Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1058 | Mia Ditches Spring Break to Hang with Dad, Lands a Great Job & Teaches Jase a New Sport

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Mia chooses to spend her spring break with Jase, from a fishing trip that went awry to a grueling crawfish dinner, and attempts to get on the same page about a trendy new sport. She opens up about her struggles with her changing appearance after so many facial surgeries and how forging a relationship with Jesus taught her patience, confidence, and ultimately landed her a job she loves. Al and Zach show their appreciation for her wisdom at a young age, and Jase reveals the trick he uses to connect with her friends. In this episode: Romans 5, verses 1-3 — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. You know, Zach, recently Jay, Zach, we told him we needed some high-profile guest and some big names on the podcast. And he's been doing a good job. He's been finding some amazing people for us to have conversations with. But he has outdone himself today. He has reached deep into the archives. to bring out what I consider to be one of our favorite and best guest. And that would be Mia Robertson, your daughter, Jay. So Mia, welcome to Unashame. Woo.

So, Mia, if I'm not mistaken, you've been on the show once before? Is that right? Yeah, I think I've only been on it once. Yeah. So I remember the way that got set up or your last appearance on Unashamed. I was down at my mailbox and you and your mom were driving. driving by and you had just had like a major surgery and we've been praying for you and we've been talking about you a lot on unashamed. It was like maybe a couple of weeks after. And so you're

in the car and I come over to ask how you're doing and you're there. And so somehow it came up about you being on the podcast at some point to tell us about your experiences. And so I was like, would you like to be on the podcast? And you said, yeah, I'd like to do that. Well, what about tomorrow. And I was like, tomorrow, okay, yeah, sure, you're always welcome. And so you came on and you were still like, you know, had stuff in your mouth. They were struggling, you know, with all of that. And yet you were precious and amazing and Unashamed Nation loves you. So welcome back for the second time. Yeah. I was ready to get out of the house, I think. You get kind of cooped up in there. Yeah. My bad. He spent a lot of time during those recoveries.

Just needing something to do. Yeah. Not like I don't love spending extra time with you and mom, but I think I needed a change of scenery. Come on. Hey, fast forward. How many years ago was that when you were on? Was that last year?

Yeah, that was about a year ago. Yeah, a year and a half. Fast forward, and now you're spending your spring break hanging out with dad. Oh, yeah. Because mom left. Yeah, she left after like three days home with us. She went to the other kids. But we had fun.

We watched LSU baseball and ate some crawfish. Oh, we did. So, yeah. Let's back up and tell that story. So last night, Mia said, oh, I'm going to be on your podcast tomorrow. I was like, oh, really? And she's like, what are we going to talk about? And then you told me two stories back to back, which I know you didn't think that it related to what we're talking about.

But after I gave you a little heads up, you said, oh, wow. Yeah, and I didn't know how they were going to relate yet because I told the stories and he was like, those are so funny. I was like, that's not really funny. I thought they were funny. Okay, the first one, so she's had an awakening. And I don't want to have my view on this

because like your first, what are you, 22 now? 21. 21, but you're fixed to be 22. I got like six more months until I'm 22. Yeah, but once you get that close, You are 22. Okay. Y'all think that I'm forgetting, but when you factor in the time in the womb, which I think should be added to your overall age, yeah, you would actually be 22.

Yeah, but I mean, I like being 21. I feel like 22 is really old. Okay. Oh, Mia, that hurts. I mean, I just turned 60 years old. You're talking about 22 being old. that was very, that was way in the rearview mirror for me. Hey, I'm trying to champion life here.

I'm going into the womb. God created this in our mother's womb. Okay. So, but I would say so for the first, I don't know when this transition happened, but at some point, you started wanting to experience the outdoors with your dad because you fought that the first, let's just say, 20 years of your life. So what happened in that transition? I mean, where did this come about?

Honestly, I'm trying to think. I don't even know. I think I was trying to find something else for us to do, to bond. Yeah, we need some bonding. We only play cards, but I kind of wanted to be outside. Yeah. And so then I just wanted to go fishing. I couldn't find you.

And Mom was like, he's out there fishing, and I just ran up and caught up with you. And then I turned out to be pretty good at it. You are good at it. Yeah. I mean a natural. I think the first, I don't know how many fishing trips we went on, two or three, that you, we just, it was unbelievable. We caught 10 or 12 in like 30 minutes or less.

