An Army of Normal Folks - Jamie Heard: Magnets for Suffering (Pt 2)

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Jamie’s 2.5-year-old son died from choking on chicken. And her close friends couldn’t have kids, experienced late-term miscarriage, and breast cancer at 30 years old. They became magnets for others walking through tremendous suffering and realized that not everyone had their support network. Together, they founded Faithfully Restored, which has served 2,929 women with prayers and specialized care packages.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney and Sophia with An Army of Normal Folks, and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Jamie Heard. Sophia, ring the bell. Why are you guys so weak at ringing the bell? My kids are not good at ringing bells. Sophia, do you want to ring the bell again? Show your dad what you can do. Alright, now, we'll be right back with you, but Sophia's going to tell you.

Right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Good job, Sophia. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole?

Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart Original Podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This may never work for you. What's a quantum computer?

It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations

to fascinating scientific questions. So give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to Science Stuff on the iHeart Video app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2020, a group of young women in a tidy suburb of New York City found themselves in an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked.

Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts on my body parts that looked exactly like my own. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to scream. It happened in Levittown, New York. But reporting the series took us through the darkest corners of the internet and to the front lines of a global battle against deep fake pornography.

This should be illegal, but what is this? This is a story about a technology that's moving faster than the law and about vigilantes trying to stem the tide. I'm Margie Murphy. And I'm Olivia Carville. This is Levertown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope. Listen to Levertown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. The championship is back in the Bay for the first time in 40 years. On the new limited podcast series, Dub Dynasty, we hear from head coach Steve Kerr on how Steph Curry almost never even joined the Warriors. In fact, I thought we had a draft day deal to end up getting him to Phoenix.

For the entire behind the scenes story of Golden State's incredible 10 year run, listen to Dub Dynasty on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1978, Roger Caron's first book was published and he was unlike any first time author Canada had ever seen. Roger Caron was 16 when first convicted.

Has spent 24 of those years in jail. 12 years in solitary. He went from an ex-con to a literary darling almost overnight. He was instantly a celebrity. He was an adrenaline junkie, and he was the star of the show. Go-Boy is the gritty true story of how one man fought his way out of some of the darkest places imaginable. I had a knife go in my stomach, puncture my skin, break my ribs, I had my feps all in

my hands. Only to find himself back where he started. Rodger's saying this, I've never hurt anybody but myself. And I said, oh, you're so wrong. You're so wrong on that one, Rodger. From Campside Media and iHeart Podcasts, listen to GoBoy on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of Divine Intervention.

This is a story about radical nuns in combat boots and wild haired priests trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover in a hell-bent effort to sabotage a war. J. Edgar Hoover was furious somebody violated the FBI, and he wanted to bring the Catholic left to its knees. The FBI went around to all their neighbors and said to them, do you think these people are good Americans?

It's got heists, tragedy, a trial of the century, and the god damn best love story you've ever heard. I picked up the phone and my thought was, this is the most important phone call I'll ever make in my life. I couldn't believe it. I mean, Brendan, it was divine intervention. Listen to Divine Intervention on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Well, wow. I mean- That was a lot. You're on the phone with your dad and he goes and kills himself. And then you have this happy, perfect life and your kid chokes on some noodles and dies. And I've read,

I don't want to screw the words up, but basically that's kind of you're in your 30s and you have these people around you and although you have your faith and everything you're still stinging and hurting and you feel so much love and support by your community and your faith plus your husband's steadfastness in your marriage Plus your husband steadfastness in your marriage and your community is really what helped you. I'm going to my words cope. Is that right? Yeah, definitely. And so life continues.

What does life look like after? We have a really close group of friends. And so as we were all having kids, one of my best friends, you know, that their parents of Jack, they found out they could not have biological children. And so they went through the adoption process. So we walked through that with them. They adopt Jack. We have some friends have late term miscarriages that we walked through before the summer before William died one of our best friends had just turned 30 and was diagnosed with breast cancer had two young kids same age Madeline and William. It's too young.

You know it's just tragic and so we had had these things going on these these deep valleys that we didn't know what to do and so we just kept showing up for each other. And so when I got home from Vanderbilt that day from the hospital without William, I got to my back porch and there was this basket and that's what we had been doing for our friends that were walking through different things. There was a bunch of these notes and a bunch of just comfort items and stuff. And I was like, okay, now it's my turn. And I had no term to be comforted. Yes. Yeah. And it meant a lot. I had people around me, not even just my close friends,

but I had, we had community around us that that's still love on us. I mean, it'll be 10 years and I've still get texts about William. I still get a card from a friend every year for his birthday. And I know what a simple, I'm thinking of you, I see you. Um, I know what a simple act of kindness feeling seen can do for someone. And so as we're walking through these deep valleys, then we, they walk, we walk through child loss. Six months later, after William died, another boy in our community, he was eight years old. He's, he died in a car crash.

I didn't know that family, but someone, a mutual friend connected me. And I had read this book through the eyes of a lion. Have you ever heard of it? No. By Lesko. I'll send it to you. I'll read it. So good. And so I had read this book and I was like, okay, I said Jenny Rebecca was the mom's name. And so I just send her a note in the mail and send her that book.

