Torrie’s Story: From Miscarriages to Influencer Mom of Four

Summary

---

Podcast Summary:

GPS: God. People. Stories.
Episode: Torrie’s Story: From Miscarriages to Influencer Mom of Four
Date: November 3, 2025
Host: Jim Kirkland, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
Guest: Tori Jarrett

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Tori Jarrett's deeply personal journey—from childhood faith and struggles with perfectionism as a pastor’s kid, through years of infertility and devastating miscarriages, to becoming a mother of four and a Christian influencer. By honestly sharing her pain and faith walk, Tori demonstrates how God’s presence can bring authentic joy and healing, even in life’s darkest valleys. Her story offers hope to anyone yearning for peace and happiness beyond life’s circumstances.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Faith and Perfectionism (01:36–04:33)

• Tori’s Childhood Conversion:
  At five, Tori felt a strong conviction to give her life to Christ but waited to publicly profess it per her parents’ advice.
  • (“I'm like, it's Wednesday. Today is salvation day...I'm gonna die right now and go to hell...Please, God, don't make me wait till tonight. Like, I believe you. I love you. Like, please save me right now.” — Tori, 02:07-02:29)
• Perfectionism as a Pastor's Kid:
  Grew up feeling pressure to appear perfect, hiding her family’s financial struggles and thrifted clothes from friends.
  • “I clung to perfectionism...We thrifted, and I hid that. I didn't want anyone to know...” (Tori, 03:34)

2. Relationship with God’s Plan vs. “Perfect Life” (04:33–06:30)

• Marriage List:
  Tori wrote and prayed over an idealized husband checklist in her teens, realizing later it was motivated by surface perfection, not God’s guidance.
• Meeting Her Husband:
  When she surrendered her plans and focused on loving God, she met Brenton. Four kids were a non-negotiable for her before marriage.

3. Infertility and First Miracles (06:04–08:09)

• Struggling to Conceive:
  Years of negative pregnancy tests shook Tori’s faith and plans, pushing her to depend wholly on God.
  • (“Every month felt like a year. So I had no choice but to go and take it all to the Lord.” — Tori, 06:04)
• Medical Odds:
  Doctors said Brenton’s injury gave only a 50% chance, but with prayer, they conceived. Tori saw this as God inviting her to long for Him, as He once had before blessing her with a husband.

4. Blogging, Home, and Disillusionment with Perfection (08:09–09:49)

• God’s Prompting to Share:
  As her family and home grew, Tori sensed God urging her to share their journey publicly.
• Launching Willowbrook Farm Life Blog:
  Brenton’s emotional support encouraged her to “go live” with her honest storytelling.
• Perfection vs. Reality:
  Moving into their dream home shattered her illusion of perfection—she felt small and unsettled, signaling more spiritual work ahead.
  • “I designed perfection. First night there, perfection is shattering.” (Tori, 09:15)

5. Miscarriages & Grief—Sharing in the Darkness (09:55–13:04)

• First Miscarriage:
  Tori lost her third pregnancy at ten weeks, feeling isolated in her supposed “dream” home.
  • (“How am I supposed to write a story about just how beautiful God is when I'm living in absolute darkness?” — Tori, 10:19)
• Processing Trauma:
  Describes the lonely, harrowing miscarriage and lingering physical/emotional pain.
• Sharing Publicly:
  Blog post on miscarriage resulted in heartfelt reactions; women confided decades-old secrets of loss, breaking generational silence.
  • “So many people poured their heart out to me...your story was so real, because 50 years later, I'm still grieving.” (Tori, 11:51)

6. Surrender, Hope, and “Beacon Meadow” (12:13–13:31)

• Discovering Shared Pain:
  Tori realized how “isolating darkness” keeps people from joy; openly giving her pain to Jesus led to healing and renewed hope.
• A “Beacon” in the Darkness:
  Conceived her daughter, “Beacon Meadow,” in her lowest moment, symbolizing a light in a peaceful place.