Yeah, and it wasn't fishing. It was just catching. And so, but we finally, she experienced on this trip, our first adversity. So the other night we went, you had some of your friends there, you had played it all up, we're just going to go down there and catch them. Oh, yeah, I'd never been down there and not call it. caught like a dozen. Yeah.

So I was like, oh, we'll be back in 20 minutes with tip fish and we'll cook them up. But it didn't happen. Well, you caught one huge brim and then I think I caught one croppy. So, but in a weird way, it actually worked out because I cleaned them and your mom cooked them because I was going the next day on a trip. And she took them to fail. Yeah, we did. It turned out to be a good deed.

So, yeah, we got that going on. So we struck out on the fish, and then she was telling me the stories what happened, because I thought this interesting, even though she's kind of had this epiphany where she's experiencing the outdoors with her dad, and we've had success. And you really are good at it. Because even when she had some of her friends there, I think me and you caught about the same every time. And her friends were lacking, you know, even though. though all you basically had to do was just get the bait in the water.

But you know, they couldn't catch them. It's harder than it looked. So you were telling me yesterday that you went and played pickleball, which I don't even know what that is. It's like tennis. For old people. Well, she's more. Not anymore, Al.

It's 21 hours. I mean, the people on the other court were all younger than me. So it's a new thing. And I don't know. It's really fun. It's like tennis, but there's a shorter court. and you have different paddles. Ping pong, kind of.

This is going to be weird, and y'all think I'm kidding, but I'm really not. Is a pickle, an actual pickle involved? No, I don't know where, I don't know where that came from. There's no, you don't eat a pickle after the game or whatever. No. I actually have no idea where it came from. That was throwing me out. I guess I could have looked it up, but I would just be embarrassed.

Well, I've told y'all before I saw a man who, was a, let's just say he was a little off, but he was one of our cameraman, which my dad said was a prerequisite to being a cameraman. You had to be weird because every cameraman he met was weird. But he used to be a health food inspector.

So whatever degree you get that clarifies that, but what I learned is the way you get that is you'll try anything. I told this story before on an earlier podcast, but one day we were filming, it was boring, we were in a duck blind, no ducks were flying. He found a jar of pickles that had fallen through one of the cracks in the duck blind,

and the expiration date was like 11 years old. And they didn't look like pickles, like green pickles. They kind of had a brown fuzz over them. But they've been in here 11 years. And we're all sitting there, and he's like, Everybody's like, gosh, that's terrible. He pops the top. Of course, we're not thinking this guy used to be a food inspector.

And he grabs one of those pickles, and it's just slime falling out of it. I kid you not. He just turned and took a huge bite and started chewing it up and swallowed it. And we all had the gag reflex. Everyone started gagging to the point where I couldn't look at another human because I thought, oh, it's right here. It's coming. It's coming.

and but then he assured us that he started talking about the acidic something something something and he's like perfectly fine to eat but and my dad was like well how is it he's like oh it's terrible but it's not it won't cause any health problems so he can't remember what he said about that but he did discuss that but there was an expiration date on it so i would figure that was deterred lawsuits. So anyway, you're playing the pickleball game and when I said who won, you made an interesting comment. You said, well, it's really hard to say because the wind. And I was curious by that comment. And you were like, whichever side the whim was in your favor. Now, I guess you mean with the win or against the win? Well, like when it was really just who could serve like

wherever the wind was blowing if you were on outside because no one. matter how hard you hit it on the other side, it would not go over the net because the wind was blowing towards you. So he would lose the serve every time. Exactly. So whoever had the win in their favor won. So she was like, it really wasn't a competition. So well, you know where I went with that. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the wind. So just check this out. If the wind is in your favor via, if you have the Holy Spirit in dwelling you, you're going to. win. See what I mean?

No, no, you're telling me, you don't say the connection. But I didn't say that yet. I waited until you told the next story because Mia, I don't know where she got this from, but she's great at telling stories. You then said that what, tell the next story that you told. Okay, so we got crawfish the other day. We did because we struck out on the fish the night before. And mom left.

And so we didn't really want to cook. And our fridge is kind of broken. It is. So we got limited room for groceries. And look, I want to just clarify this. I bought the most expensive industrial refrigerator in the world because I was tired of replacing refrigerators. And I've had this less than a year.

