BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 56 – Faith in the Rubble: Joan’s Story of Resilience
What happens when your carefully built life suddenly crumbles? On this deeply honest and inspiring episode of the BeTempered Podcast, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Joan Parsons, a woman whose life story is marked by unexpected heartbreak, enduring faith, and the quiet strength that comes from trusting God through life’s hardest seasons.
Joan grew up surrounded by the steady beauty of rural Ohio farmland, a childhood filled with warmth, stability, and the simplicity of country life. But at just 13 years old, her world was turned upside down by her parents’ divorce—a seismic shift that cracked open questions about love, security, and identity. Rather than allowing the brokenness to define her, Joan leaned into her growing faith. That pain became a doorway to a deeper purpose.
From that point forward, her life became a series of bold steps led by conviction. She met her husband through campus ministry and together they embarked on a journey that would eventually take them to post-communist Budapest with two small children. There, far from the familiar, Joan encountered the unexpected pressures and emotional toll of missionary life—something rarely spoken about in Christian circles. She shares candidly about the anxiety she faced and how she learned to survive with one guiding principle: have someone to love, someone who loves you, and something to look forward to.
But nothing prepared her for the loss that came in 2016 when her husband suddenly passed away, leaving her widowed with four children ranging in age from 14 to 20. In the aftermath of that life-altering moment, Joan found herself facing deep grief, mounting responsibilities, and the painful realization that 72% of her support system quietly faded away. Yet what she describes next is a stunning testament to the power of real community—the 28% who remained showed up in such a profound and complete way that it felt like “1000%.”
Rather than retreating, Joan leaned into the calling that had been growing in her heart for years. She poured herself into Neighbor Bible Study to Go (NBS2GO), a ministry that began with a simple idea: empowering everyday people to reach their neighbors with the Gospel in natural, life-giving ways. What started in her local community now spans 175 countries and has been translated into 55 languages—proof that God multiplies even the smallest acts of faith.
Joan’s voice is gentle, but her words carry the weight of someone who’s been through fire and emerged with wisdom and grace. She challenges the cultural obsession with curated, Instagram-perfect lives by reminding listeners that “flourishing can happen every day,” even in the messy middle of loss, anxiety, or uncertainty. Her story is not about tidy endings—it’s about hope in the midst of heartbreak and finding purpose in the ruins.
Whether you’re walking through your own valley of grief, struggling to hold things together, or just questioning if your ordinary life has meaning, Joan’s testimony will meet you where you are—and lift your eyes to something bigger.
🎧 Don’t miss this episode of BeTempered — a podcast where real stories meet real faith.
🌐 Learn more about Joan’s global ministry at nbs2go.com
📱 Follow the journey and join the mission—right where you are.
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Speaker 3:Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast, where we explore the art of finding balance in a chaotic world.
Speaker 4:Join us as we delve into insightful conversations, practical tips and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Speaker 3:We're your hosts, dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives. This is Be Tempered. What's up everybody. Welcome to the Be Tempered podcast, episode number 56, Dan 56,.
Speaker 4:There we go.
Speaker 3:You got it right. Good job, ben A for effort. Today we're honored to sit down with Joan Parsons, a woman whose life has been shaped by deep faith, incredible service and a heart that's been tested and refined through seasons of both great joy and great sorrow. Joan grew up on a farm in Preble County, ohio, and through her journey started in rural America. It's taken her across the world, from ministry work in the deep south to seven years in Budapest, hungary, and eventually back to Georgia where she lives now. Her story is one of heartbreak and healing, of learning to listen deeply and love well, and of choosing faith in the face of fear. Joan's life is a powerful reminder that God truly wastes nothing, that even in our brokenness, he is near, weaving every part of our story into something beautiful. Whether you're grieving, searching for direction or simply wondering if you matter, joan's story will remind you that you're not alone. Her words are powerful, not just because of what she's lived through, but because of the grace and honesty with which she tells it. Joan, welcome to the Be Tempered podcast.
Speaker 5:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 3:Thanks for making the trek up from Georgia and you were in Louisville dropping your daughter off. You're going to go back to Louisville. You're a world traveler, daughter off, you're going to go back to louisville.
Speaker 5:You're, you're, you're a world traveler. I have a card, too, that says welcome when you enter a state. Do you have?
Speaker 3:yeah, oh, yeah, yeah yeah welcome to ohio.
Speaker 3:I get a lot of welcomes on the way up from georgia, so yeah, it's a friendly car yeah, that's great well, it's good to have you and I know we met I don't know, a month or so ago and had a very powerful conversation. Uh, learned a little bit about you, you learned a little bit about me. We have a connection, um, in in the Preble County area, the farming community Um and um, but I I didn't know your story and it's powerful and I'm excited for you to share it. Excited for you to take the time to come in here today. So how we start every podcast is we like to start from the beginning. We want to know your story from childhood. So if you would tell us about your childhood growing up in Preble County.
Speaker 5:I loved growing up in Preble County. I'm the daughter of a farmer. It's a multi-generational working farm still. My dad is 87. And my brother and his two children also work the farm now. But it was great. I you know, being raised in Preble County meant my life revolved around farm and fun and my four siblings I'm just one of five and we just had a great, great childhood. Mom and dad are incredible people and still are. Both are doing great and you know, my life revolved around 4-H, honestly, and and so and just life on the farm, and it was a really great, great time.
