I Raised Her in Faith—But God Had to Reach Her Himself

She grew up in church. She knew all the answers. Her mom was in ministry. But she did not truly know Jesus — not until college.
In this vulnerable and hope-filled episode of Encounters at the Well, I sit down with my daughter, Alli, to share our story from both sides.

We talk honestly about what it was like raising her in the faith, watching her attend church, serve, and say all the right things — yet still knowing in my heart that she was not saved. And we share the powerful moment God met her at a Christian university, far from the expectations and routines she was raised in.

If you are a mom who has prayed for years and is still waiting for salvation to become real in your child’s life, this episode is for you. We talk about the weight of waiting, the peace that comes when we let go of control, and the truth that only God can awaken a heart.

You will hear us talk about:

• Growing up in church without a personal relationship with Jesus
 • The unspoken pressure and loneliness of being a ministry kid
 • What true salvation looks like when it finally becomes real
 • How parents can pray without striving or fear
 • Encouragement for the mom still waiting for breakthrough

This is a story of patient prayer, surrendered motherhood, and the faithfulness of a God who always finishes what He starts.

Connect with Amy at www.hopeandhealinglifecoach.com

Follow on Facebook: Hope and Healing Christian Life Coaching

Website: www.hopeandhealinglifecoach.com

Email: amydonathan@hopeandhealing.faith

Website:  www.hopeandhealinglifecoach.com

Email:  amydonathan@hopeandhealing.faith

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, and welcome back to another episode of Encounters at the Well. I'm your host, Amy Donathan, and I am so glad that you're here with me today. I just want to let you guys know this episode is very close to my heart because it is with my daughter Allie. We are sharing our story of faith and church life and how even though she grew up in the church from the womb and was surrounded by the word and had a mom who served in ministry, it wasn't until college that she gave her life to Jesus. So if you're a mom listening right now, maybe you've been praying for your child for years and wondering why they haven't surrendered their heart to Christ yet. I just want to tell you that this is a conversation for you. I hope it brings you hope, encouragement, peace, and the reminder that God's timing is perfect and that your prayers matter and your example matters. And most of all, Jesus is faithful to pursue their hearts. So, Allie, thank you for joining me and wanting to be a part of this podcast. I am excited that you are a part of it and are willing to come on and have this real conversation with me. Yeah. I think that's one advantage of having adult kids is that we can have real, honest conversations. So, what are your earliest memories of church growing up?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

I thought about this question really hard when you shared it with me. And one of the first things is actually being at First Baptist Columbia. Is it not Columbia? O'Fallon. First Baptist O'Fallon. I remember being in the playroom, and then there was the big playground in the church, but I don't remember them all of that. And then we moved to Missouri, and that's my start. Actually, I remember like learning things. So we had I started being old enough to go to Sunday school and having, you know, the little felt characters that we used to tell the stories and stuff. So yeah, just Sunday school was a lot of them, and then a little bit of nursery, but not much. That was like the very early, early ones. Is every Sunday we would go no matter what, get up, put our nice clothes on, go to church.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

I think at that time we were going most Sunday evenings and Wednesday evenings.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yeah, I I definitely remember the Sunday nights because you were the youth leader in Missouri. So, like, I think it was one of those, like, we went because mom was working, and so like we would sit in the pews with like something, like I think Sam was that was around too, and like you would work with the youth and we would watch.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

So back then, what did you believe about God and salvation and Christianity as a kid? Don't think it quite.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

I think from the ages of like, you know, three, when I was sort of aware enough of things to six, I didn't really quite, I wasn't quite cognizant enough to for it all to click with me of like this is what I mean. It was just like, okay, Jesus was a man, he he lived, he told all these stories, like this is really important, uh, and he died and he came back to life. And that's what Easter's for. That's why we do all like I see it in the Easter plays. And so like I was aware of it, but I don't know if it like I don't think I was like quite mentally awake enough to understand belief in it. It's just a thing that happened. So I think once I got a little older, that was when like, okay, this is a thing that my parents believe in. Because I remember vividly remember you like crying during service one time and going up to the altar. And I remember that was like, okay, when things are bad, like that's like you go to pray. That's what you do. So I think around like I started to realize, okay, this is something people have to believe in as well. Because I didn't quite get the Jesus in your heart. That never clicked with me when I was young.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Okay, so I don't think I've ever asked you this question. But what was it like being the daughter of a mom who was involved in ministry? VBS, youth group. You probably don't remember preschool me being involved in preschool, but I know definitely vacation Bible school every year. We did vacation Bible school and youth group being the youth I was the youth leader when we were in Windsor, and then when we went to Turkey. Um, and you were actually in my youth group in Turkey. So, what was it like for you to be my daughter then?

