Podcast

From Abusive Survivor to Bible Study Author. Shadia Hrichi

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Unshakable Hope Podcast, where real life intersects redeeming love. I’m Kellie Hall, and this is where we wrestle through faith questions, such as how do I trust God’s heart when His ways and delays are breaking mine? We’ll hear from people just like you and me, who have experienced God’s faithfulness when life didn’t unfold as they expected.

My prayer is that God would renew our hope in His Word and His love through these conversations.

Kelly: Hey friends. I am incredibly thankful for each one of you who takes the time to share in these conversations. Today, you’re going to hear a story packed full of redemption and hope. If you’ve ever been wounded by trauma of any kind. You might’ve wondered at some point, if God’s love is big enough for you, big enough to heal those places, or maybe you’ve even wondered [00:01:00] if God’s love is for you.

And if that’s the case, you’re going to be deeply encouraged by my guest. Shadia Hrichi’s life has been impacted by abuse, abortion and multiple layers of trauma, but God through his saving grace and through some miraculous encounters has powerfully redeemed her life, healed those wounded places in her soul,

and today she is a passionate Bible teacher and Bible study author and speaker. She has a heart for seeing lives transformed by the power of God’s word. And I am so excited to share this conversation with you. So Shadia, welcome to the show.

Shadia: Well, thank you, Kelly. It’s an honor to be here. I so appreciate the invitation. I’m excited for what God has for us.

Kelly: Oh, me too. I’m really thankful I heard you on our mutual friend, Amber Cullum’s podcast, Grace is Enough. The moment I heard you telling your story, I knew. I want to share this story with my listeners. So I’m [00:02:00] so thankful God worked it out.

Shadia: Oh, yes. I love how he does that. He just weaves those pieces together.

 

Kelly: You’ve written four excellent Bible studies about messy stories in the Bible and you were drawn to those, but can you tell me just briefly, which of the stories you focused on and just a little bit about why? Each of those stories are included,

Shadia: The Bible stories.

So yeah, they are just amazing. So, the first one I wrote in this series is Hagar and the story of Hagar, she’s, used and abused and just tossed out. And that’s all we seem to sometimes remember about her story, but there’s actually beautiful redemption in her story.

Maybe we’ll talk about hers a little bit more detail. But hers was the inspiration for the entire series actually, because the play on words for the the series title, which is called behind the scene exploring the Bible’s unsung heroes, the people that we just tend to kind of overlook, but yet God sees them.

So Hagar was the first one. And [00:03:00] then the second one I wrote was Legion based on the man, Rescued from an army of demons. I mean, you want to talk about a messy story. But I personally think it’s the most beautiful rescue story in the new Testament. Maybe we’ll get to talk about him a little bit more, but there’s beauty in that story.

Then the next one was Tamar. So this one’s wild. I call this my PG15 Bible study, just because of literally what even God puts in his word is like, Ooh, wow. I don’t think we’re going to talk about this with the young ones, but Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute, sleeps with her father in law Judah and ends up, her child ends up in the ancestry of the savior of the world.

So we’re, I mean, talk about mess. And then the last one that just came out last year, Rahab. Who is a prostitute. So it just gets worse, you know? And again, she’s weaved into the lineage of Christ. It’s like, wow, Lord, you’re, I think there’s a theme going on here. And there certainly is.

Kelly: Oh, I love that. I love these redemption stories and I love how you [00:04:00] focused on them.

And there’s more we want to say about these because they’re just so powerful, but, and you’ve uncovered some things I’m doing the Hagar study right now, and you uncovered some things I’d never knew before. So I’m anxious to get to that. But first I would love for you to talk about Your own messy story and how God redeemed you, your life, and then brought you full circle.

So could you start anywhere you want to just start and tell us your story?

Shadia: Sure. I mean, I always just like, well, why not start at the beginning, but I’ll kind of go through the, through, Pretty quick, but my both of my parents immigrated to the United States. And so I was first born generation American and my parents met in New York city, but before they married my mom or even worth before they were even engaged, actually, my mom got pregnant and a family member, a close family member wanted mom out of thinking, protecting her to have an abortion.

And my father stepped in and said, no, let’s see. Let’s get married. And neither of my [00:05:00] parents or anyone in my family were Christian. He was actually raised moderate Muslim, whole nother story, but and because of that, I was born. And so that, so just even before I was born, there was already this Heartache, just this wrestling, with what are we going to do with this unplanned pregnancy?

