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
The 4 Daily Blessings We Often Overlook
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Is God a distant judge or a Father who delights in you? Today, Austin Gardner challenges the idea that blessings are only about money or comfort. Instead, he points us to the profound, life-altering blessings of God’s guidance, courage, protection, and restoration.
Austin shares how his own heart was transformed from being "rigid and hard" to understanding the sweetness of the Father. If you’re feeling "beat up or whipped" by life’s circumstances, listen in to discover how the Shepherd doesn't just restore you—He leads you forward into paths you didn't even know how to tread.
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Full Article: The Big Leap of Faith ➡️ https://waustingardner.com/the-big-leap-of-faith-believing-god-loves-you-exactly-as-you-are/
Daily Podcast: https://waustingardner.com/podcast/
Weekly Newsletter: https://followedbymercy.beehiiv.com/
Deep Dives on Substack: https://waustingardner.substack.com/
Connect with me:
Website: https://waustingardner.com/
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Ministries:
Alignment Ministries: https://alignmentministries.com
Sociedad de Mentores: https://sociedaddementores.com
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God Delights In Blessing
Austin GardnerGod is a blessing God. Blessings are everywhere in the scripture. I've been talking to you about God being a blessing God now for a couple of days, and I hope that it is encouraging you. You know, he wanted his preachers, his priests, his prophets, his men of God to give blessings. And they're all through the Bible. It's everywhere you turn. Old Testament, New Testament. God is a blessing God. When you read the Bible from beginning to end, you begin to notice something remarkable. From the beginning of the chapters of Genesis to the close of Revelation, God is revealed as a God who delights in blessing his people. God delights in blessing his people. But sometimes we miss this because we only think of blessings as money and comfort and easy circumstances. But the Bible shows us God's greatest blessings are He guiding us, His courage that He gives us the protection and the restoring of our soul. So look what the Possum says in Psalm 34, 8. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. So I would like you to taste with me today. God is good. I use three things all the time in my mind when I consider what's going on in the Bible. God is love, God is good, and Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. I know what God looks like. I know what God acts like because we have Jesus. And so I would invite you to come experience the goodness of God with me. John Newton said, Everything is necessary that he sends. Nothing can be necessary that he withholds. In other words, you can trust that God's taking good care of you. God knows what real blessings are and what we truly need in our life. So I want to just kind of run over four passages with you and show you how God blesses us every day. In Psalm 32 8, the Bible says, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go, I will guide thee with mine eye. That's one of the greatest blessings that God would direct our paths, that God would direct our steps. So many people feel lost. We wonder, what path should I take? How do I know what God wants? How do I make wise decisions? Well, there's the answer. God will instruct us. And there are three great promises here. God instructs us as we go. I will instruct thee. And God instructs us, God teaches us through scripture, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit. Then it says that God teaches us the way to walk, teaches us in the way we should go. God doesn't just give information, he shapes the direction of our lives. I am so glad. Even when I didn't understand him, he still was helping me, guiding me, and directing me. He personally guides us with his eye. That's a very powerful picture. It's a very personal picture. It means that God's very close and just a glance in our direction directs our lives. Elizabeth Elliott said, the will of God is not something you add to your life, it's a course you choose. Guidance from God is a tremendous blessing. I look back over my life and I didn't understand who God was. And I was coming in, you know, I was raised in and steeped in legalism, but even in all of that, he's been guiding me all along. And I didn't just stumble on this. He brought me to it to help me understand how he is. Then he also blesses us with courage. Joshua in Joshua chapter 1 and verse 9 is stepping out into a massive job, something that God has for him to do. It's an enormous responsibility. He's going to lead the entire nation of Israel. He's taking Moses' place. That is so big. And so God gives him a powerful promise. Have not I commanded you, be strong and be of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Nothing can beat that promise. Notice something important. God does not say, Joshua, you will not face any difficulties. That is not at all what's going on here. He says to him, Be strong, be courageous, do not fear. And the reason is because the Lord God is with you. The blessing is God's presence. George Mueller said, the beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of our true faith is the end of