SPEAKER_01 4:12

When you were the head of youth, it was it was like good and bad. Cause I was like, it was cool because all the youth kids were over, and I was like, I have all these big siblings now, and it's because my mom's the youth leader, like this is awesome. But at the same time, there was like, and I don't think I was old enough to realize it, and like looking back now, I'm like, I definitely put that stress on myself. I a little bit of it felt like, okay, like the pastor's kid syndrome, like, all right, well, my my mom is the youth leader, so I have to be perfect. I have to be, you know, saved as well. Cause mom might not still be the youth leader if her own kid isn't, you know, saved. And then you know getting older and like Club Beyond and Turkey and all the VBF stuff, it was just that went from being pastor's kid to like being the teacher's kid, like, well, my mom's the teacher, so I get like favoritism because I get to win every game because it's my mom. Um, and it was less like faith aspect and more like physical, like, well, my mom's the teacher. I know her, I know the teacher better than everyone else here. And Club be Club Beyond was I it was just very different. I loved, I miss Club, I miss Club Beyond so much. It was just very different. Like, cause it was you, but also I feel like we heard from we had a lot of other leaders as well. So it wasn't just my mom's in charge, it's I have all these, you know, I still call them aunts and uncles now that like I can listen to. Because I was a rotten 12-year-old who didn't want to listen to her mom when I was in Club Beyond.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yeah, pretty more pretty sure you had a note on your door that said everybody's allowed in your room, but your mom. Yeah, but you did have a lot of good influences, I agree, through Club Beyond that helped shape you, but still no salvation.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

And I think even then, too, it was less my my focus was so much more on less being saved and more just being a good person. Like I see all these good things that these people are doing. I can be a good person. I can be a good person, it'll be fine. And salvation was just never, never quite there. Um and I think I've thought I've thought a lot about this the past several weeks. Um I think it wasn't until I was like 13, 14 that I sort of like wrestled with the fact that I don't think I actually got saved ever. And so like the whole time I was like, well, yeah, I I I went up to the front when I was five or six, said the things, did the things, and I was when I was like 13, 14, I was like, I don't think I actually believe in any of this. I think I'm just going through the motions because I don't have another choice. Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Because when we were in Windsor, Missouri, you did all the stuff. You did Bible drill and you did Sunday school and you did girls on the run. You did what was what was the girl group? GAs, girls in action. Yeah, girls in action. You did girls in action. Um went to vacation bible school every year. So yeah, you did all the things.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Yeah. And I back to the um putting the pressure on myself that wasn't actually theirs. People call it nowadays people pleasing. Because I remember like that moment when I got when I it was when we were in Missouri, and I had a friend's mom come up to me at the end of service, and she's like, you know, my daughter really wants to go up to the front and you know, say that she's accepted Jesus, but she doesn't want to go by herself and she doesn't want her mom to go with her. Will you go with her? And I was the good friend. I was like, Yeah, of course I'll go with her. And I remember the lady asked, like, oh, did you both get saved? And in that moment I went, I can't say no now because my mom's the youth leader, and you don't come up here unless you're like saying these things. And so I said yes, and she wrote my name down, and like I remember like everyone kept was like coming up and shaking my hand of like welcome, welcome to the faith, welcome to the faith, and like welcome, little sister and stuff. Like, well, I'm in it now. Like I said it, I guess I can see if I really like not see if I really believe it, but like, I guess I've accepted it now. And I think at that age, I was like, okay, cool, I've accepted it. And then once I got older, it's like, oh, I said yes, but I didn't actually like believe any of it. I'm just really good at going through the motions.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

You you were, and you you did all this stuff, and and even when we moved back to Illinois from Turkey, I still I wasn't the youth leader, but I still worked with the youth and did a lot of stuff with the youth because at that time you and Sam were in the youth. We're at youth group age. And so I worked with other people on that. And and you did all the stuff there too. And you worked vacation Bible school, and you every time we had youth group, you were at youth group. And every time we had a youth event, you were at a youth event. And you sang with the youth choir, and you played instruments, and you did everything that a good Christian girl would do. You did it, but still your heart wasn't turned to Jesus yet. So fast forward a few years, you've graduated high school and off to Liberty University, 12 hours away. You could have went three, but you went 12. But it makes me proud because that's my alma mater. So yeah. You went to Liberty.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

And also, I don't think we'd be having this conversation if I only went three hours away.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Probably not. But I mean, God can do great things. Yeah. But he did, he did take you to Liberty. So tell me about your time at Liberty. What was going on in your heart during that season?

