Under Heaven Podcast: Maegan Kearse - New Life by God's Grace

Under Heaven Podcast, today, shares a deeply personal episode as Trish sits down with Maegan Kearse. She is a young mother of three whose life is a living testimony of God’s redeeming power. Maegan opens up about her journey out of addiction, surrendering her life to the Lord, and the transformation that followed.

Throughout the conversation, Maegan shares how God met her in the middle of her brokenness, restored what she thought was lost, and gave her a new identity rooted in grace rather than shame. Maegan’s story speaks directly to women who feel unseen, overwhelmed, or unsure if change is possible for them.

This episode is an invitation to believe again. It’s a conversation full of hope, healing, and the kind of authenticity that helps women know they are not alone.

If you would like to contact Maegan, please write to Trish: patricia@lookingup24.org

# Christian Testimony #Faith and Recovery #Overcoming Addiction #Redemption Story #Hope and Healing #Recovery Journey #Women of Faith #Teen Addiction

Under Heaven Podcast, Faith, Trish Hodges, Testimony, Christian Women, Encouragement, Testimony

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Under Heaven, the podcast where we glorify God and celebrate the beautiful stories of women whose lives have been transformed by his goodness and grace. I'm your host, Trish, and each week we share real conversations about faith, hope, and purpose. This is a place for encouragement and truth, where every story matters and every listener is welcome. No matter where you are in your journey, let's grow together under heaven. Welcome to Under Heaven Podcasts. Today I have a young wife and mom with me, and she is going to share her testimony how she came from drugs and alcohol into a life that is glorifying God. I want you to meet a very special friend of mine, Megan Kirst. Hi, everyone. And she is going to just let you know that God is the best. If you don't know that now, you'll know it after her testimony. So, Megan, would you like to tell us a little bit about how your life, um, maybe how you began, what things might have affected you in the we all have situations that have happened when we were younger, um, and then where that took you and just where God found you.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Well, I'll just start out letting you know that um a lot of times addiction and struggles with alcohol can start with a a trauma. It it's very common for many addicts to have trace back the beginnings of that to a specific trauma in childhood, um, maybe even a young adult during that time in their life. Um and that's usually the catalyst for the reason why anyone would want to try numbing their feelings in that way. And unfortunately, it just takes you down a long path, a road that you can't um what's that saying? Uh sin will keep will keep you longer than you want to stay. I forget how that is.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Take you farther, something like take you farther than you thought you would ever go and keep you longer than you want to stay.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yes, exactly. And it's just like that. Um you know, for a lot of people, things like this often start with divorce, actually. Divorce destroys God's plan for the nuclear family, and it it can destroy hearts too. And in my case, I took it really hard. Um I started feeling depressed at a very young age. And when I was 14, I ended up um I s I started just with some friends just just casually trying something that they were doing, and it was it seemed harmless at the time. But eventually it snowballed into a 15-year ordeal. And Hallelujah. Praise God. He did find me, and he found me um again after I was saved as a child. And I had been long gone away from him, but he'd found me, and he was just so gentle and loving and calling me back. Um and I just thank him every day for um taking away all the guilt and all the shame that I had heaped on top of myself. Um you know, I addiction stole so much from me, and he has restored all of it.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, addiction, like you you mentioned, shame, and shame is a thing that you internalize, we internalize shame, and it just becomes us, and that is a very, very big stronghold for a lot of women. Um, but you when how did God take that from you?

