Disclaimer: This story contains sensitive content that may not be safe for young ears. Consider putting in earbuds if you have kids present.
Do you believe in Miracles? Is there anyone in your life whom every time you see them, you are reminded with a resounding swell in your heart that God is a God of miracles. Shauna’s story is this. Her story is traumatic, impactful, full of hope, full of faith, and wonder. You will see her struggle as she asks God, ‘why did you save me? Why am I alive?” You will also see how her experiences, and faith journey has led her to the beautiful ministry she serves her loving God in today.
Philippians 4:13-“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Topics Shared:
Traumatic miracle birth
Growing up on 3 sides of the track
Witnessing her mother being abused
The incident
Finding forgiveness
Safe space found
Saved at age 8
Bumpy teens
Young arranged marriage
Abusive cheating teen husband
Becoming a Mom and divorced at 17
Life as a single Mom
Drug season
Hasty marriage
Mental abuse and pregnancy
Traumatic delivery
Losing 7 liters of blood
Left the hospital after 8 days
Why did He save me?
A long depression
Losing everything
Homeless with two kids
A new chapter
Paying it forward
Call to Coaching
The P.S. Questions:
What are 3 of your most helpful tips as a life coach?
What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
Shauna Parker’s Links:
Website: https://shauna-parker.com/
Instagram: @shauna.parker.coaching
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Transcription:
Purposely. Your life. God’s purpose. Listen at onpurposely.com.
Meg [00:00:09] Hi, it’s Meg. And because this is a family friendly podcast, I want to take just a moment to let you know this story contains some sensitive content that might not be safe for young ears. If you have young kids listening, please take note and consider putting in earbuds.
Shauna [00:00:27] There’s too many Christians that are…they think, they don’t feel like God is still doing miracles. And He is. And I am a miracle. I’ve seen miracles and I will forever keep those close to my heart because they’re a reminder that He’s still doing miracles. He’s still here. He’s still capable.
V/O [00:00:46] And now for the next episode of Letters from Home, sending encouragement to your doorstep by capturing the heartbeat of God’s people. One story at a time.
Meg [00:01:00] Hi, this is Meg, your host. I trust you have thoroughly enjoyed our From the Vault series. And now, we have prepared for you a whole new lineup of encouraging stories. Enjoy. Do you believe in miracles? This is an important question to ask. How do you know anyone who is a living miracle? I bet someone comes to mind. Today’s story is heavy and so redemptive. It is definitely a bumpy ride. But in and through every turn, you will hear how our God is the God of forgiveness and the God of miracles. Today, here is the faith story of the everyday, extraordinary Shawna Parker. Shauna, I am so happy to have you on Letters From Home. We’ve just recently met through Instagram and interacting through some of the comments in each other’s accounts and I was like, “Man, this lady is amazing.” And you commented something so personal about your story and we’ve connected and you just felt like it was a great opportunity for you to share your story. Welcome!
Shauna [00:02:15] Thank you. I’m humbled.
Meg [00:02:18] God has been so good. And, you know, we’re talking the other day. You have been through so much. And, you know, let’s just get right into your story so I know your story didn’t start how it starts with most people.
Shauna [00:02:33] I like to think that my story started when I was born. When I was born, I’m not really sure what happened. I’ve been told different stories, but my mom, I think her pelvic bones like collapsed on my head as I was being born and my skull was actually crushed in and I had two black eyes, a broken nose. And I think, you know, this was in 1979. So they probably thought that I was going to be mentally disabled and I wasn’t. So I that, I believe, was a miracle on its own.
Meg [00:03:10] 100%. Wow.
Shauna [00:03:12] Yeah. Yeah. Actually, my baby picture, I think I was out like a week or two old in it. And you can still see the you know, my head is kind of dented in. And I had the two black eyes and the broken nose.
Meg [00:03:25] Did your mom recover?
Shauna [00:03:27] Yeah. Yeah.
Meg [00:03:28] She must have been really, really in pain trying to take care of you.
Shauna [00:03:32] Mm. Yeah. They actually had two emergency caesarean. And the crazy thing is, it’s the same hospital where what happened to me with my son, which is what I’m going to tell you about later. Yeah, it’s just. Is just crazy. I was her second child, too.
Meg [00:03:49] So already starting out just early in life, your parents were like, this child is a miracle.
Shauna [00:03:55] Yeah.
Meg [00:03:56] Looking back like you knew you were a miracle. What was that like as a little girl?
Shauna [00:04:00] Well, my parents divorced. I was either two or three, and I actually moved in with my aunt and my uncle, which was my dad’s brother and sister in law. And they weren’t rich, but they had a good living. So I would go and see my parents on the weekends. So I’d see my mom when we did my dad the next weekend. I tell people that I was raised on three sides of the train tracks. You know, I was born on the wrong side of the train tracks. I’ve lived on all three sides of the train tracks.
