March 11, 2025 • 37 mins
When life suddenly shatters into a thousand terrifying pieces, where do you turn? For Krista, that moment came when her teenage son Landon—healthy one day—was fighting for his life the next, needing open-heart surgery and possibly a transplant. Yet amid this unimaginable nightmare, she found something unexpected: peace.
This raw, powerful conversation takes us into the heart of a medical crisis through the eyes of a mother who chose faith when fear seemed the only logical response. Krista vulnerably shares how this journey differs from an earlier difficult season in her life when she pushed God away rather than drawing near. "The struggle is still there, the pain is still real, but with God you're not consumed by it," she reflects, offering profound wisdom about what trust actually means when everything feels out of control.
What makes this story extraordinary is Landon himself—a 17-year-old whose spiritual maturity shines even from his hospital bed. Before his crisis, he would read his Bible alone in his room, listen to sermons, and eagerly share his faith with friends. Now, even while fighting for his life, he continues pointing others to Jesus, inspiring thousands who have rallied around his story online.
Perhaps the most beautiful revelation is how suffering becomes the very soil where unexpected beauty grows. From complete strangers becoming like family to witnessing her son's faith touch countless lives, Krista shows us that our darkest valleys often become sacred ground for God's most profound work. "You have to cling to Jesus with everything you have," she urges anyone walking their own path of pain, "because he is the only thing strong enough to hold you together when everything else feels like it's falling apart."
If you're facing your own impossible situation, feeling trapped in fear, or struggling to find God in your storm, this conversation offers both comfort and courage for the journey ahead. Listen now and discover how the battle won't break you when Jesus is the one holding you together.
If you’d like to follow along with Landon’s story, here is Krista’s profile: https://www.facebook.com/share/15qYauZCoB/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18QGXfAgph/?mibextid=wwXIfr
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gianina (00:00):
Welcome to Walkthrough the podcast, where we dive into
real stories of faith,perseverance and finding God in
the valleys and victories oflife.
I'm your host, Gianina, joinedby my beautiful friend, Kiley,
and today we're walking througha story that is both
heartbreaking and full of hope.
Our guest today is Krista, amother who has been living every
(00:21):
parent's worst nightmare.
Her son, Landon, has beenfighting for his life in the
hospital for the last severalweeks.
He has undergone open heartsurgery and is on a list for a
transplant, and at so manymoments the outcome was
completely unknown.
Krista and her family havefaced unimaginable pain, fear
and uncertainty, but through itall, they have chosen to bring
(00:42):
it to the Lord.
This episode is a raw and honestconversation about trusting God
when everything feels out ofcontrol, surrendering when there
are no answers and findingpeace in the middle of the storm
.
If you've ever walked through aseason of waiting or grief or
fear, this conversation is foryou.
Thank you, krista, so much forbeing on this call.
(01:03):
We're so excited to have you onhere, so welcome.
Thank you, krista, so much forbeing on this call.
We're so excited to have you onhere, so welcome.
Thank you so much.
I am I'm happy to be here.
Yeah Well, tell me a little bitabout who you are, and just
your background and a little bitof your journey with the Lord.
Krista (01:19):
Okay, well, first and foremost, I'm a wife and a mom.
My husband and I have beenmarried for a little over 10
years Together.
First and foremost, I'm a wifeand a mom.
My husband and I have beenmarried for a little over 10
years.
Together, we have a blendedfamily of six kids.
Age ranges from 22 down toeight.
So life has been pretty busy.
As far as my faith journey, Iwish I could say that it was a
straight path, but the truth isit's been pretty messy.
(01:40):
When I was a young girl, mynext-door neighbors were
Christians, and their daughter,kelly, became my best friend.
Her family were the ones thatactually introduced me to the
Lord.
I can remember when my parentswould let me, I would ride to
church with them on Sundays.
I just I remember going thereand loving it, you know, just
sitting at church, hearing aboutGod and just soaking it up and
(02:04):
just completely falling in lovewith him.
It was so much so that Idecided to give my life to him.
I even requested at a veryyoung age to be baptized.
But what I didn't understandback then was that there's a
difference between knowing aboutGod and truly surrendering your
life to him.
For years, I was one of thoseindividuals that wrestled with
(02:26):
doubt Periodically, find myselfback in church, and I would go
to the altar over and over again, rededicating my life, because
I just I always wondered like,am I really saved?
I knew I believed in God, but Ikept searching for like some
kind of moment that would justmake me feel different.
