Fail, Flail, Faith: Turns Out God Recycles Bad Decisions

What if the chapter you’re most afraid to share holds the key to your calling? We go straight at the hard stuff—shame, regret, betrayal, addiction, and the moments that feel beyond repair—and show how grace doesn’t erase the past, it redeems it. Through personal stories of infidelity, abusive relationships, and seasons of numbing, we trace the surprising ways God meets us in the mess with love, strength, and a plan that turns wounds into assignments.

We dismantle the lie that you’re “too broken” or “too late” by rooting identity in scripture—Romans 8:28 and 2 Corinthians 12:9—and in lived experience that proves healing is possible. You’ll learn the practical shift from shame to stewardship: acknowledge the pain without pretending, allow God to work at the root, and align your daily choices with purpose. Gratitude becomes a tool for traction, not a slogan, while targeted journaling prompts help you surface the places you’ve felt disqualified, recognize what God has already redeemed, and map how your story can serve others.

If you’ve survived divorce, trauma, addiction, or betrayal, you’ll find a clear, compassionate path forward. We offer simple practices, honest language, and hopeful theology to help you reframe your past as a platform, not a prison. By the end, you’ll have prompts to write through the tough chapters, a lens to spot grace at work, and the courage to use your scars as guidance for someone still in the dark. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope today, and leave a review telling us one place where grace has already rewritten your story.

Where you can find me:
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube
Email Me: LorayneMichaels22@gmail.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Turning Pain Into Purpose
• 0:38 Naming Shame And Common Lies
• 2:49 Personal Story Of Brokenness
• 4:04 Scripture And Radical Grace
• 5:20 From Shame To Stewardship
• 6:31 Gratitude As A Healing Practice
• 7:18 Journaling Prompts For Redemption
• 9:00 Your Past As A Platform
• 9:59 Prayer And Final Encouragement

