Ep. 4.16: Doing Big Scary Things (Because God Asked You To) with Sara Hall

Joining us on the AU podcast this week is convert and vlogger Sara Hall. Is it naive to hope? Can hope really be fruitful even when reality tells us no? To hope means to take a risk and that’s what Sara and Jill discuss on this week’s episode. It’s okay that things are big and scary, but God really is bigger than all of it!

7:32-8:07 Are differences fruitful?

10:13-10:36 Picking between two roads

28:05-28:25 When God sees the whole picture

Find out more about Sara on her YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@sarasayscatholic

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Hello, and welcome to today's episode
of the Authentic Uprising podcast.
I'm your host Jill Simons, and I'm
so excited to grow in the radical
art of standing in what God
says about you with you today.
The show is a place where we
pour into the sense of who God is,
who we are, and how we can live
more in the freedom that He
has for us every
single day.
Hello and welcome to the Authentic
Uprising podcast. I'm your host,
Jill Simons, coming to you from
the floor of my front room because
trying to record with the baby
is just logistically so much
more complex than I was
really prepared for.
So we're just going to make it
work. My amazing guest today is
been gracious enough to roll
with the punches with me,
and I think we're gonna have
a really great show for you today.
We're going to be talking
about risk taking today.
This is something that I think
we don't really talk about very
much as a Church is what huge
opportunity there is in taking
risks that allow us to
grow in greater faith.
Because if you think about it, nothing
really tests trust and tests faith
the way that taking a big leap of faith,
they're a big step of trust does.
And so our guest
today is Sarah Hall.
She's a Youtuber and a mom and
a business owner that's gonna
be sharing about some of the big
risks that God has invited
her to take in her life and how that
has helped her to grow in faith.
So thank you so much for being
here with me today, Sarah.
Thanks, Jill. Thanks for having
me. I'm happy to be here.
So why don't you share with
us a little bit about how you
ended up as a Youtuber and how
you became sort of a public
face of this kind of risk taking and
this kind of stepping out in faith.
Yeah. So I became a Youtuber because
during the pandemic, actually,
I became Catholic. So I previously
was a Pentecostal Evangelical and
became Catholic in probably one
of the loneliest times in Church history.
That might be
an exaggeration,
but there wasn't a lot of community
at that time just because
people were stuck
in their homes.
So after about a year or so of
that I really thought I'd love
to have a venue in which I
could talk about my journey and
talk about matters of faith
that matter to me and still be
able to minister to people
even though I, you know,
have a business and have two
kids and have a lot going on and
volunteer at my church
too. So, yeah.
I just wanna have a way that
I could really explore those
topics and also reach other people who
might be interested in those things too.
Yeah. That's awesome. I think
that the pandemic shifted so
many things for so many people
to where it really brought that
greater desire for community
and a lot of people found that
online and that sounds like that
was kind of your story as well.
And so we know that just to
kind of address the elephant in
the room heading into this podcast,
we have a diverse group of people,
group of Christians listening
to this podcast and so Sarah's
gonna share about her journey of
conversion, but as we all know,
the Lord takes us on very
individualized journeys.
And so just because Sarah's
journey might look like yours
or it might not look like yours
that doesn't invalidate really
the lessons that Jesus has for
us in listening to this story.
And so I'd love for you to just
share about the invitation
from the Lord to really take this risk
and and tell us about why it is a risk.
Because for some people,
this, you know,
becoming Catholic might be
a natural organic thing to do.
So share with us a little bit
about kind of the situation going
in and how the Lord walked
with you through it. Yeah.
So originally, like I said, I grew up in
a Pentecostal Evangelical household.
We were big followers of kind of
Copeland, the Word of Faith movement.
So, yeah. That was
what I grew up in.
And it had so many beautiful
things as a part of it.
Like, I I learned so much about the Faith
really grew in a love for the Lord,
for His Word and really having
this foundational belief that
God can do anything. Which I
think is... It's really...