SPEAKER_01 9:28

I think it was definitely just like it wasn't like like things at home were fine. Things at home were great. I just needed to get away. Because I had, oh gosh, I think that summer I had another friend group that I was really close with fall apart. And um I had ultimately given up on church because that was where, you know, all the mean people were, but we kept going and talking to people. And so I was just, I felt like I was surrounded by like, I think I I remember leaving and had I was like, I have two friends. I had like so many others. I had two friends. Now I'm moving 12 hours away, and I don't think I'm gonna try and make more. I think I'm just gonna fly under the radar. I think my roommate, my freshman year roommate, we actually met before we both went to Liberty. And so I was like, I'll be friends with my roommate because we know each other. We're both like not sure about this God thing, even though we're going to the biggest Christian college in the United States. In the world in the world, we'll fly under the radar. It will be totally fine. I have faked it for 19 years. I can keep doing it. And so that's what I did. I was like, I just want to get out of here. Need a new new place, need people to not know who I am, and the people I hung out with, I just need out. And so I remember going as my the little crime scene investigation freshman who was gonna go into the police academy as soon as she got out of college and just be like, I'm not gonna go to anything, I don't have to. That's what I did. I just I didn't want to make new friends, and I didn't want to be around people because I've been hurt so much in the past two years. It's like I just need out. And I mean, I tried my best to not make friends, but God had other plans, and I ended up still having like friends I still have today, and they, those people that I was expecting to be hurt by here at college were the ones who were like, hey, why don't you come to Wednesday night service? Why did you start coming to that? And so I started going and I was hesitant against it, and we would always leave, and I would pick my poor small group leader's brain apart every night with all my doubts afterwards. I she was such a godly woman, and I'm so glad God put her in my life. I feel so terrible for how I picked her brain apart, and there were times she just had to be like, I don't know. See how I was I just I wanted out and I wanted to just not be around people.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Okay. So when did you realize what Jesus did for you on the cross and how you needed it?