Speaker 5:I had three brothers and a sister, so with three brothers in a large farmhouse, pranks were common. In fact, when I told my son one of the one of the questions that you had asked, um, he said please make sure you tell, to tell about the time that you flew down the stairs. So tell, my two brothers were standing at the base of the stairs and I was at the top of my bedroom and, just slightly loud enough, my one brother says to the other brother which the three of us were the only ones home. Did you hear that? That's all it took. There were eight stairs and then a set of like 10. So I flew from the top to the landing and then I flew 10 stairs down. There were no stairs in between Just hit the landing and then midway down I could see their faces like, oh no, how's she going to land this? And it was total prank and I was so mad.
Speaker 1:Anyway, they laugh, they still laugh, it's still a story that's told nearly every gathering. That's great. Sibling love, sibling love.
Speaker 3:So what'd you do in 4-H? What animals did you show?
Speaker 5:I I showed cattle and um lambs, but my specialty was rabbits.
Speaker 3:Rabbits oh boy.
Speaker 5:There's no skill with that, but that was your specialty, that was my specialty.
Speaker 3:My kids are all involved in 4-H and I've always you know they talked about the girls talked about doing horses.
Speaker 1:I'm like we're not doing horses because you can't eat them.
Speaker 3:So if you're going, to be on the Schmidt farm and you're going to show an animal. We've got to. I want to come full circle. You know that circle of life, so you learn all those things. So, and rabbits is one of those things. I said you can show rabbits but I'm not coming to watch because that's a brutal show to watch Watching paint dry, yeah, but I loved.
Speaker 5:My mom taught me to sew, so sewing in 4-H was kind of my thing. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 3:That's great, so great childhood growing up. Talk about school a little bit.
Speaker 5:Mm-hmm Went to Eaton High School and do you want me to talk about this college and sure Okay, Go right into that Um well, this is, this is the part you want me to sorry. Just talk about my family, or?
Speaker 3:talk about it. You can talk about going to school, talk about your family.
Speaker 5:what life was like as you got older, um, and then going into college, yeah, Um, you know it's interesting, we we did have a very happy go lucky childhood, um, it was. It was a really unique time for our family, um, but when I was 13, I found myself with um one of my parents sitting me down and saying they were going to get divorced, and that turned life upside down. And in Preble County years ago, when I was little, it seemed that divorce was unheard of, which speaks sort of I mean really honestly highly of the rural towns, just that marriage is honored, of the rural towns, just that marriage is honored, and there's not that many or at the time did not seem that many people divorced. And so for each of us, we all had consequences of how that played itself out and it was a sad time for us as a family, and I would say that that season brought that, indeed that worst day, but also brought this incredible day in my life.
Speaker 5:For me personally, just the hardship was just I was just embarrassed no child, you wouldn't think that would be kind of their emotion. Just embarrassed no child, you wouldn't think that would be kind of their emotion, but that was just where my heart was. I was involved in sports again in 4-H, and so when those were public moments, the parents weren't sitting together, and so those are just things as children that we absorb. Nobody put that on me. My parents are great. Nobody put it on me. It's just things that you absorb. But through that time it was a time I really cried out to God.
Speaker 5:I really I had. We were raised in a religious home, but I was never fully sure that God was with me, and somewhere deep down I thought that having divorced parents would be a strike against me and I don't know why Nobody told me that. But it was the furthest thing from the truth and I love the Bible verse. This is just something that has stayed with me through the years. It says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Even as a 13-year-old, it doesn't matter your age. God wants to be near, he is near to the brokenhearted.
Speaker 5:A 13-year-old, it doesn't matter your age. God wants to be near, he is near to the brokenhearted. And through my cries just crying out to God for his presence and answers, he brought me somebody to clearly explain to me that I could have a relationship with God that would be permanent and I would never have to fear whether or not he was there. That if I would fully place my faith in his work on the cross, that he would come into my life, forgive me and never leave me. Those were words of gold, and that was the best day of my life that I placed my faith in Christ.
Speaker 5:He came into my life and promised to never leave me to my life and promised to never leave me, and so, even though I, you know, all children wish you know at the moment that their parents were divorced it still brought the most amazing day for me and it really did change the trajectory of my life at that point because it gave me such incredible peace and joy to know that I would forever have Christ in my life and that I would go to heaven. That was a powerful moment for me.
Speaker 3:That's a powerful story and I appreciate you being vulnerable with that because when we had the conversation you kind of glossed over that a little bit and, uh, we went back and I said, uh, there was something there because I can tell it and it's still to this day I can. I can see it in your eyes that you know it was a very impactful time for you. You talk about that powerful transition from you know this, this sorrow and, I'm sure, questioning what's going on and why is this happening? And and not understanding at a pretty challenging age for any young kid, but especially a young girl at 13,. What, what was? Was there a person or who, who was it that made that switch for you or told you that? Is there a specific individual?
Speaker 5:It was a person who explained that to me, but I don't know her name Really. You just remember the impact that it had.