I I feel like it's a gift,
honestly because it's really hard
to believe that God can do what
He says or do what He promises
or that He wants
the best for you,
especially when there are
things in you're life
that are difficult or really
hard to get through.
But growing up with that movement,
faith is such a huge part of that.
So I feel like a lot of my
foundation of faith was built on
just believing that God was truly,
truly faithful. But, yeah.
As I grew older, my brother
became Catholic and he really
challenged me to look into
the history of the Church and all
of that and through probably a ten
year process of going through
what the different teachings
were, really putting it to God's
Word and comparing it with what
I grew up with and all of that
I eventually did become Catholic,
and I did it by myself.
So my husband didn't
become Catholic.
He still is not Catholic like
his family's not Catholic.
And, yeah, there's was a lot of
adversity to me making that choice.
And stepping out in faith for
where I felt that God was leading me.
But ultimately, it brought me
to my Youtube channel and our
family is super close and we have
so much agreement on many things.
So really, the fruit of
the decision has been so wonderful
and God has been so
faithful that Yeah.
It was totally worth taking that
step out in. Yeah. Absolutely.
And I think that Pentecostal upbringing
that you had and that faith
that God can do anything, that
is something I think that gets
missed a lot in people
that are, you know,
all the way through in the Catholic
Church and something that
so beautifully in can be brought in
kind of from the outside as this like,
no guys, like, what if we
lived like, this was true?
Like what you happened if we
really put our weight on this.
And so as you said, and you
shared with me before we got on
the call that not only is her
husband has remained Protestant,
but your his family is literally, like
in ministry in the Protestant church.
And I think that that's another
really beautiful part of this
story actually is that it sounds
like your marriage and your
relationship with these other people
in your life hasn't been like,
oh, now we can't
do this anymore.
You know, we can't be in
relationship with each other because
we don't have total agreement
on all of these things.
It's something that allows all
of you to come from a place of
I'm authentically responding
to what the Lord is putting in
front of me right now.
Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
And I think really any person
from any denomination can relate
to this because you're going to
have people in your life who
are from different walks of of
faith with the Lord, you know,
and you're gonna
have disagreements.
You're gonna have places where
things don't line up for you.
But just being able to acknowledge
the fact that God's working
with you where you're at, and
that He's calling you to be
planted in a certain way
in a certain place.
And that there will be fruit that
as long as you're responding
to the Holy Spirit. So Yeah. I think
it's it's it can be difficult at times,
of course, but God
is... God's enough.
You know, He provides what we
need to make it through those
things and nourish those relationships
even though there is a disagreement.
So Yeah. Absolutely. And so
what you feel like was added to
this change in your life by
the fact that it required you to
really take a risk. And it wasn't just
to like, oh, nobody in your life.
has anything invested in this,
you can do whatever you want.
How was how was the risk taking
element integral to what the Lord
walked with you
through. Yeah.
I mean, I think that for a lot of us
who grew up in Evangelical circles,
there was a really big push to find out
what God's call for your life was.
Right? And and I didn't grow
up in a Catholic circle.
So I don't know if there was kind
of a similar parallel there,
but people really really worrying
about, you know, am I gonna do,
like, live out God's call on my life. Am
I gonna be that pastor of a mega church.
Am I gonna be that
worship leader?
Am I gonna be that speaker who
leads thousands and thousands
of people to Jesus? And if I
don't, you know, is that enough?
Like, to have I lived out my
calling and I think a lot of us
who are moms really relate to
this and the in the fact that,
like, we're just doing the small,
simple, day to day stuff.
And it doesn't feel like we're
having a huge impact, like,
we kind of were projecting thing
into our futures when younger.
So I think that when I was making
the transition, or it it was just like,
well, where am I
gonna go with this?
Like, am I living out God's call am
I actually hearing from the Lord?