7. Second Miscarriage and Seemingly Lost Hope (13:04–16:51)

• Relapsing into Control:
  After Beacon, Tori again tried to control the future (doctors, fertility clinics), quickly conceiving but feeling unsettled.
• Second Miscarriage & Medical Finality:
  The loss came with painful news: Brenton couldn’t father more children. Tori’s dreams felt crushed.

8. A Sign in the Magnolia Tree (15:06–16:51)

• Moment of Divine Assurance:
  Distraught, she saw for the first time blooms on the memorial tree for her lost child. Three open blooms—her three children—two unopened buds (“they will never open,” God told her), and a fifth with a slip of white (“that one's coming”).
  • (“That one's coming...just hang on to me through this journey because you're going to have that fourth baby. But it's on my time, not yours.” — Tori, 16:25)
• Fourth Child Conceived:
  Two weeks later, she learned she was pregnant. Her fourth child is now four years old.

9. Ministry, Influence, and Embracing Authenticity (16:51–18:07)

• Writing and Speaking:
  Tori published a book to show “what God really said about miscarriage” and began public speaking.
• Shifting Her Social Media:
  Rebranded to share prayers, scriptures, and reality of daily joy instead of curated perfection.
  • “For me, I was like, I need to be real...at the end of the day, it wasn't really thrift finds, it was Jesus." (Tori, 17:39)

10. Finding Joy and Encouraging Others (18:07–21:17)

• Practical Joy:
  Tori now radiates God’s joy through daily life—singing, dancing, praising in small moments—and guides others to do the same.
  • “We can wake up with Jesus and have church in our kitchen every single day.” (Tori, 18:07)
• Billy Graham’s Reflection:
  True happiness is possible “regardless of circumstances” because it comes from peace with Christ, not external conditions.
  • "Happiness does not depend on circumstances. If you make serenity and happiness depend on outward circumstances, then you are destined for disappointment...” (Billy Graham, 01:04, 19:24)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tori, on Surrender and Salvation:
  “So I come out in the stall, center out of the stall, right? Washed by the blood, Like, I'm straight up saved when I go out.” (02:29)
• On Grief and Transparency:
  “50 years later, I’m still grieving that I never told anyone about ... your story was so real.” (Tori sharing others’ reactions, 11:51)
• On Surrendering Suffering:
  “Every time I would lay something at Jesus’s feet...I just started seeing God work in my life in a different way.” (Tori, 12:18)
• God’s Personal Assurance:
  “These are the three that you have...Keep looking...that one's coming.” (Tori, recounting her moment under the magnolia tree, 15:53–16:25)
• On Real Joy:
  “Joy is so attainable and people don’t believe that...We can wake up with Jesus and have church in our kitchen every single day.” (Tori, 18:07)
• Advice to Listeners:
  “Lean on God and He will get you through anything. You can find joy through the darkest, hardest moments, but they are not found within ourselves. It’s 100% found within Jesus and spending time with Him.” (Tori, 21:17)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Salvation Story & Perfectionism: 01:36–04:33
• Courtship & Surrendering Plans: 04:33–06:30
• Infertility Journey: 06:04–08:09
• Blog Launch & Perfection Shattered: 08:09–09:49
• First Miscarriage: 10:19–12:13
• The Magnolia Tree Revelation: 15:06–16:51
• Fourth Child’s Birth & Ministry Expansion: 16:51–18:07
• Encouraging Others to Find Joy: 18:07–21:17

---

Concluding Thoughts

Tori Jarrett’s story weaves together candor, heartbreak, and unshakeable faith. Listeners are gently shown that true joy is possible in the midst of pain, not because of “perfect” circumstances, but because of a growing reliance on Christ. Her journey defies typical “influencer” narratives, replacing curated images with authentic, raw spiritual truth and hope. The episode encourages everyone to lean on God, share their stories, and find peace and joy, even after loss.

