The Faith Beyond Trauma Podcast
A healing space where faith meets resilience to overcome the present limitations of traumatic experiences and Live TransTraumationally! Hosted by Pastor Reggie Hurns
The Faith Beyond Trauma Podcast
Is God Enough? Part 3: Holiday Hope
When the holidays magnify what feels missing—strained relationships, tight finances, empty chairs—we ask a hard question with a hopeful aim: is God enough to carry us from survival to freedom? We follow Jacob’s path from running east to returning west, and we uncover why God often invites us back to the very places we swore we’d never revisit. Not to shame us, but to heal us. Not to relive trauma, but to release weights we learned to work around.
We dig into the difference between condemnation and conviction through Romans 8. Condemnation freezes your future with shame; conviction frees your steps with truth. That lens helps us see how “good enough” can quietly become a ceiling. Hebrews 12 calls out the weights that slow us down, even when no obvious sin is in play. Together, we talk through practical markers of buried wounds—avoidance, anxiety spikes, brittle boundaries—and how to respond with repentance, forgiveness, and wise action.
Jacob’s story also opens a wider frame: God thinks generationally. As the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He weaves our obedience into family promises that outlive us. We explore the tension between God’s permissive will—where we’re sustained—and His perfect will—where we’re aligned, reconciled, and ready to carry blessing without the bitter aftertaste of unhealed history. You’ll hear us call listeners to speak life over their homes, break generational patterns in the authority of Jesus, and take the next courageous step toward reconciliation where the Spirit leads.
If this season stirs grief or loneliness, you’re seen. Let the ache become a summons, not a sentence. Press play for encouragement, Scripture-grounded clarity, and a spoken blessing over your family. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find these conversations. What step are you taking toward freedom this week?
Hey family, welcome back to the Faith Beyond John Podcast. This is Pastor Reggie.
SPEAKER_01:Mr. Tonner.
SPEAKER_00:And we thank you so much for hanging out with us as we continue the conversation regarding the concept of is God enough? This past week, we just wanted just to prepare for the holidays, right? You know, everybody has to do a holiday series, but we wanted to kind of attack it from the concept of preparation. We know that in divisive times, both politically, uh economically, families unfortunately are breaking, friendships are broken. So this is the time where it's very easy to see what you don't have. And so we were thinking about it. Do we truly believe God is enough? Regardless of what we have or don't have. Regardless of how we think, how we feel, how things may look, is God enough? So that's the heart behind last week's teaching. If you haven't seen it, please go back. You can find it on YouTube, the Faith Beyond Trump Podcast, or you can on Buzz Sprout. We'll put the link below and join the conversation. Is God enough? Not just in our words, but in our persistent pattern of thinking, speaking, and doing. Let's go with this week's editions, okay? So this week we wanted to continue the conversations, God enough. And we kind of got off last week talking about Jacob. And that was a very interesting pivot because um once we meet Jacob, of course, we meet him and he's tricking his brother Esau, his twin brother, and he ends up going into a foreign land, which is east, but his destiny, his family's inheritance was west. And so he had to face something that he honestly probably like a lot of us never wanted to face his brother. Because at that moment, how the brain works and what the enemy would try to do, use the enter you against you, what he will do is Jacob was like, God, you're telling me this, but I know to get there, I gotta see him. And so it's very easy to consider the holidays honestly unsafe emotionally, mentally, spiritually. The caveat that we had to do this past week, though, is we have journeyed, you walk, you grown, you are not the same person. Some of us, it's been so long that you physically aren't the same person. You put on a couple of pounds, you know, a few gray hairs, you know. So you feel it's not the same person. But it's interesting how you the way we see ourselves can truly impact. Look at this obedience to what God is instructing us to do. And so in this case, Jacob had a choice to make. Do I fear that giving to the anxiety? The anxiety was real. Like, hey, I'm feeling my brother. Last time I saw I ain't talking about my brother in 21 years, probably at this point. Last time I saw my brother, he wanted to kill me. So I ran my tail tucked between my legs.
SPEAKER_01:Out of fear.