Meg [00:04:33] Wow.
Shauna [00:04:35] So my aunt and my uncle, you know, my uncle had a good job and it was a nice environment. And then when I would go to my dad’s house, my dad was, you know, he was a single man and I just love him so much. He was always there for me. He just he worked and that’s what he did. He worked and he came home and he was a Christian. He was a Sunday school teacher. And then when I go to my mom’s house, it was full of drugs and alcohol. I had seen things I shouldn’t have witnessed as a child. Men would beat my mom all the time, like in front of us kids. My brother lived there full time. So he’s seen this 24/7 and I only seen it every other weekend. There was one time in particular that I went to visit. I think I was there for like three weeks of the summer or something. I don’t really remember. I just remember the incident that happened. We were in what they call the housing. It’s housing that the government pays for it and then you pay what you can. I was visiting and we were in one of those apartments and the guy that she was dating at the time, he boarded all the windows up and the doors he, like, boarded everything shut. And he took us upstairs. And I remember he put me and my brother on this king size bed, and he had my mom tied down in this chair, and he was holding a knife to her throat. And I was like five years old, I think. And he was telling me and my brother that as we cried, that he would cut my mom’s throat, you know, we were kids. So of course we cried. And thankfully he didn’t cut her throat, but he did just enough to where she bled just a little bit. And then this was the only other thing I remember. He took us. I remember his mom was at the door banging and telling him to let her in. And he took me and my brother in the other room and he whipped us on the bottoms of our bare feet with racecar tracks. And that’s the only thing I remember.
Meg [00:06:46] Did his mom come in or say anything or?
Shauna [00:06:49] I don’t remember anything else. I just remember I don’t remember my aunt and uncle picking me up. I don’t remember anything. And that’s how a lot of it was when I visited my mom. I just remember, like, things. And there were some good times. Unfortunately, she was a very heavy alcoholic back then. She’s come a long way since then.
Meg [00:07:13] Did your aunt and uncle, were they aware that you and your brother were going through this kind of thing? Were you able, you were so little I mean, it’s really tough. But were you able to ever talk to them about that when you were little?
Shauna [00:07:32] I think I kind of stayed hush about a lot of stuff because I loved my mom and I wanted to see her. And I think I was more scared that if I told them what was going on, they wouldn’t let me go bad.
Meg [00:07:43] You loved your mom. You’re a kid. You don’t know that.
Shauna [00:07:46] Yeah.
Meg [00:07:47] It’s not normal. Yeah, that’s rough. And so your mom’s still around. So she lived through that rough period and.
Shauna [00:07:55] Yes, she’s still around.
Meg [00:07:57] Did that something ever happen? Come to justice with that fellow?
Shauna [00:08:01] No, I did find out that he did pass away a few years ago. They finally broke up and they went their separate ways, I think, shortly after that.
Meg [00:08:10] Were you ever able to broach the conversation with your mom?
Shauna [00:08:14] Talking about the past with my mom is very hard because she dwells on the past. And she sometimes had stuff that didn’t happen. Or she just kind of like gets fixated on something. There was one time when I was I think I actually moved in with my mom. I was a little bit older. I think it was 12 or 13, maybe? Her boyfriend at the time. This is a different guy. The story is that he was on some drugs and he had actually molested me. And when I confronted my mom and told my mom about it, she called me a liar and told me that I was lying.
Meg [00:08:59] Wow.
Shauna [00:09:00] And so ever since then, it’s been just been really hard for me to discuss certain things with her. Especially in the past.
Meg [00:09:09] I guess I’m wondering for you as a daughter, the people that you should be able to love and trust the most who are looking out for you. Seems like you haven’t really gotten that care from your mom or even for her to acknowledge that she was being so horribly. And I mean yeah you know, tying up is that’s that’s next level like really intense and all the stuff she went through and I know she has some substance abuse and stuff that I’m sure affected her thinking and all that. So she never really talked about her. Then it sounds like she’s never really… You’ve had to be the mom in the situation and she’s not really looked out for you as a daughter or tried to look after your healing or apologize or anything.
Shauna [00:10:00] Right. Yeah, unfortunately.
Meg [00:10:03] Yeah. I’m so sorry. That’s really hard in a place that. God, that’s just what I think of. I think God’s eyes were open. He loved you then. He knows everything that’s happened, and He can heal. You know, I believe He can heal.
Shauna [00:10:19] Yes, He can.
Meg [00:10:21] I know it’s part of your story, too.
Shauna [00:10:23] Definitely.
Meg [00:10:24] So did your dad did that feel more like a bright spot you had your aunt and uncle. Praise the Lord is amazing. And your dad?
Shauna [00:10:31] Yeah.
Meg [00:10:32] You’re probably like, “Oh, I think I can see why they got divorced.” You know, your mom was on the struggle bus.
Shauna [00:10:39] And I’ve come to forgive her. And even the man that molested me, it was later in life of course.