---

Final Takeaway (from Tori, 21:17):

“Anybody that hears anything from the story, I hope that they find redemption is always found sitting at Jesus’ feet, not bowing down to anxiety, not bowing down to our circumstances, but working through those things and finding joy through all the pain.”

---

Transcript

[Tori Jarrett]

Month after month after month, it was like, not happening. And I was devastated. I was just like, what do I do? What's wrong with me? So we start going to the doctor. I get tested. They're like, it's fine. You just gotta wait a year before we even start helping you. And I'm like, a year? Like, no, this is like a year off my plan, which is my whole life that seems like forever. Every month felt like a year. So I had no choice but to go and take it all to the Lord.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori Jarrett envisioned a perfect life with a husband and four children. But instead, she face the long journey of infertility and miscarriage. Find out how Tori has found joy in Jesus through every circumstance and helps others learn to do the same. It's all on this episode of GPS God People Stories, an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I'm Jim Kirkland. Like Tori was doing initially, people often search for happiness in their circumstances, whether it's in their career, family life, or personal growth. It's something Billy Graham knew was a losing game.

[Billy Graham]

Happiness does not depend on circumstances. If you make serenity and happiness depend on outward circumstances, then you are destined for disappointment and disillusionment.

[Jim Kirkland]

If you're feeling discouraged and are searching for hope, we're here to help. Visit our website, FindPeaceWithGod.net that's FindPeaceWithGod.net and as always, there's a link for you to get there in our show. Show notes.

God people stories.

When Tori Jarrett was five years old, she told her parents she wanted to give her life to Christ because she was so young. They asked her some questions just to be sure she was ready.

[Tori Jarrett]

I'm like, yes, but I want to get saved. My dad's like, okay, well, let's just wait till, like, Wednesday. Let's see how you feel then. You know, wanting that stirring to go to the altar type situation.

[Jim Kirkland]

On Wednesday morning, Tori woke up excited to go to church that night and commit her life to Jesus. But first she had to go to school.

[Tori Jarrett]

I'm like, it's Wednesday. Today is salvation day. I cannot wait. Anyways, we go into bathroom break, and my heart was just, like, pounding. Like I was straight under conviction.

[Jim Kirkland]

In that moment of solitude, Tori's conviction was tugging at her heart.

[Tori Jarrett]

And so I go into the bathroom, I'm sitting on the toilet, and I'm just like, lord, I'm trying to make it till tonight. Like, I don't want to die today. And all of a sudden the. The toilet starts flushing because it's automatic, you know, so it's like, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna die right now and go to hell. I'm gonna get sucked down this toilet. I'm going straight to hell right now. So in that moment, like, please, God, don't make me wait till tonight. Like, I believe you. I love you. Like, please save me right now. So I come out in the stall, center out of the stall, right? Washed by the blood, Like, I'm straight up saved when I go out.

[Jim Kirkland]

But Tori didn't share her newfound decision. She came forward at church that night as expected, and as if she had never prayed beforehand in the bathroom, Tori kept quiet about her actual salvation moment for the next 30 years.

[Tori Jarrett]

It was like this perfectionism battle that I started to deal with. And so I went to the altar and I told them, like, okay, yes, I want to be saved. I knew the whole time, because I'm like, okay, Lord, you know, you've already got me. You already live in me, whatever. But I got to go through the motions and all things.

[Jim Kirkland]

That pattern of perfectionism would continue to be a theme in Tori's young life.

[Tori Jarrett]

So growing up as a pastor's kid, I clung to perfectionism. Like, whatever it looks like on the outside, I have to be pretty. I have to be fashionable. But we were very low income. My dad made hardly any money. We thrifted, and I hid that. I didn't want anyone to know that I thrifted, that my clothes. Everyone would like, oh, you look so cute. You must have, you know, this, that, or the other. Which would also make me feel bad because I worried about what people thought of me. I would hide it and be like, oh, no. You know, like, whatever. I got it. Wherever you shop, that's where I shop. I just wanted everyone to be proud of me, everyone to have only good things to say about me.