(02:46):
But what I've come to realizeis that salvation isn't about an
emotional experience.
It's about trusting in Jesus,surrendering to him and
believing what he's already donefor you on the cross.
And so now, like looking back,I can see that all along, god
was drawing me to himself.
(03:08):
And even through thosestruggles, through all the
questions, the doubt, he neverlet go of me.
And as messy as my journey hasbeen, I now know that my faith
isn't based on how I feel.
It's based on the truth of whoGod is.
Gianina (03:32):
That is so powerful and just I love how you talked
about it not being an emotion,but something that God has
already done for us and justtrusting in that, because it's a
lot of times when we're in themoment, it's easy to focus on,
like what is God doing right nowand where am I in my life, and
kind of this back and forth andjust realizing like it's already
been done, it is finished, likethat is that's so powerful, for
sure.
Kiley (03:52):
Well.
Gianina (03:52):
I think it's really amazing seeing especially as
we're about to get into yourstory just seeing his
faithfulness in your life fromsuch a young age and how, even
then, with your neighbor andwith your friend that had
brought you to church, like Godknew that this moment would
happen.
He ordained things in youryoung life and just his
(04:15):
faithfulness throughout yourlife, even when maybe you didn't
feel like you were beingfaithful, so absolutely and
praise God for that Absolutelyand praise.
Kiley (04:23):
God for that I was thinking too like.
He has that early realizationthat you had about it not being
emotional.
Gianina (04:30):
In a sense, he was preparing you for this very
moment because he knew that youneeded to have thought that your
faith is an emotionalexperience and now going through
what you're going through andthe emotions that you're going
through.
(04:50):
If your faith would have beenin your emotions, where you
would be right now?
Krista (04:57):
Absolutely.
I completely agree.
Gianina (04:59):
Well, it's been about I would say two weeks, maybe
three weeks, since we connectedon social media and I think
we're both a part of like awomen's Bible group and I just
remember seeing this post and,honestly, a lot of times I
scroll past things on socialmedia, especially when it comes
to kids being hurt, like I'llsay a quick prayer and then I'll
(05:21):
scroll past them, because I getreally bad anxiety when I see
things about kids being inhospitals or sick, hurt, like
I'll say a quick prayer and thenI'll scroll past them because I
get really bad anxiety when Isee things about kids being in
hospitals or sick and I justpicture my son in that situation
.
But this particular time I justremember the Lord pausing me and
saying, hey, pay attention tothis.
And so I read through it andhonestly, I saw right away,
(05:42):
obviously, that it had somethingto do with your son's heart
which I know we'll get into, butas a another and prayed for one
another and with one another,and even my son has just been
(06:11):
praying for Landon as well.
And so I definitely would lovefor you to share a little bit
about your journey and whatyou've been going through over
the last month and just kind ofhow things started and where
you're at right now.
Krista (06:26):
Yeah.
So if you would have told me ayear ago that I'd be sitting
here talking about my sonfighting for his life, I
wouldn't have believed you.
Gianina (06:35):
Yeah.
Krista (06:35):
Because for most of Landon's life, I mean, he was
relatively healthy outside ofyou know just the sicknesses
that they get when they're ababy and stuff but he, like I
said, he was relatively healthy.
And then in 2018, that's whenthings kind of started to change
a little bit he ended up havingto go to the emergency room
(06:57):
because the nurse at school hewasn't homeschooled at that time
, but the nurse at schoolnoticed that his heartbeat was
off.
That something was funny.
So she had him sent to the ERand we found out that he had an
SVT and I'm not going to try topronounce the medical term for
that because I will totallybutcher it but basically what it
(07:17):
is is it's a overly fastheartbeat, there's something
just not right with theelectricity in the heart, and so
he ended up having to have aheart ablation and basically
that was just a procedure tokind of fix that faulty
electricity and to make hisheart rhythm regular again.
But after we did all thefollow-up appointments and
(07:40):
everything, we were told he wasokay.
We moved forward and we neverimagined that years later, out
of nowhere, everything wouldchange.
And now here we are.
You know, like you mentionedbefore my son, he's now had open
heart surgery and he's on atransplant list and we're just
walking a road that we never sawcoming.
And being a heart mom issomething I never thought I
(08:00):
would be.
No one prepares you forsomething like this.
They can't prepare you to knowwhat it feels like to watch your
child suffer and to pray for amiracle and to wonder when it'll
come.
