there were so many moments where he would just laugh. I have she passed right before I got married the first time. And my grandfather um was a big part of the wedding. He gave the prayer over the dinner and um a couple other pieces of the of the wedding portion. And so there were some pictures of me and him together. We even danced together at the wedding. And there's two pictures you could put side by side, and I wish I had them to show you because it just shows you who he was, that very authentic faith. There was one of him looking to my into my eyes right after the ceremony where we were talking about my grandmother, and just the tears were pouring down and just sobbing, you know, wishing she could be there in that moment. And then an hour or two later, we're dancing together on the dance floor at the reception, and his head is fully tilted back, you know, great laugh, just says absolute joy. And watching him blossom in that time and just lean into his trust in God. I was thinking, you know, there's something real about this. He has a faith that isn't just a wishful thinking type thing, or because I should, because my parents always did, or it's just what we do in our culture. You know, he grew up in a very Christian culture, as you know, things have changed, I know, recently, but no, it was more than that. You know, he really believed. And I just I wanted that. I thought if this is real, I want that for me too. And that encouraged me to pray for that, to really say, God, if you're there, show me. I want to have that.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Um how and what you know, what would the path like to you getting to that point of the deeper faith?

Near-Death Research Ignites Faith

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah. Um, so God takes care of it, right? It's not us, God does the work. So I was flipping through my husband's New York Times journal. Like it was like a um the magazine. And I usually don't read any of that, but I happened to that day, and there was the book review page, which I also never read, but that day I did. And it was um a review of Jeffrey Long's God in the Afterlife. And I read the review and I thought, wow, this book seems really interesting. And I just went and bought it. Again, something I don't do. I bought this book, I devoured it in the day, and what I found in there was as close as I think I can get personally to scientific proof that God exists. Seeing time after time the truth of people who have crossed over, um, have left their souls, have left their bodies, and what they experience and that unconditional love. It's just, just utterly just just rocked me to the point of I had to know more. And I just went on, I guess I read 500 near-death experiences. I was so hungry for it. And after I read those, I really felt like I understood the Bible better. I felt like I understood how much God loved me. And it helped me to invest in my faith in a real true way. And then following that, when my grandfather passed away, the morning he passed, I had a spiritually transformative experience where I prayed to him. I said, Pop, I know you're good. I'm good, but help me help our family. And I honestly didn't expect anything in return beyond the usual things you receive in prayer. Maybe an extra bit of encouragement, maybe a nudge here or there. Um, but I felt like I almost rose off the bed and my heart opened. I felt this flood of love and joy that just I can't put into words. It was just so phenomenal. And I thought, well, I can never doubt again from after that experience. I can never doubt again. Um, and just a lot of practices. I've I have I'm a meditator, and so just feeling that love of God through meditation, a lot of little things as well. But you know, that's the basic of what happened to transform me from if it's real, great, if not, um, to all in, absolutely all in.

A Transformative Spiritual Experience

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Right. I think something similar to when my mom um passed away in 2002. I was, you know, at Bible college and I had one of the professors who also lost his mom when he was younger as well. So I got to go and talk to him and just ask him, hey, you know, can you give me any advice, any encouragement, you know, what how did, you know, what were your experience like when your mom passed away? And he said, you know, listen, you know, we can't pray to those who have passed on, but we can pray to God. And what he told me was, he said, play the God, you know, during this time, and it's like, hey, you know, you know, if you feel like you're grieving, you know, we all do when somebody passes on, but hey, you know, when you're grieving and when you're thinking about your mom, you know, say, hey, God, you know, if you see mom today, you know, tell her I said hi, you know, tell her I'm missing her, tell her I wish she was still here. It helped me to feel peace and feel comfort knowing that he was in a better, you know, a better place.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yeah, yeah, it's definitely, yeah, I always teach, because I've had a lot of transformative um mystical experiences, I always teach that we don't to stay within the Bible guidelines and our own personal safety, spiritual safety, that we don't reach out for others to come to us. But like that, we can put pray through Jesus and we can definitely share. You know, I don't ask for anyone to come to me, but I I do believe in the um communion of saints that like to pray to my grandfather for guidance, maybe something like that, or to your mother, like, hey, I know you're there. So, you know, I'm thinking about you. You know, and I think I think those things, it's staying connected and and pray. I love what you said of praying to Jesus and just sharing your whole heart. That's in the Psalms, right? When David, he shares everything he feels. And some of those Psalms that you read, uh, we read one in church uh responsibly, and it was like, May my enemies, you know, fall on their own swords. Whoa! But David was having a moment and he was just saying what was on his heart, which is he was done with it. And I love that just that we can go to God and we are so unconditionally loved that we can say whatever is on our hearts and minds, and God takes that and transforms it and uses everything we feel for good. And that is just such a powerful way to pray.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