anxiety. What we know is God's with us, and courage begins to replace fear. I just want to challenge you to get a hold of what God's doing in our lives. I just want to challenge you to understand how He is working in our lives, His presence, but then His protection. In Psalm 127, verses 7 and 8, the Bible said, The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil, he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth even forevermore. You see, life is unpredictable. You just don't know what's going to happen. You don't know if you're going to get cancer or not. You don't know if you're going to be like Robert Kelly Canfield facing Pompeii disease. But scripture reminds us that God watches over his people. It's he preserves us. He preserves our soul. He preserves our daily life. He preserves our future. He will preserve your going out and your coming in. He's watching over all of us in our daily routines and our work and our travels and our home. Do you understand what a wonderful God we have? The Obuti said, trust in yourself, and you are doomed to disappointment. Trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity. God not only is present, but God is protecting us. God's protection is one of the greatest, quietest blessings that surrounds us every day of our lives. Now, the next verse I really want to quickly share with you is Psalm 23, 1 through 3. You know how much I love this. And if you haven't listened to season 2, I challenge you to go back and listen to season 2, where I spend like 50 uh episodes talking about Psalm 23 and how God used it in my life. This is one of the greatest passages in all the Bible. It radically changed my life. But here's what it tells us He provides for us and He restores us. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. See, the shepherd provides everything their sheep need. And God provides what is truly necessary for life. And you know, we've got to get a hold of that. God is meeting our needs. God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him. Andrew Murray said that. So God provides. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And I told you then, I remind you, it means I have never wanted, I don't want now, and I will not want tomorrow, because it's a it's a word that just means always. And then God gives peace. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. God leads his people to places of rest and all the chaos and all the mess ups. And when you're a mess, he's still going to do that. And then he restores your soul. He restores my soul. Life can leave people exhausted and wounded, but God restores the inner life. God breaketh not all men's hearts alike, Richard Baxter. God knows how to restore every soul personally. Every one of us are different, everyone of us are facing different things, but God knows how to handle you. And then God knows how to lead us forward. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. He doesn't just restore you, encourage you. You're exhausted, you're beat up, you're whipped, your life's over, and he'll restore you, but he'll also lead you in paths you don't even know how to tread. And what you don't know how to do, he'll take care of you. So I just want you to get a hold of this fact that God's leading and taking care of you. God's blessing us. So when we bring it all together, we'll see a wonderful picture of how God blesses his people, and we are his people. He blesses us with direction and guidance. He blesses us with courage. He blesses us with protection. He blesses us with provision and restoration. But the greatest blessing of all is he blesses us with himself. You know, he moved in and took our presence in us. I think that's probably the biggest and greatest blessing you could ever imagine. And you know what? He is most glorified when we are satisfied in him. When we walk with God, we begin to see his blessing, and we and his blessings surround our lives in ways we often overlooked. And the more we trust him, the more clearly we begin to see how good he truly is. Now, you know, I've been walking with the Lord for a long time, and this has been such a blessing, but he has shown himself to me more now than ever. But then I look back and I realize, you know, he's been bringing me to this. No matter how much I was rigid and hard, no matter how much I was tough on people, he was working in my heart to bring me to where I would be more like him. And I just want you to know he's a blessing, God. He blesses his people. We started this little series talking about his blessings, and we're still working our way through it. But don't you forget he blesses us. He is a God of blessing. He is blessing you, and he's working in your life. And I want you to go, and I want you to know that you are blessed. I want you to know that God is praying for you and he blesses you. There's nothing more beautiful beyond that. God loves you and God blesses you. And so you are challenged by God to step forward, believe in him. And I pray you'll do that today. Believe that he's blessing you. And as pastors, believe that we want to tell people about his blessings. We want to tell them God loves them. We want to tell them God blesses them so they can know how good and sweet our Father is. Well, I love you, and I thank you for taking the time to listen. And I hope this will be a blessing to you. Share it with somebody if it is.