Meg [00:10:48] It’s a lot to forgive. Do you feel that your dad has been supportive whether or not he shared that with you? I mean, like you were able to share that with him or not, but like as a little girl, did you feel did you you felt loved by your dad and safe?
Shauna [00:11:02] Yeah, absolutely. My dad was the best dad. I mean, he was always there for me. Even when I lived with my aunt, my uncle. I remember a time I think it was right before I moved with my aunt, my uncle. I think my parents are actually still married. I came down with pneumonia and I was in the hospital for like two weeks and I never saw my mom one time. My dad was there every single day. I think that’s why I’m so close to him, because he’s just always been there. And, you know, sometimes men, it’s hard for them to express emotion. But I can always tell that my dad loved me. And I always knew that he cared for me. I knew that my mom loved me. But the way that my dad was there for me, it was just different.
Meg [00:11:51] Oh, wow. That’s. Yeah, that’s really cool. It’s so true. The thing where they said, “Do you remember how somebody made you feel?” Don’t you think about…I think about that as a mom now. I want my kids to feel loved and welcome and accepted and all those things, you know?
Shauna [00:12:04] Yes. Yes. One of my favorite memories of my dad is he was an artist. He didn’t have a car when I was growing up. So when I would go visiting, we’d walk all over town. And there was one time we walked to a cemetery and he just he seen this rose and he was like, “Will you sit down by the rose?” He drew a picture of me sitting next to the rose. And I just always remember that memory.
Meg [00:12:30] Is your dad around?
Shauna [00:12:32] He is. He is 73.
Meg [00:12:35] Well, I’m glad. I’m glad. I’m glad you have your dad and your mom in your life still. That’s good. And you know what? Relationships are always so complicated.
Shauna [00:12:45] Yeah.
Meg [00:12:46] Let’s go back to your, you know, time with your aunt and uncle and praise the Lord. It sounds like they were good to you, too. And to a place of stability and comfort and safety?
Shauna [00:12:57] Yeah, absolutely. They were Christians. It was a good home.
Meg [00:13:01] That’s wonderful. So is that where your faith story began?
Shauna [00:13:05] I think it kind of really began with my dad. Even though they were Christians and we went to church on the weekends that I was with my dad. My dad really talked about God a lot. He, like, talked about Jesus. Like I was like six years old and I was terrified of the rapture because my dad just he told me everything. He didn’t hold anything back. And I don’t think he realized I was a kid and I couldn’t take everything in. But he just loved Jesus so much that he would just tell me everything. And I think I was eight when I got saved. I believe it all started with my dad.
Meg [00:13:43] Yeah, that’s really cool. Would you say there was a time that you felt like your relationship with the Lord really grew?
Shauna [00:13:52] So I moved out of my aunt and uncles when I was like nine, I think, because my dad was married. I lived with my dad and my step mom until I was 13. And that’s when I moved in with my mom. And that’s kind of when I fell away from God. I turned 13. I was living with my mom and of course there was a lot of alcohol and drugs and just influence. My mom, she would just drive us around drunk and I would just get so angry at her. I wasn’t doing drugs or anything like that, but I think when I turned 15, I started smoking marijuana. We moved to this small country town. My mom was still heavy drinker and she met this guy and he actually drove a truck over the road. The next thing I knew, I started dating the boy next door. And the next thing I knew, we were at the courthouse and my mom and his mom were signing papers for us to get married. It happened so fast that, like, it was just we were in the preacher’s living room getting married. Before I knew it, my mom was nowhere to be found. She had ran off with her boyfriend.
Meg [00:15:11] Do you feel like she was pushing you in that direction?
Shauna [00:15:14] I do kind of feel like my mom and his mom got together and planned it.
Meg [00:15:20] Wow.
Shauna [00:15:21] It’s what I feel like because we were both just kind of, like, taken back, like, okay, here we are.
Meg [00:15:27] So your mom took off, and then you’re just married, super young and like, wait, what did we just do? Kind of. Should we move in together?
Shauna [00:15:34] Yeah.
Meg [00:15:35] What should we do?
Shauna [00:15:36] Yeah. So my mom just laughed. And of course, I couldn’t stay there by myself, so I moved in with him and his family, and it was not good. We stayed married until we were 19. We had a little girl in that time. I was actually had my daughter. I was two weeks before my 18th birthday. It was not a Christian home. It was just there was a lot of arguing and a lot of chaos. And we had actually moved out on our own. He ended up cheating on me with my best friend. I was still a believer, but I also knew that that was grounds for divorce. So I had when I talked to an attorney and I got custody of my daughter and we just we got divorced. And then I would say after that is when I was already fallen away from God because I wasn’t in church. That happened when I moved in with my mom. But after that, it’s like really when things started to go downhill.
Meg [00:16:45] And you had your your daughter, did you move back in with your dad?