[Jim Kirkland]

Because of her pursuit of perfectionism, Tori judged herself harshly, and she began to think that that was how God thought of her, too. Those feelings caused her to be afraid to be close to God. But she still prayed. And in her teenage years, she specifically prayed about her future husband.

[Tori Jarrett]

I remember writing a list of things that I wanted in a husband, and I would pray about every single one of those things. I want him to have dark hair. I want him to be over 6ft tall. I want him to do this. I want him to do that. And I would always pray over it, and every That I would date. That kind of fit the bill. I'D be like, oh my gosh, you must be my husband. You know, not really listening to the voice of God, but this idea of perfectionism.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori began to date, but not the right kind of guy. And it led her to a turning point.

[Tori Jarrett]

I was really looking at that list and God's like, everything that you're, you've got on this list goes with all of your other issues of has to look right. But is it right?

[Jim Kirkland]

No. Tori knew it wasn't right. She decided to not date anyone for a while. She only wanted who the Lord wanted her to have.

[Tori Jarrett]

So around 17, 18, I took that list, I would pray over it and it turns out when I fell in love with God a little deeper and was like, you know what, no one else matters except for you. That's when he sends me my husband.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori met her husband Britain through a group of friends. But before getting married, Tori had a serious conversation with her husband to be she wanted to have four kids. That was a non negotiable for her.

[Tori Jarrett]

I convinced him, like, if you want to marry me, then you need to have four kids. So he's like, okay, done.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori married Brenton when she was 20. After being married for a couple of years, Tori had become desperate to have her first child.

[Tori Jarrett]

Month after month after month, it was like not happening. And I was devastated. I was just like, what do I do? What's wrong with me? So we start going to the doctor, I get tested, they're like, it's fine, you just gotta wait a year before we even start helping you. And I'm like a year, like, no, this is like a year off my plan, which is my whole life. That seems like forever. Every month felt like a year. So I had no choice but to go and take it all to the Lord.

[Jim Kirkland]

While sitting on their front porch, Tori prayed, asking God what they were supposed to do. She'd envisioned her life of raising children to serve the Lord and she was worried that he was not going to give them to her.

[Tori Jarrett]

So in having this relationship, depending on the Lord, constantly thinking I'm pregnant, finding that I'm not, it's just like this cycle of possibility and devastation and possibility and devastation.

[Jim Kirkland]

Frustratingly, the bad news kept coming. After running some tests on her husband, they found that the couple only had a 50% chance of being able to have children. It was due to an accident. Britain has suffered working as a lineman a few years earlier.

[Tori Jarrett]

And we find out in this appointment that that should have made him not able to have children at all. So the fact that there was a 50% chance. Even though this news was very devastating, it was like, okay, God can work with that.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori kept going to God in prayer, and two months later, they became pregnant with their first child.

[Tori Jarrett]

I remember just being like, God is so good and no one will ever understand the goodness of him because we had so many obstacles standing in our way. But what I didn't realize is a lot of it was just the relationship with God missing in that he wanted me to long for him. Like when I was a teenager, he wanted me to long for him before he gave me my husband. And then when I was an adult, he wanted me to long for him before he gave me the gift of a child.

[Jim Kirkland]

With the birth of their son, Tori wanted to continue to grow her family. Tori and britton had a baby girl 22 months later and decided it was time to build their family home.

[Tori Jarrett]

I heard the lord speak and was like, you need to start blogging this. You need to start sharing this. It was like his voice was so loud to me. I couldn't just keep it to myself. I wanted to tell the world. So I designed a whole blog, a whole website. All this stuff. I never even told brenton at that point. I was so embarrassed because I'm like, this makes no sense.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori told britain she had something to show him.

[Tori Jarrett]

So I said, no. I'm like, I'm about to give us a brand. I'm about to change everything. I'm doing my goals list. I want to write a book. And he's like, okay, I'm like, here's the website, here's the blog, here's my first. Let me read it to you. And he's like crying.