And I said, I'm only six months ahead of you. This is really hard, but you are going to be okay. And I'm here if you need anything. And so she get, I leave my phone number. She calls me just the way the Lord used having someone that had experienced the loss of a child as, as much community as I had, there is something to in a, in a weight in someone's words that knows exactly what you're going through. And I think the enemy would love for you to feel alone and that no one else gets it.

And so that's also part of what we're doing is that's not true. I mean, people out there have experienced similar things and, um, you're not alone. Yes. And survived. And so those next few years after that, I'm still walking through grief. I mean, as much hope and peace as I had, there's grief there. That doesn't take away the deep valleys. I wanted to ask you about that before we go.

We're about to leap into what began what you are now. Not what you are now, what you do now. Really poor choice words. I apologize. I knew what you meant Yeah, but the problem is Alex won't edit it out because he's a pain in my butt. But anyway, you know it so here's the deal Emotions Grief sadness loss fear I Sadness, loss, fear. I don't know if you know this, but when you described what happened to William, you talked

about your nanny and the steps that she went through and oh my gosh, bless her heart, the guilt she must bear. But you said it was some chicken noodle soup that I bought a Costco and then you moved on. You felt guilt about buying that chicken noodle soup, didn't you? I don't feel guilt, but I, when I, when I walk into Costco, there's always a point where I hate my life and I wanna scream and like,

there is an association there with that Costco suit. I could tell. When you said that, I could tell. I saw it and you said it. It was not how you said it, but your facial expressions and it was when you crossed your arms. It was not how you said it, but your facial expressions and it was when you crossed your arms. It was. Which meant you were

defending. You know. The reason I'm bringing all of this up is there are people that listen to this show that maybe aren't Christians, maybe are on the fence, maybe have spirituality. There's so many levels of faith and not faith. As it pertains to an army of normal folks and people employing their discipline and passion and area needs in the world, as it pert as it pertains to that, you know, I don't care if you have

faith or not, I can celebrate your good work. Right? Absolutely. So there are people listening to us that are Jewish and agnostic and everything else. As deep as you are in your faith and as profoundly as you have demonstrated how prayer, surrender, and that faith in God's will has meant to you, it's really important to me that people listen to us that don't really understand or subscribe or haven't reached that place in their life, understand. None of that replaces grief and sadness and hurt and guilt and defensiveness and trauma and all of it.

That don't think that as a Christian, you're saying all of this faith and prayer and grace and belief and free will just makes everything perfect. It does not. It does not. We are still human and it is not a magic pill. Not just because, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think it's important before we go forward because of what you're about to say gives you a deep understanding of the and I know you have a large in your mouth, but I think it's important before we go forward because of what you're about to say gives you a deep

understanding that people, you know, serve. But speak to that. Please, if you're not where Jamie and Daniel are in their faith, don't think, oh, well, they're brainwashing to think and there's no problems because of their faith. No, no, no, no, no, no.

You're missing the human side of this thing. And I think the enemy would love for that to be truth or just kind of people think that. Right. And that's right. So I want you to speak to it a little. Right. For perspective for folks who don't share your depth of faith.

And a lot of people say to me like, man, I could never have that faith or I would could never be that strong. And like we said before, it is a true surrender. It's a choice I'm making to surrender, but it's no strength of mine. It is, it is literally me acknowledging my weakness in, I can't get through this day holding this level of grief. It is terrible. It is a terrible two day. No, not every day. There are times still in December,

I have a hard time over the anniversary. And Costco. In Costco. I mean, I still- I would not go to Sam's. I'd quit going to Costco. I swear to goodness, I'd never go to another Costco. It's a growing experience.

I just, you know. But I mean, when that happened, you know, I think it's a good, I agree. It's a great point to stop and make sure that people are aware that your faith does not take away that sadness, that grief. It's not an anecdote for any of those human emotions. I was really struggling. I mean, I, you know, as a teacher, so this was December.

So I took that whole next semester off and didn't go back to work till August, which was good because I don't think I could have, but also it was terrible that I was at home. And so it gets middle of January and I go to Daniel and I'm, I remember Madeline, I was laying in bed and Madeline came up to my bedside. She's four. And she said, mom, she said, at least I didn't die. I'm still here. And I was like, I need to get my stuff together. You need to get your rear end in gear.

Yeah. And I went to Daniel and I said, I need to get out of here. Like I'm really struggling. I can't parent in this grief. I need to remove myself from this situation. And so I asked a friend and I said, I need some place to go that I can kind of get away. And so luckily she, she recommended a fabulous resort in Arizona that is amazing. I think I want to go back for it's so expensive, but I want to go back for the 10 year. I just,

I feel like I actually think I might write them and be like, Hey, this was my experience 10 years ago and I need to go back. But in all serious, seriousness, I flew out to Arizona and I go to this resort and it was the first time that I feel like I could take a deep breath. and it was the first time that I feel like I could take a deep breath. No one around me knew me and I could just sit in that grief and just be and it was very healing for me. I cried on the plane coming home like I didn't want to come home to the reality of what was my life. It was really hard to manage my grief, to be there for my four year old, to be a wife, to do all, to cook dinner. Luckily we had meals coming

for several months, but to do all the stuff that you have, I mean, when you experience grief like that, your world doesn't stop. You want it to, but it goes on and you have all of those, especially with young kids. But I also was thankful for Madeline because I knew our house could be completely empty without her. So I was grateful that she was there. It just, it, parenting she was there, it just, it, parenting those, that next year was really hard. Which is why I think 80% of marriages that suffer the loss of a child under the age of 10 end in divorce because of that. And men and women grieve so differently. That's just a fact.