SPEAKER_00:Out of fear. That that the urge, the action urge caused him to flee. And in that moment, it's actually a defense mechanism to protect themselves. Fight or fight. And in that moment, it's okay to protect yourself, please. When things settle down, and this is honestly another irritating point to an extent that we have to come back and address it. Because a lot of times what happens is moments like that. We just want to let good enough be good enough, let well enough be well enough. As long as I don't have to talk to him, it's gonna be fine.
SPEAKER_01:We dig that hole, dig that hole, we put whatever our trauma is in that hole, and we bury it to say, see you later. Bye.
SPEAKER_00:Damn it to be faced again. Yeah, but it's so interesting. God wants you so well, so whole, He wants to go back, and He invites us to this irritating season where God, why you why it's fine.
SPEAKER_01:What's keeping you, what's in that hole, is keeping you from your future purpose, your future victories, your future promise. But I'm good, life is good, life is great. But how much more, how much better, how much greater? You don't even know what you're limiting, um, how you're limiting God by not digging it up.
SPEAKER_00:It's interesting because this is not even our our notes at all. But uh that that reminds me of Hebrews chapter 11. I mean 12, I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 12. Therefore, it says we are surrounded by such a huge cloud of witness into the life of faith. Let us strip aside every weight that slows us down, especially the sin so easily trips us up. That is a weight. Some things have been bare for so long, and you have learned to maneuver around it. But God is such a thorough God that he wants to see himself reflected in every layer of our lives. So there are some things that in mind, this is Holy Spirit led, huh? Okay, see, Jacob's mind's on business. He, but if you look at the context, he was getting a little irritated in his current circumstance. And so he knew he needed to expand and to move away. So the current tensions where he physically was opened him up to, hey, let's expand. God is like, I know where you can expand, but you're gonna have to face some things that you have not wanted to address. You didn't want to have that conversation. You you don't want to. Why? Physically, it's uncomfortable. Reggie, you don't know how we love, you don't know. Watch this, what I did. What I did. I'm the calls, I'm this, I'm that, I'm this, I'm that. So now the question becomes Romans 8. Tony, we'll we'll get on our notes. Eventually. Romans chapter 8, verse 1. Because you are right. You were you you had a role in it. You had a role in it. Whether you actively did it or you were in response to what was done to you. You had a role in it. But now, once again, you got away, you buried that thing, left it there, forgot about it. The people that know you now don't even know you had a past, they know there's a new identity, the one that you created, blah, blah, blah. I'm not even saying things aren't going well. But then God is like, hey, there's another level of healing, there's another level of delivery, uh, freedom that I'm calling you to.
SPEAKER_01:Because remember, Jacob received the blessing. Yes, he did. That was meant for Esau. So to him, I mean, his life was great. His life was blessed. He was still, you know, moving and grooving with the spirit and receiving all the things, all the riches and treasures that the blessing had laid out before him, but he mentally, emotionally wasn't free because of how he received that blessing that needed to be rectified.
SPEAKER_00:So I guess the question is why does it even matter? Why does God want to take us back to these places and spaces? Before we go there, I'm sorry. Romans chapter 8, verse 1. So there is therefore no condemnation to those who belong to Christ Jesus. Verse 2, and because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Verse 1, there is therefore no condemnation. None. So the enemy wants to do it. The enemy wants to condemn. The Holy Spirit does what's called conviction, the enemy does what's called condemnation. Two different things. Conviction says, I did right. I made a mistake. Fine. Condemnation, I am right. I am a mistake. Look at the difference in terms. Conviction says, okay, I made the mistake, so now we can see how we can easily just adjust. Just repent, change your mind about the situation, learn better, move differently to correct it. Condemnation, there is no hope to come turn away from this. There's no hope to get better. That's what the enemy wants you to believe. He wants to condemn you. Hey, you made this mistake, it's a permanent stand in your life, you will never get better. That's what the enemy wants you to believe.
SPEAKER_01:But God is failure.
