Ever prayed for something and gotten total silence back? In this episode of Big G Talks, I get honest about the prayers of mine that never got answered — and the ones that did. We cover why treating faith like a transactional relationship with God is a trap, the difference between selfish prayers and prayers to be helpful, why scripture never actually promises all your prayers will be answered, and a personal story about a prayer that got answered in a way I didn't expect.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro — Episode 5: Unanswered Prayers
0:26 Point 0: Faith isn't transactional
1:14 Confession: testing God with prayers
2:31 Point 1: The types of unanswered prayers
3:13 1a — Selfish prayers vs. prayers to help others
8:18 1b — Wrong direction, right silence
10:13 1c — Chasing results vs. the journey
12:15 Point 2: Scripture never promises every prayer gets answered
15:23 Point 3: Get curious, not discouraged
16:32 Point 4: The prayer that got answered (a serial-dating confession)
19:56 A theory on which prayers get answered

If this episode helped you think differently about prayer, subscribe for more honest conversations about faith — and drop a comment with a prayer of yours that wasn't answered the way you expected.

Episode 4: Why loving Jesus is hard for me.

This one's less structured than usual — I sat down to write out why loving Jesus feels so difficult for me personally, and it turned into a waterfall of reasons. So instead of saving the big realization for the end like I planned, I moved it up front. This might end up being part one of a series.

What I get into:
- Why I'm a perfectionist and a control freak about faith, and how that makes we want a "right answer" for what loving Jesus even looks like
- Why obeying Jesus's teachings — especially loving my neighbor — feels so awkward in real life (yes, there's a bit about literally knocking on my neighbor's door to say "I love you")
- Why Jesus can feel like he's stuck 2000 years in the past, and why it's easier to feel love from a friend who says "I love you, man" today than from Scripture written centuries ago
- Why I think I'm just bad at love in general — awkward expressing it, afraid of giving too much, and putting "love" on a pedestal I don't feel like I can reach
- The fear that if I tell Jesus I love him, it's somehow fake or transactional — like I'm just trying to get something out of it
- Wrestling with "faith without works is dead" vs. the idea that the sacrifice on the cross already covers it — and landing on the idea that maybe love is just having faith that the sacrifice actually happened

This is Big G Talks: real people, real faith, told honestly — including when it's genuinely hard.

🌐 www.BigGTalks.com

#BigGTalks #Faith #Christianity #ChristianPodcast #spirituality

Episode 3: This is Big G Talks' first interview episode — I sit down with comedian, writing coach, and published author Mimi Hayes.

Mimi rates her belief in "God" a 2.5 out of 10 — but that number doesn't tell the whole story. We get into her philosophy of a "source energy" that runs through everyone, why she calls herself a "recovering Catholic," and the two brain hemorrhages (nine years apart) that made her rethink everything about mortality, purpose, and faith.

What we get into:
- Why Mimi believes in "source energy" instead of a "big guy in the sky"
- Surviving two brain hemorrhages — the first at 22, an unexpected second one years later — and what it's actually like to think you might die
- Family ghost stories: a broken garage fan that turns itself on, and what that means about energy after death
- The "eight grams theory" and why she believes souls can have unfinished business
- Growing up Catholic, the guilt and shame that came with it, and why she now calls herself spiritual rather than religious
- Finding her purpose as a storyteller — from wanting to be an actor as a kid, to teaching, to standup comedy, to now working on a documentary
- A very honest, very funny story about praying over croissants on a first date

By the end of the conversation, Mimi's own number moves from 2.5 to 3.5 — proof that just talking about this stuff can shift things.

This is Big G Talks: real people, real faith (or lack of it), told honestly.

Find Mimi:
🌐 writingwithmimi.com
📸 Instagram: search "Mimi Hayes' Brain"

🌐 www.BigGTalks.com

#BigGTalks #Faith #Spirituality #Interview #MimiHayes