Am I you know, thinking about
my emotions or not listening to
the Holy Spirit enough. And it
really came down to just having
to make the decision.
Right? Like,
when you're taking a risk and you
have two roads in front of you,
you know, you can be stuck in
that position of not knowing
what to pick and just not doing
anything right for a long long time.
And at the end of the day, you
have to make the choice and
just lay at the feet of Jesus and be
like, maybe I made the wrong choice,
but like, I'm just
giving it to you.
Like, if if I did,
course correct for me,
but you have to just trust in His
leading and give Him the space
to work it out even if it's
something that, like,
maybe wasn't the right decision or
maybe was, it doesn't matter.
Like, I really think that
this idea of, like,
God's call on your life as
this individual endpoint,
which you have to get to or
you didn't do God's will is
really like a false idea because
God's plan for you is for
you to be a disciple of Jesus.
Period wherever you're at.
In what whatever thing that
you choose to do,
He can work with it and He can you know,
do great things wherever you're at.
So... Yeah. I love that so
much. I I say so often.
You know, like, God's will, is
not hidden on slip of paper in
a filing cabinet somewhere. Like
you're like game of clue that
you're like supposed to win. It's
a lot more collaborative.
And I think something that's cool
that comes out in your story
is this idea of when we really
take risks and do it with the Lord
based on what it feels like He's
prompting us to do. There's almost that.
I get that sense of, like, It's
like a war buddies thing where,
like you and the Lord are knit
together by just kind of the adversity
of what it is that you're
walking through together.
You think about how in, like action
movies and stuff like that,
Almost always, like the lead
characters get together.
And one, it's because
it's Hollywood,
but also because there's
a very real tangible, like,
bonding that happens by going through
something really hard together.
And when we're able to
do that with the Lord,
that that's something that brings
about that bonding not on His
end because He's already as bonded to
us as it's possible to be,
but really on our end where we
see how much we can walk through
with Him and kind of put that weight
on our relationship with Him.
Yeah. Yeah. And I feel
like what you said,
it's so true because when you're
taking at risk when you're
stepping out in faith it's
uncomfortable. Right?
You're not gonna have those same
things that are bringing you
comfort or those things
that are familiar to you.
You know, anyone who's been on
the mission field will tell you that.
Like, you're stepping into
a completely different culture.
So maybe you're stepping into
a completely different situation
than you thought. But
being able to do that,
really narrows down your
reliance on the Lord, like,
really being able to lean into,
lean into Him and your faith
and your trust in Him and
building that relationship.
And it's it's I would say
it's really necessary.
You know, that's why God allows
us to go through these things
for our sake because it really
builds that relationship with
Him, that trust in Him. And just
being reminded of God's faithfulness.
If you think about the Israelites,
they were kinda constantly like,
oh, God. Where are you? And it's
like, well, don't you remember,
like, this time, this time, this
time, this time, you know,
And it's really
important, like,
as we go through our lives to
not forget about the times where
God really was faithful in a very
visual lane in lives where
we weren't sure if things were gonna
work out and they did or whatever.
So just keep reminding us that that God
has a plan and that His sovereignty is,
like, has our good in mind.
Right? So absolutely. Yeah.
I love speaking of
the Israelites.
I love in Jeremiah for where
they talk about that He it's not
the crossing the Red Sea, but it's
another crossing that the Lord
opens the sea for them
to cross and they take twelve
stones at His direction and set
them up and He says so when
your children asked you, what
are these stones for that you
can retell the story. And I think
that that's beautiful because
it's that same kind of
reminder and then that...
That's really what at Pink Salt Riot we
try and do with all of our products.
We even have, like a journal
that's called your memory stones.
And on each page, it's for you
to record these things like,
you're talking about
where we have you know,
this is this situation that we had
no idea how is going to resolve,
and this is what
the Lord did.