But the point is, just because you have faith doesn't mean all of that is not going on. No, we still, I immediately, I wouldn't say draw Daniel into counseling. He went willingly. But the second that I was like, you don't have to come. He's like, okay, I'm out. But we went to counseling and that was really good and something that I, you know, would always recommend. But yeah, it, it's still,

every December I go away. Sometimes I go by myself. If Daniel's super busy at work, I go by myself. The past couple of years he's gone with me, which has been really sweet. I, I need a time where I'm not taking care of anyone else. And I can sit in that grief. I rewatch sometimes like the memorial video or sometimes I watch the actual memorial service. I look at pictures, I look at video and I cry and I take myself back there and I get back to a place of total dependence Lord. I could not go on about my life without my child here if it were not for you

That is what people need to understand is that Again you discuss it. You've talked freely about it with me, but it does not your Your faith, none of it, prayer, none of it, makes it any less human. And this is 10 years later. I mean, I'm 10 years out. Now I will say I have a lot less days that I struggle. Time heals all wounds. You know, so.

Slowly. Still, yeah, but it's still there. And I'm thankful for that. I really it comes December. There's a part of me that if I didn't miss him so much and and still struggle in that grief his life wouldn't have been that valuable to miss. You know, that was something our counselor said early on is like, this is so hard because how much you loved him. And that will always be the case. So I want, I want that to be hard sometimes. I don't want it to ever get where the anniversary

passing is like, I'm fine. I don't remember that, you know, so. It never happened. And now a few messages from our generous sponsors. But first, I hope you'll consider signing up to join the Army at normalfolks.us. By signing up, you'll receive a weekly email with short episode summaries in case you happen to miss an episode or if you prefer reading about our incredible guests, we'll be right back. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch.

Or if hypnotism is real? We will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. What's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen?

This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart Video app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2020, a group of young women in a tidy suburb of New York City found themselves in an AI-fueled nightmare. Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts on my body parts that looked exactly like my own. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to scream.

It happened in Levittown, New York. But reporting the series took us through the darkest corners of the internet and to the front lines of a global battle against deepfake pornography. This should be illegal, but what is this? This is a story about a technology that's moving faster than the law, and about vigilantes trying to stem the tide. I'm Margie Murphy.

And I'm Olivia Carville. This is Levertown, a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg, and Kaleidoscope. Listen to Levertown on a new podcast from iHeart Podcasts, Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope. Listen to Levertown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The championship is back in the Bay for the first time in 40 years. On the new limited podcast series Dub Dynasty, we hear from head coach Steve Kerr on how Steph Curry almost never even joined the Warriors.

In fact, I thought we had a draft date deal to end up getting him to Phoenix. For the entire behind the scenes story of Golden State's incredible 10 year run, listen to Dub Dynasty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Brendan Patrick Hughes, host of Divine Intervention. This is a story about radical nuns in combat boots and wild-haired priests trading blows with J. Edgar Hoover in a hell-bent effort to sabotage a war. J. Edgar Hoover was furious somebody violated the FBI and he wanted to bring the Catholic

left to its knees. The FBI went around to all their neighbors and said to them, do you think these people are good Americans? It's got heists, tragedy, a trial of the century, and the god-damnedest love story you've ever heard. I picked up the phone and my thought was, this is the most important phone call I'll ever make in my life. I couldn't believe it. I mean, Brendan, it was divine intervention.

Listen to Divine Intervention on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1978, Roger Caron's first book was published and he was unlike any first-time author Canada had ever seen. Roger Caron was 16 when first convicted. Had spent 24 of those years in jail. 12 years in solitary. He went from an ex-con to a literary darling almost overnight.

He was instantly a celebrity. He was an adrenaline junkie, and he was the star of the show. Go-Boy is the gritty true story of how one man fought his way out of some of the darkest places imaginable. I had a knife go in my stomach, puncture my screen, break my ribs, I had my feps all in my hands. Only to find himself back where he started. Rodger's saying this, I've never hurt anybody but myself.

And I said, oh, you're so wrong. You're so wrong on that one, Rodger. From Campside Media and iHeart Podcasts, listen to Go Boy on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, the table is now set. Everybody understands how you grew up. The dad, Mabel is now set. Everybody understands how you grew up, the dad, William, the organ donation,

the grief, the prayer, and your really astute understanding of the importance of community around all of this. And so one day you tell Daniel, I don't think I want to teach anymore Take us through that. Yeah, we that kind of group of friends that Jamie that struggled with infertility Heather Diagnosed with early breast cancer. Jenny Rebecca who also lost a child Jamie Heather and I go to the same church and so we're walking through

It was cancer and two children lost it's just a lot. Oh, it's a lot. Oh, it's. Yeah. And a father committed suicide. I mean, it really is. It's just a lot. Yeah. Yeah. And we're walking through James. You guys need Jersey. Yeah. Oh yeah. We need church. We need each other. We need. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember sitting there week after week and it was an act of faith series. And it was like, okay, because we became magnets for child. I mean, I still, you know, now it's not as surprising, but then, I mean, it was, you know, once every other week, someone's telling me about someone who lost a child. And same with, because now you're the expert. Now I'm the one that's like,

can I connect you with this? Or did you hear about this? And I was like, yes, this is all very depressing. And it was a lot. It was, you know, you, honestly, like our friend group became like, these people can't have kids. These people, this person's really young and they have breast cancer. And it's like, gosh, this is. These people lost children.