And about every couple hours, it goes, it's the most annoying. And the alarm is going off because the temperature is right. rising. So we called a refrigerator mechanic. Yes, there are refrigerator mechanics. And he was inspecting. He got on the phone. It's a big long deal. Interesting, fella. And I said, what's the problem? And he's like, well, when you bought this, you know, now because they're trying to save the planet, they all have this new system with some kind of gas that's supposed to, and it's an ounce. And it's an ounce. of gas that rotates around this little ball, this spin, and speaking of pickleball. And he said, they basically, it just won't work. He said, but it's good for the planet.

So I said, so what are you saying? He said, you shouldn't have bought the most expensive one. You need to buy the cheapest refrigerator out there because they're all going to go back. He said, fortunately for you, this happened sooner rather than later and it's still under warranty. But, I mean, I just could not believe it. So anyway, our refrigerator's kind of on the mess. So we got crawfish just because we didn't want to buy groceries. Yeah.

And we got eight pounds of crawfish. And we got potatoes and corn. And I don't really eat it. I like it. But with like my mouth, it's just not, I can't really bite into a piece of corn. Yeah. So you only got the crawfish. So I only eat the crawfish.

Yeah. And we were powering through. It kind of felt like a little bit like, we weren't just eating crawfish. I felt like I was, I don't know, like training for the military a little bit. Like we were really... You got a tacit, you got to finish.

Yes, we were like, well, we're really full. We were like, no, this was like $66. Like, we have to eat all the crawfish. Crawfish, when we had the crawfish farm, that was, I mean, we made pretty good money, but now eight pounds. So what is that? $66 we had eight pounds.

What is that a pound? Eight bucks a pound. Which we also got four butters and corn and potatoes, which costs money. So I think it's like $7 a pound. They charge for that? They charge for the extras? We actually ate three cups of those butters. Yeah, we did.

Which I ate probably two and a half of them. Yeah, you did. I didn't even know that was a thing. Look, you know what's funny? When I woke up the next morning, I thought, I smell butter. And then I realized that. that some of the residue from the beard was lingering. Oh, yeah.

You know what is funny about that? You're talking about a fun memory. So we powered through because we got, you know, what was left was about 30 of the smaller ones. And me, it was like, we paid $66 for this. I mean, I was like, I don't think I can eat it. I mean, I was, and we were at the wall, but we did eat every one.

Yeah, we ate everyone. And the little ones, I think this is what. caused my later problem. They were so spicy because I think, I don't know why the little ones were just so much more spicy. But when I was going to bed that night, my fingers were burning. And I already took a shower.

Yeah, we both immediately took a shower because the crowfish are missing. Yeah, it's on my shirt. Like, you're just, I told dad. You went all in there. I told dad, I was like, I could never, this is the most, like, unladylike I ever feel. Yeah. Because I'm like, I could never go. That's like the First date story, I think. Like, if you're going to eat crawfish on your first date, there's no way a woman would

enjoy that because it's just, it makes us look so bad. Because I always leave smelling. I put my hair up, and it's just, it's not good. So I took a shower with cold water at the end because my fingers were burning so bad. Yeah. And I take a bit of drill. I'm like, I'm freaking out.

There's nothing. I cannot see anything wrong with my fingers, but I'm like, I think they're on fire. So I'm looking it up, like, why is my finger? burning, like the skin of my fingers are going to fall off. And I looked like, if crawfish could have that affected, it said yes, because of the spices. So I, until, like, my Benadryl kicked in, I was literally, like, in pain, like, curled up in a ball. But dad said that story about fire is, like, relating.

To the spirit. No. Okay. We're going back to John the Babes. Remember, he said, I baptize you with water or in water. But the one coming after me, he will baptize you with fire, the spirit and fire. Remember? Yeah.