But my parents ended up divorced when before I was 13. So that was very difficult. And because I was in that young adult years, it didn’t take long before I turned around and just began, I call it kind of looking for love and all the wrong faces, you know, and I became pregnant when I was 15.

And my mom thought it was best if I had an abortion and after the abortion it just kind of spiraled into so many different self destructive choices, drinking, cocaine, partying, clubs, sleeping with men I hardly knew. I was slipped the date rape drug. I mean, it was just a disaster.

And I eventually ended up marrying, a man that was just as equally dysfunctional as I was. And he was an alcoholic. I [00:06:00] was an enabler. I mean, it’s just one of those poster child relationships of tragedy and, you know, toxic. And until one day God invited us to go to a Bible study. And my former husband actually wanted to go.

So, sorry, I’m kind of skipping around, but we ended up divorced later, but while we were still married, we ended up in this Bible study. And it kind of made me laugh because I was like, you want to go to a Bible study? Like we met in a bar. Yeah, what does that mean?

I didn’t grow up believing in God. My parents never talked about religion. We never went to church. I didn’t even believe there was a God.

Kelly: Yeah. Tell me about your parents. What were their cultural backgrounds?

Shadia: Yeah. So my father was raised a moderate Muslim in Morocco. That is where he was born, raised.

And my mother was raised I’m sorry to use the expression, but lukewarm Lutheran and didn’t also, family didn’t really go to church. It was just kind of religion. It wasn’t really a faith, you know, but that’s, was their [00:07:00] backgrounds they met in New York city. And but growing up, we never talked about God.

We never talked about church. We never, I didn’t even know that either of them even believed in God.

Kelly: Oh, interesting.

Shadia: Growing up, no, had no idea. They each had somewhat of a belief,

Kelly: Well, I found it so interesting because you had mentioned that you had friends that were Buddhist. You had just seen so much cultural religion, but yet in all of that, you’d not seen faith.

Shadia: No, and yeah, you actually just reminded me after my parents divorced. Later my mom met and remarried and my stepfather who’s still living he’s Jewish. So that’s right. Yeah. And my close friend was Buddhist. My former husband was Catholic. So yeah, just this exposure to so many religions, but never meeting anyone that had faith until I went to that Bible study.

Kelly: Yeah, okay, let’s start at the Bible study.

Shadia: Okay. So at this Bible study of course, what’s kind of funny is everyone in the Bible study are saved except for me and my former husband. [00:08:00] Looking back, I’m like, I think we were the project, you know, and I’m saying that in love because it truly wasn’t, but it is kind of funny, I mean, kind of stood out like sore thumbs a little bit, but God in his grace, he works through it all.

And gently and lovingly, my beliefs were being challenged, what do I believe? And so they really believe in this. And I could tell that it wasn’t, a blind faith, like people that I had been exposed to what I call like just religion. This was so much more and I had never seen it before.

And so I was very intrigued and being a bookworm type person. I’m reading has always been my mode, reading and writing. It’s just how I’d process things? And so I went to the, this is actually funny. I went to the local Christian bookstore about halfway through this point.

And I’m looking for some books and one of the salesmen comes up and helps me and I said, yeah, I said, I’m looking for some books to help somebody who is, trying to discover, is God real or not? And so he thinks I’m a Christian looking for a friend, right?

So he [00:09:00] starts asking these questions like, well, can you give me an idea of, how old are they? , what was their background? This will help me figure it out. And so finally I just said it, I said it’s actually, it’s for me. And his face just lit up.

I can think like in his head, it’s going like, Oh my gosh, we got a live one. We got a live one. He was so excited and bless his heart. He piled me up with all the great, kind of classics. C. S. Lewis, more than a carpenter, things like that. And and if he just began and God used those resources to really begin opening my eyes as I started thinking like what I believe no longer was making sense.

But Is this truly, is this really who God is? I kind of got past my idea that there was no God because these books really helped put a lot of those things in perspective. But I’m like, okay, if there is a God, then who is he? Is he really Jesus? It sounds almost too good to be true.

Kind of like the knight in shining armor. Like he was all my fairy tales like, if he’s real, I should say, it’s almost like a fairytale come true. It’s too good to be true. That’s how I [00:10:00] was feeling about it. So I was drawn, but I didn’t want to be deceived.

