Ever feel like your spiritual life is a performance review you can’t pass? We pull back the curtain on why religion—understood as striving to reach God through our own effort—wears people out, breeds competition, and stifles honest questions. Instead of piling on more rules, we trace a simpler, stronger thread: the gospel’s invitation to follow Jesus, find rest, and experience transformation from the inside out.

If you’re tired of the spiritual treadmill and longing for an authentic experience of faith, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs relief from striving, and leave a review telling us which reason resonated most. Then come tell us your story at religionsucks.co.

What if you did everything “right” and still ended up with heartbreak you can’t pray away? We sit down with author and leader Joanna Meyer to talk about the gap between faith and reality—where singleness stretches for decades, infertility closes cherished doors, and a pastor’s family breaks apart. Joanna doesn’t offer quick fixes. She invites us to strip faith to the studs, set down performance, and meet a Savior who knows suffering from the inside.

Across this conversation, we unlearn the myth that a faithful life always trends upward. Joanna shows how American ideals of constant progress can distort discipleship, making us equate God’s favor with outcomes. Instead, we turn to the older, deeper path of lament—naming what is broken, turning toward God, and choosing hope even when circumstances don’t shift.

If this conversation met you in a hard place, share it with a friend who needs company in the tension. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: where are you learning to lament and still hope?