I was like, look, what are the odds, though? She came in and told me two stories. I went and played pickleball. Who won? Doesn't matter because whoever had the wind in their favorite one. The second one was my, with the story she just told, my fingers were on fire. And I thought, what are we going to talk about? we're going to talk about wind and fire as spirit and dwell people don't you think that's cool

I think that's pretty cool but here's the good thing since mom was away your mom my wife we did that right in the middle of the kitchen because usually that's frowned upon with your mom she's like let's go take that outside let's so but it was a pretty good clean up and then we both had to go take a shower you know i mean it's like you go to your own separate rooms yeah it is an ordeal but we paid 66 dollars for that adventure which was embarrassing here's the funny part man when you're telling a story do you know i don't know if you know this the second date that i took your mom on this we're dating i had to go pick up crawfish bait

because that's when we had our crawfish farm. And it was three like trash cans. Think of, they were metal cans with lids on them of fish heads that had been

put out of the fish market and it was summertime. And so when I got out, you know, those movies, they have the fly sound, you know, zzzar zzz,

and so I told her, I was like, well, I hate it. we got to do this, but I got to get this crawfish bait. I said, whatever you do, do not take the lid off of that can. Because she was curious what was in there. I was like, if you do that, not only is the date going to be over,

you would have actually never been here. Man, if she would have popped the lid on the buffalo. Because that would have been a deal breaker. But I was surprised that she got on the other end, because they were, I would say, 75 pounds. And so she helped me get crawfish bait on our second date. I take that as a good sign. Yeah, that is.

Knowing her like you do now. Yeah. I could not see that. He did it. Oh, so just hearing that, it took me back to my childhood. I mean, it's like everybody has this traumatic place that you go to. And for me, it's those smells that you're describing because growing up with fish guts and hauling stuff off to the river and smelly cheese they were putting in dad's socks and just,

I mean, it was just how much more disgusting could a childhood be? And so just hearing that, just like I just kind of had post-traumatic stress disorder when it comes to smelly fish and smelly things. So that's that takes me back as well. So if I'm not mistaken, Mia, the last time you were on the podcast, you guys had just completed a Mia Mu yearly gathering where people come in from all over the country. And these are folks that you guys help and that, you know, make possible for them to have some of the blessings that you had, which is an amazing ministry. And so tell the folks how that's going. I know it's a yearly thing

that you guys do all the time, as well as I think you're doing a newsletter now and just a lot of regular interaction. So give us a little Mia Moo update. So actually, we used to do like a yearly fundraiser. I think it used to be like poker. You all used to have a poker night or something? Well, yeah, it was all for charity. We figured out that Mia doing a newsletter. Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, we used to do poker and we used to do other fundraisers, but now the only thing that we do is a monthly newsletter. And that brings in so much money. So we don't really, which is like a good problem to have, but we don't really need to do a bunch of fundraisers anymore

because like Mi'amu has so much money now from people donating. Yeah. And so we still do our Miyamu Fund Day, which is like first weekend of October. And so it's March now, so we had that a few months ago. But everyone I've talked to, and I guess you can say this too,

like that was the best year that we've had. I think so. Like we had so many people come from my school. We had 12 students come. As volunteers. As volunteers. and we did a color run, and each color represented something that they, like, became clothes with on their white shirts. So that whenever they left the Beamu Fun Day weekend, like they left, it was like strength, wisdom, like, things like that,

that now they, like, could carry with them throughout the rest of the year. Yeah, because it's a very tough venture, as you can attest. There's lots of surgeries, lots of pain, and you're just, you feel different, you look different. So, yeah, it was a, it was a huge success. And just to, you know, talk about the newsletter or whatever. I mean, that was Mia's idea. And it's a lot like the Bible. You know, it tells a story.

And so you're telling these kids' stories. And that's what is powerful about it. These are real people who are going through real struggles. And people hear their stories. And they want to help out in a small way. So it's fantastic. It was a good idea, man. So, Mia, you know, our perspective of sort of,

your childhood and really your whole life, as it turns out, is one kind of being on the outside and, you know, knowing that you're going to the hospital, you know, many times different ones of us and the family were there and we're in the waiting room and kind of handholding with your folks and, you know, just praying for you and stuff like that and then seeing you after it was over. So our whole perspective of that is now the era of who you are. but I'm really curious what it was like from your perspective. How many surgeries have you had? I've had 16.

So that's like, and you're 21 years old. So that's like 16 out of 21 years, you know, you were in some sort of major surgery, which is most of your life. And so all of us can't imagine what that was like for you. And so I'm really interested. I don't know if I've ever asked you this off-camera own. what that was like to grow up to have doctors and nurses and checkups and follow-ups and going in for, you know, pre-surgery and all the things that you've done your whole life.