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Do you remember? Uh well, it all started when uh my husband got connected with a place called Evans Training Center, and it is in residential recovery program. Um they gave us the opportunity to have marriage counseling during his treatment. See, I did I didn't tell you. Go ahead, tell us how'd you meet? Go ahead. Well, originally we met through a mutual friend and we were we were both addicts at the time. Um and if you just consider what a miracle God has done. Um I I we don't know any other couples who are who have survived their marriage has survived addiction by both of them. So just I just praise the Lord and I thank him for that testimony because um no matter how desperate it seems, God can save a family. Um so Oliver was three at the time when my husband decided he was ready to go get treatment for alcoholism. And I thank God every day that he made the right choice. Um he credits his family, um, our son and my and me as his motivation to actually go to the program. And he he went for 10 months there, and during that time, um the Lord just really worked on my heart. Um I I prayed the sinner's prayer on my birthday, um, and I just in my mind's eye, I could see, you know, a hand reaching out to pick me up. Um you know, I had survived domestic violence, um and I and I lived through that for about five years during my addiction. Um and I also I lost my firstborn child because my my life and my environment was not safe for her. And I prayed at that time, I prayed, Lord, please make a way for her to be safe. And he did that. Um, so he's been with me every step of the way. I just didn't see it because I was too busy um, you know, numbing the past and not dealing with the the feelings that I had over what happened with my parents' divorce and things like that. And and the longer you run from God, the more it piles on. But he's so gentle and he's so forgiving to just draw us back in, and his kindness leads to repentance, and so that is that is how it went for me. The people at this recovery center poured into me as well while my husband was getting his treatment. Um I just kind of walked alongside my own recovery. Um and I was at home with Oliver, and he just that's how that is just how powerful, just how powerful his love really his love is. They spoke the word to me, and it just really opened my eyes, and it stirred my soul. He lit the flame of my spirit like I had never felt before in my life. Yes, and um I I got my peace back, I got joy back. Um, everything, like I said, everything that the devil stole from me.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Yeah, God is a restorer. In fact, there's a verse somewhere that says, what the enemy has stolen. When you find out who the who the enemy is, and we know who that enemy was, that he needs to pay back sevenfold. So you have been blessed upon blessed upon blessed. Yeah. So so then he's he your husband graduated the program, and you were already on your way to being healed by the Lord, just walking along with him. And I do have to say, your son Oliver is quite a guy. He is he's smart. I asked him to come over one time during the summer to help with something, and man, he just got in there and he knew what to do. And um, and he knows the Lord. All your children know the Lord. Yeah. What do you want them to know most about the God that reached in and helped you up?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Um, I just always want them to know that he's approachable, he's he's accessible, um, gentle and kind. I I really believe that some of us grow up um fearing the Lord instead of having the reverential awe and that we would normally see how we would normally view the Lord in our mind's eye. We could somehow some of us get it into our head as a young child that we should fear him and that I think that can actually push people away. And um I I just I just pray with my kids and tell them that they can talk to him like he's a friend.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Yes, yes, and that makes all the difference. That makes all the difference when they see mom coming and taking their hand or sitting down with them or however you decide to pray, you take you you take their hand and you talk to God, you just talk with him and they learn. They learn that, oh yeah, like you said, he's approachable. I can come. The word says that we can boldly come to the throne because of Jesus Christ. So that's absolutely amazing. And then they go to uh Sunday school, they go to church and they learn there. And you were telling me that you have a job at your church, uh, a job, but you get to minister there. How do you do that?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

So um I do volunteer in the nursery area of our church. There's a huge kids' ministry um at Hope Church where we go. And I've been able to teach verses to these kids, sing songs with these kids, and just model um, you know, the kind of just model the kind of uh joy and freedom that they have in Christ because we um we just love on them. We love on them in the way that Jesus would love on them if he if he were here with us. And we just show them that he is the way. Um and even with toddlers and babies, we still um we still want them to hear his name, hear the word. Um, as much as young as they are, they are absorbing what we say and they are noticing how we model his love. So that is something that I really enjoy, just spending time with these kids and just getting to see them grow up and and just blossom and their personalities. Um, yeah, it's really special to me.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

That's kind of where you are right now, isn't it? God kind of has you in that working with the little ones. You want to tell us about your three little ones?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Although Oliver's not so little anymore, but so Oliver is 10 now. Um, and the Lord blessed us with two more children. I have Ada, who's four, and Charlotte, who is two. Um, they are just they are they are all just very wonderful. I there's something just so precious and special, um just being a mother and just pouring into them. I think we learn a lot from our children, don't we? There's endless opportunity for growth. Yes, as a parent.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

