Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
What You See is What You Get
What You See Is What You Get: The Power of Spiritual Vision
“What you see is what you get” isn’t just for computers or graphic design; it’s a profound spiritual truth that can shape the entire trajectory of your life. When all you see are your problems—your pain, the bills piling up, broken relationships, or dreams that feel out of reach—you get more of the same. But God offers us a different lens.
In this episode, you’ll discover how the giants you face don’t have the last word. David looked past Goliath’s size to see God’s faithfulness. Joshua and Caleb saw a land of promise while everyone else saw nothing but trouble. Daniel found peace in a den of lions by fixing his eyes on a God bigger than any threat. The difference? Where they chose to focus their spiritual vision.
We’ll discuss openly the everyday struggles: the temptation to spiral into negativity, the harsh reality of heartbreak, and how easily we can become entrenched in the shadows of fear or regret. I’m not here to minimize your pain—you’re not alone, and you’re not unseen. But there is hope. Even when your circumstances don’t change, your perspective can. David wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd,” running from betrayal, not sitting at a banquet table. His world hadn’t changed, but his vision had, and that changed everything.
It’s not about denying reality; it’s about seeing the deeper truth of a God who walks with you through every valley. What you focus on grows—so will you keep your eyes on the size of your challenges, or the size of your Shepherd?
If you’re weary and discouraged, this episode is for you. Let’s walk together and learn to see the goodness and mercy that’s pursuing you, even when you feel stuck in the pit. There’s a better day ahead.
Share this message with someone who needs encouragement. Subscribe to “Followed by Mercy” on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify, and check out daily devotionals on Substack and Beehive for more hope. Together, let’s learn to see beyond the shadows to the God who never leaves us alone.
Because your spiritual vision determines your experience, and what you choose to focus on shapes everything.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Well, I am recording using a new program. I've had it for a while and used it in the past and forgotten how to use it. And trying to get back to it, I thought I'd go ahead and do it today, because I want to talk to you about what you see is what you get, and so if you're on YouTube and you're looking, what you're seeing is what you're getting, and it ain't that good. Over here on that side, over there, that's my aquarium and I love that very much, and then let's see how to point this out that's my desk right there where I work on it, and that's a bucket of fresh water that you use to put on there. And so what you see is what you get. You're in my office and, boy, that ain't too good, and I've even got it here where I can switch cameras, but I'm still trying to learn how to do it, so you have to put up with it. I want to talk to you about this, though, because what you see is what you get is much more truth in Bible terms than you might think Now.
Austin Gardner:The term originates from, and came from, computer days, you know, back in the old days when computers first started getting where we could get them and I've always liked computers and I've almost always had one. I started out with a Texas instrument. I went to a Commodore 64, had a tape player that was a hard drive backup. I've just always wanted to be up to date. Now I'm old and I am slowing down. I don't think I'm doing as well as I was, but finally they had it fixed where, when you would work on your webpage, you could see what you were doing and it would turn out to be what it was. When you finished, they called it what you see is what you get. So you were actually getting exactly what you could see, and I just was thinking about that one day and I realized that that's so true in your spiritual life. I realized that it's easy for you to not realize that you are looking at what you're getting, or what you see determines how you feel. What you see determines what you're thinking. What you're seeing determines what you are getting, and I want you to understand that. I want you to get a hold of that in your heart. It's a big lesson. I just recently talked to a friend who's going through all sorts of trouble. Everybody's down and when you let all those memories come up in front of your face and that's all you see, then that's what you're going to get. So you got to change where you're looking if you want to change what you're feeling. You got to change where you're looking if you want to change what's happening in your life.
Austin Gardner:Now, that won't deny reality. That won't say that it's not happening. It'll simply say that I am looking for the truth beyond the truth. I'm looking for what's true beyond what's true, and that's an important part of who you are and what you do. And in the Bible we have that very clearly being taught to us and we see it all the time. We see it all the time we don't pay attention to it.
Austin Gardner:But in Psalm 23, which is where we've been and we've been studying and been looking at, if you've been watching that, then you realize that David's not looking at his problems, he's not looking at his past, he's not looking at his failures, he's looking at his shepherd. And that's where he starts off and says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want you see, he is changing his look to not what's happening right in front of him, but to what's happening above and beyond that. He's seeing the shepherd, not the situation. He's seeing the power of the shepherd, not the shadows that are attacking him. He's in the middle of a battle, but in this Psalm he finds himself seated at a banquet table with his cup running over and his face being lifted up by God. And so, in the middle of all the stuff, david sees beyond what he can see. What you see is what you get, and it takes eyes of faith to see the things that God is doing in your life. It takes eyes of faith for you to realize that something bigger is happening in your life, and so that's the story. Now let me just walk you through the Bible so you don't think I'm just making up positive thinking or I'm calling on you to just ignore what's true and what's reality in your life.