[Jim Kirkland]

Brenton had no idea his wife had all this inside her, Ready to come out at her fingertips. But his encouragement excited her as she went live with their website and brand, willowbrook farm life. It showed glimpses of her life ranging in everything from thrift finds to the house to faith moments. And just like their newly launched website, finally their house was ready, too.

[Tori Jarrett]

Our first night in the house, I had ordered a mattress and we all slept in my bed because we were used to being in this camper. And I have two kids and now they're at the whole end of a hall of this big house that I'm like, seems so foreign. I felt like this was going to be home. And for me, I was like, I'm a visitor. What am I even doing? Why is this house this size? Like, the ceilings are 10 foot. I'm 5 foot 2. I felt tiny in it, I felt like my kids were too far away. So it's just like this shift of, like, I designed perfection first night there. Perfection is shattering.

[Jim Kirkland]

But once again, Tori was ready to chase after her desire to have four children.

[Tori Jarrett]

And I'm like, okay, it's time for number three. So we start trying for a baby. And it wasn't happening. And it wasn't happening. And it wasn't happening. And it wasn't happening.

[Jim Kirkland]

After another visit to the doctor, Tori and Brenton were told their chances of having more children were getting even slimmer. They were told they needed to have them quickly or they might not be able to have them at all.

[Tori Jarrett]

So we end up getting pregnant. And that's when I experienced my first miscarriage. And it was so rough, it was so dark, it was so devastating. We were in our new house, this dream house that was supposed to be so beautiful. And one thing after the other just kept shattering. I was like, how am I supposed to write a story about just how beautiful God is when I'm living in absolute darkness?

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori was almost 10 weeks pregnant when she lost the baby. She ended up in the emergency room on a Friday night. And a quick warning. The details she's about to share are intense.

[Tori Jarrett]

I was in the bathroom. I'm alone, and honestly, there's just stuff everywhere. I was trying to clean up the bathroom floor. People are pounding on the door. It makes me want to cry, like, even thinking about it, because people were pounding on the door and. And wanting to get in. They're, like, yelling me to get out of the bathroom. And I'm thinking, like, I'm alone and I'm losing my baby right now.

[Jim Kirkland]

But the miscarriage wasn't over in just one night. The process took six weeks. During that time, Tori leaned on Brenton and the Lord. She was completely devastated.

[Tori Jarrett]

I ended up hemorrhaging. I was not in a good place. I was not healthy. Whenever it finally ended, my miscarriage. So that was very traumatic period of life for me just going through that.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori wrote a blog post sharing about their loss. And the post hit home with many others who had had similar experiences.

[Tori Jarrett]

So many people poured their heart out to me. My friend's grandmothers called me on the phone. Emails from older women never told a soul and would start the conversation saying, don't tell so and so, because no one knows. But I've been through that. And your story was so real, because 50 years later, I'm still grieving. That I never told anyone about their.

[Jim Kirkland]

Reactions brought Tori to a profound realization.

[Tori Jarrett]

There are so many people in life that go through situations and they sit in this isolating darkness without finding joy in the Lord because they keep it to themselves. So in sharing that and sharing that story, I just started seeing God work in my life in a different way. It's like every time I would lay something at Jesus's feet, like fully and surrender, like, okay, God, I'm not longing for the life of that baby to come back. I'm not going to long for two more children to make this life better, perfect. I just want you to take care of me. And then we end up getting pregnant with our third. We named her Beacon Meadow, A light in a peaceful place. Because I was in the darkest when I ended up getting pregnant with her.

[Jim Kirkland]

It was around that time that God gave her another calling. But as she started to write the book, she kept falling back on her habit of self reliance.

[Tori Jarrett]

As soon as I had Beacon, we decided we would start right away trying for another one. And we wanted them to be closer together. And same scenario starts happening. I start clinging to the idea of getting pregnant. Every single month it comes up not happening. And I tell my husband. I'm like, okay, I know what we're going to do this time. We're going to the doctor, we're going to the fertility clinic, and I'm going to tell them, like, you take care of this, because I can't go through what I've went through for the last 10 years.