How does the knowledge um from your perspective, the knowledge of what comes after this life, form how we should live um, how we should live our life here and now?

SPEAKER_01 10:13

That's a great question. First of all, is just knowing how much we're loved. I think that is the most important thing. So often we get caught up in a feeling of I'm not enough or I can't do it right. And yeah, we're not gonna get it right. And we're not enough in a lot of ways because we're in these human bodies and we make mistakes every single day. But there's this uh a couple of NDEs that really just struck me where Jesus or the guide or the angel showed the person like this child, and and the person, the soul felt this amazing love for this child. And the guide said, Hey, that child, that's you. The way you feel about that child is how God feels about you, and just help them to see and feel just how much they were adored by the creator. And I think living in light of that just really, really transforms things. Another piece is the patterns of our lives, that what to look for. Because I think we see sometimes this random bunch of events that happens, these painful things, the way that God seems to have it out to get us sometimes, you know, or whatever. In the near death experiences, you see a trend of or a pattern of if if something's repeating in your life, if you're seeing the same thing come up again and again and again, it's because there's a lesson there. And it's gonna keep coming back until you learn it. So if you keep having the same thing come up again and again, instead of saying, Why is this happening to me in that kind of tone, say, All right, God, I'm here for it. Show me what you want me to learn here. Help me to grow. And once you truly get that lesson, that thing goes away. It doesn't come back anymore. Because the whole point is not to torture you, it's to grow your heart closer to him. It's to help you break through something to give you peace and joy. And, you know, for me, my thing, and I could saw it after reading these NDEs, and it's like, oh my gosh, this has been me the last 20 years. I've been taking my self-identity and putting it in a man and saying, I need a man to approve of me for me to approve of myself. And it kept coming back again and again where one man after another would like give me what I wanted, but then it would go away. And I'd feel this loss, this emptiness again. And I'm like, God, why does this keep happening? And when I finally realized, oh, you're trying to show me something, how can I find my confidence in you instead? And when I finally learned it, it went away. The problem was gone. And I had this peace and this joy that I had been looking for all my life. And God was trying to lead me there. And if I hadn't just fought against it so hard for so long, I could have had that so much earlier. So look at those lessons and just be willing to learn from them.

How Afterlife Insights Shape Life Now

SPEAKER_00 13:00

You know, we see we he we hear about near-death experiences. You know, you wrote you read that book um where they talked about the near-death experiences, and we did movies out, you know, about people who have gone into heaven and came back, they came back to life type of situation. But I'm sure there are some, even Christians out here out there who are skeptic about what people see, you know, what people experience in those near-death experiences. How should we, you know, how should we look at that and how should we deal with those who ha who are telling those stories? Should we, in other words, should we take it with a green scroll or should we be open, more open to what they're telling us?