There's no manual for this kindof pain.
I mean it just it breaks you inways that you never knew were
possible.
But yet somehow, in the middleof the hardest season of my life
(08:22):
, in the middle of the hardestseason of my life, I've never
felt more peace.
I've seen God's hand in themoments that have just felt
unbearable to me, and I've seenhis love through complete
strangers who have become family.
I've seen his strength throughLandon himself, gosh.
(08:46):
Even in his suffering, he stillpoints people to Jesus, and
that's just what amazes me themost.
You know you have this17-year-old boy who gosh.
I could tell you so manystories, but this is a boy that
would sit in his room and justread his Bible and listen to
sermons and talk to his friendsabout God.
I mean, he's not somebody thatwas being told to do that, Like
(09:06):
he did that on his own, becausehe loves the Lord that much and
Jesus is his lifeline.
And so just to see him in thisbattle, to see him in the middle
of it and pointing people toJesus, it's just, it's
phenomenal.
And, honestly, as much as thisjourney has been painful, I
can't I can't deny the fact thatI've also seen a lot of beauty
(09:27):
in it.
Kiley (09:30):
I had reminded Janina that back in 2008, I had viral
meningitis and I washospitalized for nine days.
And when we were talking aboutthis, I think it was like two
days before my surgery and I wasreally afraid that I wasn't
going to come out of the surgerythe same.
And she said you know, theenemy doesn't want good things
(09:50):
for you and it makes sense thatthat's why he's trying to attack
that part of you, because heknows that you're a unique and
kind and generous person and hedoesn't.
He doesn't want the world tohave that and he had mentioned.
It kind of set me even more atease knowing that, okay, god's,
god's got me.
Gianina (10:10):
Yeah, it just makes me think about like.
So Kingston, my son, is verysimilar to Landon in that way.
He's only 11, but he is one ofthose.
He has the strongestrelationship with the Lord that
I've ever seen, especially for achild, and just the way that
God reveals things to him that Iwould have never known at his
(10:32):
age.
And so it's so interestinghearing your story and it's like
, literally, the enemy isattacking their heart and their
heartful part of them.
It just really makes me thinkabout.
There's truly something specialinside of Landon that the enemy
is terrified of and is tryingto shut down, and so I'm so
(10:53):
grateful and thankful that hehas people who fight for him.
I truly believe Jesus isfighting for him on his behalf
too, and so just wanted toencourage you with that that
there's a reason that the enemyis attacking his heart because
he has this purity, and it justis going to be so cool to see
the testimony that God is goingto use in his life, and the
(11:14):
testimony that God is going touse in his life and the way that
he's going to be able to touchpeople.
Krista (11:18):
So I want to say something and kind of go off of
what you guys had said, becauseI was just having a conversation
with my cousin earlier today.
Because there's been so manytimes and I know we'll talk into
this a little bit more in a fewminutes but the hard road that
I kind of went down as a specialneeds mom and there were so
many times that I wanted to getrid of social media because it
(11:41):
really hurt me to watch otherpeople not only live normal
lives per se, but like it waspainful to see how some of my
friends that I looked up to inthe faith that they were being
able to like serve God and justdo things that I always longed
to do but felt like I was nevergoing to be good enough to be
(12:04):
used in that way or have theopportunity to because of the
situation I was going through inlife.
And so there were so many timesthat I would be like I'm just
gonna get rid of social media.
And my cousin Tracy was, youknow, and my best friend
Savannah, but they were alwaysright there, like just always
encouraging me please do not getrid of social media.
(12:27):
God is using you, he's gonnacontinue to use you and that's
just the enemy trying to likesilence, silence you.
You know, and I mean I almostgot rid of social media and I
actually deactivated my accountfor a good while and then
decided to get back on becauseof their encouragement.
And I just think about thissituation right now that if I
(12:50):
would have gotten off of socialmedia and this happened to my
son not only would the enemyhave had been successful at
silencing me, but it would haveprevented us being able to share
Landon's story as well.
Kiley (13:06):
The amount of people that have already been touched by
his story.
Landon is one person and theenemy is really afraid of one
person, and now he's got to beafraid of a whole lot more
people, because it's oh, there'sjust and it's not to say that
we always talk about when thingslike this happen it's like why
(13:26):
is this happening?
Why is God making this happen?
And it's not that he's makingit happen, but he is going to
use it for his glory, and that'sexactly what's happening.
