Hey there, Warrior!
I am thrilled to get to introduce you to our new friend of the podcast, Michele Cushatt. Sometimes people ask me how I find guests for the podcast, and there are lots of answers to that. But this is the first time I’ve ever found a guest through an endorsement she wrote for another book. When I saw her words in the front pages of Sanctuary, a book about a man who is healed from his trauma through God and donkeys, I looked up Michele’s story. Lo and behold, an outspoken Christian who had survived throat and head cancer three times certainly seemed like she would be a great fit for the Heal Podcast. Friends, she did not disappoint!
This is an episode where I highly suggest you have something to take notes with (voice recording on your phone, pen and pad, whatever floats your boat) and I suggest you are prepared to hit pause on the recording to let some of Michele’s zinger statements seep into your heart. I almost couldn’t even react in real time because some of Michele’s wisdom was so profound.
When Michele first found out she had cancer, she was relieved to hear they had caught it early and it didn’t seem to be in any of her lymph nodes. She still battled fear of not seeing her children grow up, and she still had a face-to-face collision with her mortality. In the midst of her cancer diagnosis, operation, and recovery, she and her husband also felt led to adopt three young children coming from traumatic backgrounds. Talk about a wee bit of stress in her life!
In Michele’s first book, her memoir Undone, Michele talks about her journey with all the unexpected events of her life: divorce, blended families, cancer, and more. But the story didn’t end where her first book did! She’s lived a lot more life, has now lived with the constant threat of cancer hanging over her shoulder for 12 years, and has survived two more battles with recurring cancer.
Michele joins us today on the podcast, even missing 2/3 of her tongue from operations and dealing with the pain of swallowing and speaking as she still deals with the effects of the radiation she received from her chest up to her mouth, to pour into our spirits encouragement and truth. We talk about some Bible passages and how they show us truth about who God is amidst our suffering, how Michele finds more comfort in a God who is mysterious than a God she could fully understand in her suffering, and what it looks like to walk in trust and faith instead of using worry as a means of control.
You are not going to want to miss this one! Head to any of the podcast platforms below to listen to the episode, and then check out Michele’s resources (including pre-ordering her new book that comes out in March!) to see what other inspiration she has for you!
Listen to learn more about:
· How to make peace with an unexpected life.
· How to build your faith when your world is falling apart.
· What it looks like to step into your calling in the Kingdom of God amidst physical pain or limitation.
Listen now:
Click here to listen on iTunes.
Click here to listen on Google Podcasts.
Click here to listen on Spotify.
Click here to listen on Stitcher.
Click here to listen on Amazon Music.
Favorite Quotes:
· “I had to care more about the person than the person’s opinion of me.” -Heal Podcast, Episode 109
· “We can either listen to the handful of people who are naysayers and then step back and hide, or we can push back against it and say, ‘Wait a second. I still have something to say.’ And so I finally decided that I didn’t want to be known as somebody who talks funny, but I wanted to be known as someone who had something to say, somebody who cared, somebody who connected with those who were suffering. Over and over again in the last seven years I have forced myself to step on stage or to get on a podcast or go on a radio or TV program or whatever it may be, because I decided that I cared about the person in front of me more than I cared about what they thought about me... We have to get to a place where our sincere love for and compassion for and empathy for the hurting person in front of us is deeper and stronger and more enduring than our fear of their rejection of us.” -Heal Podcast, Episode 109
· “Just because something is hard doesn’t mean we’re not called to it. And just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s not good.” -Undone
· “I discovered that joy and strength and hope are possible even in the sick ward. Maybe even more so. I learned that faith in the middle of unknowns is the only real kind. And peace can’t be found in the past or the future, but only in a Person, and in whom you believe him to be, today. And an unexpected life, as difficult and undone as it might be, could end up becoming the life you’ve been searching for all along.” -Undone
· “Fear puts a magnifying glass on a gnat and shows it as a Goliath.” -Undone
· “I’ve discovered four cures for perfectionism: Parenting. Marriage. Writing. And parenting. But mostly parenting.” -Undone
· “A full life doesn’t mean an easy life. In many cases, it means just the opposite.” -Undone
· “Cancer had taught me the immeasurable value of today.” -Undone
Links from our conversation:
Michele’s Books:
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For freedom,
Tera
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