SPEAKER_01 12:02

It wasn't like it wasn't a long process. It happened, I want to say, the night that I got saved. I just I remember I was at, it was September 19th of 2019. I was at uh campus community at Liberty University, and I was just listening to this sermon. I had been going for a couple weeks now um with some friends, but I just remember sitting there and just going, there is no other option. And I don't need to have all the answers. This God is not the people who have who have caused all the hurt in the past. Because we had been hurt by church quite a bit. And that was, I think, where a lot of my doubt came. I was like, you know, my parents are these really strong Christians and they're so nice, but then we go to church where it's supposed to be this holy place, and everyone's so mean to us. Um just like there is no other option, and this is not this is not God, that's people. I think that was the big thing. It was like, this is people, this is not God, and it was in that moment, I was like, there's no other option. I have to be saved, or I'm gonna it's gonna be even worse. So it wasn't, yeah, it wasn't some grand like God speaking to me. It was just all right, this is it, this is what I'm picking.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Okay, so can you look back at growing up, being a kid of a mom who worked in church all of your life and see how God prepared your heart all those years? Do you see like some correlation to how you grew up and then how you accepted Jesus?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Yes, because my big like I knew all the answers in my head growing up, like I knew I could I could answer everything, but it never quite made it to my heart. And so that like like growing up, I had all the knowledge. I knew how everything worked, almost everything worked. I still am learning things today, um, but I knew all the things, and so I think having all of that knowledge and then coming and then getting that like head-to-heart connection of all right, you know everything. This is what it actually means now. That was what I needed here that how I grew up helped prepare me for that.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Okay. Um, so now I want to turn it and kind of just talk a little bit about what my perspective was of you growing up. And because I think a lot of moms, we want so much for our kids to be saved. I knew you weren't saved when you went off to college. I knew it. I thought you were when you went forward, but then the older you got, the more I could see not the fruit that you were supposed to have. And so I knew that you were just going through the motions and checking off the boxes because you're my kid. And that's what we did. And so I prayed for you, and I still pray for you, you know, for years just for God to get a hold of you. And I remember, like we were talking earlier before we got on, that in your early teens, I worried so much about what I was doing wrong, how I could reach you better, what I needed to do, what kind of example I needed to be, and and how I was lacking in all of that because you weren't saved. Like it was in my control to save you, and I was failing. And so I just wondered, you know, what I needed to do different and how I needed to do different. And then when you got to be older, your later teens, before you went to college, I just kind of gave it to God and said, I have prayed all of these prayers in your will. And you say in your word that you don't want anybody to perish. Like that is not what you want. And so I have prayed for you to get a hold of her. So I am going to expect that that's what you're gonna do. And not in a pushy God, you're my genie way, but in a you are a God who loves my daughter and you want her to be saved, and I want her to be saved. So that's what's gonna happen. And it was hard to let that go because I really just wanted you to be saved because I knew what kind of life that you were gonna have if you weren't, and I knew what kind of life you're gonna have if you were. But waiting on God's timing is not my strong suit. I want what I want when I want it, like a two-year-old. And it's usually now. It could happen now, and it didn't. For moms out there that are listening that are still in this place, faithfully parenting, faithfully praying, and still waiting. My words to you would be to look at who God is and look at what kind of father he is. He loves you, he loves your kids more than you do, which is hard to even wrap your mind around. But I didn't understand, have the understanding of God as much as I do now. Not that it's a lot, but it's more after I became a parent, and I know how much I love my kids. Allie, I I love you so much, and I don't care what you say to me. I know like year 12 of your life was really hard for us. You did not like me, and I was not a fan of you sometimes. Although the sign on your door did make me laugh. Because I'm like, well, that's fine. I don't want to go in your room anyway. It's messy. So, but it didn't matter. Like, none of that mattered in my love for you. I didn't stop loving you because we were at odds. That never, ever, ever changed. And it never will change. Like you could tell me today that you hate me. It's not gonna change how I feel about you. And so to put in perspective God's feelings towards us and our kids, in that perspective of he loves us so much, and nothing we can ever do will make him stop. And all I was called to do was be a godly mom. That's it. And try to be a good example and not a perfect one. It's very far from that, but to be an example of what loving Jesus is like and let God do the rest. And so that's what I would tell parents. Like just keep doing what you're doing, knowing that your prayers for your kids are within God's will, but his timing is always best. And I don't know the whole reason for the timing why it took you going to liberty to be saved, but there there is a purpose, and I know that God has a purpose for everything, and it's not just willy-nilly, okay, I think it's time for her to be saved. We'll do it now. No, there is a specific purpose for why it happened that way. And so, and I'm okay with that because I trust who God is and I trust that he loves you and wanted you saved. And so now prayer, prayer is different now. Like I'm not praying for your salvation anymore. I pray for wisdom and discernment as you make decisions in your adult life, that you listen to God. I pray blessings, I pray conviction on your life if you're going in a way that you shouldn't be going, which doesn't sound like a very nice prayer, but we all need convicted when we're going in the wrong way. Mm-hmm. And so that's and praying for you all of those years. I mean, God listened to them, and he does. Like our prayers matter when you look in the Bible of the friends that lowered their friend down through the hole. I mean, they climbed on a roof, they cut a hole, they lowered their friend down, they got down with him, and Jesus looked at them and said, Because of your faith, he is saved. And so to me, that means that our prayers as parents for our kids matter to Jesus. Our faith that Jesus is the only one that can save you, and Jesus is is who you need for in your life that matters to him. That we believe that. And so with that, you know, you get saved and however that looks. Moving on, how would you describe your relationship with Jesus now?