So what was that like? Was it, did you just something you just got used to or, you know, how did you get through it? And then also how has it shaped you into the person you are today? I think I didn't realize how like intense like my childhood was until I got older. And like an example I've always thought is like at Camp Chioka, we have prayer night. And I never asked during prayer night, hey, like I'm having surgery coming up. Like it just didn't feel. It wasn't really a burden on my heart of like, oh, I'm having this surgery.

Like, hey, I need prayers. Like, I've had a hard life. Like, that never, that thought never crossed my mind. I never once brought that up. And like, now that I'm older, I'm like, I'm like, I have. I cannot believe I never thought that that was like a big deal. Like, oh, hey, I'm about to have surgery and I can't chew food for a year. Please pray for me.

It was like, oh, nope, just have another surgery, like going to Dallas every six weeks. Like, it felt like so normal. And so I would like ask for prayer about something else that was much smaller. Like, oh, like something about school. And so until I had a big surgery, my junior of high school, now that I was older, like it really affected. Yeah. And like it made my like, which I guess maybe, I guess you would notice, but like my face changes slightly every time I have surgery. So my doctor's telling me.

I would say a little more than slightly. Well, but like after like a year of surgery. Yeah. Like my face just looks a little bit different. We know everyone's like, they can still tell that's Mia. Oh, hey, it's Mia. But like slight changes. But the older you get, they say the harder it is to have like major facial surgeries.

because even though it's like, yeah, that's still my face, it looks just a little bit different, which is really hard on you. So I didn't realize that until my junior year. I was like, I look different, I sound different, and it was really hard on me. Yeah. And it was hard on the parents for a different reason.

It's like, it's a weird, it's hard to explain. It's like everything about your kid, you grow to love. And so when something changes, you feel like you changed everything you loved about the kid, even though you know, oh, this is for better health. And there's some kind of psychological issue there. So probably the most basket case moments of being a part of this,

your adventure, was that. It's like, I remember the first time you had the surgery and you came, me and your mom just busted out balling. We're like, what happened? Even though it was like, this is great. The doctor was like, what's wrong with you? It went awesome. We're like, what happened to our girl?

She's different. So there's some kind of psychological thing. And then I think it happens to the actual person going through the surgery later. And I think that some of that is just you're now a teenager. You're aware of what people think. Yeah. It's just so amazing that when they're kids, that's why they handle it. it the best.

There's, oh yeah, I got another surgery. To be honest, like, I always have, like, one breakdown. Like, and dad saw it one time. Dad will lock himself in his room, basically. When I have surgery, because he, like, cannot see me. And it's not like he's, you know, a bad dad. It's just, like, it's hard for him to see me, like, suffering. Yeah, it is.

But I always have one, and it's just because, usually, I mean, anybody's like this when they're hungry. Like you are just at your worst. You're so hungry. And I've, I've eaten the same meal for like three weeks. And all I want is like a cheeseburger or something. Yeah. And I'm just so ready for it to be done. And I remember after that surgery I had two years ago or a year and a half ago, they're like, oh, like three weeks. You know, and then you can eat solid food. I was like, three weeks, this is the best day of my life. Like, it's not like eight or ten. And like three weeks go by and we facetime my doctor and he's like yeah good to go and then my orthodontist calls me he's like no you need to wait six more weeks and i was like okay so they were kind of going back and forth and they're like no

you need to wait and i just like lost it we were watching some like chick flick me and my mom were on the couch and i just lost it because i just wanted to eat like a burger so bad yeah and dad walked out and you were talking to mom and then you like saw me and you're like uh And then he just walked back in. It was like, too much drama, too much drama. Too much drama. Too soon. Yeah. So it always happens.

I just feel like ever since then, ever since my junior year, I've always had like one, like, one, like, day where I just want to, like, cry. Yeah. But then I'll pick myself up together and, you know, do good and push through. But, yeah, I feel like that day, I don't know when it's coming. But I always know, like, I'm going to have one breakdown. So, Mia, I've just, I've never thought about what you. you just said before, it struck me. It's such a huge thought, is that you have spent so much of your life waiting to be healed. I mean, in other words, you have this procedure and then it's like

weeks or months or whatever they're telling you. And you've got to patiently wait for that to happen to go back to eat again, to, you know, be able to have a conversation again. So most of your life, in essence has been spent waiting on something, waiting on follow up, waiting on the next surgery, waiting on, you know, I mean, I look at my own life. I've had one major surgery, one when I was a kid, but I don't even remember because I was very, very young. But only one that I can recall. And I only had, you know, a couple of weeks to get over that. So, you know, being an impatient person myself, I haven't had to wait that. But I mean, what's that like to spend most very like waiting.