Because so many people have
so many of those stories,
but we are so like the Israelites
in just being like,
oh God never shows up for me, things
like that. I've heard so many people say that.
And as a peer or as a friend, you
don't wanna be like oh my gosh like,
yes. Let me like, remind
you of all the stories.
And so that's part of why it's
important to have a habit that
reminds ourselves so that we
can go back to something,
and we have a couple people
that I know of who have bought
the journal and
have had, like,
their grandparents write in it
and their parents write in it
and then them write in it. So
it's like this heirloom. Like,
this is God through the generations
of just our family.
Like, this is how He is shown
up over and over again.
And whether like through a journal
or you have some other way
that you memorialize
those things.
It's just such a worthy practice
because this is one of those
situations where we are kind
of responsible. One of the only
things that we're really
responsible for.
Like you said, you know, God can work with
it even if we make the wrong choice.
Anything like that. But when we are not
open to receiving the gift of faith,
that's what He's not gonna come
in and override us. Right. Yeah.
And I think it's funny that you say
that because I was gonna say,
like, we have a little book where we write
those kinds of things down to like,
read at the end of the year,
which is cool. It's... Yeah.
It's such a good way to remind
yourself of God's faithfulness.
But it also, like, puts
things into perspective.
You know, Like, I had a counselor
one time tell me like, you know,
there's a spectrum of truth
there are things that are like,
the bad things that are true and
the good things that are true.
And when we're stuck in the depths of,
like, indecisive or darkness or sadness,
so we're really only looking
at part of the truth.
But, you know, we're not seeing
the whole spectrum. So...
Yeah, Yeah. This sucks. Yeah. I
wish things were different. Yes.
God is healing or doing this
or that, but God's also here,
and He's also done this, and
He's also been faithful and He's
gotten me this far
in all of this.
So it's really a good practice
to be able to see the whole
spectrum of truth and and put
things into perspective,
especially when you really
can't see it. Absolutely.
To switch gears
just a little bit,
I know that this is that the risk
of hope is something that
you've also experienced
in your life.
And I would love for you to
share a little bit about that.
I don't wanna preface it too much
because I wanna let you share,
but really what I mean by the risk of
hope, I know that you know Sarah,
what I'm talking about, but
for our listeners that might not
understand this idea that that
it's naive that it's, you know,
just kind of childish to
continue hoping in the face of
situations that seem set. It
seems like this is what it is
and you're not living in reality
when you don't accept that.
And so how we square that is Christians,
having hope in those situations,
while also living in reality is can be
this very tension-filled existence.
So share a little bit about how
that is shown up in your life
and how you what you have learned
about taking the risk of hope.
Yeah. So I guess
I'll start with...
It's a very long story, and I will
shorten it for the sake of time.
But when I was younger
when I was ten years old,
my father and I were
in a car accident,
and he hit his head on the steering
wheel and essentially lost
his memory completely. And Yeah.
I remember being... I was there.
So I remember it happening. I remember
being in the car and it was...
Yeah. Just like a shock, of course, you
know, I was very young and it was like,
my dad, like, my rockstar, you know,
it just being there and being
unconscious. But, yeah, I, sorry.
I didn't tell you this before,
but I'm just gonna add this in.
When I was in the car, someone
knocked on the door and, like,
got me out of the car, like, the crashed
car and walked me to his car,
and was, like, God's gonna kill your
dad. Everything's gonna be okay.
And then he took me up to like, his
house and his house is like, on a hill,
like, right above the crash site,
and we talked to his wife.
He called the ambulance and then
he took me back down and put
me back in the car, and
like, buckled me in.
And then, like, I just sat around
there for a couple minutes.
And the ambulance came and everything,
you know, we went to the hospital.
But long story short
a couple of days later,
my mom got me out of the hospital
and drove me back home,
and we went past their crash site,
and there was no house on the hill.
Like, there was
nothing there.
So it's kind of been the story of,
like, you know, people were like,
oh, it was an angel or it was
a miracle or something like that.