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Obviously, good. It's it's still growing. I've been now saved for six years. Um, and it's still constantly growing. Um gosh, I had a really good answer for this before the podcast. It's constantly growing, and it's so I am you know me. If I'm driving, I'm gonna call somebody and talk to them. It's just how I like to drive. And that has been like more recently now, and also like like it's just he's just someone I talk to now, which is wild. Because I remember trying to do that growing up, and I was like, I'm talking to myself. Like just just like I I feel heard and like I see things, and like I'll I'll be talking to him in the car, and then I'll journal or I'll read my Bible, and I'm like, here's your answer. This is this is what I need to see. Um and it's definitely the the spiritual side that did not click with very logical alley post-svation. It's just it's it's been growth and having like people who will come alongside me as well, like my husband or my really close friends who also like strengthen my faith. Not that you and dad didn't, but you guys were my parents. And so having not parents who get to love me by choice and not because I'm their daughter come alongside me and like help me with this has been also just immensely and wonderful to have.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Yeah, and and as a mom, I can see as much as it hurt my heart for you to move so far away because you were my buddy, my musical buddy, my book buddy. And we would go do stuff together all the time. In your later teens, we got along really well. I felt like maybe my my perception was different than your perception, but I feel like we were good buddies. No, we were. Don't worry. Okay. I'm glad we have the same perception. And so, because your your dad and your brother, they don't really care about any of that. Those things that we both loved. And so you you moved away, you know, you're just part of my heart that that moved 12 hours away. But I can see God's plan because I would not give up you getting having to go to liberty to get saved for anything. Like if if you having to move to China is what would have saved you, then I'm like helping you pack your bags because that is something, you know, I have that sign in my office that says everything is figure outable. Dying without Jesus is the only thing that's not figure outable because if that happens, it's it. And so, and you know, like I have drilled that into you all all your life that everything is figure outable when you call with problems. I'm like, it's figure outable, we'll get it figured out. That was one thing that I'm like, we can't figure this out. And it was out of my control. And for moms, I think that's hard because we want to control, and not always in a bad way, but in In a way that we can see that gives you a a good life, and we can't force salvation. I think that is so hard as a parent to know that we can't force you to be saved. So, how is it for you to have such a personal faith now? Like, what is different? It's it's figure outable now.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Like I have I can have everything just one of my big deals, everything just going to crap. Nothing is going right. But I know that I know that I know that in the end everything's gonna be okay. Which that sort of faith is incredibly helpful. And like even when like I'm like, I like I'm I being a teacher, I would in the day be like, I can't do this, I can't do this, but like God can. And he put me here for a reason, so I need to do it. So, like having that, I'm the only one he tells those things to. He doesn't tell them to my husband, he doesn't tell them to any other teachers, he may tell them similar things, but like I am his child. Just like you don't parent me and my me, you don't parent me and my brother the same way. You can't parent us the same way, or else it would not have worked. And so knowing that I have like a father who took time to make me and make me the way I am with all my little quirks and bells and whistles, like, and then when I struggle with those things, he's there to help me through it, or he's there to show me like, here's why you have this, here's what you because I love helping people, here's why you have this, here's how you can use that to help people. So it's having that like connection that I know no one else has. That is a very good way to put that. You were saying earlier, which anyone who listens to this, this has been one of my favorite parts of my salvation story is I have like, you know, why did it take 19 years? I don't know. But I have friends now who work in ministry and take my story and find kids who were like me and know now, like, hey, like I my best friend in depth asked me all the a bunch of questions about it so that when she works in ministry with her husband, she knows how to talk to those kids who were like me, who their dad's a deacon, their mom works on the worship team. They don't believe in any of it. So, like, I I'm even with my salvation story, I'm able to see how I can help other people.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Which is why I started this podcast is because I God has put us in places and and you know, we have friends all over the world and to have conversations with people to help other women or parents who are in the same spot that need to hear the story so that it doesn't, it's weird. It doesn't make me happy that it took you 19 years, but it makes me happy that God never does anything in vain. Everything he uses as a as a means to help other people to know him. And so I'm glad that we have had that we have a relationship where we can talk like this and really be be real and talk about you growing up and and uh having me as a mom, which I know was stressful sometimes, but but that we are still friends now as adults and and what God has done in your life. So what encouragement do you have for young women who grew up in church but haven't had the personal transformation yet? Who are just wondering, or maybe even down on themselves, like, why hasn't it happened yet? Like, why can't I get there?

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Don't okay, don't push yourself. Don't, don't, God's gonna do it, it's gonna be on God's time, it's not gonna be on your time. Because if I could have gotten saved and had the realizations about how I grew up and what I went through. 25 now, so eight years ago, that would have been awesome. But I didn't, and now I can go back and look. One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis, and he wrote a spiritual biography that really helped me post-salvation of like, I didn't have this great transformation that you hear about and all these testimonies. He was in a motorcade, like the side of a motorbike on the way to the zoo when it hit him about his salvation. I'm pretty sure it's been a minute since I read that book, but like it's not gonna be this grand thing. Don't it it is a grand thing when you get safe, but you it doesn't have to be some long drawn-out trial. It can be in the moment, just like in your room going, okay, God, what else is there that he can grab you? It doesn't have to be anything grand, anything, just taking that first tiny step, faith of a mustard seed, the tiniest step to just have faith that he can get you. It doesn't have to be huge and grand. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