So I feel like, I feel like that's kind of funny because I feel like I'm not a patient person. But I feel like when it comes to like serious things, like I've gotten to be very okay with like waiting for things. Yeah. But yeah, I think I don't know if I have to have another surgery.

They've always said, oh, you're done. And then I'll come back and I have to have another one. But I know I don't have to have any major surgeries, which is really nice. So these are just kind of cosmetic surgeries now. Yeah. His scar tissue and things like that.

Yeah. So that's where I get angry because I'm like, how can you be off in your diagnosis six weeks? Yeah. So that's part of the reason too that. Especially when a cheeseburger's involved. I'd be like, that's what I'm saying. But I will say, wasn't it whenever I was born,

they told you all was going to have four surgeries? Yeah, that was the first meeting we had. They looked at her and said, okay, she'll probably have four surgeries, you know, before she quits growing. And so, I mean, was it 16? 16. They were off by 12. And that's not counting just all the little procedures that she's not calling

surgeries, but when I mean little procedures, very uncomfortable that we would kind of probably deem as surgeries if we were involved. But, you know, I was thinking about one of our theme verses for Mia Mu is this Romans 5. and just to show how it's such a long process. And you know, here the context is suffering for Jesus, but it's kind of the same principle. When he says we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom we have gained access by faith into His grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit He has given us.

And I've just seen that process in her life, you know, number one in your faith, because it was bumpy when you were in your later teen years, just dealing with all the differences. and your appearance and have another teen. And teenagers can be mean, just like little kids, but it doesn't really matter when you're a little kid. You're more resilient, you know. And so she, in my opinion, really got grounded in your faith somewhere in that process.

And I think it's turned, you know, who you are today. I mean, that process, as bumpy as it was, I think your connection with your maker through Jesus, you know, is really giving you a peace. Well, I think I got to practice this when I studied abroad. And I was in Costa Rica and Guatemala and Panama, which are not the safest countries. But a lot of things happened where our power would go out for four days

and we don't have any AC, we don't have any hot water. And I couldn't contact my family. We were just waiting for these people to like fix whatever was wrong. And then I was thinking, like, why would I be stressed about this when there's literally nothing I can do? Like, yes, our food would go bad and we lost money from that. But I was like, I mean, it's okay. Like, it's not the end of the world.

And I think all these years of like practicing doing that, like has made me who I am today where like the girls I was with were freaking out about their salmon going bad or freaking out of, I'm like, we just, this is a perfect opportunity for us to be unplugged. And we get to stay in our room and we just, and we just. made the most of it. And I feel like that was the Lord, like, equipping me with those, like, virtues to, like, help other people. Because, like, some of the people I was abroad with, they didn't really have those virtues. They didn't have, they never had to wait for anything in their life. And so when you're thrown into a country where, like, not everything's about you,

like, you don't get what you get. Like, they just, sometimes we'd show up for a trip, and the bus driver didn't show up for work that day. And so we were like, all right. So we're just calling people or hitchhiking. And it's kind of what you have to do. And I think that even though it was kind of a sketchy time, like, it really taught me and like I was able to practice everything that the Lord has taught me growing up. So I just feel like leaning in, it just really takes practice. Yeah.

Like it's not something you can just do the first time. But I feel like it's made me like I have a chill personality. Yeah. Because you can't predict everything. Yeah. So, Mia, you were talking about that the idea of is not a major surgery, you know, and that's easy to say when it's somebody else. It reminds me, Zach, when you and I met for the first time we met Dr. Ben Carson, and we were in a setting and he was telling a story about how that the first time he was going in to be the HUD secretary, someone said, well, Dr. Carson, I mean, aren't you intimidated by this huge responsibility? and you've got millions of employees and HUD and all this stuff.