And maybe it was, you know, maybe it
was... I don't know what it was.
But I feel like that part of my
life that part of my story is
really kind of what gave me this
gift of faith in trusting in God.
And after that, you
know, I I grew up in,
like a name it, claim it
situation where, like,
if you say you're healed
your healed and yeah.
We were praying for my dad and a lot
of things happened in that church.
You know, we had to act like, he was
totally fine, even though he wasn't.
And as a young child, like, I was
really given this idea that,
like, if I... Because I'm not praying
enough, he is not being healed you know?
Or because I don't
have enough faith.
And like, it was kind of juxtaposed or this
this belief that God can do anything,
and that He's a miracle
worker and whatever.
So I think for me, the rest was
just continuing in hope that
God can heal and does heal, but
putting that perspective with
His sovereignty and realizing
that it's not always the choice
that He goes down. It's it's not
always part of His submissive will,
but that is something
that happens.
And just believing that God
still cares and that, like,
it was in His plan in some way and
that you know, He's still faithful,
and He has been totally faithful. Like,
He's met me in every part of my life.
He's given me the faith and
the strength to get through whatever
I've gone through. He helped me
when my mom went back to work
and I had to basically watch
the family while she was gone,
like during my childhood
and had to, like,
make sacrifices for my family because
of that, but God is faithful.
And even though He did not heal
my dad and He actually passed
away a couple years ago. So
twenty years after the accident,
he lived in a nursing home for his
whole life for the rest his life.
And he did pass away. And I
believe up into until the last
second my God could have like,
done it. He could've healed him.
He could've done a miracle
if that was His choice.
But it really kind of got to point
where God was, like, you know,
I had... I had a time in my life
where I really struggled with
that with the fact that He didn't heal
my dad, like, why couldn't He do that?
And I got to this point and prayer
where God was like, you know,
when you... When are
you gonna let this go?
Like, when're you just gonna trust
that this was this was in my
plan that it's working for
the benefit of you and your family
even though it's difficult and frustrating
and wouldn't have been what I chose.
You know, when are you gonna
trust in my faithfulness over the,
like, suckiness of this situation
And I really had to just release
it and just be at peace with it then,
you know, because God is good.
And He does desire that we become
more like Him and that isn't
always going to be, you know,
rainbows and puppies,
that's gonna be
difficult times too.
So just accepting that cross of
your life and and trusting in
His faithfulness even when it's
difficult. So... Yeah. That was a lot.
That is, like so many impactful
stories in, like, five minutes,
but holy cow. Yes. I I think that
it's so important to remember that,
like, it's not naive to keep
hoping like that, you know, you,
you know, believing up
until the last minute.
I think there's a lot of people
especially in our culture right
now that would be
like how's that?
You know, that seems really sad
that you hoped that all that
time to be disappointed.
But it...
But of course, we know as Christians that
it wasn't a no to healing your dad.
It was a no to healing your dad
at that time because your dad
is no longer you know, in
his illness and suffering.
And yes, it took until going to
literally be with the Lord,
and that is the case in in too
many cases in so many cases
that we come across
in our lives.
But there's still hope for the healing,
and it still is something that,
you know, does happen even when it's
out of our view when it does happen.
And I think that that's part
of what taking risks helps us
grow in is really like that
heart after the Lord's own heart
and I I think I've told the story
in the podcast before I was
praying for just a greater outpouring of
courage really about praying
for healing for people like your
dad in situations where there
was not had not been healing
or wasn't reason to think that
there would be healing. And I
really came across that fact
that I I believed the lie that
it was cruel to build hope in
people if it wasn't
going to be realized.
And I felt like the Lord really
shared with me that it's not
it's not the hope for this
one moment that matters.
It's hope itself and continuing and
hope is what brings the victory
because we believe that Jesus
died on the cross which makes
our hope transcend what happens in
the here and now, which is of course,
this challenging and
painful and hard.
