At Thrive Ent, planning your finances is bigger than money. It's a way to support the people, causes, and community you love. Because helping you put your faith into action is at the heart of what we do. ThriveEnt, where money means more. Connect with us at ThriveEnt.com.
Life audio. Hi from the Salvation Army and you're listening to Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Hello, and welcome back to Words of Life.
Today, we're starting a new four-week series with our new guest, Rachel Wojo. Rachel is an author and a podcaster, and I first discovered her ministry through her podcast, Untangling Prayer. Much of her ministry is really focused around encouraging believers to have much more of a prayer life than maybe they've had in the past and really embrace the power of prayer. In her podcast, she has such a gracious and gentle way of encouraging you to take on new habits when it comes to your prayer life. And so I know you're just gonna love her.
In this first episode, we're going to learn about who Rachel is, her testimony, her background, and the focus of her ministry and how it started. Check out the show notes. We'll have links to Rachel's website, her free resources, as well as her podcast and her latest book. And while you're checking out those show notes, we would be honored if you would leave us a rating and a review on whatever podcast platform you're listening to.
So with that, here's Bernie Dake and Rachel Wojo. Welcome back to Words of Life. I'm Bernie Dake, and this week we have a great new guest that we cannot wait for you to meet. Her name is Rachel Wojo, and I want to welcome her to the podcast. Hey, Rachel.
Hey, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. We're glad you're here too. Full disclosure: our producer, Chris Benjamin, heard you on a podcast that he thought was really great and thought we need to get this woman on our series. Whenever he gets excited about this kind of thing, we tend to capture that energy and hope that our listeners will too.
For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrive Ent, planning your finances is bigger than just money. We help you put your plans into motion and faith into action so you can do more for the ones in your heart. Because sometimes all you need to make a difference is someone to help you make it happen.
ThriveEnt, where money means more. Connect with us at Thriveent.com. Tell us about Rachel. Yeah. Where can we find you?
What do you do? What's the name of your ministry? All the things. Aw, well, thank you again for having me. My name is Rachel Wojo, and I have done online ministry.
Wow, for 16 years. My daughter's about to turn 16, and she was in my belly when I first started doing ministry.
So that's an easy way to mark it and remember it, right? Right. But I felt like the Lord was just working in my life. My husband was in the choir at our church, and I was on the worship team playing keys. Faithful to serve the Lord in that way for many years.
God just started doing things in our life and I. felt like the Lord was saying. There's something else for you. And we received a diagnosis for our daughter who had a rare metabolic disorder.
So we're going back to the very beginning here, 16 years ago. And God just was working in my heart. She received a terminal diagnosis, a rare metabolic disorder that. Has a lifespan of 10 to 15 years. And so when we got that diagnosis, I got really intentional about my faith.
and sought the Lord, prayed, really wanted to figure out Do I have a faith of my own, or is this the faith of my parents that I'm relying on? Yeah. And so the way that God was working in our lives, our worship pastor had a plea one night and said, I am looking for some people to share their testimony of how God's working in their lives. And if that's you, would you email me?
Well, I knew he was talking to me, and I went home that night. I couldn't even go to sleep without typing out an email to him and saying, Hey. This is what God is doing in my life.
So that became a catalyst where I Came to the Lord and I just Said, use me, use me, use our story. I don't want this. Work to be in vain. I don't want these trials to be in vain. And so.
I shared that story of what God was doing in our lives during that period, working in our hearts and developing our faith with Him, even when we were going through this terrible diagnosis. And 40 people. Came to know Jesus as their Savior during that Christmas program where our worship leader shared my testimony as a video story. I just really believed. That God had so much more.
Than my story, that many other people were involved in the sharing of the story and understanding how he weaves all of our stories together. Man, I I'm kind of an shock. Right now, just at hearing a number of things. First, the diagnosis that your daughter was given. I think you told us she's 16, which means she's already surpassed the life expectancy.
Right?
So different daughter. 'Kay. My daughter Taylor was The daughter who had that rare diagnosis. She lived to be 22 years old.
So we did surpass. The diagnosis. And God gave us 22 years with her. She went to heaven. On January 2nd, 2019.
So we have lived without her for six years now and God is working in our lives still. in amazing ways, still using her story. Wow. That I imagine I can only imagine. had to be quite I I don't even know how to say that, uh uh A long and arduous journey, that's what I would say.
Yeah. Gradually experiencing neurological degeneration is a very long time. Our diagnosis is often called a childhood Alzheimer's, and so every skill is lost skill by skill until. Death and our sweet tailor. was such a bubbly little girl.
She had these pigtails and Just bouncy and joyful and Really knew how to turn heads in a room just naturally. She was a very happy little girl. And she had a lot of little tailorisms. One of them was She could never say thank you and you're welcome separately from each other. She just kind of condensed that all into one phrase: thank you, welcome, thank you, welcome.