I had already, Felt like I’d been deceived before. And what happened was God can use anything. My former husband was an alcoholic. He was abusive and he was on his own journey of faith at this time in his own way. And he began to change. this is about six months into this whole Bible study, reading the books, going to their church, you know, all the things, and God had really began working through the layers of my mind and my heart and my spirit.

And I was pretty much at the point where I, you know, I understood what sin was, I’m a very black and white person, you know, and so when they said whatsin was, I was like, oh man, I’ve been sinning since the beginning, like, I mean, you know, like that’s a no brainer, but could this really be God?

And when my former husband began to change it was sort of like that, that almost like my own personal miracle kind of thing. Like, wow, there’s power there. like something’s at work here. I can see it. And that was just [00:11:00] the tiny little piece that God used to just bring me to the point where.

I came face to him. I’m on, the floor and just by myself, me and the Lord. And I was like, God everything I have read and heard and seen, I believe you’re real. And I want you to be in my life. I want you to be the Lord of my life. Please save me and forgive me for my sins.

And God completely opened my eyes at that point. And I saw the whole world in a different perspective, but just to bring closure to the part with my former husband sadly within weeks, he actually returned back to what he was before. And it reminds me of the parable of the soils of the one who springs up.

But has no root and sadly he just left and filed for divorce which was challenging because getting saved and divorced in the same year was a lot to process. Yeah. But that, that began my journey. That was the beginning of it.

Kelly: Wow. Well, also you were healing from years of abuse and a misunderstanding of who you were, who God was.

There was a lot to heal [00:12:00] from.

Shadia: Yes, definitely. You know, when God began working on my healing journey, he began working through that. And it wasn’t just to give perspective again, I’m not minimizing any kind of abuse, all of it, mental, emotional, spirit. It is real. It is painful and it needs healing and it needs God’s touch.

But just for the perspective it was not a physical abuse day after day. that kind. There was a few incidences in the beginning, but after that, it was mostly just a lot of control through mental and emotional abuse. Again, just trying to provide perspective for what my situation looked like.

Kelly: Right. And they do say that even if it’s just Mental not hitting that it still affects the same part of your brain.

Shadia: Yes. Yes. It is trauma. It will impact your self-w orth and your perspective on all on God, on yourself, on men, on people, on all the things. But God is so much bigger than all of that.

Whatever it looks like he has the power to heal. And [00:13:00] he spent 10 years healing me. Working through a lot of layers of wounds and scars and and actually saved kind of what perhaps was the worst or the big, not the beginning, but I would say it was a turning point that led to many of the other choices that led to the much of the later trauma, which was that abortion back at the age of 15.

And so that’s another whole chunk of the story,

Kelly: yeah, so if you don’t mind, I’m just going to summarize some of the things you’ve said. So number 1, You were intrigued by the faith, the real life faith you saw being lived out in people’s life.

It was the first time you started to get a glimpse of the power of God at work. And then when you started to see transformation in your ex husband’s life, you were really convinced this is real. This God is a real God who has the power to transform lives because it’s so easy to buy the lie that people don’t change.

And that’s a lie from the pit of hell.

Shadia: Absolutely. And [00:14:00] what’s fascinating to me whenever I tell this story is that even though my former husband never truly embraced the Lord as his Lord God can still use even a false conversion for his purposes.

Kelly: Yeah.

Shadia: I love that.

Kelly: Oh, I do too.

Shadia: I love that. There is nothing that he cannot use because again, He did open my eyes. And then I can tell more about my story, but he can even use that because God was working,

Kelly: yes, absolutely. I really want to hear more of the healing journey. So there’s a couple of different stories I want us to touch on, but

anyone who has endured trauma, anyone who has gone through soul wounding and heartaches their view of God has been distorted and it needs to be healed and righted and corrected. And so could you talk about that? Maybe from, first of all, from the abortion standpoint, how God righted your view of him and healed your heart there.

Let’s just start [00:15:00] there.

Shadia: Sure. Yeah. The beauty of just to frame it. Ultimately anything that we’re going to heal from has to. Find its foundation in a right view of who God is, just as you’re bringing us to that point right here.

And so with the with the abortion, you know, I did not have a correct view of myself. I did not have a correct view of the child that I lost. I did not have a correct view of God. And until my view of who God says I am, who God says the child is, and who God says he is, all of those things are anchored in what God says.