Right, it happen, but he isgoing to use it for his glory,
and that's exactly what'shappening right now.
What do you think is somethingthat?
Krista (13:41):
God has been teaching you through this journey.
If there's one thing that God'sbeen truly teaching me in this
journey is how to truly, trulytrust him, like we've just been
talking about.
And I don't mean the kind oftrust where, like you say, okay,
god, I trust you when thethings are going well.
I mean the kind of trust yousay when you have nothing left,
(14:07):
no control, no answers, and youknow you have to decide and
really believe within yourselfthat he is still good.
And for so long I thought trustmeant understanding.
I thought that if I trusted God, he would make everything make
sense to me.
But now I see that trust isn'tabout understanding.
It's actually about surrenderand it's about saying God, I
don't get this, I don't like it,but I will still hold on to you
(14:29):
.
Gianina (14:30):
Something I've really been struggling with is fear
when it comes to my son, andtruthfully, I feel like that
started from when I was pregnant.
I had a little bit ofcomplications when I was
pregnant and it seems like fromthat moment.
So I was about 20 weeks when Ifound out just the complications
that we were having and I justwas paralyzed by fear.
(14:53):
And then, of course, he wasborn, and the next day I was
told he has a heart defect, andthen that was like more fear,
and then things that havehappened over his life.
And I just remember being inworship one day and the Lord
literally showed me a vision ofwhat are you going to lay down
on the altar, and it wasn't in away of like sacrificing
(15:16):
Kingston, obviously, but I hadthis image in my mind of putting
him on the altar like Lord, youlove him and care about him
even more than I possibly could.
And so I'm laying this downbecause you can take care of
Kingston better than I can, andjust like I'm going to let go of
that fear, because that wassomething that I was literally
(15:38):
just paralyzed for.
I mean, kylie can probably tellyou too, and even Kingston
wants to play football now, andso it's like everything just is
fear, fear, fear, fear.
Like I'm scared this is goingto happen.
I'm scared that's going tohappen, and so how are some ways
that you feel like you've beenable to overcome fear, because
you had to have been afraidduring this?
Krista (16:00):
process.
I think in this kind ofsituation, fear is a natural
emotion that anybody would feel.
But what is important is thatwhenever we feel that fear is
that we realize that that's notcoming from God and we have to
take those thoughts captive andwe have to stand on the word of
(16:22):
God and fight against that.
And so when I find myselfgetting afraid and spiraling
downhill, I just I pick up theword of God and I just soak
myself in his promises and Ijust pray because I mean there's
just no way out of it, in myopinion, other than just
(16:44):
releasing it to him and digginginto his word, because if I
don't have his word, then I am,I'll be honest, I will be a hot
mess because I will be all up inmy emotions and it will just
consume me.
Gianina (16:57):
Yeah, I love what you said about fear isn't from God
and I was actually thinkingabout this as I was processing
through like different fear is?
The Bible never actually speaksabout fear as an emotion.
It talks about the spirit offear and just like like claiming
that off of your life and likeLord, I'm laying this down, like
(17:19):
I'm not partnering with thisfear and I give it to you and I
just reading his word, like yousaid, that is so powerful.
Kiley (17:27):
Yeah, One of the words that just keeps popping into my
mind right now is peace, and,janina, I'm with with the other
episodes that we've recorded.
Everybody that we've talked toso far has gone through so many
different things, but theunderlying theme is just that
(17:48):
they have this sense of peacebecause they know whose they are
and they know who they are, andit's so incredible to make that
connection because it can onlybe explained by having that
relationship with Amen.
Gianina (18:10):
Yeah, I do want to say if there's someone listening
that is maybe like well, I knowthe Lord and I'm going through
this season in my life and Idon't have peace that it's okay
to ask for it.
There's no shame, you're notdoing anything wrong, you're not
lacking faith because you don'thave that, but just ask for it,
(18:32):
and if you need that peace,just pray for it and God will be
faithful to answer.
So, krista, is there anythingthat you've done to kind of
cultivate this peace in yourlife, or has it just been more
just resting in the Lord?
Krista (18:45):
Honestly, it's just been resting in the Lord because I
haven't always had this kind ofpeace.
I haven't always had this kindof peace.
There was a time in my life,and actually just recently, that
I walked through a dark seasonand I didn't rest in the Lord, I
didn't cling to Jesus and Ididn't have peace.
(19:06):
In fact I pushed Him away.