Shauna [00:16:50] I did. I moved back in with my dad. I was staying in his basement with my little girl. She would go and see her dad on the weekends. And when I didn’t have her, I was trying to fill this void in my heart. And so I was just going out partying. I was I couldn’t keep a job. And I just…I was doing anything and everything I could do to make me happy, what I thought was making me happy. But it wasn’t really making me happy. So I you know, I experimented with cocaine. I smoked a lot of weed. I drank a lot of alcohol. I went to a lot of clubs and not proud of it. And it took me a long time because of the things that I did. I was like, you know, I was really a shame. But when I look back now, I’m like, That person made me who I am today.
Meg [00:17:39] Yes, I know God has this beautiful way. And we’ll get into more in the P.S. of just taking something that the enemy wanted shame around and saying, “Actually, no, Shauna, I want you to be a life coach.”
Shauna [00:17:55] Yeah. Yeah.
Meg [00:17:57] And all the experiences that you’ve had because you have had an insane and we, you know, just even up to you’re not even 20 yet and you’ve had enough traumatic experiences for five lives. That must have been a tough time for you and a tough time for your dad, too. Was he, did he try and speak into any of your life at all?
Shauna [00:18:20] He just kind of gave me my space. He would say things from time to time because he knew. He didn’t always say that he knew, but he knew. I knew that he knew. It was that time in my life, I was in my early twenties. I just didn’t want to be told what to do. And I was kind of rebellious. It definitely was. And, you know, the crazy thing is, looking back, the one thing I remember always thinking was I always have tomorrow to get right with God. And I don’t know why I would think that. And I wish I could go back and change that, but I can’t. But it makes me think differently today when, you know, I have a habit of reading my Bible every morning. If I missed read my Bible, I’m like no, I have to go have my time with God. I get to have my time with God. It’s very important to me now and I wish it was back then. I hate that I had those thoughts because we don’t know if we have tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come here.
Meg [00:19:22] Here you are healthy and happily married your kids and all those things. I know somehow that turned around. Was it? How did that turn around? Was it in your twenties that things kind of turned around a bit?
Shauna [00:19:33] Yeah. My daughter, I think she was eight or nine. I was like, “Okay, you know, I just I got to do something different.” I think I was 25 or 26. I was just like, “I’m tired, I’m done.” And I was like, “Okay, God.” I did my best to give it to Him, but I didn’t really give it to Him because I still wanted control. And I didn’t really understand at that time like giving control to God meant. So I quit the drugs. I quit, you know, just everything.
Meg [00:20:07] Just all by yourself.
Shauna [00:20:09] I did. I just quit cold turkey.
Meg [00:20:10] Wow. That’s amazing. That’s very difficult.
Shauna [00:20:13] Yeah. The only thing that I kept doing was smoking cigarettes. But I was able to quit later. Then I met a guy and I was still trying to fill that void. I didn’t even love him. I don’t even think I was attracted to him, to be honest with you. But he had a house and he tried to make everything looks so good. And then before I knew it, he was like offering me all this stuff that I wanted, like a husband and another baby. And just the life, the family life. Here I was living in my dad’s basement and he made it sound so good. And I was just like, “Okay.” Then we got married and I instantly regretted it. Actually, I regretted it the day that we were getting married, and I didn’t know how to get out of it. Yeah, I didn’t know how to get out of it, so I just went through with it. He was not a believer. He would say things that made me like he was mentally abusive, so no man has ever put their hands on me. And that was one thing that I always promised myself I would never allow to happen, especially in front of my kids, because of what I seen happen with my mom. But he was very mentally abusive. He would just say things and I would have to ask to use the car to go to the grocery store like it was bad. During this time I started…My daughter went to Bible school at this church like a few blocks up the road from us. And they came to the house one day and I just I went to church. I think she got baptized and that’s what I went to church for. And I just started going. And then I got pregnant. And when I got pregnant, it was nothing like my first pregnancy. My first pregnancy was like easy and and the labor wasn’t, but I was sick all the time. Like morning sickness, afternoon sickness, night sickness. My son just gave it to me. Oh, it was not good. And then a couple of weeks before, I had stopped going to church, cause I was just sick all the time. And then a couple of weeks before I had him, I just had this feeling. I had this feeling that I was going to die and I don’t know how to explain it. I just had a feeling. And I remember telling my mother in law at the time, it was a week before I was because I do scheduled an induction.
Meg [00:22:41] And you are still with this married to this horrible fellow?