SPEAKER_00:No, there is no condemnation. You're not condemned. Yeah, no matter what you've done or what you've run from, God is like, hey, I love you enough to where I'm gonna meet you right where you are, far east. I'm gonna meet you in the east. And what we're gonna do, we're gonna bless you and build you up. I'm gonna walk with you. You're gonna learn to trust me. You're gonna taste and see how good I am because you don't understand there's a Goliath, but that I'm gonna ask you to go face. There's a giant in your life you have to face. Why? Because your destiny is on the other side of you winning that battle. So, my question just popped up. Why does it matter then? But I'm in the East, I'm minding my own business. Things are good. I'm good, my family's good. Why is God bringing this up? Because we know it's God. Why is God all in me, urging me to go back to address some stuff that's honestly not even bothering me?
SPEAKER_01:Well, we just talked about laying aside every weight and sin. Okay, even if it's not a sin in your life that is tripping you up something that you did wrong, you know, that God disagrees with. There can be weights that weigh us down and prevent us from moving forward. Um, and those weights, if not addressed, could absolutely limit everything that God has for you in your future. There is a permissive will, and then there is the perfect will of God. And so you can operate with those weights in that permissive will, not fully experiencing his perfect will because you haven't addressed the things that he has prompted you to address. You haven't grown past those things that he wants you to be free from in order to experience the fullness that he has for you in the future. Jacob was blessed, like I said, but there's still more that God wanted for him in his perfect will. Um, a lot of that sometimes has to do with forgiveness. And people struggle with this a lot, forgiving people for things that have been done to them in the past and forgiving themselves for things that they have been done in the past. And forgiveness is more about freeing you from the mental emotional constraints that that happened in the past than it even is about how you feel about the other person. God commands us to forgive. But that weight, those sins absolutely will hold you back from experiencing his perfect. And so, why would we want to operate just in the permissive? Why would we just want to be, I'm okay, I'm safe, you know, it's all good. But if his perfect will is on the other side of you addressing that past, addressing that that trauma, having that situation be rectified, you don't even know how much more free you could feel, how much more free you could be spiritually, emotionally, physically, with that that weight being taken up off of you.
SPEAKER_00:That's good. I'll also add God things generationally because we talked about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right? So there were promises God made to his grandfather that the family wasn't operating. So Jacob moving here, he moved away from the literally the on this land. And so by him not being there, God cannot keep his commitment to his grandfather. So it's easy, it'll be easy for Jacob to me, myself, and oh, we're good. But God thinks so much bigger than just us as individuals. He thinks generationally, he thinks family. And there are promises that God has made to our grandparents, parents, those people that have prayed for you, supported you, stood by you, even when you didn't even know. Some of us were prayed into faith because of a praying grandmother, grandfather. And so there are promises, there are provisions that we see ourselves, we get to be a part of God's great story. And it's human history. I mean, you have a role to play, like Tony said. I agree with that. Now, God gives you free will in your permissive story, like you can run your thing and make it about yourself only, which is a very Western concept.
SPEAKER_01:Because Jacob was operating in that permissive will.
SPEAKER_00:And honestly, no, no, and to be to be safe, it started off as a defense mechanism. He needed to get away in that moment. He needed to, because he was probably killed off.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So we're not saying in that moment you didn't do what you had to do with that moment. Fine. We're talking 21 years for that moment. Right. We're talking about, hey, he's calmed down, you good, you moving and grooving, you prospering. We know Jacob did. So now as a result, God is like, hey, uh ding-da ding. All right, now that you're good, or that you can we go back to what I called you to. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:That perfect will. Because there's no guarantee that those blessings outside of the perfect will would have continued 21 additional years down the line.
