How do you respond when difficult events happen in your life? Today’s guest, Lisa Hathaway, had multiple tragic events happen to her in a very short period of time in her life and she lives to tell of them. Where was God? She was faced with a choice and shares her miraculous story today: Wallow or worship? ******
Kimberly Hobbs Welcome to Empowering Lives with Purpose. And I’m your host, Kimberly Hobbs. I’m the founder of Women World Leaders. Ladies, we are so glad that you joined us today. And I would love to welcome our guest Lisa Hathaway. Welcome, Lisa,
Lisa Hathaway Thank you so much for having me, Kimberly.
Kimberly Hobbs It’s our pleasure. And we are excited to introduce her to you is who she is. And like you get to know Lisa a little bit. And God says in His word that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of their testimony, Revelation 12:11. And ladies, today, Lisa is going to share a little bit about her story, and the miracles that God did in her life to get her through. And we hope that through listening to these stories, ladies that you will be inspired, and encouraged to walk out your beautiful purpose that something you might hear today will spark something in your life that you will connect dots and see what God may be speaking to your heart today. So that is our prayer as well as we go into these podcasts that God would speak to you through these words that we share today and through Of course, His scriptures, because there’s power in the Word and we know that the word is life changing. So I want to introduce Lisa with a little bit about who she is. Lisa is a lover of Jesus, and has passion for the least of these. Her heartbeat is to see those who need a second chance and help them experience the tangible love of Jesus. Lisa has learned to worship through suffering as a special needs mom. She’s a recent breast cancer survivor and also a survivor of a tragic car accident within a two year span. Suffering has been intertwined in her story, and she wants others to experience the sweetness of God through some of the most difficult things in life. She resides in Lexington, North Carolina with her amazing husband and three precious children. She’s a youth leader. And Lisa has an MBA and is currently attending Liberty University Graduate School where she’s pursuing her master’s degree in clinical and mental health counseling. So today we titled this podcast wallow, or worship, wallow or worship we all have choices to make. How do you respond when difficult events happen in your life? Think about that. You have a choice and how you respond? Have you questioned God during your suffering? Today, Lisa, you chose to come on and be real with us and be authentic and share about some of the suffering that you endured. You had some choices to make, which we’re going to talk about those choices in a little bit. But Lisa, you stated you had a choice that you could choose to wall up, wallow, or worship. So Lisa, can you open up today by sharing some of the trauma and grief of your story and a place that you were at prior to making a choice?
Lisa Hathaway Yes, thank you so much, Kimberly, even hearing you talk through that. It’s like, wow, you know, we all have, we all have stories, we all have testimonies, and we have to choose what to do with those stories, and choose what to do with suffering. And mine started back in the year of 2020. Obviously, the COVID year, everybody was you know, identifies that as COVID. And, you know, God gives me a word every year and my word for 2020 was rest. And I was like, you know, I’m a very active person. And so it was just like, okay, you know, we’re gonna rest and then the end of February, I found out my mom had a genetic mutation of lung cancer. And a week later, I found out my dad had bladder cancer. And after those two, they’re divorced, that you know, so they weren’t live, you’re not living together, obviously. But after those two diagnosis, I hit a low point just from that. And I was like, alright, God, you told me um, I heard this she was rest. So I’m like, a little stressful. And so I hit a really low point, just processing all that in my brain and then I was was a high school teacher teaching special education And our assistant principal and I, during COVID, we went virtual. So we had a little extra time. And so we decided we wanted to go hiking and mill the day at a local park. And it was the best day was just the best day. And she opened up to me and shared and on our way back was a ride around noon. I saw a car coming from a distance, and I was like, Wait, they’re swerving all over the road. They’re swerving all over the road. And the next thing I know, we were hit head on, and he was a drunk driver. And, um, she died right beside me. And, you know, I knew, in that moment that something wasn’t right. Like, I could just steal it. In my spirit, I don’t remember a lot about some details. But God has brought things back to memory, I think, for healing. And I saw her posture of saw the blood splattered all over me, I felt it. Um, I don’t know, like how I got out of a car, I don’t know any of that, like, I really shouldn’t survive, he hit us about 65 miles an hour. Um, and so that, that day, I went to hospital. And from that point on, I didn’t dry for two months, I suffered from, you know, PTSD, pretty severe in that timeframe. And I really started experiencing, I’ve been a Christian since I was eight years old, but I really start experiencing a whole new level of who God is. And and I say it was, but you know, he always has been. But when you are going through something, you start you are open to see we have a choice. Like we can get bitter and angry. And yes, I asked why, why, why, why, why, why, and then I stopped because I wasn’t getting the answer that I wanted. And, um, you know, looking back on that, I’m now starting to understand the why. So I went to counseling immediately after the car accident because my brain couldn’t process the trauma and grief. And then, you know, went through that I went back to teach in August, I had a pass for office every day, how to deal with all of that. And then we’re coming up on 2021. And April 28 was the actual day it happened in 2020. And April 29 is my birthday. So I birthdays a little obviously bittersweet because I had to wake up the next day, knowing that she was not here. And you feel the feelings of guilt and all those things I’ve had to work through.