Skepticism, Evidence, And Discernment

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Yeah, I think there's definitely reason to be skeptical because not all experiences are real. There is an unfortunate reality that there are some people who think if I make up something or glorify this thing, that it's gonna make me famous. I have a friend of mine who had a legit near-death experience, and she said she can sniff it out in a second because she knows a legit from the fake and she can just feel it. Um and so, you know, knowing a few people, I've never had one, but knowing people who have, there's just some core truths that seem to be there. As far as the skeptics, if you are choosing to be skeptical, you're just going to be skeptical. We can't really change that. But there are some rational, logical things we can look at. For instance, there are many instances of people knowing out of their body things that they couldn't have known in their body, you know, situations of what was happening during their surgery, for instance, in another state or in another part of the hospital that they couldn't know in the body. So things like that. You can look at those sorts of studies. Um those things you can look into if you're interested in that. But why should we take it seriously? Honestly, like again, this shows that personal relationship with a true creator, something that is so important. And I would just ask, why not? Just for the same reason that I question. I say, well, there's a God, great. If not, well, I want to believe in this because there is nothing that gives life more meaning than knowing how deeply you're loved and that your life has purpose, that your life has value, and that you are guided and cared for along the way. And I'm willing to make that leap of faith and be wrong. Um, although I gotta say, like my grandfather told me years ago, when you've seen what I've seen, how can you not believe? And I don't have to just base it on NDEs at this point. I can base it on my own life experiences. I've had so many things happen that I could not explain otherwise. I've had a few you can. I can say, well, maybe that was God, maybe that was just coincidence. But there's some that, um, for instance, I had a dream a couple years ago. Um, I that point I was not wanting to date. I wanted to stay as a single mom with my two boys and just wait out their childhood because I didn't want to introduce anybody else. Like dating with young children, well, not they weren't that young. I guess like eight and eleven at the time. But um, you know, I didn't want to bring another man into their life or multiple men coming through and me leaving the house. Like, I need to be a mom. That was my job at that point. And I was all in on that. I told the boys, until the youngest is in high school, I'm not touching dating, unless God tells me otherwise. And I had this dream where um I had like, Dorsey, have you ever seen Monty Python and the quest for the holy grail? I've heard of it. I never seen it though. Okay. Well, for any listeners or viewers who have seen that movie, there's at one point a cartoonish voice of God in the movie. It's this deep booming voice. And I kid you not, this came into the dream because of the dream. I was saying, I don't have time to date. I'm not doing it. When someone asked, Where's your boyfriend? And the voice of God came over and said, You will date. Here's when you will date, here's who you will date, and you're gonna have a daughter, and your daughter's middle name is going to be, and told me the middle name. Oh well. Well, guess what happened, Dorsey? I met the guy and we started dating, and then I kind of forgot about that last part with the middle name. I had it written down, right? But I I for kind of put that to the back of my mind. And we he asked me one day, he said, randomly, like, what's your kid's middle names? And I told him, I said, What's yours? And he told me his daughter's middle name, and it was that name. And I said, Okay, you know, it's just those things that happen, and and you know, he's and we're now married, and that's but I think God needed to give me that because I wouldn't have dated otherwise, and I certainly would not have dated him because there was no way I was doing the Brady Bunch. I was not coming to a blended family. So, and here we are, and it's a beautiful thing. I just I just can't believe how lucky I am and how blessed I am. So, you know, when those sort of things happen, that's just one example. How can I not believe?

SPEAKER_00 17:51

I had multiple many operations over my lifetime, and I don't ever, you know, and I know it's probably different for e you know, different people because I'm not I'm not discounting it, but I I don't ever remember having any type of, you know, experience outside of the body. But I do remember just recently, I think it might have been the movie, I think it was I was reading a book, and I think it might have been, you know, a quote from the um one of the movies like Miracle from Heaven or something, and the child had passed away, but then came, you know, came back to life. And the husband and the and the mother are sitting there on the couch, and the kid is, you know, talking to the parents about what, you know, what he saw. And he said, you know, mommy, just say you my sister said to say hello. He's like, what do you mean your sister said to say hello? He never met the sister. Right. The sister had already, you know, passed away. And he's like, well, her name, she's like, you never named her. No, when you hear something like that, you're like, okay, and this guy, this little boy, you know, he saw something and and experienced something.