So just to give you a littlebackstory for the past 10 years
my husband and I, you know,we've been special needs parents
and we've been raising my son,elijah, who is autistic and
nonverbal, and throughout thatseason I have just been utterly
exhausted physically,emotionally, spiritually, just
(19:29):
completely sleep deprived, justin that season where you're just
barely making it through theday.
And I became angry.
I was angry, I was bitter,mostly because I knew that God
could change the situation hehas the power to do so and I
knew that he could make thingseasier.
(19:49):
He could have given us rest, hecould have answered my prayers
the way that I wanted him to,you know, but he didn't and it
made me bitter and instead ofrunning to him, I ran from him
and instead of trusting him, Iquestioned him and I didn't let
him carry me.
I tried to carry all the weightby myself and all it did was
(20:13):
break me down even more.
I mean, I felt empty, I feltalone, I felt abandoned.
I didn't even want to hearanything about faith because I
just, I was just not in a goodplace.
And fast forward from then tillnow with the situation with
Landon.
You know, here I am in thehardest battle of my life, but
(20:34):
this time I made a differentchoice.
Instead of pushing God away,I'm clinging tighter to him than
I ever have, and the differencein that is amazing.
That's where I found the peace,that's where I developed
strength, his strength.
I'm doing this all by hisstrength and just it's given me
(20:55):
the ability to breathe and inall the uncertainty.
And this situation, obviously,is much harder than the
situation with my son Elijah,but my heart doesn't feel as
heavy and the burden isn'tcrushing me the way that it did
before, and it's not because I'mstronger, it's because I'm not
carrying it alone this time and,honestly, that's the difference
(21:19):
between walking throughsuffering with God and walking
through it without him.
I mean, the struggle is stillthere, the pain is still real,
but with God you're not consumedby it.
Gianina (21:32):
You're not consumed by it.
What do you think made thatswitch for you?
Was it basically just thissituation where you kind of went
from pushing God away and beingmore bitter towards him and
then Landon being in thehospital softened your heart and
made it turn towards God?
Or was there something elsethat happened in your life that
(21:53):
caused that shift?
Krista (21:55):
Well, when I pushed God away before, it was like I still
loved him, right, but I wasangry.
But in this situation, my son isfighting for his life, you know
, and he could have died.
You know what I mean.
Thank God he didn't, but hecould have.
And it's like when you hit rockbottom like that and you just
(22:15):
are in so much pain, the onlything you can do is cry out to
God and just to cling to him andto beg him to be there for you
and to carry you through it,because the pain is just so
overwhelming.
And I think, just knowing how Ifelt before in that situation
(22:35):
of pushing him away and seeinghow it affected my life, versus
now in this situation where Istarted just holding on tight
and saying, god, this is killingme, but I'm going to trust you,
no matter how the situationgoes, I am going to trust you in
every single aspect of it.
And to see how he is working inmy life and how he is just
(23:00):
surrounding us with a beautifularmy of believers and just
outpouring of love, it's amazingand it just proves that you
need God.
Gianina (23:09):
You know it's so sweet because, as you were sharing
that, I, just I had this imageof Landon praying for you.
You know, going through thissituation, and I just can't wait
.
I just feel like one day he'sjust going to tell you I was
talking to Jesus and I waspraying for you.
You know what I mean?
I just see that and I feel itand just I can just the way that
(23:30):
you've described him and theperson that he is.
The Lord has favor over hislife and, even if his words
couldn't speak it, like hisspirit was speaking it and
crying out to God on behalf ofhis family, and I, just, I truly
believe that.
(23:50):
And so what an amazing image ofstrength for him to be the
reason that your whole family isstrong in the midst of him
suffering.
Krista (24:03):
I actually want to say that you just gave me chills and
I'm so glad that you said that,because Landon is just, he's
such an amazing kid and therewere so many times that he would
see me just stressed out aboutsomething because, you know, we
were in the thick of the wholespecial needs parenting thing
and he would just walk into theroom and he would be like mom, I
(24:23):
don't know why, but I just feellike I need to pray for you
right now, or I feel like weneed to pray about this
situation, or, you know, hewould pray the most beautiful
prayer and it just so.
When you just told me that, likeyou could, you had this vision
of him praying for me.
I absolutely do see that and infact, when I was just talking
to him and my husband on thephone a little bit ago, I was
(24:44):
thanking my husband for, youknow, just being there and
telling Landon how proud I wasof him and just how I'm glad
that he's just being so strongand and he just, with the
sweetest voice, he's like mom,I'm proud of you too.