Speaker 5:I just remember the impact it was profound, profound, and I think we all have that deep desire to know God. He put that within us and when we cry out to him, he wants to tell us that, just even on this podcast, how your stories of faith have been interwoven. Your stories of faith have been interwoven. People hear that and they now know they can respond to God and they can have Christ in their life and have full forgiveness and know that they have eternal life. It's powerful.
Speaker 3:It is powerful. How did your siblings take all that their divorce? Or the divorce, going through that same similar time. I know there were different ages, but different ages were interesting.
Speaker 5:My sister was in college and then I had an older brother and then a brother that was just a couple of years older and then one younger. I think at the time you just walk through it without conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 5:So you feel alone and you don't even know what your emotions are doing, and each of us have a story that we walked through, um and it's, and it's something that has brought us together in many ways. I love my siblings to this day. We have a really tight bond and I think sometimes those hard, messy places bond you together with people that you never thought would happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's where you find out who you are, who they are. You grow from it, you learn from it. Yeah, that's powerful, very powerful.
Speaker 4:One of the big things I take away. Well, you used the word forgiveness, and so my parents, when they got divorced. It was a long divorce, I think it was like I want to say, maybe I was 19, and it went on until maybe I was 21, 22, because all the courts and everybody wanting different things. So one of the hardest things for me to overcome as a child of the parents that were divorced, even though I was an adult right, was trying to, you know, almost like one of your parents trying to put you against another and you hear one side of the story and another side of the story. And so we actually got married when our parents were divorced, and it was, you know, dad sitting on this side of the you know of the reception hall, mom sitting on this side of the reception hall, and you know you could cut the tension with a knife. I mean it was, and so that was one of the hardest things for me was forgiveness. I mean it took a long time and it was God that that did it.
Speaker 4:You know I'd go to church on Sunday and I feel very connected with the Lord. Then all of a sudden it's like let's preach a preaching about this weekend. Forgiveness Boom. You don't think I'm talking about you, and it took a lot of blows where I'm just like there, like daggone, he's talking to me. So when you said forgiveness, that's kind of what triggered in my mind, though Even though I was, like I said, a grown adult, you still deal with that. I mean, those are the parents that you're a model in your marriage. After you think growing up that everything's good, they're at your sporting events, they're sporting you and all of a sudden, even though you're an adult, and it's just like all of those, those memories and everything, it's like, well, how many of those were real? What was going on behind?
Speaker 4:the scenes and stuff that you think about so yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting.
Speaker 5:I think too, there's that whole, the whole. I mean this is a story of our lives in the area of forgiveness is sometimes we think to ourselves, okay. I'm going to forgive, and that's going to be it on that.
Speaker 5:One thing Like this but then a week later you're like oh wait, but did I fully forgive? Somebody explained it to me and just said you know, forgiveness is daily. So whatever you remember that day, or if there's a triggering moment, just extend, start the day in that posture of forgiveness and if it comes up during the day. But I think sometimes we get hard on ourselves because we think, well, I didn't learn that lesson. I think it's a lifelong lesson that we have the opportunity because christ is within us and he is constantly pulling us to the father and being in a place of forgiveness. And he is constantly pulling us to the Father and being in a place of forgiveness and it's just a powerful thing and it releases that over you when you think, oh my gosh, I have to. Okay, maybe I really didn't forgive. Well, yes, you did, it's just something else was brought up that you remembered, or another triggering moment that forgiveness is necessary again.
Speaker 5:And that's fine we need to be, we need to be gracious with ourselves to walk through that.
Speaker 4:And just find that posture of just asking God, you know, help me in that gap that I have right now, where I'm trying to forgive. I feel like I'm forgiven, but just come over top me and just help me really fully. I mean, whenever I do that, I feel like it helps a lot.
Speaker 3:Well, and I think for people who hold grudges who don't forgive, well, and I think for people who hold grudges who don't forgive, you know, the only person that's really hurting is you. You know you're the one holding that resentment or that anger or whatever it is inside. And until you recognize that and you realize you know what we all make mistakes, you know things happen in our lives and, uh, we wrong people or they wrong us or whatever. But when, when we hold that in and we don't forgive, it's not hurting anybody but ourselves. So that's that's very important. Forgiveness is is very powerful. So so you get through that time in your life. You graduate high school kind of talk about that transition from high school into college.
Speaker 5:Um, I went so far away, down to Miami university is what was next county over approximately seven miles, um, or maybe a little bit more, but uh, but I lived on campus and and still was just a, still a part of a transition to just moving away from um. Well, I moved, you know, even when I was 13 and was in the farmhouse and and then I moved um to be with mom, and then moving from mom down to college, it was, you know, it just is different, it is just a different transition. And again you find yourself in places in college where you're trying to figure out who you are and what you're going to stand for and what you really want your life to count for beyond the education.
Speaker 5:So who are you among the people you're meeting with? And I was very, very thankful to the Lord to provide he provided a woman her name. I do know her name her name is Shane Armstrong and she works with a campus ministry there and I met her pretty early on in my years at Miami and she was just a great mentor type person, discipler of people, mentor type person, discipler of people, and I would just say she was probably one that has taught me just really a lifelong desire to love others and care for others. She's a person that is genuinely interested in who you are and she taught me a lot about the Bible and about walking with God, but I feel like the thing I learned the most with her was how to love and care for others and just be genuinely interested in somebody that's sitting across the table from you, because she did that so much with me yeah because who who is not self-absorbed at 18, 19, 20, well, even today?
