Joy Inspired Podcast

Season 2: Episode 13 - From Breakdown to Breakthrough: The REBUILD

• Nikki Cruise • Season 2 • Episode 13

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0:00 | 28:56

Episode Summary

In this deeply moving continuation, Nikki Cruise sits down again with Lindsay Stadel to explore what happened after her life-altering moment—and how she rebuilt from the aftermath of pain, loss, and broken relationships.

Lindsay vulnerably shares the reality of living with chronic, excruciating pain after her suicide attempt, the long road to restoring relationships with her children, and the fight to reclaim her life. Through it all, one truth began to anchor her: she is still here for a reason.

From losing custody of her son to rebuilding her family, from silent suffering to boldly sharing her story for 365 consecutive days online, Lindsay’s journey is one of radical resilience. Her message is simple but life-changing:

You are enough. No more proving. No more pretending. Just unapologetically you.

Key Takeaways

  • Survival is a victory. Some days, just being here is the win. 
  • Healing is not instant—it’s a process that requires time, space, and grace. 
  • Pain doesn’t disqualify you from purpose; it can reveal it. 
  • Being honest about your emotions is part of healing, not weakness. 
  • Your story has the power to save someone else. 
  • Breakdowns can lead to breakthroughs when you choose to keep going. 

Scriptures

  • Psalm 34:18 – “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
  • Isaiah 43:2 – “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”
  • Romans 8:28 – “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him.”
  • Deuteronomy 31:6 – “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Encouragement for Your Journey

  • If you’re in a hard place right now, this is your reminder:
  • You don’t have to have it all together to keep going.
  • You are allowed to feel the weight of your emotions—but you are not meant to stay there. Acknowledge the pain, bring it to God, and take the next step forward.
  • Even when the storm doesn’t immediately pass, you can still find peace within it.
  • And if today feels heavy, remember this truth: If you are still here, you are already winning.

Root Check Questions to Reflect On

  • Where in my life am I feeling overwhelmed, and have I truly acknowledged it? 
  • Am I allowing myself to feel emotions, or am I suppressing them? 
  • Where might God be calling me to share my story or step out in courage? 
  • What would it look like for me to believe—even a little—that I am enough? 

Connect With Guest

Social Media: Lindsay Stadel
Email: lindsaystadel@gmail.com

Free Resource for Listeners: From Breaking Point to Breakthrough. A Guide to Protect Your Mind, Strengthen Your Faith, and Find Purpose in the Pain

Click here to download!

Stay Connected with Nikki:

Closing Encouragement:

 “You were created for a unique purpose. When you invite God into your business, you step into a calling that impacts eternity. Remember, alignment doesn’t mean perfection—it’s a journey of trust, surrender, and joy.”

Until next time, stay blessed, stay joyful, and keep walking in your purpose!

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to the Joy-Inspired Podcast. I'm Mickey Cruz, and I'm thrilled to explore with you what it means to walk in a faith-infused business. This is your space to find powerful tools and insights, to build with resilience and to create impact through your unique purpose, discovering a joy that only God can provide. Together, let's embrace a business journey anchored in faith and empowered by joy. Let's jump in. Well, hello there, folks. If you heard last week's episode, then you are going to be expectantly waiting to hear more from our amazing guest, Lindsay Stadle. If you're new here, I'm your host, Nikki Cruz, of the Joy Inspired Podcast. And it's the place where we bring our faith into our lives and businesses and live in abundant joy by choice. But you know what? We don't always make the right choices in life. And last week's episode shared Lindsay's story where she threw herself from a truck in an attempt to commit suicide. And she succeeded, but she's still here. So go back, listen to that episode. But now tune in for a little bit more about that and to see how God can redeem anything. Because as she said last week, Lindsay, what is the words that you tell everybody?

SPEAKER_01

You are enough.

SPEAKER_00

And you are enough. So let's hear why and how this incredible woman who felt like and didn't think she was worth anything now shares that message with the world. You know, Lindsay, on your guest form, you gave me three powerful questions to ask. And I want to honor those. You shared last week a little bit about having self-committed yourself for treatment for anxiety, depression, mental disorder. And that was after you had basically ripped all the nerves out of your spine, which happened when you threw yourself out of that truck. And at that point your life was in chaos. You were on suicide watch. And you know, did you think about your kids just after that? I know you mentioned it last week. How did that factor into your turning point?