Austin Gardner:David stepped out to fight Goliath. Goliath, for 40 days, day and night, had told everybody what they were seeing, and they were seeing that this giant that could not be beaten had defeated the nation of Israel, and everyone is carrying in their tents. But David chose to see something different than what Goliath saw. David chose to see that God was bigger than Goliath. David didn't focus in and hone in on the message he's getting from the devil's radio station. He didn't focus in on what's happening that he's listening to. He focused in on what God was saying to him and he won the victory. And he won the victory. He stands before Goliath, looking at Goliath but seeing behind Goliath that God is bigger than Goliath.
Austin Gardner:Twelve Hebrews slipped by, went into the nations that were to be conquered in the promised land. Ten of them saw giants, saw themselves as grasshoppers. What they saw was what they got. So they felt fear and cowardice and they were ready to quit and ready to give up. That's not what two spies saw. Joshua and Caleb saw that God was bigger and that their enemies would be easy to be defeated because they chose what they saw.
Austin Gardner:So you have to look beyond what's happening to you. You have to look beyond where you're living. Maybe you're stuck alone in a motel room, or you're in a room and your family's separated from you and you're just beat up and hurt and you don't know where to turn. But that's not really reality. That's what's happening and you can choose to see that or you can look beyond that and you can see beyond that. You can see Beyond that. You can see that God is at work and will be at work. You can see the circumstances or you can see the defeat. You can see the circumstances or you can see the defeat.
Austin Gardner:Daniel goes in the lion's den. What does Daniel see when he gets in the lion's den? He says I know God will take care of me whatever happens to me. Remember the three Hebrew children. They said we will not bow down and if God doesn't deliver us, that's okay, we still won't bow down. They saw something different and in the middle of it they weren't alone. The Lord was with them.
Austin Gardner:So you must see beyond what's happening right now. You got to look beyond that by eyes of faith. You got to look on Jesus and see him. You got to look on Jesus and see him. You got to realize that you got 10 spies giving a bad report. But you've got to get beyond the spies and their bad report. You got to get beyond King Saul and his Israelite army that's about to destroy you and you're running from Saul, or you're in a cave and Absalom is chasing you, or King Saul is trembling at the face of Goliath. And see beyond that, because you see. What you see is what you get. What you see is what you get. So you got to get the ultimate perspective here. You've got to change perspectives and you got to say instead of that, I'm going to see God. It's spiritual perception it's seeing the shepherd or seeing the situation. It's seeing the provision or seeing the challenge. It's seeing destruction or it's seeing deliverance. It's seeing God doing something or it's not. You choose. You choose.
Austin Gardner:Now, david's fleeing from his son, but what's he see? He sees that God is going to deliver him. And so I challenge you today. I know you're hurting and I know your life is not what you want it to be. I know that things aren't going the way you want them to go. I know that I've had those situations in my life when things weren't going that way. And here's what I've had to do. I've had to say stop, focus, put your eyes on Jesus, see Jesus in this situation. Don't see yourself, don't see what's happening. Trust the Lord, look to the Lord and see what the Lord's got to say. And I've watched that happen and I've watched it change my life. So adjust your focus. Decide to shut out the screaming voices. Decide to listen to scriptural truth, not situational truth. Decide that you are going to focus. That's a consistent pattern of David and that's what he's doing in this situation.
Austin Gardner:So I challenge you today, now. I know you're hurting and I would not in any way take away from that. I would not in any way doubt that you are hurting and things are going rough. But there is above, there is beyond, another truth. I may be lost and wandered from my shepherd, but my shepherd wandered with me and I am not alone. He is pursuing me. I may be feeling really defeated and beaten, but I know surely goodness and mercy are following me all the days of my life and I refuse. I refuse to stay in the pit and to stay in the destruction and to stay in the hurt that's happening to me. I choose to go somewhere else, I choose to live another way.
Austin Gardner:So what you see is what you get, but you choose what you say. You choose what you say. You can look around and say, boy, look how bad I got it. Or you can look up and say, look how good I got it. You can look around and say, man, I got medical bills and I got to keep buying pills. Every month. It costs hundreds to thousands of dollars. I'm constantly taking medicine well over a hundred pills a day. Or I can look up and say boy, I got a shepherd who loves me and has provided for me all of my life. What are you going to do? What are you going to focus on? I challenge you, challenge you what you see is what you get. So choose what you see. God bless you. I love you. Right there where you are, I'm thinking about you and I'm praying for you. I'm telling you that you are very important to the Lord and you're very important to me.
Austin Gardner:Now, if you're listening and this is of any benefit to you, would you share it with some other people? Would you give me a like? Would you make a comment on the podcast? Would you share the podcast with somebody? That would so help me. I really believe that I am followed by mercy and I want other people to know they're followed by mercy and I can't do that without help. So share the YouTube video if you're watching that and I know it's a mess today and I hope it's been decent because I'm learning and then share the podcast and invite others. I also write every day. You can look it up. Followed by Mercy, by Austin Gardner, I write on Substack and I write on Beehive, and that's coming out every day. So I really want to be a blessing to you. I want to help you because I know you're down, I know you're beaten, I know you're in the pit, but I know God has an answer and God is going to take care of you. God bless you. Thank you so much for listening.
