One green Living Bible. One furious teenager with zero faith. One question asked in a locked room because there’s nothing left to try. That’s where Heidi starts, and it’s why this story hits so hard: spiritual guidance doesn’t show up as a polished “belief journey,” it shows up as a gritty survival tool you can test when you’re angry, skeptical, and exhausted.

I walk through how a woman from Young Life, Carla Cup, pulls me aside in 1984 and gives me a simple practice for discernment: put your hand on the Bible, ask God a question, open where it feels right, and read what you land on. I call it my “unconditional faith compass,” not because I begin with devotion, but because the answers keep meeting me where I am. Over time, the practice shifts from teenage chaos to adult stakes, including running a law office and making decisions that affect real people. When I finally ask whether I should hire a lawyer who won’t stop pushing, the line I open to flips my plan on the spot.

We also get into the part nobody likes to talk about: what happens when the answer costs you. I share a painful betrayal, missing money, and the moment I ignore what I believe I’m told to do, then live with the consequences. If you’re searching for faith, intuition, prayer, or a grounded decision-making process, this conversation is a candid look at what it means to ask for guidance and then actually follow it.

Subscribe to Surviving Changes, share this with someone who’s stuck, and leave a review if it helps you think clearly. What’s one question you’d ask if you weren’t afraid of the answer?

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