[Jim Kirkland]

The doctor responded with some shocking news. Tori was already pregnant.

[Tori Jarrett]

So as soon as I end that appointment, I go and I get tests and I test and test and test and all of them are that I'm pregnant. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, okay, Lord. But I felt uneasy about it. It was really hard to explain. I was like, okay, I didn't fully ask you for this because I was just going to handle it. So why are you giving me this baby? Is this going to be a lesson I need to learn? You know, like, are you going to take it? Am I really going to have this child?

[Jim Kirkland]

A couple of weeks later, Tori had her answer. She began to suffer from another miscarriage.

[Tori Jarrett]

I was devastated. I was just like, oh, my Lord, like, what are you doing? Like, why am I going through this again? What have I done to deserve this? I've followed you my whole life. I don't have a huge redemption story. I've given you everything I write, everything I do all this, and still I'm sitting in a second. Miscarriage is what I've never Wanted to go through.

[Jim Kirkland]

A short time later, Tori received a phone call from the doctor's office. The doctor had more heartbreaking news. She was not a candidate for a fertility procedure.

[Tori Jarrett]

Seen all these stories, like, anybody who can't have a baby, they go to the doctor, then they can have a baby. So what are you talking about? And they were like, your husband can't have kids anymore. Like, his percentage over the years had went down, and he was not able to have children. My knees collapsed. I was just like, what do you mean he can't have kids? We just need one more. I was so upset. And she's like, I'm so sorry, but no, like, you're not a candidate. He's not. He can't have children.

[Jim Kirkland]

While still crying on the phone, Tori went and looked out the window. She stared at the magnolia tree she had planted in memory of the first child she lost. She had hoped it would grow as a memory of the child, but it had never bloomed. However, in that moment, Tori noticed something she hadn't seen on the tree before.

[Tori Jarrett]

I see something white on it, and I was like, what in the world is that? So I hang up the phone, I run downstairs, run across the yard, and I go out there to this magnolia tree, and I see that it has. Has blooms. This tree now at this point, was three years old. It had never bloomed, it never grown. It had never done anything except just upset me because it wasn't doing what it was supposed to do.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori counted the blooms on the tree. One, two, three.

[Tori Jarrett]

And I so clearly hear the voice of the lord say, these are the three that you have. And they're open, they're bloom, they're growing, they're beautiful. And they're upstairs right now doing homeschool. And then he's like, keep looking.

[Jim Kirkland]

Tori frantically looked all over the tree and found two more buds. She felt God say to her, they will never open. Now look again. As Tori looked at the tree, she found one tree bud with a little bit of white coming out of it. She didn't know what it meant.

[Tori Jarrett]

And he was like, that one's coming. So just hang on to me through this journey because you're going to have that fourth baby. But it's on my time, not yours. So I was, like, bawling, crying, and I'm like, oh, my gosh. Okay, Lord, I'm just gonna trust you. And it. The math doesn't make any sense. The story, timeline doesn't make any sense. Two weeks after that very moment, I found out that I was pregnant with our fourth, which we have now, she just turned four years old.

[Jim Kirkland]

After Tori delivered her fourth child, she got a publishing deal and shared her life story, including about her miscarriages.

[Tori Jarrett]

I realized there were a lot of people that needed to see what God really said about miscarriage instead of what we told ourselves, that we were a failure. That's not what God wants. There's a reason that we all go through those battles. I'm a firm believer of that.

[Jim Kirkland]

That book led to an opportunity for Tori to become a public speaker, something she never thought she'd do. That was two and a half years ago, and in that time she has started a podcast called Chats in the Greenhouse. She also decided to change her entire social media presence from mostly sharing thrift finds or home design to incorporating her family prayer requests and tie ins with scripture.

