Welcome to another Altar'd Moment! In these shorter mini-episodes, the team steps in for a bite-sized devotional between regular chats. In this moment, Lauren gets honest about the hustle of daily life, from endless emails and laundry to busy family schedules, and explores what it truly means to follow Jesus's example of being interruptible and leaving margin in our days to actually see people.

• The Busyness of Everyday Life: Between work, kids, appointments, practices, groceries, and emails, life moves fast. Can somebody please explain how we're supposed to keep a house clean while we're still living in it?
• Obstacles vs. People: When our days are scheduled down to the minute, an unexpected interruption can quickly feel like an inconvenience. Lauren challenges us to ask: Am I leaving enough room in my life to actually see people?
• Intentional Yet Interruptible: Jesus was deeply intentional with His mission: He withdrew to pray, invested in His disciples, and held clear boundaries. Yet, He was never so attached to His schedule that He stopped seeing the individuals along the way.
• The Interruption in Mark 5: Lauren walks through the story of Jairus begging Jesus to come heal his dying daughter. On the urgent walk to Jairus’s house, a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years touched the hem of Jesus's robe. Instead of rushing past, Jesus stopped, saw her, and called her "daughter." What looked like an inconvenient delay in a life-or-death emergency was actually another person Jesus loved.
• Praying on the Spot: Instead of just saying "I'll be praying for you," Lauren encourages us to stop right then, whether in aisle 7 at the grocery store or at home, and pray with someone in the moment.
• Discernment vs. Irresponsibility: Being interruptible doesn't mean every need is your responsibility or that you abandon your commitments. It means leaving margin so you can pause and ask: "Lord, is this actually an interruption, or is this what You have for me right now?"

• Mark 5:21-34: Jesus stopping for the woman with the issue of blood on the way to Jairus's house.
• Mark 5:35-43: Jesus going on to heal Jairus's daughter.

This week, try creating a little extra margin in your schedule. When an unexpected conversation or request pops up, pause before reacting with frustration. Ask the Lord whether the disruption to your plan might actually be His divine assignment for your day.

Welcome back to Altar’d Reality!

Today, Jennifer and Lauren continue with Part 2 of Lauren’s life testimony. Building on last week’s episode where Lauren shared about losing her mother to cancer, navigating foster care, and stepping into a safe home. This episode digs into what happened when the survival mechanisms that kept her safe in childhood began catching up with her in adulthood.

• Part 1 Recap: A quick look back at Lauren’s journey through childhood grief, separation from her sisters, and moving in with her cousins Samantha and James during high school.
• The Survival Mask: How Lauren adopted a brand-new identity built on resilience, joy, and "everything is fine," using emotional avoidance as a coping mechanism to keep moving forward without processing deep pain.

• Young Marriage & Shoving Things Under the Rug: Lauren shares about meeting her husband, Brandon, at a young age, getting married at 18, and navigating early marriage while neglecting her own emotional needs and shoving marital struggles under the rug.
• The Turning Point in Community: After stepping away from church for a couple of years after getting married, Lauren and Brandon returned when preparing to start a family. Six years ago, Lauren experienced a major shift when she realized "toxic positivity" wasn't from God and began opening up vulnerably to trusted Christian community about her real struggles.
• When the Body Says Stop: Lauren describes the breaking point she reached over the summer, suffering physical panic attacks and burnout, which forced her to realize that intellectualizing her faith was not the same as letting Jesus heal her emotional heart.
• Intellectual Faith vs. Emotional Healing: Lauren reflects on core lies she carried without knowing it... believing her needs were a burden, that she had to stay positive to be safe or loved, and that she could only rely on herself.
• Learning to Be Still and Grieve: Through EMDR therapy with a Christian therapist and quiet time before God without distractions, Lauren is learning how to stop asking "God, what are you teaching me?" and start saying "God, this really hurt me," allowing Jesus into the broken memories.
• Resilient and Tender: Lauren shares that true healing doesn't mean abandoning the strength God built in her through hardship, but discovering that she can be both resilient and tender in the hands of the Lord.
• The Refiner's Fire: The episode closes with a reflection on how God refines us like gold and silver in the fire. Not to destroy us, but to purify us until His image is clearly reflected in our lives.

Are you running on autopilot, using busyness or "toxic positivity" to avoid feeling past pain? Take time this week to sit still with Jesus without distractions. Stop trying to figure out all the lessons right away, and simply allow Him to sit with you in your hurt, knowing that His presence is where true healing begins.

• Psalm 34:18 -"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
• Malachi 3:3 - "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver..."
• Philippians 4:8 - "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just..."
• Song Referenced: "Burn" by Brooke Ligertwood

• Surviving vs. Healing: Lauren reflects on her current season of life, sharing how physical panic attacks and emotional burnout over the summer forced her to stop and realize that the survival resilience that got her through childhood trauma was never meant to replace genuine spiritual and emotional healing.

• Early Childhood & Family Roots: Born on New Year's Eve in Chicago before moving to Southwest Missouri, Lauren grew up as the oldest of four girls in a sweet, close-knit family with a stay-at-home mom and a dad working in the medical field.

• A Mother's Cancer Battle & Legacy: At age eight, Lauren’s mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer, leading to a five-year battle that ended when Lauren was thirteen. Lauren shares the heartbreaking memory of saying goodbye in the hospital without fully understanding it was the end until sitting in the car afterward. She recalls her mom’s vibrant faith, her love for hymns like "It Is Well With My Soul," and her mom's desire for an altar call at her own funeral, where lives were transformed.

• Parental Rejection & Foster Care: Less than a year after her mother's death, Lauren's father remarried. An unsafe and emotionally abusive environment led to the state removing all four girls from the home. When her father chose his new wife over taking the girls back, Lauren experienced profound rejection from her only living parent.

• God as the Ultimate Father: In the midst of fatherly abandonment, Lauren turned to God not with anger, but as her true Father, clinging to Psalm 103:1 and discovering that while earthly fathers may fail, the Lord never leaves.

• Anchors of Community: Lauren details her time in kinship foster care living with her grandmother, aunt, and eventually her cousin Samantha and her husband James in a safe, loving Christian home. She highlights how her local church youth group served as her lifelong anchor and refuge through every storm.

If you have survived hard things by burying your pain behind a wall of "resilience," know that Jesus doesn't just want you to survive. He wants to bring true healing to your heart. Take time this week to slow down, get quiet before the Lord, and allow Him into the places you've been afraid to feel.

• Psalm 34:18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
• Proverbs 3:5–6 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..."
• Psalm 103:1 -"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name."