Providence, Dreams, And Remarriage

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Right. And it's like you said, it doesn't happen to everyone. It's not every time you have an operation. It has to be, well, who knows? Like, maybe that's God's decision of someone who that he thinks needs it or is going to use it for something particular, you know, who know I can't answer why or how. But yeah, my kind of a story similar to that uh that my grandfather shared with me. My cousin's daughter. So my cousin was um, my cousin's and her and her family were in a really rough situation where there was some abuse. And the daughter, who was a toddler at the time, was in a really tough home because of of some dynamics that have since remedied and are very fun, are good now. But there was a time in her childhood that was really, really rough. And um, during that time, my grandfather had a picture of his wife, you know, as a like 20-year-old, 20, 25, something like that. A picture that he, when he was um went to went out for the Air Force, when he was overseas, he would have with him to remember, you know, his wife. The little girl came into my grandfather's house and points at the picture of her great-grandmother and says, Pop, who is that? And he says, Oh, that's your great-grandmother. Her name is, and she said, Oh, I know. I know who that is. That's Alta. And he said, She's like, Um, she died, she hit her head, and that's how she died. And my grandfather says, What? How did you know that? She said, Oh, she comes to me. She comes and talks to me at night. And of course, that kind of makes sense. Now, this is not a near-death experience, but it's a sense of that little girl needed something at that point in her life. She needed a little extra encouragement, a little extra love to get her through. And my grandmother apparently provided something like that. You know, when the girl was older, she didn't remember any of this because of course that was like before memories form, but it gave her what she needed to get through. And so that's something my grandfather also solidified his faith. What? There's no way you could enable that, you know. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Tell me about your books and what made you write your book.

Writing The First Book Amid Loss

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Okay, fantastic. So the first one at the edge of the Jordan, that was more for fun that I wrote that. It was fun and passion because I was just so excited about everything I was learning. My husband was a huge sports person. He would watch sports every night for two to three hours, and we would talk while you know he watched sports. And I found that if I was reading a book next to him, that if he wanted to talk to me, I would be in my book zone and I would just totally ignore him or tune him out. And I didn't feel good about that. But if I was writing, I could easily interrupt and go talk to him. And so I felt like I was more available. I didn't have to sit there and watch sports, but I was still with him and I could be engaged if he was, hey, look at this play, or hey, let's talk about work today, or the kids, or whatever. I was emotionally available and mentally available. And so I could write. And um, I my grandfather had passed away at that point. And so, and I just felt such a tie to him, as you can see in what I talk about, that I actually included him in the story. So, what I did was I wrote a narrative nonfiction, is the best way I can describe it. So I took those 500 experiences, I formed a fictional tale, right? Um, of what a NDE would be like. If you had the biggest, most amazing near death experience of all time, what would it be? And it included the common themes of the 500. So, what came up again and again and again. And then I had footnotes for every chapter where I did my sourcing and explained a little bit more about what I was what I was seeing. And I also gave Some counter. So if I saw one thing and I saw, well, some of them had this, but others had this. Maybe 300 had this, but 200 had this. I would give an example of each in the footnotes and talk to you and talk to people about like what was possible. But I'm not sure which one this is, or maybe it's both. And then that my grandfather was a huge part of that. I actually made his character legitimately him. Everybody else in the book is just fictional. And it was, it was a fun book to write. I wrote it by hand on notebooks, spiral notebooks, for over a couple years. And while my husband, you know, he um he was an alcoholic and his health declined towards the end. And I didn't know that he was as bad as he was. The day before he died, I think he knew he was gonna pass on. And he said to my two boys, he said, Come into here with me. We're gonna watch sports today. Mommy's gonna publish her book today. And he said, You're doing it, doing it today. And then because you can't imagine I mean, right, Dorsey, like you don't finish up and publish a book on near death experiences right after your husband passes away. It just doesn't and so I hit publish on that book. And then the next morning he passed away. So just like, you know, the the work and the grace of God. And then after he passed, I was told by a number of people, this is gonna be the worst year of your life. You're just gonna have to survive it. And I thought, no, that's not how God works. Like, yeah, it's gonna be tough. But God wants my best. I'm gonna grow through this and I'm gonna thrive through this. And I just surrendered the whole thing to God. I said, do what you want with this time. I'm a single woman. In some ways, it means I'm more available to serve you. Use me however you want. I'm here. And I absolutely had those moments where I cried it out and I had those really sad days. But I also had times where I was able to witness and be there for people, like some of my students, high school students that I work with, who were going through loss of their own. And I was able to just be there for them. And they knew they could come to me. Um, and I was a witness to my own peace and joy because people saw, oh my gosh, she still has this faith, just like I saw with my grandfather, right? That even when these things happen, you're still okay. Why? What is it that sustained you? And I was able to point people to faith through that. And so it was a really powerful year of ministry. And that led me throughout that year, as I saw what was happening and what God was doing. I wrote the book, It's Okay to Be Okay. That one I typed, I didn't write by hand. And even when I go back and read it now, it's a powerful experience because I feel like I didn't write that book. I felt like God wrote it through me. Because there's chapters I go back and read and say, Wow, I really should listen to this advice. Whoever wrote this really knows what they're talking about.