And so I remember one year when we were trick-or-treating after every house, she would say thank you, welcome, and it just was. A crazy thing to see her gradually decline to the point of not being able to speak, not being able to. Eat And then gradually, you know, just losing Every skill. slowly, unable to walk, etcetera. I don't wish.
a disease like that on anyone for sure. Rachel, I'm encouraged because you're using that story to minister to other people. and what God's doing through that story in your own lives. that I would imagine Is Of course, part of a book that you've written that we want our listeners to know about called Desperate Prayers. I'm sure you can find it anywhere books are sold.
And Rachel would love for you to buy a copy. Tell us how we can connect with your ministry and your resources that you've created. Yeah, you ask me how I minister. I minister at my website, rachelwojo.com. We have set up a specific website for desperate prayers.
You can go to desperateprayers.com and anyone who is listening who says, that's me. I'm in a hard space. I'm going through a lot of difficulty right now. Maybe you've just received your diagnosis or the diagnosis of a family member that you love. I have a free class on desperateprayers.com.
called the How to be a prayer warrior for your family in dark times. And that free class has been helpful to thousands of people already. It just enables folks to walk through Ephesians 6 and arm up. In your prayer life for these hard situations.
So I encourage you to go grab that free class. and take it. In fact, as we were preparing for this episode and this interview, our producer told us that he had taken that class and really was drawn even more resolute about getting you on this podcast.
So man, thank you so much for joining us For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrive Ent, planning your finances is bigger than just money. We help you put your plans into motion and faith into action so you can do more for the ones in your heart. Because sometimes all you need to make a difference is someone to help you make it happen.
Thriveent, where money means more. Connect with us at Thriveent.com. Can we dig into this idea of desperate pairs? Yeah, let's do it. I know that there's always those prayers where it feels like an ultimatum.
You know, Lord, if you just save me from this, I'll give you my life. Or, you know, that's a desperate prayer. Or you mentioned the diagnosis that you you received as a family. Uh for your daughter and I would imagine the prayers were very desperate. And um How can you share with our listeners?
how they might be able to Focus those desperate prayers. Yeah. It's interesting because most of us Think of desperate prayer as being something negative. And we think that Oh no, I'm at the end of my rope. I better talk to God.
And he's the only one left. And so what I encourage people to do is, yes, embrace that thought. But Know that he's not sitting there judging you and saying, Oh boy, she finally turned the corner and here she comes. I had to put that thing in her life in order to get her. Here or get him here.
That's not the way God operates. He operates in love, and he is waiting with open arms for us to turn to him. In every conversation and longs for a relationship. I was just reading this morning in Genesis. And the very first question God asked Adam and Eve.
when they were hiding after sinning. Is where are you? And he's asking that same question of us today. Where are you? And so when we turn to him, he's ready with open arms to receive us with love.
He's not shaming us. The awesome thing that I've learned is that when we are angry, when we are frustrated, When we are tired, when we are discouraged. That is the best time to turn to prayer and be honest with God. And that honesty is what he's looking for. For some reason, we think that God can't handle our big emotions, and yet he's the one who created big emotions.
And so he can handle it. We see. That example in Jesus' prayer, even on the cross. My God, why have you forsaken me? He was speaking out his feelings and his raw human emotion in the midst of his suffering.
And so I think, as his example kind of just sits on us here for a minute. I would encourage that person who's listening to really Choose to turn to God in everything. Yeah. And this desperate moment that you have right now. just might be the catalyst.
for deepening your relationship with God. We love that scripture found in Second Corinthians twelve, where Paul talks about. begging God to remove the thorn in his side and God reminds him that uh His strength is made perfect in our weakness. And it's okay to surrender and pray. It's not a bad thing.
In fact, I challenge you if you're not sure what else to do. Try God. Turn to him. Ask him. He's not afraid of your fears or your anxiety.
And he's not surprised by anything. He never left you. He's right there waiting. Where are you? Man, that's a great illustration.
Well, Rachel, we've got so much to ask you and learn from you and glean from your ministry. We hope that our listeners will come back next week to join us for episode two. But if you want to know more about Rachel Wojo, don't hesitate to check her out at rachelwojo.com or desperateprayers.com, where remember you can find a free resource. Thanks for joining us. 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. You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit SalvationArmysoundcast.org. Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words.
These are the words of life. These are the words. These are the words. These are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life.
We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit lifeeaudio.com where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
I'm best-selling author John Seidel, and I'm the Christian who became an alcoholic. Not the other way around. Through the power of Jesus, I got sober. And now I'm sharing both my story. and the stories of others just like me.
along with helpful interviews from trauma, faith, and addiction recovery experts. If you're a fan of messy sanctification and powerful stories, join me on the Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic podcast on Life Audio. or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Let's get radically vulnerable. The Historical Jesus Podcast is the sweeping saga of the life and times of Galilean Jesus of Nazareth, as well as the faith, religion, and church founded to honor and disseminate his acts and teachings.
Join me, Mark Vinette, on this fascinating journey through time, exploring the many great works of Christian theology, literature, architecture, music, and art inspired by the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.
