87 - Why do so many Christians hide their deepest struggles from the very people who should be helping them heal?

The Church should be one of the safest places to admit that we are broken. Yet Christians struggling with addiction, anxiety, depression, sexual integrity, eating disorders, and other life-interfering thoughts, emotions, and behaviors may sit in church believing they can't tell anyone what's really happening.

In this episode of Say Goodbye and Imagine!, Rose Ann Forte talks with Jolie Vogliardo, author of America: The Sleeping Giant and Her Slumbering Church, about shame, spiritual awakening, and what it would look like for the Church to become a safer place for people who are struggling.

Jolie candidly shares from her own past and the shame she experienced, raising a question many people silently carry: If people really knew me and what I've done, would they still love and accept me?

Together, Rose Ann and Jolie explore why shame causes people to hide, the difference between God's loving conviction and condemnation, and how to identify someone safe enough to trust with your struggle.

The conversation also leads to an important realization: The Church isn't just the pastor or the people on staff. We are the Church.

That means each of us has an opportunity to become a safe person who responds to another person's struggle with truth, grace, compassion, and love.

If you're carrying something you're ashamed to tell anyone, this conversation is for you. And if someone has trusted you with their struggle, it's for you too.

Connect with Jolie Vogliardo

Jolie Vogliardo is the author of America: The Sleeping Giant and Her Slumbering Church, winner of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association Golden Scroll Award for Nonfiction Book of the Year.

Jolie's website: Www.pursueholiness.com

America: The Sleeping Giant and Her Slumbering Church: https://amzn.to/4z3DPgX

Resources from Rose Ann Forte

Prepare to Quit: https://amzn.to/4umJs6l
The Plans He Has for Me: https://amzn.to/3Qk3MHL
Transformed by His Promises: https://amzn.to/43PWhvf
Choose Freedom®: https://choosefreedom.today

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