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Through The Fire

Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

Release Date: 12/04/2019

This Sucks... show art This Sucks...

Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

There is going to be a very good chance that you think you know what I'm going to say on this podcast, but you don't. I can promise you that, because up until about 12 hours ago, I didn't even know what I was going to be saying on this podcast. I actually had an interview scheduled this week, but aren't we living in a time when we never know what's coming? This podcast wasn't in the cards for me either, so please keep listening until the end. David Radke will be joining me on today's show. In order to earn a living, I create content. I write books. I travel and I speak. I write online courses...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

I'm excited about today, because my guest is ordinary. She is ordinary, the topic is ordinary, and you all know how I feel about ordinary. We talk about a mundane event that lots of people go through, but she is handling it in extraordinary ways. I haven't done a podcast on this subject, yet it's so prevalent. I'm talking about divorce. Last fall, I met Kelly Mathews, and I thought she was so kind and so beautiful, but her story was painful. It was the story of a loss of a relationship and the loss of a marriage. When I met her, I was wondering how she was still standing and still smiling. I...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

Over the next two weeks, we will be talking to women who were suddenly faced with a decision. Maybe the decision came after years of being at a dead-end job, and they simply had had enough. Maybe, it came after a divorce. We will be talking to these women who found themselves having to make a choice about what will be next. What will they do? Will they live? Will they die? Will they get stuck? Will they continue waking up every day putting one foot in front of the other? There are some really powerful and relatable stories coming your way over the next couple of weeks. Our Guest today had no...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

Dr. Justin Coulson is an honorary fellow at the Center for Positive Psychology at the University of Melbourne. He has three best-selling books about family life and parenting. He writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, family, and well-being. He's a TEDx speaker and a regular TV expert guest. He's a contributor to major Australian media outlets. He's also contributed to the New York Times.  He had a successful radio career and then returned to school in his late 20's where he earned his psychology degree and his PhD in psychology. Since then he has written...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

Katherine is a nurse practitioner who worked for many years at a very good OBGYN practice here in town. She left this practice to go work at the health clinic. A month later, she said it was one of the most fulfilling things ever. She's working with people and especially teenagers on the issues that are the most near and dear to her heart. Her work is about sex and our bodies.

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

This is the first time I've rereleased an episode. I'm interupting our season on teens, social media and sex to rerelease an episode that came out around Christmas time with my friend Billie Jean Johnson. This was a powerful episode. I heard from so many of you that this episode moved you, challenged you, and made you think that you might want something more or different from your life. Billie Jean was facing one of the hardest challenges of her life, and she lost. At least, here on Earth. On Thursday February 13th, Billie Jean took her last breath. Now she is probably healthier and happier...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

There's a running list of things I don't understand and one of them is the internet. The internet is constantly changing. It goes deep and wide. Another thing I don't understand is teenagers. We may just use the internet for the things that we normally do like podcasts, shopping Facebook, and the rest. But teenagers, what do they do on the internet? Do they feel the same as we do and just use the internet for Amazon Prime orders, social posts, and reading safe blogs? I may not understand teens and I may not understand the vastness of the internet, but I've come to my senses when it comes to...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

About 10 years ago, I wasn't doing any of the things I'm doing now. I wasn't writing books. I wasn't hosting podcasts. I was sitting at home and watching other women go first. A lot of us find someone who is doing what we want to do and we follow them and root for them and listen closely when they speak. I was at home watching Rebekah Lyons. I've loved her from the moment I heard her speak. This might surprise some of you, after hearing this interview, because we couldn't be more different. She is all love, light, kindness and gracefulness.  I've watched her long enough to know that what...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

Melissa and David are here today to answer listener questions. Melissa loves it when people ask questions. We appreciate you trusting us with all of the things we'll be talking about today and on future episodes. The last couple of weeks have been dedicated to something that Melissa just can't wrap her mind around. We've been talking about being still, organizing, and decluttering our homes and our hearts, space, and putting your phone away.  If someone would have told me that in the year 1994 when David and I got married that someday David would be checking his phone while we were having...

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Ordinary People. Ordinary Things. with Melissa Radke

A few months ago I got a book in the mail titled . Imagine that frozen moment in time, when I was holding this book while standing in my kitchen surrounded by, you guessed it, clutter! In spite of the stuff that creates clutter, today's podcast isn't about removing physical clutter. It's about removing noise, stress, and over commitments. This show is for anyone who wakes up from a nap and says, "I wish I could do that again."  It's for people who buy books and find them later dusty and unread. It's for those who meet God on vacation or in quiet moments and wish they had more times like...