He's just, he's an amazing kid.
Gianina (25:03):
God will definitely use his story for his good, for
sure.
Kiley (25:08):
Yeah, and it's exciting to see it happen here in real
time too.
Krista, what are someunexpected ways you've seen God
show up for your family duringthis time.
Krista (25:21):
God has shown up in so many unexpected ways in this and
it's just been amazing,unexpected ways in this and it's
just been amazing.
I first started posting aboutLandon and just expected it to
just be with my friends andfamily on Facebook, just letting
them know that I was taking himto the, you know, to the ER,
and or that my husband was, butnever in my wildest imagination
did I think that you know hewouldn't be coming home that
(25:43):
night.
I didn't think that we'd besitting where we are today.
I also didn't expect to seewhat God was going to be doing
throughout this whole situation,just to see how this story has
just spread the way that it has.
I had no idea that in just amatter of weeks, that hundreds
or even thousands of peoplewould be surrounding us, lifting
(26:04):
us up in prayer, walkingthrough this journey with us.
But the amazing thing is is thatGod knew right.
He knew.
He knew that I was going toneed all this love and support
just surrounding me.
He knew that Landon was goingto need all the love, the
support, the prayers, my husband.
He knew all of that and heprovided it.
(26:25):
That's the amazing thing.
And just the outpouring of love, the messages, the prayers, the
way that complete strangershave just become like family to
us.
It's been overwhelming in thebest kind of way, and never in
my life have I ever experiencedthis kind of love and support
before.
I mean, it's in this kind oflike hard season that you
(26:48):
realize that God is really thereand that he's moving and that
he's reminding us that we're notalone.
Kiley (26:55):
I just keep thinking about the amount of stories that
you're going to hear for yearsto come after this Absolutely
people's lives and this is amoment in time for you guys, but
I think the ripple effect ofeverything is going to be
exciting to see.
Maybe somebody is going toreach out to you years from now
and say, hey, I followed yourstory and because of that, this,
(27:18):
this and this happened.
I have no doubt that it's sohard to be going through it in
the moment, but you know wealways talk about how hindsight
is 20-20.
And so once he's home, you canstart to look back and think,
wow, this actually, you knowthis impacted a lot of people.
Krista (27:35):
Well, it's amazing that you say that because there's
been so many comments from somany people about how his story
is increasing their faith.
It's just it's amazing to seebecause Landon has always,
always wanted opportunities toshare about God to people and he
(27:56):
would sit there and brainstormwith me and my husband and try
to figure out ways of how hecould approach people and talk
to them about God, and we wouldjust try to help him come up
with different scenarios of thebest way to bring it up to
somebody and just things likethat.
But it's just it's amazing tosee that God is using him even
from a hospital bed.
(28:16):
I'm sure that he didn't expectthat.
It's just going to be excitingto see everything that God does
through this.
Gianina (28:23):
Yeah, it's interesting because I remember when you were
first posting about who Landonis, and specifically when of him
singing when he was a littleboy, and I remember having this
thought of, like God, why wouldyou allow this to happen to
someone who loves you so muchand who has just prayed and laid
(28:45):
down his life and dedicated hislife to you?
And I just and I'm sure you'vehad those thoughts too of why
Landon?
Why are you, like literally allhe's done all his life is
praise you, why are you allowingthis to happen?
And I just in that moment feltthe Lord kind of shift my
thinking to instead of thinkingwhy Landon, when he has
(29:09):
dedicated his life to you,shifting it to how amazing that
God prepared him and laid such astrong foundation and was so
close to him his whole life andgave him this beautiful heart so
that he would have this impact.
And so that, even more thanimpact because, yes, you know,
impact is a good, good thing andit spreads the gospel and the
(29:31):
message of Jesus but even morethan that, just just his life,
his heart God cares about Landon, like so much.
And so just thinking about that, I think is is so powerful that
reversing it into thinking thisis about God's grace.
All of those moments leading upto this was God's grace over
(29:54):
Landon's life, because God knewwhat was going to happen and
kind of preparing his heart andhis mind Because I mean, I know
you've told me or you've sharedhow he's struggled to kind of
fight through some of this stuffand just imagine somebody who
wasn't as strong in his faithmaybe would have given up and
just been like man.
(30:14):
This fight, this fight is justtoo much.