And I had to learn, all You know, how does God see me? How does God see my child? And how does God reveal himself? And all of that is, is revealed to us through scripture by his grace. And it was a it was [00:16:00] challenging partly because that healing journey took place 25 years after the abortion, so I was no longer.

That 15 year old girl I had be I’m a new person and then of course I get saved.. So now I am literally a new creation. And so, you know, to answer the question, it’s almost there’s all these different parts. But ultimately, okay, I’m going to back up just one second to give a little bit of a piece of there’s another Bible study that I’ve written.

So there’s four in that series that we talked about briefly, but the first Bible study I actually wrote when I graduated from seminary is actually called Worthy of Love, A Journey of Hope and Healing After Abortion.

It’s the very first Bible study I wrote and it came about this way.

Before I ever wrote that Bible study, before I even went to seminary, God brought healing to my heart from that abortion through an abortion recovery retreat put on by my local pregnancy center. Very healing, very powerful. And in that journey God [00:17:00] began. To reveal to me my child’s identity as a human being.

During this healing retreat I had learned ahead of time that we were going to be asked to give our child a name and

just processing that reality. Was a very difficult journey, because now I’m coming face to faith with God’s reality that this child has an identity, has a soul, has worth, and I started looking on the internet. I sensed that God was giving me a sense that this child was a girl, and I learned at this retreat, by the way, that’s very common once you come to face with this kind of a trauma.

And ask him, he will reveal that if you ask him. And so I sensed that and I go on the internet and I didn’t know where to begin. And I wanted to find a name that , had a lot of meaning so I just went on the internet and I looked for a baby name website. Not knowing where to begin.

I thought girls names. Okay. I got it [00:18:00] narrowed down to that. And so I’m going through the names and I didn’t get very far before a name pops out on the screen, just that jumps out at me.

And the name was Anamika and the meaning of the name was nameless. Oh, wow. And it was like a knife in the heart.

Wow.

And I’m getting chills right now just remembering it, and then God clearly spoke to me in that moment. This, just that sweet speaking to your heart, not audible, but I knew it was him saying to me, now it’s time to give your child a new name.

And I didn’t have to go far down the list, still in the letter A’s when I found her name, which is Amanda. And Amanda means worthy of love. Oh, wow. And that’s the title of the Bible study, worthy of love, dedicated to her.

Kelly: Wow. That is so [00:19:00] powerful.

Shadia: God works. in unique ways with each one of us. Maybe that was why I was struggling to directly answer the question more like, I think I’m just going to tell you my story, every story is different and every story is powerful and every story is beautiful because God is stepping in the middle of it.

But that’s what he did for me. And that was the beginning of a very powerful healing journey for me. Oh and then he asked me to write. My story, like what I just shared with you along with more of the story long before I went to seminary long before I ever imagined or dreamed or even thought about having a ministry of writing and speaking wasn’t on my radar, but it was on God’s and he asked me to write my story.

And I wrote that story and I called it nameless. No more. You can actually get it from my website on my website for free. , I can give you the link to share. But it’s so nameless no more. And then that after seminary, God took that story and said, develop it into a Bible study.

So the Bible study is literally my [00:20:00] story in story form with a powerful Bible study. Segment after each chapter leading the reader to walk through the journey that I walked through like who does God say I am who does God say your child is, who does God say he is, how do we heal from this? How do we move on? How do we give our child a name?

Kelly: Wow, that’s so beautiful. I love what you mentioned too, that our God is so creative and so personal. The way he steps into our messy stories. He steps into our wounded places and he speaks exactly the words we need to hear in a way we can hear them, a way we can receive them, in a way we can process.

Healing. And it’s so unique. It’s so special. A gal that was on the podcast, I just released last week. She tells a story that was so similar and God’s creativity, how he healed her through bringing her to a particular movie. I love how God moves

Shadia: anything, he’s the [00:21:00] ruler of the universe.

He created everything. Yeah. I love it. Even though sin and Satan and there’s havoc everywhere, God is still in control and there’s nothing that he can’t use. To bring someone to a deeper faith in him to come to faith in him to heal whatever it is he wants to accomplish. Yeah.

Kelly: Oh, absolutely. I would also like for you to share a really a supernatural encounter.