Shauna [00:22:45] Yes. We hadn’t gotten divorced yet, so it was about a week before my induction and I remembertelling my mother in law at the time that I just had this feeling that something was going to happen and she was like, “Oh, you’ll be okay. it’s your nerves.” And then the day of the induction, I remember we were dropping my daughter off and his daughter off at her mom’s house so I could go into the hospital. And I remember hugging my daughter and I remember thinking that I wasn’t going to see her again. So I just had that feeling. And so they induced me that night and it was the next day. So I was having contractions. The contractions was getting really bad, and I knew something was wrong really the next day because I could feel the contractions in my legs. I mean, I had one other baby, but I didn’t experience that with her and I had an epidural, too. So the nurse came in. She would check me from time to time, and then she finally come and she’s like, “You’re dilated to a ten. It’s really start pushing the doctors on her way.” And I’m like, “Okay.” And I still feel like I even told the nurse something. “Something’s wrong so I can fill this in my legs. I don’t think that’s normal.” And she’s like, “Oh, you’re fine. You’re dilated to ten. The doctor’s on the way.” So I was pushing and it hurt really, really, really bad. My doctor came in and she checked me and she said, “Shauna, she said, You’re only dialated to a six.” I don’t know what to think. And the nurse started arguing with her. So my doctor took the nurse out in the hallway and then she came back with another nurse and had the other nurse check me and I was only dilated to six.
Meg [00:24:23] Oh, wow.
Shauna [00:24:24] And then my doctor was like, “Okay, you have two options. Either you can go like, you’re going and wait till you get to a ten, but there’s a chance that your baby could be born with cerebral palsy.” And then she said, “You can either have do that or you can have an emergency caesarean. We’ll take you back right now.” And of course, I was like, “Let’s do the emergency caesarean.”
Meg [00:24:47] Were you by yourself in there? You didn’t have anyone in there supporting you?
Shauna [00:24:51] Nobody was in the room at this time. It was just me and the doctor.
Meg [00:24:55] Wow.
Shauna [00:24:55] And as she was trying to walk out of the room, I asked, “What is the chance of death?” And I’ll never forget the look on her face. She turned around and she looked at me and she was like. Like she was taken back because it took her a second to like, she finally, you know, got her her composure and she turned around and she looked at me and she was like, “Oh, it’s just 1%.” And that’s if you’re asleep, you’ll be awake. And I was like, “Okay.” By the time she left, my husband at the time had come back in and told him what was going on. They took me back for the emergency situation and everything went good. My son was born. He was a pretty big baby. He weighed 8lbs 6oz. And I got to see him. And he was beautiful. And the next thing I know, they were waking me up asking me who the president was. And then they wake me back up, and it asked me what year it was like just random questions. The last thing I remember was it was pitch black, and I don’t know how to explain it. It was just black. And it I was in a very, very dark room and I was like, had my hands up in the air like, like, you know, try and feel for a wall. And I couldn’t find a wall, but it was just so black. And I guess why I was doing that, I was moving my hand and the nurse was like, “Shauna, she was like, “You have to hold still so I can get this in your hand.” She was putting the arm. It was an IV. It’s the kind where they put them into your main arteries. I’m not really sure what the name of it is, but I had three ended up with three of them in three main arteries. She was putting one in my hand and when she said my name, it like snap me out of that. And I just like open my eyes. That was the last thing I remember. And I woke up in ICU two days later on life support when they the nurses and the doctors came in and told me everything that happened. And my doctor, my OB told me that I lost seven liters of blood and that our bodies hold eight liters and that nobody loses seven liters of blood and lives through it. And then she told me that it was God and that there was no reason that I should have lived through that.
Shauna [00:27:27] At the hospital, they said that? Wow.
Shauna [00:27:30] Yeah. While I was in the ICU room, I still had the tubes down my throat and everything. Like I couldn’t respond.
Meg [00:27:36] What were you thinking?
Shauna [00:27:38] My first thought was, “Why did God save me?” After everything that I have done, why did He save me?
Meg [00:27:46] That that makes me sad. Because I just think instead of thinking of all that I’ve been through, you’re like, of all that I’ve done, like. Like you were being punished. Did you feel a little bit feel like you’re being punished?
Shauna [00:27:56] I didn’t feel like I was being punished. I felt I just didn’t understand why. Why He saved me after everything that I have done.
Meg [00:28:06] Yeah, well, it must have taken a while to recover. I mean, and. And whoever’s listening right now, you can’t see what I see right now as they’re looking at each other. Beautiful, healthy, great skin color, lovely life. Yeah. It’s incredible that that must have taken a while to heal from it.
Shauna [00:28:28] It took a long time emotionally to heal from. So my son was, gosh, I don’t know if he was a week or two weeks old when we left the hospital. I think he was eight days old when we left the hospital. And that thought just kept pounding in my head like, “Why did He save me?” And it ended up sending me into a depression. And that depression lasted until 2016 because I just didn’t understand. And I would think, “Oh, God has a purpose for me. That’s why He saved me.” And I even went back to church after this. Like that was like a wake up call for me. And I went back to church and I started teaching Sunday school and I was doing Awana on Wednesday nights. And during all this, I ended up divorcing my baby, my son’s father. Yeah, he ended up cheating on me. And I found out on accident to have some investigating on Facebook.