SPEAKER_01

You know, I I didn't I didn't think of my kids before I jumped. I thought of them when I woke up in the hospital because of my daughter. And when I decided that I had purpose here, that was when I realized that I needed to be a better mother. I needed to be a present mother for my children. And when I got out of the um mental hospital, I tried repairing the relationship with my daughter because she had gone through a lot of trauma herself living through all of this with me, right alongside of me. And, you know, honestly, we we didn't talk very much for a couple years because I needed time for my mental health, she needed time for her mental health, but I also lost custody of my son. I had shared custody prior to the incident, but after the incident, his father basically filed for emergency custody and he got it. So it took me from September of 2017 all the way till March of 2020 to get custody of my son back. During that time, I did see, I did have visitation, supervised visitation with my son one hour a week. And then it turned to three hours. But in all of that rebuilding the relationship chaos that I had caused myself, I was also living with excruciating pain. This injury, brachioplexus injury, by tearing the nerves out of my arm, my brain is sending out pain signals and it won't shut off. I live, you know, when you go into the hospital, they ask you, like at the ER, what's your pain level? Zero to 10, 10 being the the worst. I say 100 because I there are times that my pain is so severe that it takes me down to the floor. I am down on the floor in tears. It might only be for a couple seconds, it might be for 10 minutes. And during this whole time, during all of the pain, I did ask myself, is it worth it? Should I continue? I can't live in this much pain all day, every day for years. I I can't do it. At that time, I couldn't do it. But I knew I had to. But as the years passed, I rebuilt the relationship with my daughter. I got custody of my son back. I rebuilt the relationship with my best friend's two older boys. They brought me in, they accepted me, flaws and all. And I turned into their stepmother. Because in April of 2020, my best friend and I got married.

SPEAKER_00

Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. You know, he my my husband sat by my bedside after every surgery, sat in the waiting room, fearing the worst while I was in surgery. But he never left my side and he never let me think that I was not enough. Anytime that I told him, I'm, I just can't do this. I I can't handle this anymore. I can't do this. He said, Yes, you can. You can because you are. You are doing it, and that's something to be proud of. So I fought. I fought hard. I've been on several different prescription medications trying to dull the pain enough that I could work in the office and help with our four amazing businesses, which at the time there was only two. So since my husband and I got married, we have started two other businesses, which brought us to the four. And we also have seen both of his oldest boys, my bonus sons, get married. We've seen my daughter get married. We've seen our oldest boy and his wife start a family, my grandson and my granddaughter. We've seen my daughter and her husband, my other bonus son, have a family, start a family, my granddaughter. And every time I think that I am not enough, I'm gonna turn my camera just for a moment. Every time that I'm not enough, I look at that big picture on the wall is my life. That is who I'm living for. That picture on the wall includes extended family, you know, my my bonus daughters' families. It includes my husband's ex-wife and her husband. And I've had people ask me, Lindsay, why do you have a picture of your husband's ex-wife on your wall? And I tell them it's because she's my family. We share kids, we share grandkids. I grew up in a in a divorced household, and I did not want separate Christmases, separate Thanksgivings. I didn't want my grandkids to be pulled multiple different directions. So we get together for every holiday, for every big event. We're all there, and we get along fine. We didn't at first. Don't think there wasn't any bumps in the road, because there was. There there were several, but we get along great now. And I have to I look at that picture every day and remind myself that that is why I'm here.

SPEAKER_00

No, Lindsay, what you say is so powerful, and I love that you shared that it wasn't all hunky-dory right from the start. Just like your life wasn't, it's sometimes a battle to get to where you want. The question is, are you going to hold on long enough to see the fruit? Because so often you're right there, and you might feel like it's not worth it. But when you have that beautiful vision in front of you, the vision God's placed in your heart of how your life should be, then you see that. So Lindsay, you've rebuilt so much, and that saying, that incredibly powerful saying you have, you are enough. No more proving, no more pretending, just apologetically, you you that revelation came to you as you as you healed, as you stepped closer into God. But when did you finally believe it for yourself?

