S1E1: Holy Plot Twist: From God-Skeptic to Divine BFF

Hi, my name's Sarah Haykel.  

In this podcast episode, I'm sharing the premise of this podcast: to share the goodness of God in my life after of opening my heart back up to Godin 2014 and what I'm learning on this spiritual path.

This podcast explores connecting with the One True Source, God,—beyond religious boundaries or labels—and discovering the transformative power of surrendering to divine grace, guidance and support.

• God as "the one true source" that transcends religion, gender, and human limitations.
• Moving from seeing God as non-benevolent to recognizing God's innate goodness.
• Working with God doesn't mean life becomes perfect—challenges still exist.
• Connecting with God as friend, confidant, guide, and support system.
• No requirement to join a religion or become a monk/nun to live a consistently, fulfilling spiritual life guided by God.
• Coming from a Christian background while embracing a broader spiritual perspective
• Actively seeking and learning alongside listeners

Please subscribe wherever you listen and consider leaving a review or rating as it helps others discover this kind of support on their spiritual journey.

Go to WelcomingGod.com to sign up on our email newsletter and to share what topics you'd like to hear about in future episodes via the Get In Touch section at the bottom of the page.  

Music by Song Channel Music.  Listen at SongChannelMusic.com

The Four Gospel Journey Class info at JanaRentzel.com.

Transcript

Sarah Haykel 0:05

Hi and thanks for joining me on Welcoming God. Hi and thanks for joining me. My name is Sarah Haykel, host of Welcoming God, a podcast for spiritual seekers. I'm so excited that you're here. I'm totally scared about this podcast and also really looking forward to it. It's something so new for me and I also am still seeking on the journey, exploring, learning about God, about welcoming God into my life and working with God. So I feel like I don't have all the answers here. How can I start a podcast about this?

Understanding God as True Source

Sarah Haykel 0:55

But, to be honest, back in December 2024, I felt an honest, sincere call on my heart to begin sharing about the goodness of welcoming God back into my life over the past 11 years with day. It's so different. It's so different than how I used to live and I really want to share this with you to inspire you and help you along your journey. Now I know the word God can feel triggering for people, polarizing. When I say God, I'm talking about the true source, the one true source, the all that ever is, was and will be say God. They claim God as their own. So I'd like to just broaden the scope, the perspective, a bit and just say that God truly, to me is the one true source, and this God doesn't fit into a box of one religion or another or one gender or another. It's way far beyond that. I actually have no idea what God is. I just know it exists because I see it, I feel it, I hear it working in my life all the time and I want to share with you the goodness of learning to let go and surrender into God's loving embrace and arms, so to speak metaphorically, of course.

Sarah Haykel 2:54

I remember back in 2019, the spiritual coach that I have been working with ever since then asked me do you believe that God is benevolent? And I, first of all, was like benevolent, okay, what does that mean? And that basically means good natured, you know, benevolence, having a good heart, good natured, wanting the best for others. And I said no, I did not believe God was benevolent. I felt betrayed by God. Many times I felt mad, confused. Why didn't I have the life that I'd been working so hard for? Why did others have what I wanted? I just didn't understand. And since we've been working together since 2019, my spiritual coach has really been helping me to understand how God is actually trying to help me in my life. I mean, I'll say, desperately trying to help me because it's persistent and consistent and it just stays there whether I like it or not and it truly is is wanting to give me the best. I truly know now.

Living With God Daily

Sarah Haykel 4:12

When I work with God, it doesn't mean there aren't challenges in life, or hard times or struggles or depression or what I've stressed. Working with God doesn't mean like, oh, everything's hunky dory and like Pollyanna, it's all okay, like shit still happens. We're in human reality here. You know this is a life that is full of ups and downs and good and bad, right and wrong. I mean, that's how we experience life as humans and there's nothing wrong with that. It's part of the human experience. Humans, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's part of the human experience.

Sarah Haykel 5:04

So what I see in God's goodness is that God is trying to do its God. Connect with God, be like best friends with God all day long, every day. God as my rock, as my support system, as my guide, as my friend, my confidant. I mean everything. God truly is the source of it all for me. So I want to explain more about what this is like and how to live this kind of life with the one true source. Does it mean you have to become a nun or a monk? No, does it mean you have to belong to one religion or another? No, you don't have to belong to any religion to truly connect with this one true source. And it is so good that ever thought I would be in this place now loving God, talking about God, so openly, encouraging others to open their hearts and selves to this one true source. I mean, it surprises me all the time I grew up and had a lot of shame about from Christianity, jesus and God and the religion and all of that. And I do come from a Christian perspective and I love a lot of Christianity, I love the things, you know a lot of it. There are things that I don't agree with or don't vibe with. Maybe I don't understand, but there's a lot of goodness there and I mean the teachings of Jesus are just like whoa amazing, and I'm actually learning more about that.

Podcast Structure and Connect With Me

Sarah Haykel 7:00

I'm going to take a course this fall on the Aramaic translations of the four gospels in the Bible with John Arancel and I'm super excited about that, and so I'm actively on the path with you. I'm actively on the path, seeking, learning, growing, healing, experiencing, and that's what I want to share here from my experience and since I can only speak from my experience, that's what I'm committed to trying to share with you is truly what God wants me to share and then what God has a call in my heart to share, so I'm super excited that you're here. As far as the structure of this podcast, I'm going to start out with a seasons approach and the podcast starts on March 18, 2025, and we'll go for eight weeks. But I also know how God works in my life and God definitely inspires me randomly and there most likely will be bonus episodes popped in here and there when I feel called, when I feel inspired. So I'm really just going to go with the flow with this and I hope that you will enjoy riding the wave with me. So just please stay in touch.

Sarah Haykel 8:23

You can subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcasting platform. You can head over to welcominggodcom and sign up for our email newsletter to be updated on new episodes and other things that we're up to regarding Welcoming God and the podcast, and we'll just stay in touch. If you also want to hear me talk about something on this podcast in particular, go to welcominggodcom and you can scroll all the way down the page At the bottom of the page there is a Get In Touch section and you can just fill that out and send me an email and let me know what you want to hear me talk about. So I invite you to share that with me too, as it will help shape the content of this podcast. And I will also use discernment as well, with God, to know is it right to share this? Is it not right or is it not meant for me to share this? So I'll really do my best to work with God in discerning what God wants me to truly share with all of you.

Closing Invitation and Thanks

Sarah Haykel 9:29

I look so forward to embarking on this journey together. Thank you for taking your beautiful, precious time, your one true life, to share these moments with me and, if you like what you're hearing, please share this podcast with others too, as it will help them benefit from this show as well. So I will see you in the next episode. See you in the next episode. Thanks for joining me on another episode of Welcoming God. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen and consider leaving us a review, as it helps more people find and benefit from this show. Music by Song Channel Music. You can listen and hear more at songchannelmusiccom. Until we meet again, aloha, miwi loa, take care, and God bless, thank you.