Meg [00:29:35] Social media.
Shauna [00:29:36] Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, okay. I go to church and I consulted my pastor and. My pastor and some elders at church. And of course, they work it out. Do what you can. And I did. I tried. Even though I didn’t love him, I still tried. And I put that effort forward and he just didn’t want no part of it.
Meg [00:30:02] So sorry. Well, how did you feel after that divorce, being free from that new lease on life? But also, you’re going through all this in your mother of two and you’ve lived a lot more life now.
Shauna [00:30:13] So I felt free from him. I didn’t have that mental abuse anymore. Praise the Lord. And so I think that I believe that was like 2011/2012, somewhere in that area. So I did my best to get on my feet. And I got on my feet and I was actually doing really well. But I was still depressed. And I had a lot of mine drama about, you know, what my purpose was, why God saved me. And I of course, I had like, just mind drama. I don’t know. I just don’t know how it was a lot of mind drama. And what happened was, in December 2015, I ended up losing everything. We lost our house, my car got repossessed, even our phones got shut off. It was literally that bad. We lost everything. And so I ended up homeless with two kids and I ended up going to my dad’s and asked if we could stay there. And they did really didn’t have a room at this time, so my daughter ended up sleeping on their couch and they had a twin mattress. So me and my son shared the twin mattress on one of the spare bedroom, bedroom floors. And that’s where we stayed. And that was December 2015. And then in 2016, I was like, I was just just one day I was just like, you know, I’m tired of living like this and something’s got to change. And I remember the day that I was sitting on that mattress on the floor. And I just gave it all to God. And that’s when everything changed. Like, that was the day that I really handed over to Him. And I told Him I just apologized for everything I ever did. And. I believe that He promised that He actually forgave me for my sins. I remember that was the day that I forgave my mom and I forgave the man that molested me and I forgave my ex-husband and everybody that had ever done me wrong. I asked forgiveness for anything that I ever done wrong to anybody. Like, it was just it was so freeing. It was just felt so freed.
Meg [00:32:45] Praise the Lord. And how long has that been since that moment? And what does that look like for you? Since, I mean, what a special, amazing day.
Shauna [00:32:54] That is really the day that my relationship with God just really took off. I was able to get back on my feet. I had three jobs, but that’s what it took to get back on my feet. And I remember I had bought a car for my mom’s boyfriend and I paid $700 for it and I saved up to buy the car. And I remember just being so grateful for that car every time I got in it, because I had just lost everything and I was just so grateful. And it just made me look at everything so differently. I did forget to mention when I was living in my dad’s basement and when I had finally just said enough was enough with the drugs and the party. And I did go back to school and I was the actually the first person in my family to graduate college.
Meg [00:33:46] Oh, Shauna, that’s amazing.
Shauna [00:33:49] And I got my college degree.
Meg [00:33:51] Wow. Kudos to you. Like, that’s that’s incredible. I’m sure your kids just your oldest is a teenager, right? Like, I know someday they’ll be like, “Dang, mom’s amazing. Look at all she did.” They don’t always they’re not able to process all this stuff in our lives right now. But like, that’s amazing. Good for you. You know, here you are getting back on your feet and you’ve got that car and you’re just praising God. Every time you step in, your life’s back on track and you’re growing in your faith. So you met your current husband online and he’s a believer. You know, bring us up to speed with what’s going on in your heart, you know, in your walk with the Lord in your home now.
Shauna [00:34:37] So we got married in 2017. I got the good job. It was actually a job that I thought I would retire from. And then we got married a few months. Yeah, a few months after I started that job. And then everything was going good. In 2019, I found out that I was getting laid off, like everybody was getting laid off the entire division, and it was kind of a blow, but they kept me on a little bit longer. So actually my last day was in February of 2020, like literally before the pandemic hit. I thought, “Oh, I’m just going to go, you know, go back to someone insurance.” Because I did that when I was a single mom. And when the time came, I was like, “I don’t want to sell insurance. I won’t to go back to that.” And then, of course, the pandemic hit. And I was like, I just didn’t know what to do. And that’s when I really was like, “Okay, God, You saved me for a reason. Why did You save me?” And so I started reading some books and Christian books and reading the Bible a lot more, and just doing a lot of praying and soul searching. And that’s when I felt like it kept leaning back to life coaching. So I ended up taking a course in. It was biblical for a biblical certification to be a life coach. And I did that, but I didn’t do anything with it. And I actually got another job and it was a really good job and I made really good money. I started feeling like my integrity was being challenged. Because it was sales, in the way that they had a selling stuff. I just kind of felt like it was going against my integrity. And so it wasn’t sitting well with me. They ended up letting me go from that job in November of 2021. So I did what any mom or wife would do, and I took the next job that came along and I ended up hating that job. I was thankful for it. But it was very strenuous. I ended up leaving that job, but before I left, I was just doing a lot of praying and I’m like, “Okay, this is the third job in less than two years. What is going on here?” And that’s when I really felt like God was really just that was my purpose was to coach other women. And I felt like that’s why God kept pulling these jobs away from me. So in September of this year, I left that job and that’s when I decided to just move on to my purpose.