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome back to the Bite Size Podcast. I'm your host, Lorraine Michaels. And today I want to get a little vulnerable with you, but also I want to invite you to maybe explore a side of your life, of your story, that maybe is not glamorous. The side of the story of your life that maybe you're not so excited about sharing about. And that's okay. Hang with me because today's short episode is all about turning pain into purpose. What if I told you that the very thing that you're ashamed of is the very thing that God wants to use most powerfully in your life? Looking back on my life, you know, 42 years, um, there's been a lot of ups and downs. There's been a lot, a lot of things that I don't talk about, that I don't share about, that I don't really like to shine the light on because of my guilt and the shame that I've had to work through. And maybe sometimes, if I'm honest, a little bit of that shame that I still carry. Today I want to talk to you and I want to show you about how your past doesn't disqualify you, but it actually defines who you are, who you've become, and the power of God and the miracle of redemption. I want to expose a lie that we often tell ourselves and we hear: I'm too broken, I'm too messy, it's too late. It's a lot of our stories that we carry, the story of the pain from the past, of something that we've done that we are ashamed of. And these are common thoughts that we think that women have after a divorce, through addiction, failure, or even trauma. And sometimes shame keeps us stuck and silent. And the reason why that happens is because the enemy loves to get a hold of us and loves to implant those little seeds of that lie, that you're too broken, you're too damaged, you're unlovable, no one is going to forgive you for fill in the blank what you have done. And I want to shine a light on the truth that God loves you, that God has forgiven you, that you can be redeemed and restored, and that you are not broken, and that you are exactly where God wants you to be. And so, from personal experience of walking through the shame and the guilt of infidelity in previous relationships, walking through the shame and the brokenness of being in an abusive relationship and getting abused and being cheated on, walking through the shame and guilt of the pain that I caused so many people in my life, but God. And I just want to share with you that God uses those broken pieces and those broken hearts to bring breakthrough. And I know this because I am living proof of it, and I've walked the roads of pain and heartbreak and poor decisions and using things like alcohol and promiscuity to numb out and to run away from the pain of my past and the pain of my decisions. I used those things to numb the pain and run from God when all along God was there with his arms wide open, wanting to heal the hurt and to show me the love that I desired. Romans 8:28 says that he works all things for good for those who love him. And 2 Corinthians 12 9, my grace is sufficient for you. God is literally telling us through his love story called the Bible that he is there for us and that he's working for us and that he loves us and that he forgives us. He forgives us for those things that we have done and that he forgives all sins. And whether it is something that has been done to you, God can give you the healing that you need. God can give you and fill in the gap for whatever it is. For instance, the pain of my past of being molested as a child, the pain of my past of being in a relationship where I messed up, in a relationship where abuse was done unto me, infidelity was done to me. So that pain and heartbreak and the pain of betrayal, God has walked with me through all of it to show me his love and grace and guidance and healing power. Friend, I want to break down the lies that maybe you've been telling yourself and to let you know that there is a God of healing that loves you so much and who is wanting you to be free from the shame, the guilt, the pain. He is there to heal you and to walk you through all of these things. And there has to be a shift from shame to stewardship. And so there's a process of acknowledging the pain, acknowledging either what was done to you or what you did, but acknowledging that pain and telling yourself that it is okay. It is, it's a feeling, it is okay to feel that pain, but allow God to heal it. Allow God to come in and to do the work that he needs to do in order to heal you. And then align yourself, align yourself with his purpose, with his word, and watch how he can redeem your story and watch how he can bring fruit from what you thought was a dead tree, but he can bring abundant life and such a beautiful story out of it. Finding gratitude is another tool that I use to help me through the process. Being grateful for the place that I'm at, being grateful for the pain that I went through because it has taught me who I am, my strength, it has taught me how much God loves me. Allowing that pain to be for a purpose is where you start to find healing and you start to see that growth because you're allowing the pain to be for a purpose and not sitting in the pain and not sitting in your trauma and not sitting in what was, but being grateful for that you're alive today, that God is working a miracle, and that there is something greater in it for you. A practical takeaway about how you can turn that pain into power is journaling. Journaling is something that I always talk about, and journaling is something that is so healing and so powerful, and it helps you shift your mind into that place. But a prompt or a question that you can ask yourself is where have I felt disqualified? Where in my life did I feel less than? And then search your heart and see where did you feel disqualified? And then another question is what has God already redeemed in my story? I want you to think back to the times where beauty came from it. Where did God turn things around? Where has God shown up for you? What has God done for you? And then ask yourself, how can I use that to serve others? How can you use your story of what you have been through to help other people? Because let me tell you, you have made it out of some of the worst days of your life, right? You're alive today. You have faced, you have made it on the other side of some of the hardest days of your life. And so I want to encourage you to find the gold in it, find the silver lining, be grateful for what you have today and where you are today, and how you have made it through and share your story, share how you got out of it, help someone else, serve someone else in a way that you wish someone would have been able to help you or serve you. And so I really just want to encourage you that your past isn't the problem. It's actually a platform. And that your pain was not put there on purpose necessarily. So I understand that sometimes pain has been caused by other people. And it's not so much that God allowed this bad thing to happen to you, but if you flip your thinking and you start to think that God is allowing you that freedom to be healed, God is allowing, God is showing you and guiding you into a path of healing. And I promise you, if you look for the good, you will find the good in it. And you can find people who are going to walk alongside of you, to pray along with you, to help you see the good. You'll find people that you can help along this journey. And so I just want to end with this: a short prayer. Lord, thank you for turning ashes into beauty and thank you for allowing pain to become a purpose. Use every part of the story, Lord. I pray that you use every part of the story for your glory. And I pray, God, that whoever is hearing this, whatever they are going through, that they are encouraged to find the purpose in the pain. God, I pray that whoever is listening to this can find the courage to share their story and to help someone else along there. Remember, friend, you were designed by an incredible God for a reason, for a purpose. You were divinely created for a divine purpose, and there was no mistake in you or your story.