Your life was being threatened. By your ex husband and I would you mind sharing that story as well because it really falls in line to the ways that God rescues us. You didn’t even realize how God was rescuing you at that moment until later. But can you just open up that whole story for us as well?

Shadia: Yeah, that’s interesting , I know you’re reading the Hagar Bible study right now.

I share it in that study, but what’s amazing is that what I’m gonna share with you God brought to the surface during my writing of the study. It’s like, Oh my goodness. Here I am [00:22:00] writing a Bible study about, Hey, God sees you in your hurting places. And what does God do? He brings up a hurting place where he saw me that I had buried so deep.

I had forgotten about it.

Kelly: Oh, wow. I want to mention just, I’m going to interject something right there. That one thing you had said before is that as you walk people through these stories in the Bible, it’s an in depth, very excellent Bible study. But you also mentioned that you lead people into their own healing journeys.

I’ve never before done a Bible study that is. Trauma informed like this one is, and the way that you lead people on their own healing journey, it’s quite Artistic and beautiful and deep and gentle. Gentle is the word I want to use. So if anyone has walked through trauma and maybe, The idea of this study frightens you a little bit.

I just want to say that the tone is so gentle that you will just fall into the arms of Jesus as you study this character in the [00:23:00] Bible, this real woman who lived during Bible times, because God’s heart’s going to be revealed and you’re going to just want to fall into his arms. So. I know I interjected that at the beginning of your story, but you can go ahead and step back.

Shadia: No. That’s beautiful. that is beautiful. But yeah, so what happened was, I was In the middle of writing , I have a deadline and I have a schedule and, Hagar took me almost two years to write. And at one point I’m taking a break and I go away to a friend’s cabin who, a friend who graciously allowed me to stay at her cabin, just to get away, take a break, sometimes to do some writing, but, other times it might just be to just take a break from writing.

And you know, I went there with no agenda. Apparently, God had one, and one morning I’m taking a walk and it’s like February, so it’s chilly, but it’s a sunny day here in California. We’re lucky to have those two come together sometimes, and you know, there’s snow on the ground, and so I’m taking a walk around this little [00:24:00] lake, very little, it’s really more like a big pond and just processing my thoughts and talking to God and so forth, and all of a sudden, God brings up this memory That I had truly forgotten.

I mean, you can bury memories so deep that you have no conscious awareness of it anymore. , and he brought it back up and what happened in this memory was I was 18 years old. I was living with the man that would become my husband. So we lived together for seven years.

Again, we weren’t Christians. And then we married still seven years of all that. We still married another seven years. But so I was 18 years old at the time. So I was pretty young. He was eight years older than I was, so he was 26. And one night in a fit of rage I don’t even remember what set him off, but he was an alcoholic as well, but he comes after me.

And he throws me down and he has his hands on my neck and he begins strangling me with all the strength that he has. And he was a construction guy. He was a [00:25:00] strong guy, and he’s just like, I could see it. His eyes just. Blank, I don’t know if he even knew what he was doing.

I mean, just rage, and it probably had nothing to do with me, whatever it was. and I reached the point where I’m the, I’m on the edge of blacking out, on the edge of, I mean, it’s just going dark, right? And suddenly he lets go. And so God brings this memory up and God speaks to me.

One of those moments when like his words are again, not an audible voice, but you know, it’s him. And it’s very clear what he’s saying.

Kelly: Right.

Shadia: And he says to me, do you believe I was there that night? Wow. And I’m like, I’m in my forties at this point, it’s 20 something years later. And I’ve been walking with the Lord for, at this point for over 10 years. And I’m like, well, Lord you’re everywhere. You’re infinite. You’re, the creator of the real universe. So yeah, I guess you were there. I mean, I’ll be honest, Kelly, [00:26:00] it didn’t make me feel better, being reminded of this horrible memory.

And now God’s reminding me, he saw he was there, ? , But I answered his question. I was like, yeah I believe you were there. And God brought the memory back up of my former husband letting go. And God said, why did he let go? Oh, now we’re having a Q and a session here.

All right, Lord. I’ll play along. I don’t know, this is hard stuff, right? , I’m, mentally reliving this horrible incident. And then God’s asking me all these sort of like sterile questions, at least they felt like to me because I didn’t know where God was headed.