SPEAKER_01

I finally believed it for myself the day that my husband and I got married because I knew from day one that he was never gonna let me go through this alone. But and I didn't need a ring on my finger to believe it. You know, I believed it from day one, but I knew that I had what my partner in crime, he was gonna help me no matter what, and he has, he's driven me to Mayo Clinic multiple times when and we've got another Mayo clinic visit coming up at the end of the year for another surgery, but he's never let me go through this alone, no matter what kind of day I'm having, he's never let me go through this alone. So, yeah, it was April of 2020 that I realized that yes, I am here for a reason. I'm done being scared of telling my story, I'm done trying to hide my story because my story could be the story that someone else hears and it saves them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. And it takes so much courage to share this. And what I love about you, Lindsay, is you don't wear it as a badge of honor, you wear it as a fact, it's part of your life. You don't carry the shame of it, you carry the pain of it, but that is pain that is still there. And this may seem like a weird question, but if you could go back, would you make the same decision? Yes, and what would you tell your past self in that moment?

SPEAKER_01

I would love to get rid of the pain. I would love to go back to that day and get rid of the pain, get rid of the immobility of my arm. But if I hadn't have done that that night with my best friend who got me to the help that I needed, I would have been successful another night when I was by myself. So, yes, I would love to get rid of all the pain. I would love to have the use of my left arm again. Would I change what I did that night? Honestly, no. Because I am so much healthier mentally now than I've ever been in my entire life. And it was because I was with my best friend, and he helped me get the help that I needed. He saved me, he became my savior. And see, last week we talked about that. I told you that I my best friend would turn into my savior because that night he saved me.

SPEAKER_00

And you know, you folks hear this. Lindsay is certainly not saying go out and make this attempt so that you can get the help you need. What she is saying is she doesn't regret because she has grown as a result, she doesn't have to live in shame. But what she is saying is be around people who care, be around the people who can give you the support you want, and they may not understand. Let people know, let them hear you. And Lindsay, you've come out and you've shared this really personal story, and it's deeply personal, and you share it publicly. Why now and why this message? Because I know this is new to you, standing up and sharing the story.

SPEAKER_01

September 2024. She got me in touch with Emilio Roman, and she told me that Emilio Roman is part of the Born to Risk movement, and he's a publisher, he's an author, he's an amazing person. So we began talking. I was I told him my story, and he told me that he wanted my story in his book. So I talked to my husband about it. I'm not sure that I want to do this, but maybe it's time for me to take that step. So I said yes, but he also challenged me to go live on Facebook for 30 days and really talk about anything, but share or incur incorporate my story in every single talk that I that I gave. So hesitantly I said yes, and on September 19th, 2024, the first day I hit live, go live, and I spoke. And then I did it again and again and again. There were some days that my son, 16, well, back then he would have been 15 years old, went live for me because my pain was so severe that I could not bring myself to get on camera. But he did it, and we together, he did it a couple times, but together we went live on Facebook for 365 days. I was given a 30-day challenge, and on September 19th of 2025, I went live for day 365.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_01

And it was then that day was my first public appearance, and it was that day that I realized that my story had power and that my story showed resilience and healing and the grace of God. And so I knew I knew that I needed to share it to the world.

SPEAKER_00

And you know, that's something new. You didn't just wake up one day and say, I'm gonna share the story, and you're not all healed and all better physically, emotionally, or anything, because folks, none of us are, and it's the joy, it's choosing joy and to live in gratitude and to recognize God's presence in our life in those hard times that gets us through there. Remember, joy isn't the glitter or the confetti at the end of the journey, joy is the strength that gets you through the journey. And Lindsay, you've said something that hits me right in my heart. You say, I win every day that I am still here. Yes, tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01

Every day, the pain that I have would be so easy for me to say I give up. I can't take it anymore, I don't want to do this anymore. But every day I get up and I'm thankful that I open my eyes. I'm thankful that I get to be here because of the people in the picture that I showed you. And I'm thankful that even with my pain, I have realized how strong I am. My pain threshold today is far higher than my pain threshold was before my incident. I would get a splinter and I'd be in tears, and it was the end of the world. That's I mean, I had no tolerance for pain whatsoever. But I will not let this pain take get me down. I I was having a very mentally difficult day uh a few days ago, and I told my husband, I can't do this anymore. And he said, Stop right there. What do you mean? I said, No, not in that aspect. I said, I told you I would never do that again, and that I would never think that way again. I promised you that. I'm just having a day that I need to cry, I need to yell, I need to shout, I need to, you know. And he listened to the whole thing, and he supported me through it, and he let me have my he let me, you know, feel my emotions, he let me have my tears, and he supported me through that whole thing.

SPEAKER_00

And those days come and go for all of us, yes, you may not see that it's as severe, and don't you dare discount what you feel because you see what Lindsay goes through. Yes, stay in gratitude, but don't discount your own pain. And it's okay to have those moments, it's not okay to stay there.