And I can't even imagine walking
for twenty years with your
father like you did
through all of that.
And I think that that's part of
the real damage that the idea
of name it and claim it does
to people is putting that that
those sovereign decisions of
God, like, on the individual,
and we know that we don't
control those things.
And hanging on to control at that
level is really just something
that especially for a child what
a heavy thing to carry. Yeah.
Yeah. For sure, it it
was. I mean, honestly,
it was it felt like it it felt
like it it wasn't, like, for me,
it wasn't like, oh,
I'm not doing enough.
It was like, I didn't deserve
it for some reason. Right?
Like, there was something about me or
my family that, like, we weren't...
Whatever God wanted us to be. So we
didn't get the healing. You know?
And I think my hope really changed,
like, to your point, like,
shifting from a hope in complete
healing on this side of of heaven,
even though I totally believe
that God can heal and does heal
and anyone who's believing
and praying for that, like,
you should continue to believe
and pray for that because it
is always a possibility. Like, God
with God, nothing is impossible.
But tempering that with the fact
that, like, God is sovereign,
and that there are things in our life that
will happen and will not make sense.
Until we're in
heaven, you know,
living in that mystery and
trusting in the hope that Jesus
died for us and that He made
a way that we can go to heaven.
And the the hope that we have
in Him as a father, you know.
So I think you have to have those
like, things in both hands.
You have to have the... Both
of those in your brain as you're
processing when you're going
through difficult times like that,
because Yes. Of course. They're
they're can be miraculous things.
I've seen miraculous things happen.
And when God does those things.
That's awesome. And we should rejoice
and celebrate with those people,
but it doesn't mean that God's gonna
do it for everyone every time.
And it's He doesn't,
you know,
there's something wrong with us
or we didn't have enough faith.
It's it's just that God sees
the whole picture, and we don't.
And that, know as much as we hate
that because we want control
and we wanna see and know
why everything's happening.
That's just not what
God has for us.
You know, like, He He's not going
to reveal all of the mysteries
of the universe you know, because
that's just too much to handle.
Like, we might not ever see why
it happened the way it happened
in our lifetime. It might be
lifetimes ahead of ahead of time.
You know? So just trusting that God
knows and that He'll be with us,
like, He'll be with us throughout
whatever eternity is. Yeah.
Well, thank you so much, Sarah.
For chatting with me today.
I'm going to put links where you
can check out Sarah's Youtube
channel and everything else
she's up to in the show notes.
I hope that you guys have
a great rest of your day.
Thanks for being with us Sarah.
Yep. Thanks so much, Jill.
Thank you so much for joining me
on today's episode of the Authentic
Uprising podcast. It is
always a joy to be with you.
I encourage you to
subscribe to our podcast.
Subscribe to our
Youtube channel,
whichever place you most prefer or do it
all if that is what floats your boat,
we would love to continue to get
to know you better and grow in
relationship with you. And so
I encourage you to check out
the links in both our show notes
and our Youtube description
that tell you more about where you
can connect with us elsewhere.
The two big things we have
going on besides the podcast is
our shop that is full of
reminders of who you are in God,
helping you to really grow in
that radical art standing in
who you are and giving gifts that
help others to do the same.
The other big thing we have going
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This is all of our formation.
Programs, workshops, retreats,
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demand where you can sign up
and continue to learn more about radically
standing in what God says about you,
especially if you were in a place
in your life where you are
not being fed the way that you long to
be fed whether it's in your community,
whether it's at your
church, whatever it is,
there is more for you and we
can absolutely walk with you into It
through the Uprising Academy. All
those links are in our show notes.
And if you enjoyed this episode, I
encourage you to leave a review.
Reviews are the number one way that
we help get in front of new faces,
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touched by the radical art of
standing in what God says about us.
I love you I'm praying for you.
I hope you have
an amazing week.