So the first question was, do you believe you that I was there and I said, yes. And he said, why did he let go? And so I’m thinking about this because I had always thought now that the memories all resurfaced because it’s not like I forgot it the moment it happened, there was many years that memory played in my mind.

And I had formulated an answer , I said, well, Lord, he let go because he got scared. You know, what are you going to do with the body? I mean, she might actually [00:27:00] die. I could get arrested. This is what I imagined is going on in his head. He let go because he got scared and God said, and who do you think scared him?

Kelly: Oh my wow.

Shadia: And I stopped in my tracks, the snow crunching beneath my feet. Just this silence that was you. You were there and in other words, I said it earlier before. Yeah, you were there, but now I’m realizing you were there. You intervened, you saw, you did something, you really did see me.

Wow.

Yeah. And I knew in my heart, not just in my head that God does see, God does care, but he dug up the deepest, darkest, most trauma that I had not yet brought to the surface in my life and revealed to me in the middle of writing a Bible study about God sees you in your hurt and shows me [00:28:00] that

he saw me in my hurt.

Kelly: Wow. That is just so overwhelming. I can’t imagine how that felt when God revealed that to you. There’s one of the things you said is, He asked you first, did you believe I was with you? But then he stepped into his activity on your behalf. And I think that’s one of the definitions of God being with us that we often miss out on when God promises in the Bible that he is with us, it is not this passive standing by disinterested, twiddling this thumbs kind of withness when his presence is with us.

It implies active movement on your behalf in every area that

concerns you.

Shadia: Absolutely. And you just reminded me of one of the things in the Hagar Bible study. There’s this active verb that in the English It’s hard to discern. There’s this point where Hagar, she’s pregnant.

She was mistreated by Sarah, you know [00:29:00] She’s running away into the desert. She doesn’t know where she’s going. She’s upset. She’s hopeless She’s feeling lost and alone and the Bible says this In Genesis chapter 16. It says that the angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring of water And that verb found in English can almost come across as passive , I mean, first of all, we all know, God knows everything , he knows, but.

Kelly: He didn’t lose her.

Shadia: He didn’t lose her, right? He knew where she was at all that times. But this concept of found that verb, the reason I’m bringing this up is because that verb in Hebrew is actually active and what it means is we lose it in the English translation, but what God is trying to reveal through that passage for us is that there is this active pursuit.

We might be running away. But God is pursuing us. We’re never out of his sight. Yeah. Hagar may have felt she was alone and lost in all this. [00:30:00] I may have felt I was alone and lost, but God was there. God was pursuing, God was active. And I just love that tie in for what you were talking about, that whole active part of God.

Kelly: Oh, absolutely. Oh, that is so powerful. Well, let’s just talk a little bit more about Hagar. I think since we’re already there, but one of the things that I didn’t know is that she is the first person in the Bible that gave God a name.

Shadia: And in fact, she’s not just the first, she’s the only person. That actually where scripture says the words, she gave this name to the Lord because there are many people in the Bible, including Abraham and others who describe God who relay his attributes or give us characteristics.

But this is the only time that the Bible says someone gives God a name.

Wow.

Yeah. And it’s Hagar.. Wow.

You see, God sees me. You are the God who sees me.

Kelly: Yes. El Roi you are the [00:31:00] God who sees me. It’s so powerful. That’s one of the most beautiful truths that we have from God’s word.

He is with us. And like we said, it’s not passive. He sees us. We are fully known. and unbelievably loved.

One of the things I wanted to mention too, is that. You said there were a lot of firsts with Hagar. You also mentioned that her son, Ishmael was named by God, and he was the first person in the Bible named by God before birth. Is that right?

Shadia: That’s correct. Yes. So Adam was created by God, but as far as being born, there are only six people in the entire Bible God personally names. And the first one is Ishmael. Okay, the name is beautiful because if we you know For those who might be interested in doing the study where we go through the verse by verse And in genesis chapter 16 verse 11 hagar, you know, the angel the lord is speaking to [00:32:00] hagar She had ran away and the angel speaking to her.

And he says to her, you know you’re pregnant. You’re gonna have a son and you will call his name ishmael. And here’s the important part the verse says because The Lord has listened. To your affliction, he has listened to your affliction because the name Ishmael means God hears. And what a sweet reminder

for Hagar.

Kelly: So beautiful. This woman who has been abused, rejected, and was in deep despair to have God come and just demonstrate the truth that he sees, he hears, he is intimately involved in your life. He’s deeply invested in your story and to speak a blessing over this baby. That was the product of abuse in many ways, because she was just given to Abraham.