Krista (30:17):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I even put myself in hisposition and I'm just amazed at
everything that he does.
I mean, when we sit there andwe try to give him encouragement
and pep talks and pray with him, I mean all he does is he just
points his finger up to the Lordand he just praises him.
When I think about that, youknow, I would like to think that
I would be that positive and Iwould hope that I would be, but
(30:42):
you never know how you're trulygoing to be in a situation until
you're experiencing it yourself.
And to see that there's a17-year-old boy who is going
through such a horribleexperience but yet has that
strong of faith, it's just, it'sreally inspiring.
Kiley (30:59):
So, krista, what would you say for someone who is going
through a similar situation?
Krista (31:05):
I just want to say, if you're walking through something
like this, I just want toencourage you that you are not
alone, that I see you.
I know how heavy it feels.
I know how terrifying it is towake up every single day not
knowing what's coming next.
I know that there's momentswhere the fear grips you so
tightly that you just don't evenknow how to breathe.
But if there's one thing thatI've learned from this journey
(31:26):
is that you just don't even knowhow to breathe.
But if there's one thing thatI've learned from this journey
is that you just have to clingto Jesus with everything you
have.
You have to cling to him, evenwhen it hurts, even when it
doesn't make sense, even whenyou can't even see a way forward
.
You just have to cling to himand do not push him away,
(31:46):
because he is the only thingthat is strong enough to hold
you together when everythingelse feels like it's falling
apart.
Honestly, one of the biggestways to hold on to him is to get
in the word.
Read the Bible.
I know how easy it is to beoverwhelmed and distracted,
especially when life is justcrumbling everywhere.
But the moments that I havespent in God's word, even when I
(32:09):
didn't feel like it.
Those were the moments thathave sustained me, because the
truth is, when everything elsefeels uncertain, his word is
unshakable and the enemy isgoing to come in and he's going
to try to make you believe thatyou are alone and that God isn't
moving, that nothing ischanging.
But please do not believe thatlie, because God is in every
(32:34):
single detail.
He is holding you.
He's there right now, in thisbattle with you.
You may not have all theanswers, you may feel like
you're barely holding on, butjust grab onto him and don't let
go.
Make time to just sit in hispresence, read his promises and
(32:55):
just let his truth anchor you,because the paddle won't break
you if Jesus is the one that'sholding you together.
Gianina (33:00):
Yeah, it's so good.
Well, I would love to have theopportunity to pray for you and
your family and for Landon.
Lord, I just thank you so muchfor this opportunity to be here
tonight and to share togetherwith Krista and with Kylie, and
I thank you for the opportunityfor us to talk about your
(33:23):
goodness, talk about yourfaithfulness, talk about your
peace and just the things thatyou bring to us that we can only
learn when we're in the valley,and we don't see them on the
mountaintops, but we see them inthe valleys, and so thank you
for those beautiful flowers thatyou grow in the valleys that we
would miss out on if we didn'twalk through those seasons too.
(33:43):
And I just want to cover Kristaand her whole family and Brian
right now God, with your love,your unwavering love, that, no
matter what happens, they wouldfeel your peace, just sweep over
them, and I thank you that thathas been such a big testimony
over her life so far in thisjourney that you've just been
(34:04):
her peace, and so I just askthat you would continue to be
that for her moving forward andeven as Landon starts to
transition, to come back homeand have different things that
they're going to be navigatingand challenges.
I pray that even then, youwould continue to be her peace,
that you would continue to justlead and guide them.
And we pray right now overLandon and his body, and we
(34:27):
speak life to his heart, wespeak life to his bones, as he's
going to start to have to learnhow to walk again and have to
learn how to do different thingson his own.
We just speak life into it.
God, I ask that you would bringeven more peace over to his mind
and his heart.
Father, he would just I almostfeel like laugh when he thinks
(34:48):
about how stressed out everybodyis, because he just knows that
he is anchored in you and he'sgoing to be okay.
And so, lord, I thank you forthat.
I thank you that you've givenhim such a strong foundation
throughout his life that nowthat he's going through
undoubtedly what's the hardestthing in his life, that he's
able to be anchored on you,because we truly can't imagine
(35:10):
going through seasons like thiswithout you.
And so, lord, I thank you thatyou've been faithful over Landon
and over his life, and I justcontinue to ask that you would
speak to the doctors about theplans moving forward for his
healing, god, that you wouldgive them the right tools and
the things to do and the thingsto say for his healing to just
(35:32):
be continued.