Speaker 5:but it was just so interesting that she would just sit and listen and ask good questions and that has just stayed with me through through many many years, her her heart and getting to know people. Even to this, she's still doing what she was doing that many years ago, 35 years ago, and she is just it's really. It just feels like you are meeting with somebody that just really I don't even know how to describe it.
Speaker 3:She was put here for you.
Speaker 5:That's exactly how everyone feels.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's an amazing feeling when you find someone like that, a mentor. Um, I can see that in you. I can see that she rubbed off on you and how you interact with I mean, we've only met twice, right, but I get that feeling from you Like right now you're, you're listening to me intently, um, you're, you're sharing your amazing story and I can just see the care and the compassion. So she definitely had a major impact on you and you, in return, are doing the same. So college is a challenging time. You know, like you said, you'd be pulled away from home. You're meeting people from all different walks of life. Uh, there's all kinds of distractions, um, that that you wouldn't have had, probably in Preble County, ohio, but when you step on the campus at Oxford, there's all kinds of things going on. So you were able to find that mentor. Talk about what. What was your, what were you studying and what were you wanting to do when you first started?
Speaker 5:Well, I was a math education major and, yeah, I just found myself in that major because at the time I was good at it. And then after you know, it just seemed it's interesting how God works but in our lives, the more I was around Jane and the other staff when I graduated Miami, I thought to myself if I can help one person like they've helped me, that's what I want to do. And so I joined the International Ministry of Crew or Campus Crusade. At that time, that many years ago, it was a very natural decision for me to want to do that.
Speaker 3:And through that process you met a young man.
Speaker 5:Mm-hmm, Joined the staff of crew and met my husband, Drew. And yeah, we served at Auburn University and Southern Mississippi University. And you mentioned Budapest. We moved there in 1998. That was eight years post-communist, and then we moved back to Atlanta. We had been there seven years and we moved back to Atlanta 20 years ago.
Speaker 3:Now, you just glossed over pretty quickly a lot of years.
Speaker 4:And countries.
Speaker 1:Yeah, years countries.
Speaker 3:So you went down to Auburn, you were down in the South and what were you doing specifically?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so on staff, with crew, it's our desire to reach students with the gospel, it's our desire to reach students with the gospel, and so we would just be available on campus, we would have meetings, we'd have prayer times, we'd initiate with students, and that was our daily job was to meet with students and share with anybody. You know, students who were interested and wanted to grow in their faith, or people who didn't know Christ and wanted to know the Lord.
Speaker 5:So we would have lots of times lots of, you know meeting with students there. So that's what we did full time.
Speaker 3:Family. Did you start having a family?
Speaker 5:Yeah, when we moved to Hattiesburg Mississippi.
Speaker 1:And I had. Two of my boys were born there, did you?
Speaker 5:start having a family. Yeah, when we moved to Hattiesburg, mississippi, and I had two of my boys were born there and it was great. We had great years Two at Auburn and then five at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.
Speaker 3:And then you decide to go to another country. Yes, that's a pretty big deal. Talk about that decision. What led you to that decision?
Speaker 5:and what that was like. That was an interesting decision. Um, when Drew and I met, and just in, just, even in our initial conversations, we both had a heart for overseas. Um, a side note is that I did my student teaching in Wiesbaden, germany, very different time now, and we would often travel to different places and we would walk in these beautiful cathedrals, which are incredible, but I would step out of the cathedral and feel so empty because the cathedral was empty, there was no one there and we would go back to, you know, germany, where we were staying, and I just thought who will reach these people? Who where?
Speaker 1:is.
Speaker 5:Europe. They just it just felt very empty and I just had a huge heart and started praying for Europe and then Eastern Europe at the time. And when I met Drew, I knew he had a heart for overseas. So we sort of already had this heart to go overseas. After having Nate and Grant, um, you know life, I don't want to say it's complicated, but to move four people overseas is different than moving two people overseas and we still had this huge heart. But I was so hesitant, I was very you know, obviously nervous, wanted to, um, I knew Drew wanted to go and he was being. He was extremely just, patient and no expectations, and I knew deep down I wanted to go. But it just felt like there were so many what ifs and what would life look like with a two-year-old?
Speaker 5:and a one-year-old and a one-year-old and I remember I would seek counsel or I would pray or I would listen to our pastor or whatever. It is just kind of looking for that answer, just looking for that answer. And one day I just sat down with my journal open and I just said, Lord, I want to hear from you, I just need to hear from you. And it wasn't like a big booming voice in the sky, but it was certainly an impression of a question. He just simply very kindly asked if I have hundreds of people for you to reach in Eastern Europe, do you?
