Jon Lyons – Finding Hope Through the Hard Places

Life doesn’t always unfold the way we expect. There are moments of deep joy—but also seasons of loss, confusion, and heartbreak that can shake everything we thought was secure. In this powerful conversation, John Martin sits down with John Lyons to talk about what it really looks like to walk with God through life’s hardest moments.

John shares his personal journey through devastating loss—the kind that takes your breath away and leaves you searching for answers. Instead of running from God, he and his wife chose to lean in. In the middle of grief, they discovered something deeper: when everything else is shaken, God remains. Their story is a reminder that even in pain, God is present—and He is working in ways we may not fully understand yet.

We talk about what it means to face fear, anxiety, and uncertainty with faith. Not perfectly, but consistently—bringing every burden, every worry, and every question back to Jesus. John opens up about how community played a vital role in their healing, and why we’re not meant to carry life’s weight alone. Real connection, vulnerability, and shared faith can make all the difference.

Beyond the struggle, this conversation points to purpose. You’re not here by accident. God has uniquely designed you with gifts, passions, and a calling that centers on loving others. When you begin to live that out, something changes—joy increases, clarity grows, and life begins to feel meaningful again.

We also get practical. Stay grounded by getting into God’s Word daily. Build your life around a Christ-centered church. Find a small group where you can be known, supported, and challenged. And don’t underestimate the power of simply being present with people—because often, that’s where God moves the most.

If you’re walking through a difficult season, feeling lost, or wondering what your purpose is, this episode is for you. God hasn’t left you. He’s with you—and He may be using this very moment to draw you closer and shape something stronger in you.Listen now, share this with someone who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help others find hope.

What’s one area in your life where God might be inviting you to trust Him more today?

For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com

For more information contact us at
rtrdestiny@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome And John Lyons’ Story

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Well hello friends. I'm John Martin. We're back here on Road to Redemption. I'm with my friend John Lyons. John, how are you, friend? Dude, I'm I'm blessed. Thank you for having me. Good. Thank you for coming. I'm excited. I'm excited too. I know we talked maybe a year or two ago. I can't even remember now. And it was a it was great to have you on.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

A handful of years, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Yeah. But but I was you're on my mind, and I was like, man, I want to get you back because you just you you're you're such a bright light. You just exude the love of Jesus. Um man, would people see you? I mean, you're I always think of you, I'm like, this is this is what Jesus would do. You know, he wants us to do what you're doing. So I just in all aspects of your life, you're, you know, um husband, I know, uh a father. Hey, uh, you know, you're a broker, real estate broker, uh, you're a pastor. Really, I what I call a marketplace pastor with give 30A. Yeah. Uh, so so I don't want to talk too much. I want you to talk a little bit about, give us a little brief background on you and your story.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah, gosh, back to the stories. Yeah, so thank you. Um, yeah, so I I am a father, I have an eight-month-old son, his name is Hanson, and he is like such a light in our lives right now and such a joy. And man, that comes on the backside of um a handful of years that were really difficult for us of walking through loss. He's our uh our fourth child, the only ones that we get to hold in our arms and our hands, where Jesus is holding our other children right now. And man, that that gives us a unique, uh, a unique place to speak into other people's lives. And it's a unique stewardship. I think we all have a story that the Lord gives us to steward. He places in our hands. So we want to be a good steward of that and realizing, like, man, it's it's um it's difficult. Life, Jesus told us that life was gonna be difficult, but at the same time, take heart for I've overcome the world and overcome all those things so we can walk with him and have a certain joy that the world might be confused about. So, yeah, that's a bit a bit of our story. Yeah, so we started traveling to uh Nicaragua and some other countries about uh eight years ago, nine years ago now, which has been a fun part of our story, lots of adventure, and along those journeys uh layered in, I got married, started a real estate company, started a nonprofit, and just really funnel everything to uh man, how can we make the biggest kingdom impact we possibly can through being the hands of Pete of Jesus? And that's really what it's what we're trying, I'm trying to do with my life, and encourage as many other people to do the same.