unknown 25:04

You know.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

And um, it just shows like I feel like the Holy Spirit wrote it through me because it's wisdom beyond even what I understand. So that's a those are my two that I've published.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Yeah. I've you know, like you said, you know, it it is hard, you know, it is difficult, you know. I can relate to that with my past and my mom that it hog, you know, the first year, you know, a few months, several month years of someone's passion that we were close to. But how it how do we also thrive and instead of just surviving and with while healing from loss?

Thriving Through Grief With God

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Yeah, it's it is it's a tough journey. There's a couple things. Um, I lay it out you obviously in the book. There's a few things I can give you uh now and for our listeners. And the first is don't bury your emotions. You know, that first day, I um the hardest moment of this journey was I was sandwiched between my two boys in the backseat of my parents' car. We were driving from our house to my parents' house for the night because I just said, like, it's not healthy for us to be in the house tonight. Like he just passed in the house. I need to be somewhere else. Just me and the kids. So they took us to their house. It's about a 45-minute drive. And um, my parents are just cracking jokes and talking to the boys, and that's just not where I am. That's not the headspace I'm in. And I'm sandwiched between the two kids, and I'm trying to look and be strong, trying to laugh, trying to be a part of it. And I just feel this knot inside of me. And that is the only time I ever shoved down my grief. And it was a terrible, terrible feeling. You know, from then on, anytime I felt sad, even if I was in front of my students, even if I was with my children, I would just let it go. I would just cry it out. I usually wasn't big sob, just a tear or two, but I just let it be. Because I think when we allow the emotions to pass through us, it's like water in a stream. If you dam the water up, it spirals back and forms like a knot, like a whirlpool. If you just let it flow through, it just goes through cleanly and it's almost freeing and it just lets it pass. So that's the first thing is to not bottle these things up. The second piece is to look for the joy because in every single day of that journey, there is something to be grateful for. Even if you're feeling that loss deeply and painfully, there's beauty. Whether it's the stars, the sunrise, the birds. And if you just focus your mind on right now, there's something beautiful here. And allow your heart to open to beauty, open to goodness. That first day, again, a good example is my cousin lives next door to my parents. We have like a family, originally a family farm that kind of subdivided. Um, and she and I are really close. And so our kids were playing together in the pool, and she was sitting next to me, kind of walking me through some things that that first day. And there was that moment where I got that little tap on the shoulder from the Holy Spirit. It's like, watch this, look at this, look at the kids playing, look at the relationship you have with your cousin. Isn't this beautiful? Isn't this something to be grateful for? And so, even in that moment, there was beauty. And my oldest son, he's 14 now, he'd be 15 in December. And he said, you know, mom, that was one of the worst and best days of my life simultaneously. You know, losing dad, but also seeing how the family like came together around us and seeing the love that was there. And I think when you're going through that grief journey, being able to look for the joy, look for the good. And final piece is cognitive behavioral therapy, which is kind of what the joy is. But anytime you have something like we're gonna have probably trauma around that death. Um, if you see something like for me, blood was something, um, breathing, and I'm a meditator. And my husband, it was a lung issue that that took him. And um, so there's a lot of breath stuff. And anytime I would even be focusing on my breath, I would have this trauma reaction. So I couldn't even meditate. And so I had to keep thinking, reframe it. So instead of thinking about his lack of being able to breathe, I would think breath of life or holy spirit in, holy spirit out. I'd have to change it until it worked. And I think the last thing, sorry, one more, living the why. You know, and this works in any situation in your life that you feel like, God, why are you doing this to me? Is I said that year, may my husband not have died in vain. And part of the reason I'm on this podcast, Dorsey, is as a result of that. I said, you know, there is something that happened as a result of this to me, to my family, and even the transformation he went through at the end of his life that I'm not gonna stay quiet about and I'm not gonna let it just be. I'm gonna spread that, spread the wisdom, spread the joy, spread the peace that came from this to others. And so living the why, giving back, serving in that time, whatever trial you're in. And Dorsey, I know you do that right here with this podcast, right? And that is it gives us so much joy when we can give others joy.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Yeah, absolutely. What are you up to now, and what are you looking forward to for your future?