[Tori Jarrett]

For me, I was like, I need to be real. Like I need to make sure that everything I'm doing is real. And what do I want my message to be here? And at the end of the day, it wasn't really thrift finds, it was Jesus.

[Jim Kirkland]

Through the platform she has been given, Tori aims to share the joy that Jesus has brought to her life. She's doing that by constantly filming videos of her praising God and dancing with joy in whatever she's doing, whether making breakfast or doing design work.

[Tori Jarrett]

I want people to come to me and figure out how to find joy, like how to heal from miscarriage. But in everyday life, joy is so attainable and people don't believe that. They believe they go to church on Sunday. If they don't get fully healed, then they just go back to their regular life. Monday through Friday. That is not the case. We can wake up with Jesus and have church in our kitchen every single day.

[Jim Kirkland]

If you want to have that kind of joy in your everyday life, the kind of joy that only comes from faith in Jesus Christ, you can start your faith journey right now. Visit our website, findpeacewithgod.net when you're there, click on Begin a Relationship with Jesus. That'[e-mail] you can also find this link in our show Notes in just a moment, you'll hear Tori share more about what it means to lean on God in life's hardest moments and find joy in Him. There. You're listening to GPS God People Stories, a podcast production of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

[Billy Graham]

How can I find happiness? This question takes various forms and is expressed in many ways, but basically millions are asking the same question. Billy Graham, the Bible teaches that you are entitled to happiness. We know that happiness in this life is a possibility regardless of circumstances because Jesus demonstrated it over and over again. He encountered encourage the faint hearted to be of good cheer. Happiness does not depend on circumstances. If you make serenity and happiness depend on outward circumstances, then you are destined for disappointment and disillusionment. In fact, many times a person does not find true peace and happiness until in the midst of suffering and pain there are thousands of you listening to me that have searched for happiness all your life. You have looked for joy and peace and contentment all your life and you've never found it. I beg of you to receive Christ today. I beg of you to put your hand by faith in his hand and begin a life of inward happiness and peace. I do not mean that there is no trouble ahead. I do not mean that there will not be disappointments and persecutions ahead. But I mean that in the midst of troubles and difficulties there can be peace with God that will bring an inward happiness. You can be happy today by God giving your life to Christ.

[Jim Kirkland]

Jesus Christ offers a life of peace and happiness like no other. And as Billy Graham just said, you can find that happiness today. Visit our website findpeacewithgod.net and when you're there, click the link that says Begin a relationship with Jesus. Once again, that'[e-mail] and the easiest way to get there is the link in our show notes. Before we go, Tori has one last piece of advice she'd like to share and some insight on how you can live joyfully even in life's hardest moments.

[Tori Jarrett]

Lean on God and He will get you through anything. You can find joy through the darkest, hardest moments, but they are not found within ourselves. It's 100% found within Jesus and spending time with Him. There are so many scriptures in the Bible that point us to joy love. I mean, he is such a loving father. I spent so much time fearing God and, and I do. I want to live my life to please Him. But what I was lacking is knowing that the more I fall in love with God, the more I want to please him, the more I want to live the way that honors Him. So anybody who listens to anything that I say, I hope that they leave thinking, I want to know this Jesus, like I want to have that joy that only comes from Him. I'm going through a hard time, but I want to be able to laugh through the pain. I want to be able to endure these tears and still smile. Anybody that hears anything from the story. I hope that they find redemption is always found sitting at Jesus feet, not bowing down to anxiety, not bowing down to our circumstances, but working through those things and finding joy through all the pain.

[Jim Kirkland]

We're grateful to Tori Jarrett for joining us on this episode. Tori continues to share her joy in the Lord in every aspect of her life, all on social media, her podcasts, her blog, at women's conferences, and in her personal life and her community. If you'd like to be encouraged by more stories like this, we can help you with that. Hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube. In the middle of life GPS is here for you in the middle of the week, every other Wednesday. I'm Jim Kirkland, and this is gps God People Stories. It's an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Always good news.

Sam.