She was never loved by him, but she was just [00:33:00] used as Someone to get pregnant with, but I wanted to also mention that one of the things you bring out that I thought was really touching was that this is the first time a conversation with Hagar is actually recorded in the Bible. Like, she’s talked about Abraham and Sarah talk about her and Sarah is really mean when she talks about her at certain points, but then this is the first time that we have a recorded conversation with her in the Bible.

And it’s with. God, the God of the universe, the God who created her.

Shadia: Yes. Yeah. Isn’t that just amazing?

Kelly: It’s so stunning. Well, I want to step back into something that we’ve alluded to, but haven’t quite fleshed out. I want my listeners to hear your educational background because I think it’s fascinating.

Shadia: Know I’m such a nerd. Like I shared earlier, I’m a bookworm, I’m a reader, I’m voraciously, I want input, and so I love to learn. And my first master’s was from the State [00:34:00] University of New York a criminal justice degree.

But what’s funny, so my aim was actually to have my master’s of criminal justice. And then eventually I wanted to go to law school and become a judge. I know you have to become a lawyer first, but my, I really wanted to be a judge because I’m just a very much about what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s true, what’s false.

I mean, my brain just, that’s my wheelhouse. I love, I just love that. But halfway through my getting my degree in criminal justice my former husband and I, we were still, we were living together at this point. Maybe we were married at that point. I don’t remember, but. He began a construction company and I was needed to run the business, but anyway, I basically finished my degree for one reason. I started it. I’m like, I’m just the kind of person like I’m committed. I’m going to finish this thing, even if I never use it. And so it never went further than that. Because I was full time running this construction company and which did well, it provided for us and so forth.

And I used to think Oh, that was just a waste of money and [00:35:00] time and everything, but God doesn’t waste anything. I learned a lot. and in some ways, perhaps it prepared me for seminary, which is where I went later.

But even what I learned just about the justice system and all of that was very enriching. And , so fast forward now, all the way to after I become a Christian. I’ve been walking with the Lord for maybe 10 or so years at that point. And I’m at a career crossroads, and I go to visit with my pastor, because I’m not sure, oh, wow, I got this potential really good job opportunity, it’s probably going to be 60 hours a week, which means, , you have no life, no ministry, much, because, , You’re consumed with your work.

I said, I’ve been doing this consulting work on the side. , business consultings type stuff, bookkeeping, just stuff to kind of pay the bills in the meantime. So I’m telling him all this and he knows me. And , I’ve been doing this writing and speaking a little bit of blogging, some testimonials that, speaking events or whatever.

So I don’t know where to put my energy. if I do the job, I won’t be able to have time for the other things. Do I do that? I don’t know what to do. [00:36:00] And so I go to see my pastor. Our church is a larger church, so we had a few pastors on staff, and this pastor was particularly gifted at discerning where in the body someone is.

Like how he has gifted them, . And so he listens to all of this and so basically I’m coming to him with my hands held open.

Obviously I can’t do all the things. What do I need to let go of?

So he listens to all that. And then he says, I want to pray silently for a few moments. And I’m like, yes, you do that. You know, he’s praying. And then he looks up and he says, well, I feel the Lord. Saying just one thing and I’m like, okay, I’m ready to figure out what’s gonna come off the plate You know, I’ve got too much on my plate and he says Have you thought about going to seminary?

Kelly: Okay, so nothing’s coming off. Everything’s going on.

Shadia: Yeah, exactly. , but my heart and my spirit are like soaring. , Oh, can I do that? It was sort of like exactly what I didn’t know. I wanted to [00:37:00] hear. And , it was deep in my soul.

I knew I was like, wow, that’s exactly what I didn’t know I wanted to do. And so I apply, I get accepted . And then no one got the job because the whole job went away that they ended up reorganizing that company, that job. It all just fell into place.

And so that’s, how I ended up going to seminary. But I’ll be honest, , it took three and a half years. And it was probably the most. Challenging, but most rewarding years of my life.

Kelly: I bet. And the Bible studies, did you write all of them after that? Yeah. Okay.

Shadia: Yeah. So they have different degree programs. Mine was a master’s in biblical and theological studies. So basically in preparing for teaching. Okay.