Walking Through Child Loss

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Right. Well, I I know you've been through a lot, you know, like you said, you lost those babies. Um, and I think a lot of people would look at what you, you know, and Fantasia, your wife have been through and be like, How did you get through that? You know, because people are going through stuff out there. Talk a little bit about how did y'all get through that those losses.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Yeah, yeah, if I can share some some some depth and detail. So we had uh my wife was was pregnant and we carried a pregnancy all the way to our um the day it's time to have our baby. And uh on during that process, uh our essentially lost oxygen and our son went to be with Jesus. And man, in those moments where you go from absolute elation to just like the the pits of like as you can only imagine, it just takes like the the wind out of you, feels like the rug is pulled out from under you. Man, we we had we you have two options in those moments in life, and one is is is okay, but the other is a have to be. One you're like, God, what is happening? And you you kind of turn to him and get there's anger there because you're confused. And I think when we're confused, sometimes it comes out as anger, and and that happened to me, and I was angry for a moment, but then I also was able to turn around and say, But God, where would I go? To who can I turn? And man, we'd really just kind of broke us down to our knees, to where me and my wife's response was like, God, we're so confused, we're so hurt, but we also know you're the only one we can turn to right now. You're the only one that's ever present with us. So we turned to the Lord, it changed our relationship with the Lord. Our relationship with the Lord was like finding a new foundation because we understood our relationship with God a little bit differently. But man, it went so much deeper. My wife and I drew near to one another uh in the times of greatest need, and man, we just clung to the only things that wasn't shaking. There's a there's a scripture in in uh near the end of Hebrews, I think it's Hebrews 13, that talks about man, the shaking of things so that what may not be shaken remains. And during those times of life where, and I know that you've walked through things too, uh, and in people watching this as as well and hearing this as well, is man, those things, when those moments happen, man, like pay attention to what can't be shaken, because man, that's where Jesus is gonna be. And that's what we did, man. We just held on to him and then grew together. We questioned everything together, and man, we spent time and even in the hospital moments later, uh, man, we just had worship music playing. Uh, because what we knew both is that, like, man, we're heartbroken. And at the same time, like, dude, our son's with Jesus, he's in the safest place he could ever be. And although we're separated physically right now, we're really only separated by time, it's only a matter of time before we're holding our son in our hands again. And as difficult as that can be, uh, it's what we kind of kept in mind. And honestly, like it drew it drew me and my wife all the more closer to Jesus, where I'm like, dude, now I have like a golden thread connected to heaven where I'm like, come, Lord Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah.