SPEAKER_00:And so, yes, so God thinks generationally, and so he thinks deeper. He looks at us spirit, soul, body. And so he knows that part of us, particularly in a more disconnected society that we live in, that there are some things that only family can fix. Family. And there are some things, some promises, some curses he wants to reverse in families. Because, hey, but I need one or two people. Can I get somebody? Who's gonna connect because he's all the nations of the family shall be blessed. So he wants your family blessing that he's pronounced on you. Your family has a blessing upon it. I don't care what limitations, I don't care what agreements, I don't care what, well, I don't care what happened. All the nation of the earth, all the families of the world shall be blessed. Your family, there's a blessing on your family. And so whether you need to wake up to remember that, so that you can remind everybody else, hey, we're blessed people. Or you need just get a line to flow in a blessing, whichever one. That's why God won't leave alone about this. Because God cares about family, he cares about his story, his kingdom coming, his will being done. It is none will that none should perish. And he's tired of broken families. Yes, he calls you to the family of faith. Yes, and so because you come to the family of faith, you have people, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, yes, and we give honor praise, but it's also your family, your situation to God. Like, you know what? As an outgrowth of this, we're gonna bless you and yours. Your family has a blessing. If you don't know, I'm declaring it right now. There's a blessing, the blessing of everywhere should run through your family. Your family should be the head and not the tail, above, not beneath the lender, not the borrower. The curse stops here. What's the curse? Leviticus go back to the beginning. There's a Deuteronomy, there's a blessing, there's a curse. These blessings, these curses. We've living in the curse too much. We've seen too many families still killed, stealing, destroyed, and ripped apart. But it's stopping. No, we've got to stop this. We've got to stop this in the mighty precious name of Jesus. This, your family will be blessed. Why? Because you're blessed. Yes, we understand. They who know why, da da da, and justifiable reasons at the beginning. But now it's time for you, believer, you man, you woman, you young person, take up your place and allow God to use you. You.
SPEAKER_01:Because we have to understand that we have authority over generational curses, over those, over those curses, and we have to stop being content in thinking that this is just how my family is, this is just how I am, this is what will continue on through my my line, thinking that there's nothing that I can do about it. If I just separate myself from it, you know, maybe it'll all go away. But at its core, you have the power to stop it yourself. You with the power of the blood of Jesus, you have the authority to speak over that mountain.
SPEAKER_00:Amen.
SPEAKER_01:And say, look, it stops with me. And whatever I need to do, whatever I need to address, as God leads me to do so, I absolutely will, so that my family can be restored.
SPEAKER_00:Amen. Which is the will of God. Your family shall be blessed. Your family shall be blessed. So we speak our blessing. God has given us. May you and your family be healed, living, set free of debt, doubt, worry, stress, and fear. By grace through faith, that your family will manifest God's good, please, and perfect will in their spirit, soul, and body. Nowhere near our notes, but glory be to God. Stay, stay tuned on Wednesday's message. We would get to the point where we actually schedule to go today. So, Father God, we give you all the glory. Your kingdom come, your will be done, Father God. We thank you that you sent the blessing in the middle of chaos. Amen. So now, as you're looking to and fro, seeing that God, who you may use, we say you can use us. The person listening, you can use that person, Father God. One word, one thought, one step at a time, Father God. We thank you for healing, delivering us and setting us free, Father God. To be Isaiah 61. Those people that were the barrier, the homeless, the beat down, the abused, the battered, Father God, they are healed, delivered, set free, and become deliverers of so many other people, Father God. Yes, Lord. That's what you're doing. So we believe it, that we received it, God, by grace through faith. Oh, glory, hallelujah, in the mighty and precious name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, Lord. Your kingdom come, your will be done, Father God. On all that as the water fills the sea, so shall the earth be filled in the grass of your glory.
unknown:Father God.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for how you're moving. As you are leading us back, this is you leading us back, Father God. As you're leading us back to have these conversations, to say or do what you instruct us to say or do, and that alone, Father God. You move. This is our prayer, God decree, in Jesus' mighty precious name. Amen. If we don't see you before Thanksgiving, happy Thanksgiving to you. Those of us listening in the Western Hermitage Great America, in the United States, I'm sorry. Thank you so much. We we believe in God for you. May this happy Thanksgiving for those who are experiencing loneliness. Uh, you may be remembering you know, those that may not be there. We're praying for you. God is enough. May the God of all comforts protect you. We're gonna talk about that on Wednesday. Stay tuned. Be sure to check it out.