Practical Tools For Healing

SPEAKER_01 30:00

So I just enjoy loving the person in front of me one day at a time. That's my ML. But uh, so right now I'm a high school teacher, I'm a lay preacher, I'm a mom of two stepkids and two of my own, a wife. But as far as ministry goes, I'm looking forward to continuing on this podcast or doing podcasting like this, um, being on being a guest on various podcasts, getting the message of surrender and peace and joy in God and the how much we're loved, get that out there. Um, and also like I'm in the process of making an audiobook for At the Edge of the Jordan because I've had so many people come to me and say, I don't read. Do you have an audio version of this? And I say no, because I don't have like a good podcast mic, and I kind of do now, and the recordings are turning out better, so I can do this. So this summer, I'm off for the summer as a teacher, so I'm I'm about like a third of the way through the audio book. And I'm writing a third book. I don't have a title for it yet, but it's one that I was given in another dream, prophetic dream, where it was like, you're gonna write this. And the this is a book about discerning the Holy Spirit's voice in your life and using the biblical narrative. And kind of I think so often we pay too much attention to the parts of the Bible that maybe we shouldn't be so focused on. Like, how does this gospel align with this one? It says this here and this here. And did God really say that? You know, we get so hung up on those things and we miss the important stuff. Like the way Abraham was transformed over the course of his life by his journey with God. If you read that story and you look at that, my goodness, that will change your life. If you say, like, what happened in the Bible really happens, and God does talk to you and me like that. How can I learn to listen? Those sorts of things. And so that's what the book is about is taking the Bible very literally in the ways that it's meant to be taken literally, which is how God interacts with his people.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

I always get my death, my guest, for a word of encouragement or a word of wisdom at the end of my um podcast. Yeah. You know, for my guests.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

Yeah, that's a wonderful way to end a podcast. I would say don't be afraid to ask God to show you what he has planned for you and how much he adores you. Because what we imagine for our lives is here, always. And God's is way up there. And how much we think God loves us is somewhere below where I can show you on the screen. And how much God actually loves you is so far above what I can show you on this screen. And if you honestly pray, God, show me, show me, I want to know your heart. I want to know your heart from me. I want to do your will. And when we do God's will, we have the greatest joy and peace in our lives. That is where it's found. And when you ask and lean into God in that way, like I can't tell you how much my life has changed to the point of, I would say 95 to 99% of the time, I am happy. Not just okay, but joyfully happy. Whereas, you know, eight, nine years ago, I'd say maybe 30 to 40% of the time I was actually happy. And I think a lot of people are walking through their lives with 50% or under, where they can say, I'm happy right now. And that's not God's will for you. So ask him for your highest and best and be willing to do what it takes to get there.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Amen. Well, thank you, Leah, for coming on the show. We greatly appreciate having you.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Well, it's been an honor. Thank you so much for having me, Dorsey.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Well, guys and girls, thank you so much for coming on and for listening. He's going check out Leah's books, and I'll have the uh links available in the show notes. He's going check out the previous episodes of the Dorsey Russ show and please like and share and review. And until next time, God bless. Bye bye.