And so April 28 of this of 2021, I, my mom, I took the day off work and we went and bought flowers. And I just love fresh flowers. And we went and so I could do it from my deck and I had my OB visit. So I did that and got my mammogram and all that good stuff. And we had lunch and then I get a call in May of 2021 May 24 And my doctor’s like, um, I don’t know what happened, but something just kind of got misplaced. And we found something on your mammogram that you’re very sisty. So we probably just assume that it’s that I’m like, okay, that’s fine, whatever, I’m good. I don’t take things real serious sometimes. And so we fast forward, and I went and got ultrasound. And after the sixth time of going in and out of the radiology room. I was like, huh, and God just started to prepare me. And I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma on June 11 of 2021. So, I was like, wow, God, like, what now? My word for 2021 was courage. And so I had risk for 2020 I had courage for 2021 Courage to to fight courage to walk through things i like how appropriate Lord, I’m and he has such a sense of humor. So I fast forward I had a double mastectomy on August 12 of 2021. And you know, going through everything happened so fast, like appointments and what treatment and all this stuff and you know, I was 44 when I was diagnosed. I’m 45 obviously now but um and so I was like oh my gosh, you got three kids or what? You know your mind can go and then because I I saw so much of God’s faithfulness after the accident. I was like, Okay, God, like, I can’t worry about this, like, you’re gonna work this out because I saw his, his kindness and gentleness and the, how he never left me. And so did I think, does your mind go places? Absolutely. We’re human. You know, my Armand goes like, oh, gosh, I’m just gonna die tomorrow. You know, I mean, I’m just, you know, that’s the truth. And so I’m going through all of this, and, you know, we’re going through the treatment and what to do, and I was like, double mastectomy, you know? Well, then yeah, I’m a very was a very large chested woman. And that to vary. I mean, we’re all women here, suddenly, it’s a very, it’s a very physical part, it’s a very sexual part, you know, all these things go through your mind, you’re like, oh, my gosh, my whole entire body is gonna change. So when I had my double mastectomy, they propose things for you to have reconstruction. And so I decided to get implants. And in that process, they put tissue expanders in, and of course, my body rejects the tissue expanders. Um, and I had originally told my husband now I’m going to be before the mastectomy. So I’m going to be content with where I’m at. God spoke to me. And I’m going to be content with no reconstruction. Well, you know, then the flesh takes over, then people start talking to you, and you hear all these things. And so I was like, Oh, well, I’ve got to have implants and perky boobs, right. So I was like, Okay, I’m gonna do the tissue expanders, my body completely rejected him, I got a massive infection, heavy in the hospital for five days on T round to IV antibiotics, just because I wouldn’t become septic. So I had three surgeries within six weeks. And then, um, you know, the healing process and the emotional process and all of that stuff. But I was able to go back to work October 25. So mad woman said to me was August 12, men back to work. And that’s when it kind of started hitting me like, this has been real, you know, and then I’m in the middle, they forced me into menopause. So we all know about that. So hot flashes, all that so I wallowed. I mean, I’m gonna be honest, I went through very many, you know, many stages of wobbling, and many, like, my husband would come and say, Get off the couch. Come on, let’s go, go on wall, get up, get up, you know, like you, you’re not gonna stay in this place. And I realized through both of those that, you know, everything’s a choice and that I had to I had to choose not to wallow. So…
Kimberly Hobbs In the world, the world would say you have every reason to wallow. I mean, look at what happened in your life. Right? You had, oh, you know, poorly saw. And wow, you went through a lot hunting, you went through a lot. So but there’s more to this story. Because Lisa, you did see Beauty from Ashes, right? But how so? The Bible says, our present troubles are small, and they’re not going to last very long, yet they produce for us, glory that vastly outweighs them, and will last forever. That’s kind of like a capsule of your life. All of this time that you could have been wallowing and you had that choice, and you did wallow for a while. First Corinthians 417 Is that verse that God was producing a glory that is going to far outweigh what you went through. So you emphasize the choice because of the past two years of your life. You saw God’s hand moving? How did you choose to follow God after the accident? What specifics? Can you share with the audience that allowed you to choose not to while into follow? God?