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This episode is one that I recorded a few months ago and wasn't going to air until 2020, but this episode has been weighing on my mind. I think that was because this episode needs to be played now. It's the holiday season, but your not going to hear any mention of the holidays, but what you will hear is a powerful story and a delightful interview. And for whatever reason, that I can't explain, somebody is supposed to hear this podcast now. 

Today’s guest is LeAnne Sheddan Pyzer who describes herself as a pastors wife, mom, grandmother (WHAT??!!), who just turned 40 years old and is learning to live beyond surviving. She was a missionary kid/pastor's kid who went rogue, then was redeemed, and is living life in a rural town in Northern California. We also discovered that we are related. My grandfather and LeAnne’s grandmother are siblings. 

I do remember my family receiving Christmas cards from the Sheddans. Which is LeAnne’s maiden name. They were from exotic locations overseas. LeAnne was from a missionary family and grew up in Portugal, Japan, and the Philippines. That’s not all of her story though. That’s just the beginning. I hope you find LeAnne as delightful as I do and her story just as inspiring. 

Show Notes:

  • [07:49] When LeAnne was four months old her family went to Portugal for four years. Then they would come back to the US for a year, before making another four year journey. She grew up in Portugal, Japan, and the Philippines. 
  • [08:17] The traveling was great until she turned about 12, then she just wanted to be normal. 
  • [09:29] LeAnne was adopted. In 1979, when she was born and adoptions were closed. 
  • [11:15] When she turned 18, she discovered that she was the product of sexual assault. 
  • [14:02] When coming back to the states, she enrolled in High School. She began making compromises to fit in and viewing her faith and her parents faith as a detriment to fit in. She went full prodigal. 
  • [15:56] She believed in God but didn't want to have anything to do with God and church. 
  • [16:13] She rebelled strongly and did a 180 with morals and values. 
  • [17:25] She ended up pregnant, which jarred her back to a journey towards a faith. 
  • [18:33] She got married super quickly and super young. LeAnne and her husband were two teenagers with a baby and another one on the way. 
  • [19:37] The marriage turned abusive, but LeAnne didn't want to add divorce to her list of mistakes.  
  • [21:29] LeAnne ended up divorced with three babies age two, three, and four. 
  • [22:17] She moved to Northern California to be close to her parents, and she started going to her dad's church. 
  • [24:30] LeAnne had resolved herself to being a single mom raising her three children. Then she met the youth pastor who had been single for a long time, but had a lot of women after him.
  • [25:12] He was nine years older than her. On the first date they went to Red Lobster. He said that he was interested in a relationship and asked her how she felt about being a pastor's wife and how she felt about being poor.
  • [26:29] They knew by the end of the night that they were going to be married.
  • [26:39] LeAnne and Zach now have another child.
  • [29:14] They were in a small town called Hidden Valley Lake in Northern California. It was fire season. The valley fire had been one of the most devastating wildfires up until that point. 
  • [30:25] They had about 15 minutes to evacuate before their home was burned to the ground. It devastated the whole community. 
  • [30:42] The fire hit with no warning, and they had to run for their lives. There were only two ways out, and one of those got blocked. 
  • [31:01] A couple days later they found out that their house and their church burned to the ground. They had the choice to fall apart or stay strong.
  • [32:21] The whole community was devastated, but they decided to stay and rebuild. 
  • [32:53] The past four years have been a journey persevering and never stopping. 
  • [34:00] It's daunting to rebuild your life. Even today, she'll reach for a kitchen tool that's not there, and it's a reminder of what she lost. 
  • [36:35] The fire changed LeAnne's perspective. She started looking at things as opportunities not punishments. 
  • [38:51] The heat on the road was intense driving through flames.
  • [40:37] Three months after the devastating fire, Zach was given a diagnosis of young-onset Parkinson's disease. He was 46.
  • [42:57] God is big enough to handle your questions, anger, and frustration. It's okay to be real with him about what you're feeling. It's okay to weep and wail and question. He is strong enough to handle that.
  • [43:33] God has shown up for LeAnne every single time. 
  • [46:48] LeAnne loves taco salads with no beans. 
  • [47:22] Friendship is being there for the good the bad and the ugly.
  • [48:24] Wynonna Judd would play her in a movie.

Thanks for joining us on Ordinary People Ordinary Things. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. Just like your mother taught you.

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