And he looked at us and he winked, God, and he said, well, it's not brain surgery. And it was such a good lie because it was like, are you kidding me? I mean, having to go through this. And Mia, that's what makes me think of with you. When somebody says, well, it's not something major and you're just like, yeah, well, neither is waiting six weeks on a cheeseburger. But, you know, at the same time, it's what you learn to go through. Well, every time she comes home, it's so funny when you walk in, you probably don't realize you do this.

It's like when you walk in, it's like somebody pushes a button, and it's an hour of one story after another. But you do that too. I do the same thing. It's not hard for me to understand who the top storyteller is in that house. I mean, Unashamed Nation can speak to this. Mia, there's no doubt your dad has this unique, we always says because he's named. after sigh, but he's got this ability to tell any story and to tell it, you know, in an elongated fashion where it's the worst possible thing that happened.

And trust me, Mia, you are a chip off the old block. You know, you're the continuation of the J's stories that have no end, but that we love. Especially if I have other people, if there's someone else coming to the house. Well, I picked the strays off because I'm thinking they're there for a reason. And that's why I'm doing that. And Dad's talking to them for an hour and a half. But what am I doing? Tell them what I'm talking to them about.

You're talking to them about, like, what y'all talk in the podcast. You're talking to him about Jesus. Exactly. But I think sometimes I think you're nervous that maybe they don't know about Jesus. Yeah. Well, I'm not nervous. The people that were there the other day, I mean, she works for Sadie. And she's like, she's strong.

So, I mean, she was good because she was talking. He's just making sure of that. He's making sure. which is good. Checking those conversions. I've just, yeah, every since you've been a teenager

in that bumpy time, I made a vow. And I said, okay, here is the condition by which I'm going to share with your friends when they come over.

I'm like, if they walk through the door, if they walk through that door, I'm going to view them as set by God. So I just have a conversation. But now I will tell you most of your friends

ask me like a biblical question. So they're like, what do you think? Pre-requisite, that was the word. Yeah, pre-requisite. Yeah, it's... But I will say one thing that's kind of funny is my friends taught, like my college friends are awesome, and like it's me and Layless friends.

And they will say, like, me, you're so much like your dad. Like, we didn't think that you were like a yapper until we met your dad. Oh. And we were like... You like your friends, by the way. Then they're like, y'all are just alike. And I'm not picking on you because they love coming over and they always talk about like

your dad is awesome and like they love you so much. But they're like the fourth or fifth time we've been to the house, they're like sometimes like I know that it's okay if I like want to go upstairs. Yeah, it's like take a shower or something and come back down. They're not going to hurt my feelings. No, but like the first two times they like didn't know. And so they just sit there and I'm like, we'll talk for four hours. Yeah.

Like you got to like just be like, okay, good night. Here's my sign. As long as you're standing there or sitting there, I'm going to keep pouring it in until I hit a nerve. Yeah, but most people don't talk as much as we do. And so I do that too. And I don't realize that like, oh, they just are trying not to make me feel bad. Like they're so tired. But I'll do it too.

So I got that from you. And I'm not mad about it. I like that. So me, I got a question for you. You know that your dad, that Zach, that myself, we all have spent different points in our lives doing full-time ministry, working for the church in some fashion. Of course, I was the one that hung in there the longest because I'm the most patient out of us three.

But so we all had to have a background work for the church and ministry. And you now have also had that experience. And did you intern? Was it last summer or when was it? No, I'm still working there right now. Oh, so you still are you? I got it. I got it.

So tell me what that's like. What do you do for the church? I mean, what's your interaction? What's your job consist of? So I found this church. It's honestly, like, just like White's Ferry Road, which I think is kind of funny because I don't think I saw myself at a church like that, like going to college, especially at Church of Christ.

I, like, had gone to the super big church in Franklin, Tennessee, which I really loved. But I would go in there and I would sit in the service and no one would talk to me, which is totally fine. I just, like, needed that as a call. student going to church by myself. Sermons were awesome. Worship was awesome, but I would leave and I had no friends from that church. And so I really prayed about it.

And this was the entire freshman year of college. And I was like, I really need a church that, like, kind of just feels like home and feels like a family. Even if it's not the best sermon I've ever heard every single Sunday, like, it's okay. Like, I just need this community. And so I get on Instagram and the first Instagram story I see is this guy from my school. And he posted, he said, come to Harpeth Hills tonight. I was like, all right, I'm just, I just prayed about it.