Speaker 5:want to do that, and it wasn't demanding or commanding, it was a question. And the question was given to me like it was mine and I was like, okay, that's exactly what I needed to hear, I will, I'm willing to go. And you know, with that, drew was you know, of course, excited sold a car. I sold our car, sold our house, packed up our earthly belongings and put it in a container to ship it to Budapest, hungary, and he was given a great, he was given a great opportunity to serve there, and that was just a big part of it, too, was just the opportunity that he was given. It was our headquarters, that was Cruz headquarters for all of Eastern Europe.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 5:And so he was asked to give direction to the showing of the Jesus film all over Eastern Europe. That was post-communism, so everyone was open to what even the West was saying, so they wanted to hear. They had not been taught anything about the Bible or about Christ. So, anyway, the opportunity was incredible that he was given and to step in and, mind you, at the time I think he was 30 years old, and so it was just a huge step of faith and God met us every step of the way. So, and more I mean, I think he just takes those servants who know they can't really we don't, we didn't have the education or the know-how or all that anything to really accomplish something so big. And he's like I'm ready to use this person who knows that they know they can't really do this on their own.
Speaker 3:But they've got the faith to do it.
Speaker 5:The faith to do it and to take that step.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's amazing. So you get over there. I'll talk about that transition, because that had to be a little different. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5:Well, of course. I mean I think we had this joke. Among there there was a small missionary community, which was great, but we had this. Many of the wives or moms would have this like small sentence to their husband if I hate it here, can we go home?
Speaker 5:And we'd say that the first week almost all of us because it was a struggle, and there were no large stores, no spaghetti sauce in a jar, I mean everything was from scratch. There's no Walmart and there were no large stores, no spaghetti sauce in a jar, I mean everything was from scratch. There's no Walmart, there's no library of English books, I mean. So a two-year-old and a one-year-old in a country, just every little convenience you can think of was taken away and so we just there were some really hard times and I would say I landed in a season of anxiety and that, you know, for a farm girl raised in such a casual or you know whatever setting, to land with such anxiety was so foreign to me and it was just hard. It was hard to walk through.
Speaker 5:I'd wake up sometimes in the morning and Drew would say, are you okay? And I'd be like no, I'm not, I'm just, and anxiety is funny. You can't really put your finger on what it is. You just know that there's this ongoing anxious feeling and, as God always does and you cries out to him, of course there were many verses and things that he gave me which were very, very reassuring, but he also gave me another mom who was probably 10, 15 years older than me, margie Mortensen.
Speaker 5:I still even remember this conversation to this day, but I just said what do you do, how do you face this, how do you deal with this? And she said I'm going to tell you something that my grandmother taught me. And she said it's not overly complicated. She just said if you can know that three things that you have someone to love and someone loves you, you and you have something to look forward to those will carry you through any day. And that's exactly what I needed. It wasn't like this massive, like you know thing, and over time my anxiety subsided. It's not an overnight thing right anxiety doesn't do that.
Speaker 5:It's a it's a daily renewing of your mind, reminding yourself what's true. And then those three things were really simple to me, but I was able my mind, my heart, my emotions were able to kind of go there.
Speaker 5:And even if it's a simple little thing every day to look forward to, I decided I'd take a walk with the boys. Every day was a walk to the little store and you know just one little thing. And then it was every week we looked forward to something, and then once a month we looked, we tried to plan something that we'd look forward to. It just was a really simple time, but something that was really important. I think it'd be. Really it's a good thing for your audience to to know too.
Speaker 3:Uh, we and we talk about that a lot is just taking that step. You know when, when times are tough, when you're, you're, you've got anxiety, you've got stress. You just made a humongous life changing event, you know, to go from the comforts that you had to a complete different country where you, like you said you couldn't go to the grocery store. You, you probably had to go to the local market where they were making the tomato sauce and and doing all those things. So very unique and and not something you were used to. But through that conversation, you recognize that if I just take that step every day, that eventually I'll start stacking those wins and things will be okay.
Speaker 3:And that's that's hard for a lot of people. I think taking that step is the hardest part of that first step. So that's that's very powerful. Thank you for sharing that. So you've had a lot of influences, um, through that time. But you didn't run home, you stayed there. So so you stayed there. So obviously you started to have an impact, your family started to have an impact and your family grew. So talk about that a little bit, as you were into those years living over there.
Speaker 5:Well, we made a two year commitment and we stayed seven, so that's how it goes sometimes. But, yeah, so Nate and Grant were growing up and we wanted, you know, we felt like our family wasn't finished. That's what I would just say. And then Zach and Claire were born there, and that was crazy. And now I look back and think, what did I do? But it was a great experience, and side note is that I had five nights in the hospital for $800. So that was. It was like the Hampton Inn, but it was a good experience there and the impact was nothing short of incredible. Drew was part of these widespread city campaigns of showing the Jesus film in Eastern Europe and plus Russia, so it was 18 countries, and we'd see, on average in a campaign, 10,000 people come to Christ. So it was powerful stories of things that were happening even while we were just home having plain normal days.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Plain normal days. Was there ever a time you were afraid?
Speaker 5:9-11 happened when we were there. So our embassy was very quick to make sure that everybody was safe and where they needed to, you know, stay put. And it was interesting because our neighbors there, neighbors there, nobody welcomed us with warm muffins no one. The homes are gated to the street, completely surrounded. Nobody welcomed us with warm muffins. No one. The homes are gated to the street, completely surrounded. So they themselves don't trust each other Again. Post-communism they could never trust one another, ever. And then, do we trust the Americans moving?