Lisa Hathaway I mean, yeah, that’s a very it’s a very good question. I, I think after the accident, my when you have nothing left, and when you hit that rock bottom, I mean, of course, I had my family and, you know, but there was so many times they had no idea what to do. They had no idea what to say. Because you don’t know what to say. Sometimes when someone is at that place where you have nothing left like I couldn’t even walk to get out to walk towards a vehicle. Like it was so traumatic. And I started I set on my deck, and it’s so crazy how God works and moves because right before the accident literally two days before the accident, we had just like refinish our deck. And I got all these fresh flowers and all this stuff. God knew he sees the end from the beginning, he knew that was going to be my safe haven of healing. And I said on that deck, and I would I would wash it, because you can’t wallow and worship at the same time. Right? So I had to sit there and go, I know my God is faithful. I don’t understand this. But he is so faithful. I have to choose to see his faithfulness in the situation. So I would find worship songs. And I doubt I had I created my own playlist called Soul lifter. And because it all lived my soul, and it spoke to the deepest parts of my heart. And it was like, it was like, God’s just like, I’m here. I haven’t left you. And so I started just to build on that. And it’s like the joy and sorrow dance together. I was it was this the joy of the Lord that’s unexplainable to the human eye. Because I had such joy. My husband told me, we’ve been married 20 years and he goes in those two moments. I’ve never seen you at so much peace. And I thought, what, why, what after all this happened? Because I pressed in so hard to Jesus, like I’ve never done before. Amen. When you do that, it it’s a sweetness that you can’t even can’t even describe. So my level with the Lord, my intimacy with the Lord got so deep that I could not wallow. Like I could not wallow, because I was like, God’s like I’m taking you. I’m allowing that truth. Yes, I’m allowing you. And it reminds me of like one of my scriptures that have spoke so much to me Habakkuk 317 through 18, even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines, even though the all of crop fails, and the fields like empty and barren, even though the flop sat in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in the God of my salvation, Yet I will rejoice. So, regardless of anything that happens when all the fields are gone, when everything is is just falling apart in your life. Yet I will rejoice.
Kimberly Hobbs Amen. Amen. I love that. I love that. And we pray that that Scripture speaks to you ladies as well, if you’re in the midst of something right now, and when you’re on that slippery slope, and you might fall off of it, oh, God instructs us in His Word, give your burdens to the Lord and he’s going to take care of you ladies. He’s he’s going to and that’s what Lisa chose to do. She gave everything over to the Lord and chose not to wallow, but to worship God. And Psalm 5522 says he will not permit the godly to slip and fall. So when you’re on that slope, ladies, and you’re you’re just trying to balance everything because the pain is so intense, or the the trial that you’re going through is so burdensome. God says right here in Psalm 5522, to give your burdens to him. So Lisa, you found your value in God and praise God, you did. You lived to through two things where realistically the arrows were pointing that your life should be over. But God, by God, he chose and you saw that. So you started worshiping Him and you started thanking him for the good and what you saw you lived. So when you found your value in God by choosing him, Lisa, you didn’t allow yourself to wallow anymore you chose and you chose well, God opened the door to give you a passion to work for him, which is this is the exciting part of the story, ladies is because now Lisa turned her life around through this and she chose to work for Jesus and serve Him with all of her heart. She helps the homeless she is working with the youth at church and she showed a way to articulate to others about their suffering in the valley. So God allowed her to turn all this for good. And Lisa, can you explain in your own way about how God doesn’t leave us ever? There’s ladies listening right now that feels so alone. In their hurting world, please share with them how he never leaves us.