SPEAKER_01

Correct.

SPEAKER_00

If you don't acknowledge your pain and where you're at, you're just shoving it down and you don't deal with it. If you recognize it, acknowledge it, take it to the Lord, you can sit with it for a moment and then move on. Don't ignore your pain, folks. And Lindsay, my friend, you are on the rise. So what goals are you walk working towards at the moment? And where do you feel God is stretching you right now?

SPEAKER_01

At the moment, I am working on getting on to more podcasts. I am working on becoming a published, well, I am a published and award winning published author already in the Born to Risk uh book. But I have three other books that are. Are upcoming in like the next six months. And so that's one of my you know short-term goals. But I'm also working towards being on live stages and actually in front of people, not just through a virtual stage, you know, and being able to have the people in my audience really feel me because they're right there. And working towards becoming a breakthrough coach because, yeah, I I had thought about it. I do I want a coach? Is that the path that I'm going down? What would what kind of coach would I be? Well, I don't want to be an emotional support coach because I don't want people thinking that they can't come to me if they're not needing emotional support. I don't want to be a mental health coach because I'm not licensed. I'm not a doctor, a therapist, a licensed therapist, none of that. I don't have any of those letters after my name. So that was when you helped me, Nikki. You helped me realize the kind of coach I wanted to be by helping me with really naming I naming it because I went through a breakdown and I had a breakthrough. And there are people out there who are breaking down in whatever aspect, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, um, job-related, you know, just you can break down over anything, but you need someone to help you break through. So it was with your help, Nikki, that I decided that I wanted to be a breakthrough coach.

SPEAKER_00

I think that every time you open your mouth and share your story and share your inspiration and share your wisdom, you know, in that gift that you give out. When you share all of that, you are helping people step into their breakthrough. So that it's amazing to see you doing that. So, folks, you know, do you see how this woman stands resiliently? But she doesn't stand alone, she stands in the strength and power of God with him as her foundation and in a community of people who love her. That's where we get to stand. Your story is gonna touch so many people, and I do believe as they listen to this, there's going to be somebody who hears this that is one decision away from giving up. And I pray that you would receive this message and you are a lighthouse to people walking through storms that you know all too well, and your message that you are enough is a healing in that storm. And folks, just remember that the storm doesn't necessarily pass in the moment, but you can find peace in the storm. Yes, and remember that a storm is something temporary that only remains momentarily. The things do pass, and often we can't see beyond that. So, Lindsay, thank you so much for your message. The way God is using you, your obedience, He's using you powerfully, purposely, and so incredibly beautifully. Thank you for showing up, for telling the truth, and for the reminder to us in the world that survival is a victory, too. Sometimes we don't see that as a victory. We say, I'm just surviving. For some of us in a moment, surviving is the victory. Folks, if you want to connect with Lindsay, all her links are in the show notes. Go show her some love, follow her on Facebook. Hey, you've got 365 at least that you can catch up on that she's already done, and just support the incredible work that she's doing. And don't forget, you may know somebody who needs to hear this. Share it with them. Put your comments in. We will be watching. So, Lindsay, before we close off, any last words for our viewers?

SPEAKER_01

I'm gonna use my my saying again because that's kind of became my tagline. You are enough. No more proving, no more pretending, just unapologetically, you wow folks.

SPEAKER_00

Let that land. Let it just sit, let it land. Thank you so much all for tuning into another episode of the Joy and Svive podcast. And yes, sometimes conversations are heavy, and that's okay, because they're real and they touch a very special place in our hearts. And in that heaviness, you can still have joy because you know God's got you right in the palm of his hand. Acknowledge where you're at and let him hold you. Go sit right there with him because there will be days when you feel like you're not enough. And God is looking at you saying, You are you, you are perfect, you are enough, and I'm here with you. So just remember, joy isn't a feeling, it's a strategy. Faith isn't a backup plan, it's your blueprint. And you, yes, you who are listening, you are enough. I'm Nikki Cruz, and I will see you next week for another episode of Joy Inspired Podcast. Bye all. Thank you so much for joining me on the Joy Inspi podcast at www.joyinspiredpodcast.com. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so that you can get this and every other episode that comes out. We have lots of great stuff coming, and you don't want to miss it. So make sure to hit that subscribe. I'm so grateful for all the reviews and comments, and I look forward to serving you in next week's episode.