That is so well put. Yes, that's so well put. Yes, indeed. And it, you know, it is it is a privilege to be able to raise children for the Lord. It says to train up a child in the way he should go. And when he's old, he will not depart. And I know, you know, I've been around for a few decades, and I know of people who have uh stepped away from church kind of like you did, got in with the wrong crowd and started, you know, getting into something. But I've seen where they've all come back to the Lord because they know, they know that God is real, they know that Jesus went to the cross for them. You know, I heard a story today comparing Jesus at the cross to a mama. You know, how a mom, when she's in labor, she, you know, we might be moaning and crying and screaming or whatever. But as soon as we see that beautiful little face in front of us, we forget about that. And we're ready for another one. And that, you know, and but that's how Jesus was as far as he sacrificed himself. You know, he he actually died. Moms, some moms do pass during the birth process, but it is a very close place to death when a mom gives birth. But Jesus did die on the cross for us because we were worth it. We were worth it. But he didn't stay on that cross, did he?

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

He's with us today, and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, and we have that direction and that living water. And I have to say that Megan is a part of a group. I guess maybe I should ask you how you stay grounded, and I will ask you that, but I did want to say that Megan is a part of Sparkle Sisters. Some of you have heard of Sparkle Sisters, and we've had several of the girls on here. And we get together weekly and we read the word and we talk about, you know, talk about how that relates to us and and how it it how we can uh grow in knowing the word and what Jesus tells us to do, you know, tells us how to grow. And um, but tell us a little bit about how you keep three children, how you keep your sanity and your faith with that.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Yeah, absolutely. Um we have to, I have to be very intentional, of course. I think all moms out there realize that they have to, you know, make time for the Lord intentionally. Um, we get so busy, we get distracted by all the things that we have to put our hands on. And and and we do have to do those things. And we also need to just make sure that we put God first. Um our Zoom meeting on Tuesday nights, our our Sparkle Sisters meetings, um, they really do help me. Um I look forward to it. I really do appreciate hearing perspectives from other women, moms um in our group, just have a unique um perspective to offer, and I find it really helpful.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

And it's good to have a place with ladies to um to connect and and you pray for each other or we pray for each other, and but there's something else that you do, and I know I used to do this when I had young children. I see you out in the yard once in a while. And what is it that you do out there?

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Um, I just gardening was something that I took up right, you know, a few months after the Lord delivered me, and it has been a really a really good hobby for to decompress and just connect with God's creation. Um, it's relaxing to me, and it's also very stimulating as far as just learning about how gardening works together, all things work together in the garden, and just touching the earth, um, learning about what different plants have different needs and such. And it it's just it's really interesting in that way. Gardening is gardening in the physical realm is a lot like gardening in the spiritual realm. You just have to get in there and dig out, dig. And I don't know, I think the Lord has a lot to teach us through our physical world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

So that's what I thought when you were talking about um, like I I think about the nutrients because sometimes um, like if I have a plant that's not doing well, you can say, well, you know, you could try putting some of this on it or that. The nutrients, the nourishment. And we as humans, we need nourishment, not just to our physical bodies, but to our spiritual bodies.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

And there is a lot of parallel between the gardening and the peace that you receive. Just it's that was like a lot of my prayer time. I mean, I I was on my knees to put in flowers, but I was talking to the Lord, and I know that you do that as well. And it's just it's there is always a way for us to take time for the Lord. I know of of one woman that I uh a person whose mom back in the day wore aprons, and she would just put the apron over her head, and she's she let the kids know when this apron's over mommy's head, you leave her alone. And she would just take her little prayer break. So, you know, we do need that time. And I see you growing and growing ever since I first met you. I've seen such a growth in the spirit world, in you, and and in the in the physical, beautiful, just she is glowing, and I know that that is because of the love of the Lord and her joy that she carries. So, is there anything that you would like to share in an encouragement for a mom who has a child who is on the verge of addiction? Maybe not there yet, but on the verge. What would you say?