I'm just going to show up. Maybe that's the answer. And so I show up thinking there's going to be like, you know, 50 people in the college group. There is like six people there. And they're all friends. So I'm like, oh, hey y'all. Like I'm Mia. I don't know anyone here.

And they're all friends. And we just, we played like a game. I was like, okay, this was really fun. And the pastor, like the college pastor, his wife, She came and talked to me and we talked for like an hour. And I left that place and I was like, we just played a game because no one showed up tonight. But that was the most I've gotten out of church in like a year,

even though we didn't even like really talk about like anything. And so I kept coming back and then there was still about 10 people there, maybe every single Wednesday night. And it was so good. Like I just fell in love this place, started going on Sundays. and I was sitting in there in the acapella service, and you cannot fit another person in there. There's hundreds of people in there,

and they're all just singing an acapella songs, and it brought me back. I was like, I really, really love it here. And then when I went and studied abroad, they sent me mail, which it never made it to me, because they don't have addresses in Costa Rica. But I was like, they really care about me. And so they asked me to work for them

and be the college intern for my junior year. And I didn't really know what that looked like. I thought, I guess I'm leading worship. I don't really know what my job is. And so, and the guy that offered me the job, he didn't even know I did worship or didn't know I played the piano or anything. He was like, we wanted you to just be, oh, now they need interns because now there's 80 people coming to our college group.

Wow. And I invited my friends, and now they all come, and now there's like underclassmen coming. And basically there's so many new people coming every week that they need people to like be a friend of them. And I got that from dad. I can talk with anybody, which is why I love that.

I got that from you because that's really what got me this job. Yeah. Because I can talk to somebody that I've never met and they're my best friend. We're chatting it up. And then my boss figured out I actually sing and play piano. So he was like, okay, well, you can be in charge of that. So now we got 20 people on the worship team that are in college, and I scheduled that.

And that got started because Max, Dasher, I was like, you need to come lead worship with me. Zach's son. Yeah. And we started doing that for like weeks in a row, and we planned not a single song. And we would sit up there and do music for like 30 minutes. And it was spontaneous worship, literally from the Holy Spirit. Like, we were singing songs from like the 90s that I like didn't even know. I knew the words too, but the Lord put it on my heart.

And so I just fell in love with it, and now there's so many people there. That's awesome. So it's not like a hard job, but I'm just being a light and just trying to connect people with the right people and make our church a whole, and I love it. Yeah, I love that. You know what hit me when she was talking like that. It's like when you, I mean, we're started in the book of John, and we always look at Jesus did all these miracles to show that he was the son of God. but when you look at it from the people's perspective, I mean, I thought about even Nicodemus being a religious leader,

and then the next thing you get a woman who's been married multiple times and is alone, and Jesus had a conversation, and then you think John 5, there was an invalid who had been born that way, and for 38 years it says, and then John 8, remember the woman caught in adultery, and John 9, the man born blind. Well, from their perspective, what Jesus did was really changed their identity. And because for years, you were known as the girl with the cliff lip and palate, craniofacial. And so I thought about all that.

You know, that's a big transition where something, you know, wrong with you physically or spiritually from the book of John, but where that is your identity. I mean, that all of a sudden gets changed in Jesus. Yeah. Where it's hard to put into words, but really that's way God used you. I mean, he changed your identity. Like I said, it was bumpy, and you shared that when you were a teenager, but you found your identity in Christ, and now look at what you're doing.

You're being a representative to him. I just think there's a powerful message in there somewhere for everybody. And when you think about it, really, I mean, Mia mentioned this earlier. Every time she had a surgery, in a sense, from a. physical perspective, her identity changed because she looked differently. And that would matter to anybody, but in my opinion, it matters more to young girls than young women. And so the fact that not only did that not derail you, but also helped you to understand to help other people, shows me that your identity in Christ is really the main thing. And so, Mia, you seem to have

learned that over the course of a lifetime, and now you're able to help other people find that identity. So what a blessing. What a blessing for us that we got to hear these stories today. Zach, once again, you've outdone yourself bringing on such an amazing guest. And Mia, I just want you to know, anytime you're in town for spring break, for summer breaks, for whatever, you have a warm chair that is open to you on the Unashamed podcast. We sure are glad to have you home. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Awesome. Well, you're welcome back anytime. That It wraps it up for us. We'll see you next time on The Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast.

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