Meg [00:37:15] What would you say your purpose is? Cause that’s been such an important theme.
Shauna [00:37:21] I believe that my mission is to help women in their forties, to discover their purpose and walk in their purpose. But I believe that my purpose is actually to help single parents. And my mission will help me get there.
Meg [00:37:41] That’s great. Are you going about that mostly through coaching?
Shauna [00:37:44] Yeah. So my coaching, mostly focusing on women in their forties that are either going through a midlife crisis or can’t deal with the fact that they’re going to be turning 50. Those are things that I’ve dealt with. I recently turned 43 and I just like I’m going to be 50 in seven years. So much I want to do. So actually we cover all seven areas of life. So your mindset, spiritual, physical, personal, financial, career. We cover everything.
Meg [00:38:19] Oh, great.
Shauna [00:38:20] How do you do one thing in life is how you do everything. I haven’t yet, but I want I want to start a ministry where I work with single parents, and that’s where I find my coaching is going to help me get there. So my mission is to help as many women as I can in their forties and then, you know, use my spare time to help the single moms. But there’s so many times when we’re coaching something that I’ve been through that I can pull from that and I can use my experience to help them.
Meg [00:38:50] I’m sure that is so encouraging because sometimes I think the whole coaching thing, people seem like unrelatable or they have every everything together. They always have. It’s like going to, you know, like a weight clinic where I went to one once and everybody worked there was 20 and super skinny and never had to struggle with her weight. So I was like, “Well, I mean, it’s great going, but…” You know? Anyway, I just love all that you’ve shared. You know, just even the miracle of your birth and all the difficult, hard things that you’ve been through and almost dying, giving birth, and how the Lord’s turn that all around. It’s just so encouraging. Shauna. Is there a verse that you feel like shapes your story?
Shauna [00:39:36] Definitely. Philippians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That has been a verse that’s been with me for a very long time.
Meg [00:39:48] Before we seal up the envelope on this letter of encouragement, we have prepared a little treat for you that we like to call the P.S. So you can see more of the heart and personality of our guest.
V/O [00:40:01] Here is your P.S..
Meg [00:40:06] Are you ready for some bonus questions?
Shauna [00:40:08] Yes.
Meg [00:40:10] What is your most treasured possession? And I’m sure your Bible’s, number one. But you know, besides your Bible.
Shauna [00:40:15] Absolutely. I would like to say coffee, but besides the coffee, my mind. Definitely my mind, my eyesight. My mind is something that I have worked on over the years, and nobody can take that from me. That’s, you know, kind of my mind and my heart go together because, you know, it’s where I keep the scriptures when I need them. So definitely my mind.
Meg [00:40:46] Wow. I guess, you know, from your experiences with just with the church, What? I don’t know. What would you say is the greatest need in the church today?
Shauna [00:40:55] I would definitely say coaching. And when I say coaching, I mean coaching for like, single parents. The reason I say that is because when I was a single parent and I would go to church, there was a couple we have like an outsource for the community. So I would go and I would talk to them and they were kind of coaching me, but I felt more like they were telling me what to do and they weren’t hearing where I was. They weren’t hearing what I was going through. Instead, they were just telling me, “Go do this, go do that.” And coaching is totally different. Coaching is you’re listening and your bringing…Because I believe we all have the answers inside of us that God has given us. And sometimes we just need someone to help pull those out of us.
Meg [00:41:44] I really like how you said that. That was really great. Along the line of coaching, what are three tips you could give people who, I guess, people that you’re currently coaching that might help people who are listening right now?
Shauna [00:41:57] I would say three tips would be the first tip would be how you do one thing is how you do everything in life. So when I say that, it’s like if you have a habit of holding on to stuff like physical stuff, like you hoard stuff, then you’re probably doing that with your feelings. You’re probably doing that with unforgiveness. You hide it in another area of your life. The second one would be to constantly work on renewing your mind.
Meg [00:42:26] 100%.
Shauna [00:42:28] Yes, because in the Bible talks about renewing your mind continuously, because it’s the closer you get to God, the harder Satan is going to attack you. And he goes through your mind first. He really does.
Meg [00:42:44] Yeah. How do you keep your mind like…He’s reading the scriptures, right? You know, faith comes by hearing the word of God.
Shauna [00:42:51] And it’s a lot of what you allow to go into your mind. So, like the movies that you watch, the music you listen to, even the people that you associate with, you have to be aware of, you know, the conversations that you’re having. You know, you got you got to be in the Word. You got to be around good Christian people. You got to be around positive people and have positive things going into your mind. The third one was when you lack faith to ask God. And when I say that, the thing that comes to mind for me a lot is the woman that touched Jesus’s robe. And she said, “If I could just touch His robe, I’ll be healed.” And every time I think of that verse, I just get chills. And I’m like, “She believed that. And if we just believe…”Then I just get chills.