Lisa Hathaway Yes, I, you know, I think that you hit on a good point. I mean, we all, no matter how close you are to the Lord, or what our backgrounds are, there’s times where we feel lonely as women. I mean, that’s just, that’s just human nature and the flesh part. And we’re like, I’m lonely. I feel like I’m walking through whatever journey by myself. And, you know, God has spoke to me in a lot of ways. And I’ve journal a lot. And it was a visual that he gave me and I hold so tight to this. And I’m so thankful that he gave it to me that we’re in a valley. And, you know, I’ve got kids and work in school. So he is I’m sitting on the bottom of the valley floor. It’s like lay mud it but it is solid, that foundation, the bottom of the valley is solid. And I’m sitting, as I say, crisscross applesauce or Indian style. And Jesus is right beside me. crisscross applesauce. I’m like, Hey, Jesus, how you doing? He’s like, I’m doing I’m doing good. I’m right here with you. Okay, well, you can go if you want to, because I’m gonna be here a while. It’s been pretty dark the last couple of years. He’s like, no, no, I’m not leaving you. But he’s like, No, I’m not leaving you. I will sit with you, as long as I need to here to show you that I have never left you and I’m never going to forsake you. And he just sat there. And we’re just carrying on conversation. And then all of a sudden, he looks over at me. And he goes, It’s time. Let’s go is Tom, you’ve been here long enough. You said grabbed my hand. I was like, Oh, we’re gonna climb up that we’re gonna climb to the top of that mountain, or the top of this humongous Valley? You said, yeah. So I grabbed his hand, he keeps looking at me and goes, I’ve got you, my daughter. I’ve got you, my daughter. I haven’t left you. I haven’t left you. I’m like, Jesus, this is tough. Come on. Because what I have for you, on the top of this is far greater than this valley floor. And so it is something that in our suffering, there is beauty. But you have to open your eyes to see it. We get so laser focused on what’s wrong in our lives. And we got to open our eyes to see that God is in the smallest of things. You know, feathers are a big thing for me. I saw 91 for and it’s a huge thing for me. And I would walk downtown where I live and feathers were just falling. And I’m like, Where are these coming from? And God’s like, I see you. I’ve got you. And this is what when I wasn’t driving and I was walking because I needed I had my worship music on. I’m sobbing my eyes out and working through the grief and trauma and like, why is this happening? And God just like his promises are so true. And he is so faithful, and the kindness and the gentleness. So whatever story you have whatever you’re walking through, even when I was walking through the breast cancer, God has taken the scales off my eyes to even see myself differently. Because this is a battle and God chose to save me from this says stories are different. But I cannot like doorman not to worship Him. Because He faced he saved me twice. So God’s like I have something so much greater for you. And so I have to speak I have to use it for His glory. And I’m just I’m so excited to challenge because suffering is beautiful. I know it sounds really weird. But suffering can be so beautiful because I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. If I didn’t have suffering. I wouldn’t have the intimacy if I didn’t have suffering. So yes, you can choose not to wallow, but you get up each day and go I’m gonna make a choice to worship the God in Jesus who died for me.