Speaker 1:in.
Speaker 5:Never. But I remember our most difficult neighbor there came across the night that or the day that that happened and he stuck out his hand and in his very broken he knew two words, like he just said, I'm sorry, stuck out his hand and that was just a unique moment. I would say we definitely were fearful at that point. You know, told to stay low just as far as our physical safety, um, but yeah, that was an interesting time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, especially with four kids in another country, seeing your home country attacked, um, you know the unknowns with all that that. I can imagine that was. That was pretty stressful. So you are there for seven years and you finally decide to come back to the States. Right, talk about that decision and the challenges or the excitement or how you felt during that time.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean I um, yeah, I was very excited when we made the decision to move back. I was ready to be a little bit closer to family and we had done just enough little research about missionary kids that having a home culture is really important, Whether it's right or wrong. We wanted them to be Americans, not necessarily Hungarians, and so we just made, you know, we just knew Nate was going to be going into the fourth grade and so on. We knew that we wanted their primary culture to be the American culture and so we made that decision. You know, to come back at that point, and I remember actually vividly, like saying the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the Star-Spangled Banner or whatever are singing the Star Spangled Banner or whatever, I just cried. I just cried Now also the unique thing is like right around 9-11,.
Speaker 5:We all had that, didn't we? We all had that sense. And so we actually had missed a huge part of American culture, where you all connected on levels we never did, and so we were sensitive and moving back and understanding that about where people were.
Speaker 1:but you know we we loved, we were very glad to be back.
Speaker 5:I we put our boys in baseball. You know, baseball, little league or whatever. I was also the mom that cried when she saw her boys in uniform first little uniforms and because those are just things that I grew up with and I wanted them to have. That's what we do. So there were some really sweet times of our transition back and very, very grateful.
Speaker 3:Where did you move back to?
Speaker 5:Marietta Georgia.
Speaker 3:Georgia.
Speaker 5:Georgia and I've been in the same house ever since 20 years, yeah.
Speaker 3:So family's growing, you're back in the States, life's pretty good, still kind of doing the same mission work right in Marietta and Drew's still doing the same thing, yeah. So kind of talk about that progression as the kids are growing, as life's you know, I'm sure life's a lot faster back here than it was over there so that kind of transition and as the kids are growing, and then what life's like at that time in your life.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I in 2007,. My youngest got on the yellow school bus. Mind you, they had never seen a yellow school bus. Right youngest got on the yellow school bus, mind you they had never seen seen a yellow school bus right when we first moved back, didn't know what a blizzard was.
Speaker 5:you know, dairy Queen, you know all the things that you think are normal. But um, you know they transition really fast, kids do. And then when my youngest went to to kindergarten, I remember just at that bus stop, looking back at my house, and it was, you know, empty, you know they were at school and I thought to myself I'm not made to just sit inside and make meal plans and clean which is great.
Speaker 5:That's great. But I sensed God wanted me to do something bigger and he had been putting on my heart to lead a neighborhood Bible study at the time and, as God does in his unique way, he introduced me to who is now my director. We're very good friends, co-leaders in what we do, but her name is Debbie McGoldrick and she shared with me how she had had a ministry for about 25 years. At the time when we met in her neighborhood, it wasn't cookie cutter, you know, made into certain wet looking things, but it was just amazing to hear her story of the different things and the different people that she was able to connect with and talk to and I was hooked.
Speaker 5:I was like I think this is exactly what God has for me, whatever that might look like in my own neighborhood and again like Jane that I mentioned at the very beginning, she was very kind, warm-hearted, gentle, again, a person that you enjoy. I mean we are dearest of friends.
Speaker 5:We co-do this what we do now together, but at the time, it was just such an answer to prayer that we wanted to do this. I often, when I think about speaking or sharing, I think about Debbie, and I think, sometimes I think of her, as when, when you listen to her, it's like you're listening to a a little kitten who's just sharing, like it's just the sweetest conversation that we always get to have with one another and we yeah, it's just been great. Yeah, relationship.
Speaker 3:So talk about how that that kind of progressed. You know you hear that calling again. That you've heard many times throughout your life and you meet her and talk about where that has has went.
Speaker 5:Well, just uh, the two of us um would meet together and pray and we interacted with each other because we were both on staff with crew. And just a few years after that, we had led a couple of workshops in churches and were having conversations with people about how they could do that also in their neighborhoods. She received a vision of what God wanted to do worldwide and that he just wanted to multiply this whole mission to the world. And so she and I, and there was a team of other women, got together and we prayed. It was a weekend of prayer and we prayed. It was a weekend of prayer. And out of that was birthed a ministry called Neighbor Bible Study to Go, so NBS to Go. And it just began with a great vision that God had given her. And we just started putting the flesh on that vision. Like what would that look like? And we decided to start with a website. And so we joke and we're like well, we have two women who don't own laptops thinking we're going to start a website.
Speaker 3:That's a good start okay.
Speaker 5:How not to start a good website, and so, anyway, but we sensed that God was in it in ways that we never. We just. I love Debbie. This is our marketing strategy Pray, that's it.
Speaker 4:That's a good one.