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Um, I would I would say if if your teenager is pushing you away, just know that is just immaturity and it's not a personal thing. They actually do want you, they want connection. Connection is what they need in order to prevent them from taking that that step, that next step towards the wrong path.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Um, I think, like you said, for your children. Exactly. Showing them the love and from the heart, they know young people know if you're being truthful or not with them.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Exactly. And that is something that I have been working on with my kids, um, to be a little bit more transparent about emotional things, um and to and to really just connect with them on an emotional level. I think if if you have a teenager who is seemingly seems to be closed off, um, just try to get them to dig deep and even just self reflect if if they won't talk to you about what it is that makes them want to uh isolate or push people away or um Anything like that. It's it's it there's always something deeper going on there.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

And and I would say bathe this all in prayer.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Oh, absolutely. Always. Yeah. Absolutely, always. Um, definitely. Um, and you know, I am grateful that I was in church as a younger teenager. Um, I did get saved and baptized back then. Um, and I'm just so grateful that I had that because eventually the Lord did call me back, and it was the spirit that I had in me that allowed me to find my way back to the Lord. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

And we were talking about prayer too. Um actually Tuesday night, we were talking about um the bowls of incense, which was the prayers that went up before the Lord. And as you are praying with your children, you start, I you know, most of us, if we know the Lord, we start praying for our child while the child is still inside of us before we've even seen his or her little face. We pray. And those prayers that we pray all through their life are being held in heaven as incense going up before the father. So those prayers, you know, those prayers are still being answered years later. Oh, yes. So, yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Anything else to these moms who may have had, you know, struggled in the past. Just hold on to the redemption power that is in Christ Jesus. He loves to redeem us, and no matter how long we've been running from the Lord, um He longs to redeem us. So don't be afraid to turn back. It's never too late. Um if you're in a place where you're struggling, just be open. Open your heart and allow God to renew your hope. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

I'm so glad you mentioned that, Megan, because that that is what you went through for the first few years of Oliver's life. You you struggled. And there are moms out there in that same situation today. And I also would encourage them to reach out to someone, reach out to another Christian, someone who has been there, like Megan, and they can pray with you and they can encourage you by letting you see what God has done, like what God's done for Megan's life and what he's done for her, they can do, he will do for you too. So we just can't give up that hope. We do need to remain open and allow the Holy Spirit to draw us to him. Well, Megan, I'm so happy that you're here tonight. I know you're not used to being on podcasts or anything, but I think you did absolutely fine. And I'm you did wonderful. And I'm so glad you brought that up at the end. And I did neglect to ask you about that because those young moms out there need this encouragement as well. So I thank you. I thank my listeners out there, and I know that this story has touched you. I know that you have seen God's redemptive power in Megan, and that hope is beginning to rise up. If it wasn't there before, it's beginning to rise up now. So just let it spring forth. The word tells us we have those rivers of living water from it within our belly. Let those rivers of living water begin to flow and let the Lord start to lead your life and your children's life, and you will be so glad and so joyful, and you'll have a smile like this one. So I love you all. Remember, thank you, Megan, so much for being open to us, being so so you. Thank you. Thank you for having me because that's that's what I am. I'm just me. People know that.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

So all praise be to God and um for this testimony.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

Yes, and and we do pray that if you know someone who could use his testimony who would be encouraged by this, please, please go ahead and share. And um, you could always contact me. And I don't know if Megan has a contact or if you would want them to contact me and I I could let them know about you.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Yeah, absolutely. Um I would be happy to share with anyone who wants to talk about um the kind of experiences that I've had. Um I can definitely um listen and just encourage you because there are some tough things to deal with. Um and we need ladies, we need ladies to be able to reach out and just build a community with. Um, and I am just so grateful for all the late wonderful Christian ladies in my life. Um and just if you if you don't feel like you can connect for some reason, for me it was um, you know, my mom and not having a good relationship with her that kept me from to really being open to friendships and with with ladies for many years. But I have been able to reap the blessing of just connecting, genuinely connecting, just having an open heart and finding those ladies who are willing to pour, willing to listen, and willing to encourage.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

So yeah, amen. So let it let me know if you'd like to speak with Megan because she is a blessing for sure. So until next time, remember to speak life, choose hope, and remember that you are always loved. Bye-bye, and thank you, Megan.

unknown 28:32

Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Thank you for being with us today on Under Heaven. I trust this conversation encouraged your heart and reminded you of God's faithfulness. If today's episode blessed you, please click like, subscribe, and share the hope with others. Until next time, blessings.