Yeah. And so let's talk to the miserable people about more misery because this is so much fun. It was just kind of a magnet of all of it. And it felt weighty. It felt heavy to hear all these stories. Did shots really enter your life at this point? No.

Thank goodness. No. That would have also been a disaster. Okay, so go ahead. So luckily, luckily that did not. And so it was heavy and we were like, okay, we we in really this act of faith series propelled us to like we can do something with this in the same way that we were praying for people but it was like Did you hear about this? Did you hear about this pray for this person? And so we We were like we can do something and so we're like, let's meet once a month and do the same thing that our friends did

For us, so we're gonna pray for them by name We're gonna write them a note of encouragement, and we're gonna send them a little something. And these are people you don't know. These are people we don't know. Anonymous, yeah. Yep. And so Jamie, Heather and I invited Jenny Rebecca

and we're like, hey, do you wanna do this? And she's like, absolutely. So I remember it was pouring down rain, we met on my back porch, and we had no shortage of names because people just kept telling us people. And so we did that for several months and we're like, okay, this could turn into something. And I've heard you talk about it's that feeling of when you serve someone else, just the different

perspective, just the healing that the Lord does, just what is done in your, like selfishly, it was really healing serving other people. When I'm writing a note to someone that's lost a child and I'm reminding myself of those same truths, like the Lord will not leave you. You are going to get through this. You are not alone. I see you. I'm reminding myself of those truths.

So we decided, you know, let's do something with this. And I was finishing up 10 years at my job and I went to Daniel and I was like, I remember sitting around with those four founders. We decided to call ourselves Faithful Restored. We almost did Beautifully Broken. Glad we did Faithful Restored. And I don't know, Beautifully Broken is kind of cool too.

I feel like Faithful Rest restored takes some more positives. It does. Maybe beautifully broken could be a subtitle one day, but go ahead. And so we, I remember going around and I was like, does anyone else feel called to leave their jobs? And a couple of them didn't even have jobs, but they're like, no, I'm not doing this. And they're like, no, no. And I was like, okay, cause I could feel like I think I'm meant to leave my job. And so anyway, which is a big deal given you always wanted to be a teacher and teaching was

like my dream job. Like I worked at a really great private schools. Amazing. Like I loved everything about it until truly the Lord removed that desire in my heart. And I just knew, I knew, I knew I was supposed to leave. And so, and they had been so good to me, you know, like I took off six months when I had each child, I took off six months when we lost a child, had another child. So I basically worked like worked a year, worked half a year, worked, you know, they were so good to me. And so Daniel was like, you know,

what do you want to do? And I was like, I want to promote organ donation and get faithful restored off the ground. And he's like, you know, what do you want to do? And I was like, I want to promote organ donation and get faithful restored off the ground. And he's like, that's not a job. It's like, right. Okay. Yes.

I get that. Yes. I would be losing money paying for childcare for Annie. Well, I did my job. Okay. Yeah. You were right. You're right.

But then wrestled through that. And ultimately I walked in, it was actually a week before school started. I'd already gotten my class list and I walked into my headmaster and I was like, I just know I'm not meant to come back. And the, what persuaded me, and I love to share this. What school was it? And it's worth ends worth. What a great school. So good. It was, it was really great. Still love, keep up with parents and some teachers and stuff there.

But I would gone to gymnastics earlier in that week and this gymnastic teacher, I was kind of tell her like, I think I might leave my job this week. And she said, Jamie, you never know who's praying for that job. It's like, no, that's interesting. And I did know because another team member had left and we knew someone else had applied and so they didn't hire the one girl we knew. And so I was like, I actually do know who is praying for this job. And so that gave me the confidence. And so

I always tell people, if you feel called, if you truly feel like the Lord is calling you to something, just say yes. And so I left that job and a couple of weeks later we had a launch event for faithful restored August of 2019 and we just share, there's probably like 150 friends, family, anyone we could get to. And we just stood on the stage and just shared our hopes and dreams of faithful restored. Tell me what they are. The hopes and dreams.