Speaker 5:And take the next step, whatever it is. So it's always been. It started in prayer, prayer and the whole thing has been about prayer and now, just fast forward 15 years we've been. You know, the website's been seen in 175 countries of the world. We have 13 Bible studies on our website that are easy to lead with one person or in a neighborhood. We've kind of expanded the vision just to include neighbor, so we can have neighbors. We are neighbors with everyone. What does that look like? Who's God calling you to have an impact in their life? And so we have 13 Bible studies in 55 languages on our website now. And then we began a partnership with YouVersion Bible App in 2020. And they liked what we were doing and we wanted to expand there, and so we have over 110 plans on YouVersion and a lot of languages. I think like 45 languages there, but we've had more than 500,000 subscriptions to the to it. So you know, never underestimate two women without laptops and a really big God who wants to accomplish far more than you can ever ask or imagine.
Speaker 1:Same with this podcast.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah. Started in a basement with two men with an idea.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and no microphone at the time.
Speaker 3:We had microphones, but they were nothing like this, right, that's for sure. So the U version Bible app that's Craig Groeschel, right? Yep, I just heard him on his podcast talk about how that app will, by the end of this year, will have been downloaded 1 billion times. That's impressive. It is To be a part of that. That's amazing. Yeah, we'll make sure that we share a link to your website on on this episode so that people can can check that out and hopefully continue to grow. That that's amazing. So so life's still going on. You're, you're doing all these things. The kids are growing. At some point in time, life comes to a screeching halt. Can you talk about that?
Speaker 5:Can you talk about that? Yeah, I. In 2016,. My husband passed away and life did come to a halt. It was very, very difficult, a very difficult time. My children were 20, 18, 16, and 14, so two at home, two in college and we just found ourselves.
Speaker 5:I found myself in a season of grief and I wanted to wake up with something other than grief to deal with, and it was just a season of that, and those are just real things you need to walk through. But through it again, crying out to God for answers, so to speak, I really felt like there were two things that he gave me during that time that really significantly impacted my life, and the first one was his presence.
Speaker 1:His presence felt very real to me. Again, he's near to the brokenhearted.
Speaker 5:He wants to comfort, he wants to care, he wants to be present, and that was very tangible to me, very tangible. And the second thing was the presence of friends and I loved early on somebody shared with me a that an old Amish saying and it's when you can't feel the presence of God. It'll come through his people feel the presence of.
Speaker 5:God, It'll come through his people, and that was really powerful to me. It's also been said and this is just one of those really hard things too is a widow or widower will experience like 72% of their community will disappear or be gone and 28% will stay around. And I would say that's true, that was true. It was hard, hard, but the 28, simply, I don't know how God works math, but it became 1,000%. You know that 28% stepped in and were just really amazing in my life and again, I wouldn't be who I am without walking through that experience and having them with me. One of my husband's name was Drew. Drew, one of his dear friends, and his wife just immediately called what do you need? What does your house need? They were very instrumental in making sure everything in my house was fine and okay. A neighbor around the corner had us over for a meal once a week for a year.
Speaker 5:Wow, a year, that's a long time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is, that's, amazing.
Speaker 5:But their presence made us not feel alone and empty my next door neighbors quick to mow my grass, take out trash, you know things like that. I have a team of ministry partners. They were God's provision for me and still are Incredible people. I can't believe I get to know and so that's just been an amazing like again, like the worst day and best day, like it's just so hard to walk through that and yet God's provision and all of that has been incredible through that?
Speaker 1:Have you heard that?
Speaker 5:I don't know if it's an illustration or it's just the reality of a Clydesdale can pull 8,000 pounds, but two of them together can pull 30,000. So the power of people next to you and and walking through life gives you way more strength that you can do on your own and that it was just such a picture of that time for me and my kids.
Speaker 1:They were very cared for in the time so thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 3:I know it's. I know it's difficult. You know you lived your whole entire life being a faithful servant. When all that happened, did you ever step back and say God, I've given you everything. Why would you take this from me?
Speaker 5:I think that's just natural. I think even we have. It, doesn't matter what you have missing or taken away, or there's always a temptation of that. Certainly, with being a servant walking with Christ, with being a servant walking with Christ, it comes on the faithful and the unfaithful.
Speaker 3:Man, you're amazing. I mean you are amazing. You have an amazing story. I can't imagine going through that, navigating that and still continuing that faith as strong as you did, because not only were you dealing with that loss, but you got four kids who lost their dad. How did they handle all?
Speaker 5:that Again back to each of them. You know, like for my story to each of us individually walk through that on on their own. And I would just say you know, the 16 and a 14 year old, uh, I had gotten some really good counseling at the time and he, he just kind of told me the big things to look for in their life and to engage them every day at night how was your day? And for the first couple of months, just ask the question how are you doing? Do you have any thoughts of dad today? And the counselor taught me, if they answer more than yes or no, then ask another question.
Speaker 5:But if they answer just a simple yes or no, then that was what they needed for the day, and then that was stretched out to then it became once every few days, once a week. But it was an interesting time to process with them. Of course I wish I, you know, in the time you just think, or now I think, oh, I wish I would have done this or wish I would have done that. We all have those moments of that and my older two were at college. I just didn't have my pulse on them as well, just trusting that they were in good places and called a few people just to make sure that they were checked on and so on and so forth. But yeah, there were some really hard times.
