Chosen for the Fire: Finding Purpose in Your Hardest Season with Angie Clayton and Ruth Cowles

Send me a text and let me know your thoughts! "What if the hardest thing you're walking through isn't happening TO you—but FOR you? What if you were actually chosen for this season?" This isn't your typical "chosen" conversation—it's a paradigm shift about surrender, submission, and the sacred journey of trusting a faithful God even when nothing makes sense. In this deeply moving episode of Just Talking About Jesus, Jan welcomes Angie Clayton (compiler of the book Chosen: Sacred Journeys with a Faithful God ) and Ruth Cowles for an honest conversation about what it really means to be chosen by God—especially in the seasons that break you. For show notes, scriptures, and updates on the book release, visit https://janjohnsonauthor.substack.com/ Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you." 00:00 - Welcome & Introduction  00:38 - What Does "Chosen" Really Mean?  00:50 - Introducing the Book: Chosen: Sacred Journeys with a Faithful God   01:51 - Angie's Story: Chronic Illness & the Refiner's Fire  03:29 - Changing Your Attitude Changes Everything  04:34 - Open Hands vs. Clenched Fists  05:05 - Ruth's Story: Chosen to Submit  06:23 - When You're Both Right: Navigating Marriage Decisions  09:24 - The Little Girl Who Found Her Forever Family   11:06 - Did We Hear God Wrong?  12:15 - How Submission Strengthened Their Marriage  13:20 - Jan's Story: Another Adoption Journey  14:29 - Avoiding Resentment When Plans Change  17:16 - Jan's Healing: Sexual Trauma & Vindication  21:45 - The Vision That Changed Everything   22:37 - Beauty FOR Ashes, Not FROM Ashes  23:25 - Angie's Foster Care Journey Begins  24:34 - Trauma, Broken Children & the Call to Adopt  26:45 - The Heartbreak of Disrupted Adoption  27:53 - Two Failed Adoptions & God's Perfect Plan  29:32 - Nothing Is Ever Wasted  30:19 - Believing You Were Chosen for the Hard Stuff  32:01 - Other Ways We're Chosen: Estrangement, Death, Blame  33:23 - When God Chooses, He Enables (Moses at the Burning Bush)  34:25 - Jesus: The Ultimate "Chosen"   35:06 - Intimacy with God Through Chosen Seasons  36:12 - Your Daily Bread: Chosen for the Small Things Too  37:28 - Closing Thoughts & Book Release Information Music from #uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/ brock-hewitt-stories-in-sound/a-journey-of-love License code: I9LVDM16VTE06YFW Welcome to Just Talkin' About Jesus. I'm Jan Johnson, a seasoned believer who loves relationships and, you know, just talkin' about Jesus. Here you will find testimonies of those who God has changed through his grace. Stories of feeling unworthy because of being sex trafficked, or of radical redemption of a woman who grew up with abuse, neglect, abandonment and drugs. A story of an abortion survivor. This and more. Lean in now. Consider subscribing to this podcast, YouTube and Substack- all with the same name: Just Talkin' About Jesus! https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus https://jan-johnson.com/ https://justtalkingaboutjesus.com/ https://janjohnsonauthor.substack.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@JustTalkinAboutJesus Thanks for listening! If you have a story to tell, check out the form on my website- justtalkingaboutjesus.com. I'd love to connect with you! No, really.... hit me up!