Ashley Martin is a teacher-turned writer and speaker, and she is not writing from a safe distance. She is writing from the wreckage and the redemption of her own life. I've spent time with Ashley, I've heard her story, and I've now read her book. And I can tell you: this one is real.

Ashley's story starts in a seventh-grade pew, feeling completely alone in a room full of people. It winds through almost two decades of using alcohol to fill a hole that was always there, a God-shaped one. And it bottoms out at 3 a.m. in a detox center, suicidal, broken, and finally out of answers. Which is exactly where God showed up.

In this conversation, we talk about what young Ashley was really searching for and how alcohol became the answer for nearly 20 years. We talk about the moment she finally surrendered, and what she said to a nurse in that detox center that stopped the room cold. We talk about running from a calling not because you doubt God, but because you doubt yourself. About perfectionism as a spiritual trap. About the difference between managing your life and living it surrendered.

We also get into her book Lost No More, built around three pillars she calls surrender, prayer, and service, and what it practically looks like to build a daily path to God that doesn't require perfection to maintain. One of my favorite lines from the whole conversation: prayer is the GPS, not the spare tire. That one hit me hard.

And we talk about what God has done on the other side of her rock bottom. Because that part of the story is just as important as the wreckage.

This episode is for anyone who has been filling a hole with something that was never meant to fill it. Get Ashley's book, Lost No More, and follow her.

Ashley’s Website: https://ashleymartinministry.com/
Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleymartinministry/
Ashley’s Book: https://tinyurl.com/3crf3sz8