What, now's the time to tell me what that is. I mean, I hear, I guess, adolescent organ donation and. There's a lot going on there. Yeah, there's a lot going on there, so. Our early board said the same thing, like this is really broad. This is a shotgun like big one Yes, really widespread. But our whole thing is whatever a woman is walking through

we want them to know that they are loved they are not alone and there's hope in Jesus and Until we have to narrow that down we truly take in prayer requests from across the country in whatever it is a woman's walking through. We serve anxiety, depression, divorce, a lot of illness, a lot of child loss. Because to me, in the same way child loss can lead to divorce, lead to suicide, so can depression, so can anxiety. It really does not, it doesn't matter how much money you have, it doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter what you look like, all of those barriers are broken down when

you're struggling and when you're like your valley is your valley. I hope people don't lose a child, I hope their valley is not the same as mine, but it can lead to that same level of grief and for them their valley is not the same as mine, but it can lead to that same level of grief. And for them, their valley is their valley. And it's, it's not me to tell them, you know, I think, I think the enemy would love when we speak as founders, we always say like your valley is your valley because I think the enemy would love for like people listening, even to say like, man, well, at least I didn't lose a child or at least I don't have cancer. And you need community and you may need to feel seen and know you're loved and not feel worthy the same way that someone might feel walking through those

struggles. I will preface my next comment with I believe in the power prayer but In my belief set is that prayer Allows God to put Action items on your brain and then says go do it this prayer alone, I mean God can do what he wants to, but my experience is prayer, just prayer, without action,

is, they make you feel better, but it doesn't often lead to a lot of actionable change. So, this can't be an organization where all you do is sit around and hear people's problems and pray for them. Right, right. And so that action piece was what we wanted. When we were hearing about these women, we wanted to respond.

And we're talking about women from everywhere. Everywhere. From the beginning, it was women from all over the country. Now, five years in we've served women in 48 of the 50 states. Someone asked me the other day, what were the two? And I was like, I actually don't know. I need to find out and serve them and just get our stat 100%. Serve. Tell me what that looks like.

So it looks, it's the cool thing is it is super individualized. So say your neighbor just gets diagnosed with cancer. You get on our website, faithfulrestoredwomen.com, you put in your name and address, put in her name and address and a little bit about her story. Maybe you might say, and it depends. Some people tell a lot of the stories, some people tell a little. 80% of the time it is a friend submitting for someone. We love it when people submit for themselves.

We always encourage that. I think, you know, just as people, you always think someone has it worse than you, asking for help, asking for prayer. There's a stigma around asking for help. There is. And so 80% of the time, it's you getting on there and saying your neighbor has breast cancer.

So when you submit that, someone on our team, our outreach coordinator gets that form and she is responding to you. She's emailing you back and every you the you you the person that submitted not the person you're submitted about correct. Okay. And so she's writing you back finding out a little bit more any you know anything if you know of a specific need that they have or what. But every prayer request that comes in receives a care package from us. So all of those prayer requests that come in in our office are prayed for by name. So all of this now is done by volunteers. So we have 300 volunteers where we are constantly trying to get more things that

volunteers can do. So volunteers locally can come in our office and they'll get a slip of paper. It might say Jamie, loss of child, Heather, cancer diagnosis. And then they are, it's almost like a store we have set up and they're coming in, they're writing a handwritten note for that person, praying for that person by name

and curating an individualized care package. So we have a store set up with comfort items with books devotions So you're calling the person that emailed you or reached out to you about the person and saying tell us about her and what she likes And what she needs and then you're literally pulling from a stock shelf of care and comfort items things Specifically that you know that this person will want. And sometimes people submit the prayer request and Kelly writes them back and it's, they're not giving much information.

A lot of those details and we have seen it time and time again, like the Lord is in those details. Like I got a call the other day that was like her, I think grandmother passed away. I wasn't even, she's like, I don't even know how you knew that my grandmother liked hummingbirds and she received a hummingbird tea towel from us or something in her care package. And I was like, I didn't even submit your prayer request. And I definitely wasn't the one making the care package. And so there's a lot of those details in timing. We hear time and time again of the timing of our care packages is just, the Lord has all of those details and we trust him with that. So when we say, do you need, when we

say to cater that need back outside, uh, you know, someone might say they like this or they like that, but more often those care packages are curated from that volunteer of like what they think that person might like But then on top of that, you know if you were to say You know, they're really struggling they lost a child something happened And we might say we do we have sent couples away for like a weekend just for like a little respite We have sent couples away for like a weekend, just for like a little respite. So we'll send a couple away for a weekend just to kind of have some time by themselves,

grieve, whatever they need to do. Counseling grants, we'll do $1,000 counseling grants. You fill out an application, we'll do $1,000 counseling grants. We've paid widow's mortgages, we've paid acupuncture, we've truly outside, everyone gets a care package. But on top of that, if there are bigger needs, now with our size, we're able to have bigger needs met.

We'll be right back. Okay, this is crazy, but I'm going to do this quickly. Care packages including gift cards, books, barefoot dreams, or standing on the word socks, pamper kits, jewelry, and handwritten notes, gas and food, gift cards for those facing an illness, day outings for grieving mothers, day outings for families affected by loss, first holiday after a loss, single mom Christmas packages, mother's day packages, father's day packages, illness packages, provide rent or mortgage assistance, Provide all expense paid trips for grieving moms. Provide counseling assistance.

All expense paid respites. $15,000 adoption grants to a grieving mother. Provide all expense paid respites for women. Counseling. Financial assistance for headstones. School tuition. Financial assistance for mom and daughter to tend to retreat on the first anniversary of the husband father's death, furniture to

furnish a new house after a woman lost her spouse, spa recipes, people like teachers, military wives, foster moms, mending hearts residents, female police officers, adoptive moms, oncology patients, and nurses at oncology, Williams Medical Center nurses. Holy crap. This is from three chicks who had a bunch of walls that decide they're gonna send some people some notes? How? How?