Speaker 3:And I don't mean to ask that to put you on the spot for that. I ask you that because there's somebody out there in the middle of it right now trying to figure it out. And, um, you know, and and life were most qualified to help the person that we used to be or the experiences that we went through, and so, by you sharing that, I hope that there's someone out there, maybe someone's listening, who knows if, someone that can share how you were able to get through that time. And that counseling is a good thing, it's a very important and, uh, and faith is the most important thing. But, and it's okay to question it, right, we're human beings and, and when, when tragedy strikes or when something happens that just knocks us off our feet, it's okay to question. So you get through that. I'm sure you still feel it every day.
Speaker 3:It's a struggle every day, but you keep taking that step right, you keep doing what you're doing and it's amazing. It's amazing, thank you. So we always end the podcast with two final questions, and I noticed on your sheet you gave me this nice answers, but these last two questions you didn't answer. So I'm anxious to hear what.
Speaker 4:I'm anxious to hear what they are those were the two that she was hoping you wouldn't get to, I guess so so if you could have a conversation with someone, living or deceased, who would it be and why?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I didn't. I didn't get to those. Um. A book that I've read recently is a book about her life. Elizabeth Elliot and her husband Jim was killed at the hands of the people he was trying to reach in his 20s. He was 20 years old and they had just been married a year and a half and Elizabeth goes on to lead this amazing life of trusting God and having a great influence where she was. But she lived a very normal I mean life too, just hard things as well and I would love I would love to have a conversation with her and just hear just personally and she she passed away a few years ago, I think, and so I think she'd just be a really powerful person.
Speaker 5:I think it's really important for all of us to try to find people who are 10 years ahead of us and 20 years ahead of us and sit down and have conversations and just be asked the questions like how'd you do this? Or what's what do you? What do you wish you knew 10 years ago? How would you encourage me in this season? We all have seasons. How would you encourage me in this season?
Speaker 3:We all have seasons and I think we just that's just so important to try to find those mentor type people, um, in our lives. So well, the old Chinese proverb if you want to know the road ahead, ask the people coming back. Yeah, yeah, I think that's important, and I think it's important to for the young people especially, and even, you know, adults, our age, um, you know, don't be afraid to talk to those, those older people and who who have been through through who knows what right, Whatever seasons of life that they're in and whatever experiences they face, because everybody handles things differently and, um, it can give you a different perspective on on life and how to handle a situation that you might be in. So I think that's a very important point.
Speaker 1:So, last question.
Speaker 3:You've done great. You're amazing. You talked about the purring kitty cat. I mean, I told you earlier that's you. It's a very soothing, very soothing voice. Are there any closing thoughts? Words of wisdom, a Bible verse, anything when you're in those challenging times that helps you get through, anything you can think of.
Speaker 5:Well, one thing I also wanted to mention that I really love is, um this whole idea of of our hearts flourishing and I think we are. We all want those amazing Instagram days or the you know to post something we all do. We all think for some reason that our every day should be like that, but it's not. It's not.
Speaker 1:We might hopefully get one once a year or whatever and I think I took the seminary classes.
Speaker 5:Mark Furtado just talked to us about flourishing, and flourishing actually can happen every day and it's something that God has really wired our hearts to want to experience every day, and I love that God's Word talks about that in Psalm 1. He wants us to be like a tree planted by streams of living water.
Speaker 5:Living water that's so powerful, and he wants us to live that out every day, regardless of what we're going through. And I think too. Just a note to say to your audience as well. I think even at the beginning of my story, if anyone finds themselves in a place of embarrassment or shame because of somebody else's actions, my encouragement would be just to run to run to god, run to him and also reach out. Reach out to this podcast, reach out to somebody. Somebody wants to help you through that time that you're going through. Whatever it is that you're facing, any hurt or pain or anything, don't do it alone. It's very important to call um someone, and if you can't, if there's no one to call, call here.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 5:Call someone here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great advice. How can people learn more about you? I know you kind of talked about your website. Maybe give that again, but if somebody wants to reach out I don't expect you to give your cell phone number, but are you on social media? Can people find you that way if they want to just tell you?
Speaker 5:thank you, yeah, um, joan V Parsons on on Instagram and, yes, the website again is nbs2gocom and I'm also available on there If you just even if you email the contact us on there. That seems so you know out there when you're on somebody's website, do they ever look at this? Yes, we look at every one of them. We get lots of people who've connected with us there.
Speaker 3:That's great, that's amazing. Joan has reminded us today that the hardest moments in life become the most defining. Has reminded us today that the hardest moments in life become the most defining If we're willing to learn, lean in and trust God. With our story, she's shown us what it means to be present, to keep showing up for others, to connect deeply, to listen well and to believe in God, who is always near the brokenhearted. Her gentle strength is a powerful example that flourishing isn't found in perfection but in faithfulness. So wherever this finds you today, whether you're in a season of doubt, waiting, transition or heartbreak, remember this you are seen, you are loved, and God is not finished with your story. Thank you all for joining us today. Joan again, thank you for your time. We wish you safe travels home and please remember to continue to share our show. There's someone out there who can be impacted by Joan's story.
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