Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
From Struggles to Strength: Embracing Divine Healing
Have you ever found yourself stuck in the past, unable to move forward? In this episode, we explore the transformative journey from pain to joy, guided by the story of a man healed by Peter and John in Acts chapter three. Just as he chose to embrace his newfound life with gratitude and vigor, we challenge you to let go of lingering hurts and discover the wonders God has in store for you now. Tune in to hear personal stories and practical insights that will inspire you to leave "hurting street" behind and thrive on "Hallelujah Boulevard."
Our host shares a heartfelt and honest account of their own struggles with forgiveness, revealing the liberating process of letting go of past grievances. We discuss the steps you can take to find strength amidst adversity and the importance of allowing yourself to heal. Whether your wounds are fresh or long-standing, this episode offers a compassionate roadmap to help you rise above your challenges. Join us for an inspirational conversation that encourages you to run, jump, and praise God all the days of your life.
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Well, I have a question for you. Would you still be sitting there In Acts, chapter three and verse eight, and he, leaping up, stood, walked and entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping and praising God. I love that verse. Man had been crippled for a long time. He got healed, he got over it and he went forward with his life. The lame man was lying at the temple door asking for financial assistance. Peter and John had no silver or gold, so they offered him something better. He could be healed. God healed the man immediately. Now I have a question for you. Do you think that man went home and sat in his usual place? Do you think he spent much time whining and complaining about his lost years all the time he suffered? Or do you think that his family said sit down, we're about to eat, and to their surprise, he wanted to eat standing up? Is it possible that his family might've gotten tired of him inviting them to go jogging or hiking? They might've said sit down and rest and he might've said I sat down long enough, I laid around long enough. I will run, jump and praise God all the time I have left. If you look at this man on the shores of Galilee. You need to look for footprints, not butt prints. He had sat long enough.
W. Austin Gardner:I asked the questions to get you to consider how you will spend the rest of your life. Are you going to spend it nursing your hurts from the past or swimming in the wonders God gives you now? Will you live in the past or enjoy the present? You undoubtedly have been hurt, but don't know how to live there. You don't have to live there. This book calls on you to move from your hurting street to Hallelujah Boulevard. I'm not questioning if you've been hurt. I'm just saying that thinking about your hurt will not help you. Now I want to give you a plan to find the strength to rise above all that happened to you, to hurt and the adversity. Come with me and enjoy what God has for you now. Adversity is like the period of the rain cold, comfortless and unfriendly to man and to animal. Yet from that season have their birth the flower, the fruit, the date, the rose and the pomegranate, according to Sir Walter Scott.
W. Austin Gardner:I'll say all that to you to say this I started a study of forgiveness not to teach you how to forgive, because I needed to forgive. I nursed my hurt too much. I held on to everything that happened and I magnified it. I began to only see things from my perspective and where I lived and what I was doing and what I was going through. And so God had to take me on a journey to move from my hurting to saying hallelujah, from being buffeted to knowing I was being blessed, to knowing I was being blessed.
W. Austin Gardner:I spent a long time worried about who I was and what I was going through and not thinking about I was forgiven and I should forgive. I had preached it many a time. I preached it with the forgiven forgive, but I wasn't forgiving. I was holding on to what happened to me. I was nursing my hurt. I was almost enjoying the pain that it might cause for others.
W. Austin Gardner:So I say all that to say to you that lame man, when he got up, I don't think he thought much about where he had been. I think he let the past be the past and he moved on. I'm not saying that about anything you've been through, because I understand your hurt and your pain and the abuse that you've suffered is far worse than anything I could ever imagine. But I am speaking for me how I let the hurt and the pain and the mistreatment, tie me down, bind me up and work me over. And I am so happy that the Lord's been working through my heart. And I'll be honest with you Every time I've thought I have really forgiven and moved on, the Holy Spirit has had a way to come back and say no, you're not, you're still holding on to things and you're still not doing what's right.
W. Austin Gardner:So I have to continually be saying, okay, lord, I want to forgive and I want to be like you want me to be. So I challenge you in this little bit five minute message to think about this If Jesus forgave us and we forgive and we get rid of this burden and we throw away the grudges and we throw away the hurt, if I can do that, can I not enjoy a life like I have never imagined before? So I want to challenge you with it. I want you to think about it, I want you to meditate on it. I want you to say you know I'm not talking about anybody else, I'm definitely not talking about anybody else. I'm talking about Austin Gardner. Now Austin Gardner let this hurt come to him and hurt him deeply and hold on to it, and that only hurt me worse. So I want to stop it, I want to move on. I want to be like that man that got up and walked away, leaping and praising the Lord, and I want to move forward in that way.
