HOPE | Meagan Hofer

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. You're listening to The Salvation Army's Words of Life.

Hi, I'm Megan Hoffer. And if you're enjoying Words of Life, I want to invite you to check out another show brought to you by The Salvation Army. Heartbeat is a one-minute show about real life. Heartbeat touches on topics ranging from finances and prayer to dating and mental health. If you're looking for a short message of hope to challenge you and brighten up your day, subscribe to Heartbeat wherever you get your podcast or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. Welcome back to Words of Life.

I'm Bernie Dake. And I'm Cheryl Gillum. Cheryl, this is going to be an exciting series.

Yes, it is. Last year, we launched a short series of testimonies with Ashley Escobar. And for this series, she's joined us again to bring us a seven-week version called Hope. We enjoy producing series that are deeper Bible studies, series that share theology and help us grow in our own understanding of who God is and who He says He is in the Word.

But the most powerful weapon all believers have against the enemy is our own testimony. So the next seven weeks, that's what we're going to do, giving some friends of our space to tell the story of what God has done in their own lives. And today is Megan Hoffer's story.

Yeah. Megan works here at The Salvation Army in Atlanta. She is the assistant territorial director of communications, and she is awesome. But full disclosure, I have a relationship with her through her husband, Chris, who is like a son to me and now literally a brother. It's amazing. They have a beautiful little boy named Finley who will never have to worry about college as long as he continues to call me Uncle Bernie or call my wife Aunt Laura. He's the best.

He's a joy shiner. But it is important that we get to share our testimonies because our experience might be able to help someone else through an experience that's similar. And there's a scripture in the Bible that says, I believe it's in Revelation that says, we are overcomers by the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus, and the word of our testimony. So there's power in sharing our testimony because it does help other people. It also helps to remind us how God has brought us through. Right. And it gives us hope for what comes in our life after. So yeah, it's super important that we share our testimonies with each other and the community of faith, but also those who might not know Jesus to give them the opportunity to see the power of Jesus at work in our lives.

Amen. Now, if you know me, you know I am not a licensed counselor. I'm not a certified psychotherapist. Get out of town. I can't give you a prescription. I want my money back.

That's right. All I can do is share my own life experience or perspective. And one of the things that really drives me a little crazy, a pet peeve, if you will, is when someone says, I know how you feel. And the thing is, it really is impossible for us to know how someone else feels unless our situation is identical to theirs, which is nearly impossible. I mean, God has created each of us uniquely, individually.

And our life experience is, of course, going to be different for everyone. So I just like to say to people, it's good to have empathy, but don't use statements like, I know how you feel or, you know, just, man, just if there's a way to just simply come alongside someone. One of the best pieces of advice I was given by a mentor to me was, you know, Bernie, it's a ministry of presence. If I could just say anything, just be present and listen. And when something comes up that you think you can speak into, you know that the Lord is leading you, then you can speak into it. And that's just a little advice from a non-licensed psychotherapist. So if you are a woman out there or you know a woman who's struggling with what Megan's going to share, which is her experience with postpartum depression, you want to make sure that you listen to this and understand that you're not alone. Yeah. Amen. I know there's nothing left to In the peace I find in your footsteps And whatever life brings I'll trust in your goodness You've always been faithful to me And whatever life brings I'll trust in your goodness You've always been faithful To me In all that you've done In all that's to come You are holy Through doubt and through pain You made a way You are holy To God be the glory In all that you've done In all that's to come You are holy Through doubt and through pain You made a way You are holy To God be the glory In all that you've done In all that's to come You are holy Through doubt and through pain You made a way You are holy To God be the glory In all that you've done In all that's to come You are holy Through doubt and through pain You made a way You are holy Unfailing God You go before me My every breath Is held in your grace I will rest my soul In the peace I find in your footsteps And whatever life brings I'll trust in your goodness You've always been faithful to me And whatever life brings I'll trust in your goodness You've always been faithful to me You're so faithful to me So faithful To God be the glory In all that's to come You are holy To God be the glory In your grace All my praise To God be the glory In all To God be the glory To God be the glory In all To God be the glory In all To God be the glory All my life I can see how I struggled with being a worrier Of just wanting to know the plan So I could figure out if there was anything that could go wrong So how could I prevent that And so anxiety has always been a part of my life But I don't think I had a name for it I just kind of put it as like Oh I'm just a worrier Like that's just who I am So yeah I had anxiety throughout my pregnancy But I just you know that was just normal Like normal for me But after my son arrived Quickly I knew that the anxiety that I was experiencing Was not what I had ever experienced before It was not normal So I got diagnosed with postpartum anxiety and OCD Even though one of my biggest dreams had come true I was a mom and my baby was healthy And here I was not healthy And I needed to do something to get better And so when I had my diagnosis I was honest with just telling people what was going on with me You know my best friends or even friends from college That were just texting me you know as a new mom Saying like hey how are you you know we're thinking about you I'm great Also I have postpartum anxiety and OCD Because I needed people to know And I think you know in a world Where we feel the pressure to have it all together To have a picture-perfect family or house or whatever We don't want to share even an ounce of an impression that we're struggling I was sitting at the dinner table with my husband and my mom And I said I just felt in my heart I am gonna do something with this Like I am gonna share my story with other people And believe that there's purpose in all of this My son is three years old now And so on the other side I mean it doesn't even it feels like forever ago But everything through that darkness that I experienced I can look back and see how it's made me who I am today When I was thinking about how I would define hope I think one of the easiest ways to describe it is to think about hopelessness Everyone experiences hopelessness because it's the devil's Probably one of his biggest tools he uses to go after us A sense of loneliness that there's nothing is gonna get better The opposite of hopelessness would be hope That we trust that it is gonna get better That we don't know how it'll be better or when But we believe that there's a way out That light will come That we're not always gonna be in this sense of hopelessness And that's what is such a great thing about being a believer And trusting in God and knowing that No matter what we can have hope in the journey that we're on with him Just because you've had a hard day doesn't mean that you're back to square one You can get through it And I even just think that when it comes to hope If you can just trust in God and know that I don't know what you're doing God but I know that it's gonna be good Because nothing that we experience in this life is wasted God can do something through it And I think when we cling to hope and the goodness of God And his plans for us then we can get through the hard We can get through that hard day, that hard week, that hard season Because truly we were created with a purpose for a reason And we just have to cling to that The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good Means helping people with material and spiritual needs You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support And we'd love to hear from you Call 1-800-229-9965 Or visit salvationarmyradio.org to connect Tell us how we can help Share prayer requests or your testimony With your permission we would love to use your story on the show You can also subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store Or visit salvationarmyradio.org to learn about more programs produced by the Salvation Army And if you don't have a church home We invite you to visit your local Salvation Army worship center They'll be glad to see you Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life