Meg [00:43:48] You know what? I do, too. Because I was at a tent meeting. I was like 19 or 20. And my mother, somebody shared a message on that passage. And the pastor was like, there, if the tent was full of people. And my mom had come with me and he said, “There’s one person here, there is a woman here who’s been suffering…” And it wasn’t like a prophetic church or anything like that. He just had this sense in his heart that someone in the crowd. And my mom said in that closing song after hearing that message, she gave her life to Christ during that. Isn’t that cool?
Shauna [00:44:27] That is so awesome.
Meg [00:44:29] Well, and for everyone listening, you can just hear that Shauna has so much to offer and such encouragement. And if you’re if you’re on Instagram at all, go find her. And her Instagram is encouraging and her so many great tips. Or if you’re looking for, you know, like maybe you’re like, “Oh, well, yes, all the things she’s described as me, I’m in my forties. What am I going to do in my fifties? Or I could use someone who’s been through a lot to come along or just coach me.” You know, just DM her on Instagram. Apart from your kiddos, because that’s the easy answer. What makes you smile?
Shauna [00:45:02] My husband, he just makes me laugh and I feel like he gets me.
Meg [00:45:08] Oh, that’s great.
Shauna [00:45:10] Oh, he’s got the most giving heart. Like, he just. He will give and he will help somebody in a heartbeat. And it just I love that so much about him.
Meg [00:45:22] What a blessing to be in a healthy, safe marriage. I’m so glad you get a chance to experience that. What do you love about each of your children?
Shauna [00:45:30] I love my daughter. I love her so much because she has such a giving heart. She will do anything for anybody. She just wants to stop what she’s doing and go help them a lot like my husband. She’s just very caring. And my son, he’s very intelligent and he’s very smart. And I just love that about him. And sometimes when I think he’s not listening, he’s listening. He always proves to me that he was listening. It might be two weeks down the road that he proves that he was listening.
Meg [00:46:07] And here we like spending so much time repeating everything. Like my husband would say, “Meg, it’s not an understanding problem. They’re hearing everything.” It’s like, “Oh.” So it’s great he’s got those super ears. He’s your miracle baby. Probably when you see him so often, think about how I mean, like you were born in miracle. He’s a miracle. You know, like you’ve seen so many miracles in your life. How do you feel about that?
Shauna [00:46:35] Humbled. It reminds me that. The God is real and that God is capable. Way too often I have conversations with other Christians and you will tell like I’ve told my story before, and sometimes I felt like they didn’t believe me or they felt like, “Oh, that was a coincidence.” And I think too often that there’s too many Christians that are they think they don’t feel like God is still doing miracles and He is. And I am. I am a miracle. And I’ve seen miracles and I will forever keep those close to my heart because they’re a reminder that He’s still doing miracles. He’s still here, He’s still capable.
Meg [00:47:22] Amen. And actually, that’s what you shared when I posted a question. Have you gotten to witness a miracle? And then I was like, so blown away and so moved by your story. And we were strangers, and the Lord brought us together, and I’m so grateful. What is the legacy you want to leave behind, Shauna?
Shauna [00:47:43] So the legacy that I want to leave behind is I want to help encourage single parents step into their purpose and fill that void that they have and know that God, only Jesus can fill that void. I just want to help single parents encourage them.
Meg [00:48:04] I trust Shauna’s story encourages you as much as it has encouraged me. Really? Just from starting off in birth and in the miracle of her son all those years later in the same hospital. I can’t imagine what it means to even lose that much blood. To think of such a difficult childhood and teen years and teen mom and arranged marriage and all those things. Yet, she had that beautiful come to the Lord moment on her couch. God has restored so much and today is using Shauna as a miracle and her son to bless so many and to coach women through hard times. And I’m praying for us today that we have that eye and that soft heart and that faith to know that God is the God of miracles. As a podcast listener, do you sometimes struggle with Where should I listen? Which app on my phone was I at, or where was I? Struggle no more. Letters From Home Podcast has our own app in the Google Play and Apple App Store. Guess what? It’s free. Just search Letters From Home podcast in the search bar in your phone’s app store and click download. How about that? Then all of our everyday extraordinary faith stories will be right there in one easy place on your phone so you don’t have to go searching anymore. You can just tap the rainbow icon and encouragement is on the way.
V/O [00:49:35] Links from our guests will be in the show notes. For more every day extraordinary faith stories, go to our website Lettersfromhomepodcast.com and click subscribe or follow whatever platform you’re listening to.
Narrator [00:49:48] 2 Corinthians 3:3, “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
Narrator [00:50:00] Until next time, go in peace.