Kimberly Hobbs I love that. I love that and you did you chose to worship and you looked for God to show you to show you that way and he did and ladies, when you are wishing that someone would just be there to show you the way you know we all look for our help in different ways. You know, some look to Doctor some look to different people. Ladies look up and worship the Lord just as Lisa was sharing from her heart her life changed when she chose worship. So when you’re looking for someone to show you the way A God’s word is there to do so he will show you the way through His Word. The Lord says, I will give you along the best pathway for your life I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise and walk watch over you. He says that to us, ladies. So if you open the Word and you worship Him through the word, he’s going to advise you through the word he’s going to watch over you and tell you how to get out of the wallowing in the situation that you’re in at Psalms 32 Eight, God is our God forever. And just like Lisa was sharing about crisscross applesauce, God was there and said, No, I’m never leaving you. I’m never leaving you as she sat there on the ground. He is our God forever, ladies, forever and ever. He will guide us until we die. That’s Psalm 4814. All the scriptures are right there in his word for us to grab hold up. So are you going to allow him? Are you going to allow him access into your heart and not block him by wallowing in your pity? Will you choose him Ladies, don’t choose pity choose to worship him as we were just praying for all of you ladies listening in today, Lisa and I both had that on our prayer heart that you are going to choose well. And when you want to recognize God’s presence, ladies, worship Him, worship him. Come let us worship him out, bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker, because He is our God. And we are the people he watches over. We are the flock under his care that Psalm 9095, six and seven. I don’t know about you, but I can’t even contain the joy. And if you hear in Lisa’s voice, she can contain the Joy because she chose correctly ladies. So come close to God and He is going to come close to you. That’s James for eight. So I just asked Lisa. Lisa, do you have a word that you just want to share? In the last 30 seconds? With the ladies? What can you just give them to take away today as your final word to them?
Lisa Hathaway I think I would just have to say, you know, God is a God of redemption. He’s a God of kindness, a God of love. And I just challenge you to just look to Him. And you will absolutely see the beauty coming from the ashes of whatever your story is. Because he is so good.
Kimberly Hobbs That is so wonderful. He is so good lady so good. One more verse to leave you with. I love just pouring scripture out. But God says Call me when you’re in trouble. And I will rescue you. And you will give me glory that Psalm 55 Don’t we all want to glorify God. And look at Lisa right now all of what she experienced in her life. And this verse is so true in her life too, because now she’s given all the glory to God. She’s here sharing her story of how God brought her through because she didn’t choose to wallow, she chose to worship Him. And we just pray that you’ll choose worship ladies worship God, and you will give Him the glory. He says that in his word. So as we close out, ladies, we are a ministry of women here. You may have a story that you want to share that God is just prompting you to share with the world. We have an opportunity here in so many ways for you to be used by the Lord. Or maybe you just need to be comforted around other women who would love you and encourage you to walk closer with Jesus. We want to be here for you. So reach out to us on our website, info at women world leaders.com. And we’ll give you further information. We have social media, where we give daily devotions that you can plug in and comment we can interact with you in the comments. That’s the Facebook group. It’s called Women, world leaders. So go to your group groups on Facebook and just type in women world leaders, you’ll see a little girl holding a tilted crown, please ladies request to come in. It’s a private group. It’s just growing unbelievable. And we would love you to be part of it. We have other tools like voice of truth. That is an encouraging magazine, and we put it out every quarter ladies, it’s free. You can go on our website, you can flip through the pages. It’s beautiful and every page is filled with encouragement from God’s word, and women around the world who are right thing to encourage you through God’s word. There’s so many tools please check out our website at women world leaders.com. And, and Lisa, how can the ladies reach out to you if they would like to contact you?
Lisa Hathaway You could just email me at LTHathaway77@gmail.com. And I’ll be happy to talk with anybody who emails me.
Kimberly Hobbs That’s awesome. So ladies, you There you go. Lisa is willing to speak with you. And sometimes you just need that live person to pray with you or speak with you and she has a willing heart. And that’s the beauty of the women and women world leaders is we are here for one another as God called us to be. So reach out as you feel, lad. We hope to see you and we hope for you to become part of women world leaders join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for these podcasts in many different ways. So ladies from his heart to yours, we are women world leaders. We thank you Lisa Hathaway for joining us today and sharing your God’s story with us. All content is copyrighted and cannot be used without expressed written consent. Ladies, have a beautiful and blessed day. Remember, Don’t wallow, worship the Lord and see your life change. God bless you.