I think that's important. It's important for people to know because we read so many stories of like, God talked to me, or he sent this or he did this. And for a lot of people, it is not like that. Until you know God, it is hard to realize the fact that he will talk to you and tell you in a way that you will understand because he is like you were talking earlier, he is intimate with you because you are his child. And so he talks to you in a way that you will understand because he's not a god of confusion. So to me, I think he needs to come down and have coffee with me face to face, but he doesn't, but he does tell me things in ways that I do understand or give me revelations in ways that I do understand, and it's not always big, and so I like that you said that that it's not always gonna be like this grand show, it's gonna be more of a whatever you need and however you need it is how he's gonna give it to you, just like raising kids. And you're absolutely right. I did not parent you and Sam the same, you're two different kids, and both of you were angry that I did not parent you the same. You thought he got stuff too early, and he was mad because you got stuff that you got to do stuff that he didn't get to do, as being the younger brother. And so um, I said that I parent you fairly, not equally. All right. Anything else that anybody needs to know?

SPEAKER_01 27:41

To the to the moms listening who they're they're just praying for their kid from the kid's perspective. It's not you. Like you you heard my mom and I talk just now. My mom was like the epitome of perfect Christian woman. She did youth groups, she did BBS, she did all the things, and never like she she did it. She was perfect. I didn't ever not go to the faith or not become saved because of her. It's not the parents, it really is your hard-headed kid who it's not you. We just need to do it. Not we need to do it ourselves, but God is going to do it to us. So just love your kids the best way you can. My mom and I were the best of friends. We still are really good friends. We're best friends still, but it's gonna be on God's time, like we've been saying. And it's not you, it's not the mom or dad's fault who's listening to this.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

So, what I'm hearing is that us parents should just be the parents that God calls us to be and let him take care of our kids. Yes. Okay, so stay in our lane. Yes. Now that is a that is a common theme in my life. God telling me to stay in my lane. So, all right, Allie, thank you. As always, talking to you is is amazing and your insight is amazing. And so thanks for being willing to come on and share your I'm gonna pray us out of here, but thank you again for coming on. Dear Jesus, I thank you for today. I thank you, and feel so blessed to have a relationship with my daughter like you've given me. I thank you for the real talk today about her salvation and your timing. And Lord, I thank you that your timing is perfect, even when I don't understand, but just the acceptance that it is your timing. I thank you for the lessons that you taught both of us through this journey so far about who you are and how much you love us and how to follow you. And I just thank you so much for all that you have done. And I pray expectantly and excitedly for all that you're going to do. And I just pray these things in your name. Amen. Right. I will talk to you later. All right. All right, have a good day. Wow, I told you all that this one was gonna be personal, but I do want to thank my daughter for being so open and honest, and I want to thank you for listening in. If you're a mom who's done everything right, raised your children in church, prayed over them, pointed them to Jesus, been an example, and you're still waiting to see them surrender their heart to him. I see you. I know what it's like because I've been there. And I want to remind you that God's word never returns void. You can rest knowing that his timing is always right and his pursuit is always loving. And if you're listening today and you're the one who's been in church your whole life but never truly given your heart to Jesus, this is your moment. You don't have to earn it, you just have to receive him. Before we go, I'd love to close in another prayer for both the woman who's saved and growing and the one who might be realizing today that she needs a relationship with Jesus. Father, I thank you for the woman listening today who knows you and loves you. I pray that you would continue to deepen her walk with you, strengthen her faith as she waits on your timing, especially if she's praying for a child, a friend, or a loved one to come to you. Remind her that her prayers are powerful and precious to you. Give her your peace, perseverance, and hope. Let her feel your presence today in a fresh way. In Jesus' name, Amen. And for the one who is unsaved. Lord, I pray for the one listening who feels the tug on her heart right now. Maybe she's grown up around church, and maybe this is the first time she's really heard the gospel clearly. Jesus, I thank you that you came to seek and to save the lost. I thank you that you love her and that you died and rose again so she could be forgiven and free. And if that's you today, you can simply pray this with me. Jesus, I know I need you. I've tried to do life my way, but today I want to surrender to you. I believe you died for my sins and rose again. I ask you to forgive me, save me, and make me new. Come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. I want to follow you from this day forward. In your name I pray. Amen. If you prayed that prayer today, I would love to hear from you. You can reach out to me at www.hopeandhealinglifecoach.com or send me a message on Facebook at Hope and Healing Christian Life Coaching. And if this episode encouraged you, would you please do me a favor? Follow the podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a review. That helps more women like you find these stories of hope and healing. Thanks for being here with me today. Until next time, keep praying, keep trusting, and keep showing up in faith.