I mean, I'm telling you, when we said yes, when we were like, okay, Lord, we didn't know anything about a nonprofit. None of us had sat on board. We had donated. That's, that is the knowledge of nonprofits. Like I'd given to nonprofits. We didn't know anything about nonprofits. And when we said yes, the Lord's like, I've got you, I've got you, just do the next thing. And so we have tried to stay spirit led in everything we've done.

And I'll tell you, the biggest gift has been, our growth has been incredible, but the Lord has matched that growth. Like the number of prayer requests we're getting, you know, just, or what, the 18th of March, halfway through the month, we've already received 65 individual prayer requests. So now we're averaging like a hundred a month. So that's a hundred individual women's stories that we're serving.

And I'm glad that you brought up kind of mother's day packages and stuff, because I think what's unique also and impressive about us is we're not a one and done. So say you send in your aunt that just lost a child. With loss specifically, we, our ongoing care has a process. So say that happened last month. We'll wait a couple months, send something because there's a lot of support in the beginning. We kind of wait until everything is done very intentionally because we're able to know those things because of what we've walked through.

So our stories are a gift that have allowed us to serve in a way that provides meaningful support. Also, one thing I didn't mention, I don't know if it needs to, but with Faithful Restored, outside of the individual prayer request, we do community packages. So like for Mother's Day, we'll do 450 care packages. So every mom or caretaker that has a child at Vanderbilt Children's will get a care package from us on Mother's Day. Are you kidding? That's cool. Every single mother has a kid at Vanderbilt Child.

450. And it's been really neat to- I want to hook you up with st. Jude. Yeah. These are, these are now moms from all over the world here with children fighting cancer, some cancers of which don't even have names. They don't even know what kind of cancer it is. Yeah. It's, it's one of my favorite projects based kind of because my passion for Vanderbilt and that's where we were and we were well cared for, but that's something community packages, walking alongside covenant where the school shooting was that has been something,

you know, our continued support of those teachers and staff. And I mean, we just did in December December a coffee cart for their staff just to let them know it's just can nobody's yeah it doesn't matter if it's a year and a half later but this is not cheap how and the cool thing so with that loss your aunt that lost a, she would get initial care package and then Mother's Day, we'll have 300 care packages go out and because she'll be experiencing her first Mother's Day without her child. So she's prayed for by name and sent a specific care package.

In November, in November before her first set of holidays without her child, she'll be prayed for by name and sent something. And so I think the cool thing about us, some is one and done. You know, your husband has surgery that you're walking through. We might get a prayer request for that. We'll send you something. And then it's not really, we may follow up with a note or something, but with loss it's that continued care.

And then even though it'll be 10 years in December, I'm on the November list. So with loss of child, you stay on that list. And so every November, as I'm anticipating that anniversary in December, I'm prayed for by name and volunteer specifically come in and make anniversary of care packages. So does some woman sitting in Albuquerque who's 38 and lost her husband to cancer and has two children, that happens. I picked Albuquerque. Her sister sends you an email and tells you about this.

She has no idea and then just anonymously one day a care package shows up with a handwritten letter and some things in it and it says you're not alone, other people have experienced it, God loves you, we love you, and then periodically throughout the ensuing years you stay in touch with her through this outreach so that she is reinforced that there are people praying for her, loving her, and she's not alone. And we have seen generational impact because of those simple things we're doing. Like what?

Like, I mean, she's 38 trying to raise two kids and feeling alone, like the way the Lord is able to use us to help remind her that she's not alone, maybe exactly what she needed on the day where she was thinking about taking her own life or she was thinking about, you know, doing something, or, you know, then before she's thinking about the anniversary, like she is seen again and then she's able, like, I can do this, this, and just that encouragement able to be a better mom because of it, able to, you know, someone struggling with mental health,

we had her actually record a video. We just, she had never really been told that she was loved, struggled with mental health. And we just kept on encouraging her and encouraging her. And you know, when you see people and love on people that don't have people telling them that they're loved and that they're worth anything that can, those simple words and acts of, you know, showing up can change their life. And so we have seen that happen.

And also, so you said it's expensive. We launched in 2019 and we finished that year with $28,000 from our event. 10 was from one person, you know, so we finished with $28,000. Last year, 2024, we finished with $816,000. Where the heck does that come from? Individual donors, people like you. Honestly, we are not affiliated with churches. We don't

have church backing. We don't do federal grants. We don't do any, we don't even have anyone on our staff, which I'm not against, but our staff is so, we have six part-time employees and our staff is so small and has been so mission minded. We just haven't really, you know, done a deep dive into grants. So it is individual donors. So that's part, we don't even have any one on staff that does development, but it's just kind of our team and a lot, you know, and that's making relationships and sharing our stories.

And we just have people that want to be a part of it. And you talked about, you know, we do time treasure talent, whatever it is. I love meeting with people and it's like, what is it that the Lord has for you with Faithful Restored? And so it might be that you have, you're an empty nester and you've got a bunch of time on your hands. You might want to volunteer with us or you might need, sir. I meet a lot of women and like, they just need served by us right now.