Facing Fear With Shared Faith

SPEAKER_01 6:17

So during those things and those moments, and we've had that was 2021, it's 2026 now, and we have an eight-month-old. So we had a number of years, uh, which also included another miscarriage throughout that time. So, man, we were stewarding heartbreak and stewarding, trying to steward faithfulness as much as we can. Not perfect, um, but man, just just kind of keeping the hope alive, keeping the dream alive. A few people had spoken into our lives that, like, hey, like, God will surely give you children. So we just kept kept that dream alive and also open-handed. Uh, and then through that, man, like whenever we found out Pandasia was pregnant with Hansen, um, he just gave us a certain piece where like, Lord, you're the author and giver of life. So we're gonna we're gonna just walk with you through this and try to trust you. And and when the fears come, just hand them back to you. When the enemy comes to tempt, hand them back to you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Well, that's what I was gonna ask about is the fear because a lot of people are going through stuff, you know, well, like this. And and what happens is that fear, the enemy comes with fear, and I and I'm sure that with y'all came of all these scenarios. And how did y'all manage the fear?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, together. We tried to do it together. I think as a as a husband and a wife, he tells us you're two or one flesh, and there's moments that uh, to be quite honest, that I would be crying uh and just like missing my son, or like crying through, you know, grieving through the situation. And I would hear my wife walking up the steps, and I would try to clean myself up and be like, ah, I don't want to make her sad. But I found that while I could do that, it was actually much more beautiful and much more tying together when me and Fantasia can't weep together. The word tells us to uh, you know, grieve with those who grieve, weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice. And there's a certain intimacy that will drive you deeper when you can say, Hey, like I see what you're feeling. You know, I don't have to be in that same moment, man. I can understand and be with somebody from my arm around them and uh just be with them through that moment. So we did that, and when we needed to, we would encourage each other to say, Hey, remember, remember to turn to the Lord, remember just to lay this at his feet. And it wasn't perfect, and man, I'm a human being, and we're both human beings, and there's the the ups and downs of life, but we learned to, hey, if I'm fearing to bring it to the Lord, if I'm worrying, bring it to him, because the degree that I'm worrying is to the degree that I need to give it to Jesus. The degree that I'm fearing is the degree that maybe I'm trying to hold on to those burdens a little bit. Jesus said, Hey, come to me, everyone who is weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So whenever we'd find that we would have those those burdens and those things, which we would have, um, which really close to trauma, it's it's it was all the time. And then it spread out a little bit over time, where I'm like, hey, maybe not every day, and then maybe not every week. And then uh man, but we would learn to just like hear the cadence of life changed a little bit, where I learned to just walk with him, to be with him. And again, not perfect, but that's why it's so great to have like brothers around you and like your wife around you, and other people that can say, hey, like, let's go grab coffee, let's go sit. And I think that's why it's so important to be involved and be the church and have your brothers and sisters around you, and people that can say, Hey, like, you say you're okay, but like, man, I I feel like I just want to spend some time with you. And praise God, like the Lord sent us people around us, uh, even more than we realized, um, to help point us in that direction and help carry the burden with us because we we're not meant to, we weren't saved uh to be individuals, we're saved into a family, and we carry each other's burdens, and that's what we needed, and uh yeah, we tried to steward the best we could.

A Business Built On Generosity

SPEAKER_00 10:11

And you're you're blessed. Uh you did you you have a baby, a healthy baby, right? A son, right? Yes, uh. So and and you've got a a beautiful wife, Fantasia, yeah. Photographer. Yeah, and I see her photography, yeah. Very talented. Um gears a little, John, because also you're you're in you're in real estate and you work with some great guys and gals that live 38. And and and something you told me many years ago, I was so impressed when when I was getting to know you that you were like, you know, our mission of our real estate brokerage is we we want to serve Jesus, we want to be bold about our faith and actually, you know, give back a percentage of our profits to the kingdom. And yeah, so I I think it'd be good to share a little bit about how y'all have been managing that business. Yeah, and I know y'all have been successful, and just encourage people out there that you know are in business and taking entrepreneurial moves.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah, yeah. So as a believer, we wanted to make sure that we were fully aligned with uh, you know, the calling that little the Lord has given us in our hands. So uh I almost disappeared into a third world country as a missionary and decided, like, hey, just as God had told Moses, uh, hey, what's in your hand? We just you didn't have anything but a staff, and essentially told them that's enough because I'm with you. Um yeah, the Lord kind of directed me on the path of opening Live 30A, and the goal is to make them want to help other people live, more and move and live here, obviously, but man, ultimately live for what matters most, live and be a blessing to their family and be able to bless other people so that they could live. We want to be able to help people build legacy and to live on an adventure of life, enjoying it with their family, but also to be able to be wonderfully generous with what the Lord is giving them to be a blessing to others because it is more blessed to give than receive, and we found that. And then when you taste and see the Lord is good, it becomes such a blessing. So that's essentially what we did. We started a real estate company, we give back 25% of the profits to be able to bless people here locally and internationally. We love doing it. We're behind the scenes where never no one ever knows, because I think there's something uh that's beautiful about that. Uh, but we we do things locally, we try to bless um local organizations that are helping, especially if they're helping children. And then in Nicaragua mostly, uh the same trying to bless people that do that, which spun off a nonprofit called Give30A, because we realize a lot of people that love there's a lot of generous people here, and a lot of people are saying, Hey, I'm not buying or selling real estate, but I love what's happening. You guys are building a children's home or getting clean water to a community or helping a school, and so we created a nonprofit, uh, mostly because uh my um my CPA said one people can't just be sending you money, and then you can't be sending that money into a third world country and it just disappears. It's like you're gonna get in trouble. So that happened. So we started Give38. It's a funnel to be able to bless as many people as possible. And what I like to kind of say is that we're uh we try to operate like a Robin Hood type situation where we try to figure out uh organizations that are doing amazing things. What are the dreams that they're hoping that they can bring to life one day? I try to pull that out of them and then turn around to all my friends back at you know back in this community and guys like John Martin, who's been a part of things as well, and figure out how we can bring those dreams to life. Um you know, instead of 10 years, how about two weeks?