Kelly: So exciting. Well,, one thing I want to point out is I love that God is a God who, Guides us who promises to speak to us.

And so I always like to highlight stories where God has led someone into [00:38:00] their calling. But one of the things you’ve mentioned that I wanted to highlight is that you felt the spirit activating something inside of your. Spirit, you felt like this sudden excitement and soaring when he mentioned going to seminary, like even though you didn’t know how, why, or no, that’s not at all what I want to do.

Yeah. Who’s going to pay for this.

I love how the spirit moved and affirmed that calling on your life. It’s just so cool. Well, Shadia, could you tell people how they can get in touch with you and get your Bible studies and any other words of encouragement that you want to leave us with?

Shadia: Oh, thank you. Well, I’ll give you the resources first. And then perhaps I definitely would like to share a word of encouragement for resources or anything. If you, because my name is so hard to spell and remember it’s Shadia Hrichi. What I always say is just go to HagarBibleStudy. com. Since we talked about Hagar most.

That’ll get you right onto my website. Then there’s a resources page. You can get [00:39:00] all kinds of free resources. Get on my email list. I share all kinds of free resources and videos and things with subscribers. There’s also a fun Bible quiz in that resources section, literally a one minute quiz, but I can absolutely guarantee you’re going to be surprised at what you learn. Yeah, because there’s just some misinformation out there, but it’s a, it was fun to create anyway.

My words of encouragement, truly, For those who have been listening in and have felt something shared during this podcast that just touched your heart or you’re sensing that God is wanting you to respond in some way.

There might be a wound that he wants to heal. I mean, like I shared, I didn’t even know I had that was still needed to be healed but God will, when we give him that, when we make that space for time with him that’s when he often will speak to us the most. One of the free resources I share is called planning a Sabbath date with Jesus, you know, and how to do that.

What does it look like? Like, and just carving out [00:40:00] that time with you and the Lord. So that he can do his beautiful work, not just healing, but also inspiring and encouraging whatever it is that he knows that you need. So my encouragement would be for you, whatever that first step looks like.

Don’t ignore it. If you sense during this podcast, like, Oh, I need maybe for, we mentioned Amber’s pod. Maybe I need to go listen to Amber’s podcast. I mean, it doesn’t have to be my resources. It’s wherever God is leading you to take a next step. Kelly, you mentioned you had a podcast guest. Before this one, maybe that’s something that you need to listen to.

If it’s one of the resources or books that I share, well, praise the Lord. If it’s one of these other resources, praise the Lord. It’s all his, we’re all doing it for him. And for you who are listening this is all for you. But I would encourage you don’t ignore that prompting, whatever that is.

Don’t ignore that prompting because God wants to do beautiful work in you. Bring you into that next layer of healing, bringing you into that next Step of faith, bringing you into a deeper, intimate [00:41:00] relationship with him. And whatever that step looks like is between you and him. , and some scripture passages that come to mind that I could share I tend to like more like chapters than a verse or two But at the tail end of Romans chapter 8, I think beginning in verse 26 to the end That’s a beautiful reminder If you just need a reminder that God is with you God is for you God is working on your behalf and there’s nothing that can get in the way of that You read chap Romans chapter 8 verses 26, I think through 31.

Ephesians chapter 1, another beautiful passage, a whole list, those first, I think it may be 15 verses or so, where you are reminded of all the things that you are, that God says you are chosen, you are loved, you are redeemed, you are adopted, and it just goes on and on of all these blessings that are yours as a child of God.

And gosh, I could just, you know, fall off with so many more, but. You know, for the sake of time, I think probably you have to stop there,

Kelly: yeah. Oh, well, you’ll just have to come back

[00:42:00] maybe we’ll do a part two and we’ll discuss legion because that sounds fascinating as well.

Shadia: Oh gosh. That’s probably one of my favorite ones. Just my personal favorite one.

Kelly: Shadia, thank you so much for being here today.

Shadia: Oh, thank you for having me. I just loved our conversation and just to how God is guiding us and I’m excited for those who are listening and how God’s going to move.

Oh, me too.

If you were encouraged in your faith today, it’d be great if you’d help get the word out by subscribing, sharing with a friend or leaving a review. I’d love to hear from you. You can reach out through my website, kellyhall. org and pick up some free resources while you’re there. Thanks for listening to the Unshakable Hope Podcast.