Like there might be a time that they come around and our donors and volunteer or whatever. But like right now, like we just want to love on you. And then you have those people that sit in your office that have a lot of money or don't even have a lot of money, but I have both, but you might have someone that has a lot of money and they just want a place that they feel good about giving to. And so as much as our donors are an answered prayer for us, we seen so often that we're an answer prayer for them.

Back to what you talked about, that the depth of satisfaction people can get from serving by donating to people like you who are doing this work. 2,839 of when this was written, so that's the numbers probably bigger, but to date 283 2839 women have been served through prayer and requests submissions ranging from child loss to widows cancer illness

depression anxiety disability financial hardships adoption infertility stress and more 2575 that's a lot, of care packages have been sent through our special projects initiatives. Anniversaries and holidays can carry heavy weight, and so you are sure to remember them. Two of the people who have reached out have said this. Thank you dear friends in Christ for reminding me three times throughout the year that God has not forgotten me. The thoughtfulness put into each package, personal notes, and most importantly, the knowledge

that you are lifting me up in prayer helps me to focus on the blessings rather than my early loss. The impact you've made on my life is immeasurable. Another says, I received the most unexpected package in the mail today from your beautiful organization and my heart is overflowing with thanks. This week has been hard, but I believe God showed up through you.

Thank you for the reminder that I'm not alone in this broken world. Thank you for praying and thinking of someone like me. What goes through your heart and mind when you hear that? It is so honoring to get to do the work that we get to do. I had people, I could have written multiple messages just like that about people that showed up for me. And so I know what that feels like to get something in the mail on a really hard day

when you feel like the world's gone on and you're still grieving your child. And so it's like a dream that this is now my job that I get to love on women and remind them that they're not alone. It's incredible. And it's been amazing to have a front row seat to what the Lord's done through Faithful Restored. And those numbers keep getting higher. And it's just, it's amazing.

Very awesome. Next. We'll be right back. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? Am I going and she's eating my lunch? Or if hypnotism is real? We will use this suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control.

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From Campside Media and iHeart Podcasts, listen to GO! Boy on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We just keep doing what we're doing. I mean, someone asked me, we just celebrated five years and- Which is stupid, and only five years that you've done all this. It's ridiculous. It is. It is ridiculous because those are Daniel can rest easy. You got yourself a job.

I did. Yes, I did. Okay. This is, this is brief, but when we launched in 2019, you know, he had just told me that about the job situation and we, we launched and I had someone had didn't know any of us that came that night and she called me and she said, I'd like to do an end of the year donation. I was like, great, sure.

And so she donated and we're like, we should ask her to be on our board. And so I meet with her in December of 2019, me and someone else. And she said, so this is what four months after I quit my job. And she said, my husband and I feel called to pay your salary for you to be employed by faithful restored. So when I tell you I wasn't praying bold enough prayers, and when I tell you the Lord was like, I have got you, he has, did you know these people? They just came out of the blue.

That was the first time I'd met her. First time I'd ever met her. Well, did you have, did y'all's organization serve her or? Oh, she had, she went to our launch event and then went home and talked to her husband and they listened to a podcast that I'd done with Daniel telling our story and they just said, we feel called. The power of podcasts. I know. I know. It's great.

Who's to say what will happen? There's a listener out there that wants to give us a million dollars. Right now? Right now. We don't know. Yeah. So I always... You never know.

You never know. But I always share that because the Lord's been so faithful in ways that are just like, not like, I think he sees us. I think we're, I think this is it. But like, no, I have got you. I'm going to provide someone that is going to, and they will tell you, I'm still very, very close with them. And they will tell you what an answer prayer,ful Restored has been for them. To them. To them. So two questions. Someone listening to us right now says someone in deep despair from any of these types of losses or dealing with these things. How do they get to you guys to get a package

to the person they're concerned about. Tell our listeners right now, and I'm gonna tell you something. I don't know if this is answer prayer or not, but your bank account is probably gonna go down after you do this, because there's a lot of people that listen to this show. That's okay.

And you're gonna get a whole bunch of requests after this thing goes live. So I'm just, fair warning, how do they do it? They go to faithfullyrestoredwomen.com. Say it again. Faithfullyrestoredwomen.com. Okay, faithfullyrestoredwomen.com. On our homepage says prayer request.

And so you just click that button and it'll explain to you the process, but you just click, there's a form. But it's more than a prayer request, it's the whole thing. It's yeah. Yeah. But they, so say if they have someone in mind, they would go there, click, and it's just an easy form that they fill out. They can go as much or as little as in depth of the story.

And then we love when people do it for themselves because you have to understand we're only, we only know as much as that person is saying. And it's hard to pay someone's mortgage whenever, you know, you're dealing with their friend that doesn't know exactly what they need or whatever. Do you vet this stuff to make sure that you're not being, you do? Yeah, local people, if we do-

Because you have a responsibility to your donors more. Right, right. And we don't pay everyone's rent or anything. Obviously we can only do a couple big projects a month and stuff, so we're- But you've got it. Yeah. Local people we meet with,

if they're out of state or something, we vet them with a phone call or something. But they go there, they submit the form, our outreach coordinator will email them back. And so you're talking, her name's Kelly, she's fantastic, and they're talking with her. The beauty of this is it's based in Brentwood and Nashville area, but you're reaching the country.