Purpose, Community, And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Oh, I love it. I love it. Well, John, you know that uh this show really we're about giving people hope. Um yeah, yeah, we want to reach the loss and just encourage people with hope. And I just didn't know, is there anything that God's put on your heart to share with with with our listeners out there that you know are kind of this this tough world? Anything that you want to share today with Yeah, thank you for asking.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yes, your life is more important than you can possibly imagine, and then you're not here on accident, you're not here to to live a life just to exist or to you know to finish a task, but you're uniquely wired. Your personality, the things that lights up your heart, the way that you love spending your time is wonderfully unique, and it's so important that you find out why the Lord put you here on this earth, and it's gonna revolve around loving people and using your your gifts in a unique way to love people. So I just want to encourage you if you feel like you're going throughout life and you're like, man, what am I doing? I feel like maybe I'm just going through the emotions, is start doing a deep dive like what lights my heart on fire, and like what what am I when I talk about it, it gets me excited and start pressing into those things. And I promise you, it's always gonna center around loving other people. And whenever you love other people well, man, life just comes alive, and there's a passion about life that uh increases joy. So I'd say press into that. You're not you're not just here to to do tasks, you're here to be a blessing to this world and shine brightly. And that's my encouragement is to shine bright.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

That's so cool. Well, and as we always say on Road to Redemption, we we have three key pillars with this show, John. And the first is to get into the word of God, the holy Bible. And we really recommend you get get a hardbound Bible and just put your phone away and read his word every morning. Get up in the morning, just at least 20 minutes, read God's word, uh, spend time with him, uh, pray, he will speak to you. He he will your life will be transformed, and then get into a Christ-centered church, a Bible-believing church. You're you're never gonna find the right one, but just start going. Go to church and and just make it every Sunday, and and then get into a small group. You know, the church, churches are big, and everybody in church says they're great. You know, great, great, great. No, it's not great. Everybody's got problems. We need, you know, so we need to get into a group of men or women or couples or whatever, you know, season of life, and get into a small group, and and and and God's really gonna bless you through that small group where you can be accountable and vulnerable to people. So we we promise, you know, God will start moving in your life if you do these three things. So, John, it's been great. Anything else before we go? Um, it's been so awesome.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Yeah, just to encourage that. There's a couple different words that I that I've put into it or thought about is that man, we're all needing to be uh to heard, uh, to be loved and to be known. And whenever you can find that, that's the only place you can really do that is in community uh without the believers just as John was saying. Um man, find your band of brothers, find your your your you know group of sisters and open up and share and be the person that that shows up and kind of leads the way. And if you lead with a little bit of courage, if you lead with a little bit of love and being maybe the first person to be open, beautiful things happen when you do that, because that's when you can't be fully uh known unless you're vulnerable. And uh yeah, so press in, press in, you know, you experience the love of Christ, you're gonna give other people love. And we receive that love, we give love on a big level. And that's been the story of my life. As I learned to receive the love of Christ, it just started blowing out of me and realized like if God's a giver, I can be a giver. If God's a lover, I can be a lover.

Final Encouragement And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Wow. And I I just got one more thing before we go is we've got live 30A, give 30A, and bless 30A. Let's bless 30 A. Come on. So Amen. Hey there, well, it's been great, Johnny. Thanks, buddy, for coming on and joining it. All right.