So there's really not a call to put this anywhere else in somebody's neighborhood. There's just a call to continue to support and blow up this because you can serve the country in your capacity in one place so People around the country could be interested in starting their own physical location so that they could do the packages So someone we were talking about before you got here. There's somebody in Dallas who's doing it and I don't know your openness Jamie Maybe this unhelpful what I'm saying, but people do it. No, it's somebody in Dallas who's doing it. And I don't know your openness, Jamie, maybe this is unhelpful what I'm saying, what people do in other locations.

But obviously, imagine there's a group of 10 women in Memphis who wanna get together and physically put together the packages. Are you open to that? We are, it's something that is on our radar. It's just managing it. It's just managing is on our radar. Um, we have managing it. It's just managing it. So it has to be right. So we, he's right. We have, we have a donor in Dallas that was like,

I will support you guys financially and stuff. I'd love a hands-on way to do this. And so we went down there and kind of worked it out. And so they, her and her couple friends meet once a month at her house, her assistant manages it all. So that that's really what makes it work is no one on our staff is having to manage it all, but they have a store set up just like we do super nice.

And they get together once a month, we give them 15 names that come in from our system. And so they're basically volunteering remotely. But the only reason that works is because they are invested and have someone there managing that. So she sends out the care packages, she ships it all, she reports back to us everything that was sent when it's sent But under that guys

Mm-hmm other people could reach out to you if they wanted to go to that effort to do it. Yeah Satellites yes that a person that's gonna give you the million dollars Well, I would I would be open to them doing a satellite. Okay, I'm certain. My question is, how do they reach you? They can donate on our website. Go to the same place. Yep, same place. daythreestoredwomen.com Yep, click donate.

And if they're gonna give a million, they should just go ahead and call you. They can call me. Yeah, they can call. My number's on the website. Perfect. They can call me. Yeah, I think that's good. Yeah, they can call me.

We do a lot of family foundations, definitely, like donor advice funds, all of that. And then also listeners, I love at events talking about our hope builders. So we have monthly donors. We have about 170 some monthly donors bring in $130,000 a year for us. And that, and those are probably the 10 and $20. We have anywhere from 10 to $500 a month. Really? That's fabulous. And it's amazing because we have someone on our staff, Morgan, she's incredible who manages our hope builders.

And so it's a good way to stay engaged because you're getting a monthly email, you're getting, you know, I mean, one of our hope builders lost her dad here recently. I saw, so I like made sure Morgan knew that. And so we really care for our hope builders too, because they're so invested. So any type of donor, my goal is to bring them closer to Christ. And I know someone listening to this that's like,

I don't even know Jesus might feel like this is kind of, she's, she's like a little Jesus freak or something. I don't know, there's a lot of faith aspect of it. But you know, they might be like, I don't even like, you know, if you didn't grow up in church and grow up with a faith and don't know Jesus, you might be like, I don't even know. And so someone asked me, you know, do you only serve believers or, and it's like, no.

I mean, of course not. We don't even know what they look like or they're, we know their address. So we do know where they're from, but it doesn't matter. Like I wouldn't, I don't care anything. Your political view. I don't care anything about you. That's the cool thing about what we do. It doesn't even matter how much you could be super wealthy and we serve you. So that's, that's what I love about faithful restored is none of that matters Doesn't matter if you're a believer doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on like we're here to love you We're we love you

because of our hope in Jesus But if you don't believe in Jesus, that's okay, too Like we're gonna we're gonna love you like he loves you So the thing I want to say is even for listeners who aren't Christian they don't have to serve in the way that you've served but your example of being present for people is something that everybody can learn from. There's no doubt there's an example here of the importance of just being present. The final piece of redemption I think is does your mom not work with you? Yes. Oh, it is so sweet.

Yeah, it is. It is really sweet. She actually now comes in the office once a week and she does all of our finances. So she's on people about receipts and turning on all this stuff and donors. She'll get to know some donors and stuff. And it it's it is really sweet. She's super proud and It's just a very how ironic the pride you are looking for from your father ends up coming from your mother who you thought abandoned Right. Absolutely. It's a true story of redemption. It is Jamie

Wow, what what an amazing legacy that your father and William allowed you to leave. I think that you were well prepared and conditioned throughout the struggles in your life to do exactly what you're doing now. I think your father and your son's legacy, ironically, one generation on either side of you lives on through your work. What a blessing. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share. It's been my honor and have a safe trip going home. And Daniel, if you listen, dude, she got a job.

It's all good, bro. Thanks for being here. Thank you so much. And thank you for joining us this week. Yes, Sophia, thank you for joining me this week. You're welcome. If Jamie Heard has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action by volunteering with

or donating to Faithfully Restored, submitting a prayer request to them, doing something like it in your community or something else entirely, please let me and Sophia know. We'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at Bill at normalfolks.us and I promise you, I will respond.

If you enjoyed this episode, Sophia has the suggestions for you. Come here Sophia, tell them. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with friends and on social, subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it, join the army at normalfolks.us. Consider becoming a premium member there. All of these things that will help grow an army of normal folks.

I'm Sophia Cortez. Until next time, do what you can. Yeah, do what you can. Ring the bell, Sophia. We'll see y'all next week. The championship is back in the Bay for the first time in 40 years. On the new limited podcast series, Dub Dynasty, we hear from head coach Steve Kerr

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