But, Lord, I also pray over theimpact that he's going to have
and how far his story is goingto reach.
And we just say right now that,whatever the enemy meant for
evil, you're going to turn itaround for good.
And so this attack that camefrom the enemy, he's going to
turn it around for good.
And so this attack that camefrom the enemy, he's going to
really, really wish that henever brought this attack on
(35:52):
Landon's life because, truly,you're going to be glorified
through it, lord.
And so we just thank you forthat.
We pray that people will getsaved through this story.
We pray that people will getbaptized because of his story
and that ultimately, it's justgoing to lead to a surrender,
that people are going tosurrender their lives to you,
and I just thank you for this,thank you for this opportunity
(36:13):
to talk to Krista and hear herheart and just how beautiful her
journey through this has beenwith you, lord.
And so we just thank you forthat and we honor you in Jesus
name.
Kiley (36:23):
Amen, amen.
Well, krista, thank you so muchfor sharing your heart and your
family's journey with us today.
Your faith, even in the hardestmoments, is such a powerful
reminder that God is with us inthe waiting and in the pain and
in the unknown.
If you are listening today andyou're in a season of
uncertainty whether you'rewaiting for healing, for answers
or for a miracle know thatyou're not alone, healing for
(36:44):
answers or for a miracle, knowthat you're not alone.
Just like Krista and her family, you can bring every fear,
every question and every momentof heartache to the Lord.
He sees you, he hears you andhe is walking through this with
you.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of Walkthrough.
If today's conversation spoketo you, please share it with
(37:05):
someone who needs encouragement.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss an episode.
If you'd like to stay up todate on Krista and Landon's
story, we'll be posting herFacebook link in the show notes,
so be sure to check it out soyou can follow along.
Next week, we'll be hearingfrom a widow who has walked
through the depths of grief withthe Lord by her side.
It's a conversation about loss,healing and the unwavering
(37:26):
presence of God in the midst ofsorrow.
You won't want to miss it.
Until next time, keep walking,keep trusting and know that you
are never alone.
Welcome to Walkthrough the podcast, where we dive into
real stories of faith,perseverance and finding God in
the valleys and victories oflife.
I'm your host, Gianina, joinedby my beautiful friend, Kiley,
and today we're walking througha story that is both
heartbreaking and full of hope.
Our guest today is Krista, amother who has been living every
(00:21):
parent's worst nightmare.
Her son, Landon, has beenfighting for his life in the
hospital for the last severalweeks.
He has undergone open heartsurgery and is on a list for a
transplant, and at so manymoments the outcome was
completely unknown.
Krista and her family havefaced unimaginable pain, fear
and uncertainty, but through itall, they have chosen to bring
(00:42):
it to the Lord.
This episode is a raw and honestconversation about trusting God
when everything feels out ofcontrol, surrendering when there
are no answers and findingpeace in the middle of the storm
.
If you've ever walked through aseason of waiting or grief or
fear, this conversation is foryou.
Thank you, krista, so much forbeing on this call.
(01:03):
We're so excited to have you onhere, so welcome.
Thank you, krista, so much forbeing on this call.
We're so excited to have you onhere, so welcome.
Thank you so much.
I am I'm happy to be here.
Yeah Well, tell me a little bitabout who you are, and just
your background and a little bitof your journey with the Lord.
Krista (01:19):
Okay, well, first and foremost, I'm a wife and a mom.
My husband and I have beenmarried for a little over 10
years Together.
First and foremost, I'm a wifeand a mom.
My husband and I have beenmarried for a little over 10
years.
Together, we have a blendedfamily of six kids.
Age ranges from 22 down toeight.
So life has been pretty busy.
As far as my faith journey, Iwish I could say that it was a
straight path, but the truth isit's been pretty messy.
(01:40):
When I was a young girl, mynext-door neighbors were
Christians, and their daughter,kelly, became my best friend.
Her family were the ones thatactually introduced me to the
Lord.
I can remember when my parentswould let me, I would ride to
church with them on Sundays.
I just I remember going thereand loving it, you know, just
sitting at church, hearing aboutGod and just soaking it up and
(02:04):
just completely falling in lovewith him.
It was so much so that Idecided to give my life to him.
I even requested at a veryyoung age to be baptized.
But what I didn't understandback then was that there's a
difference between knowing aboutGod and truly surrendering your
life to him.
For years, I was one of thoseindividuals that wrestled with
(02:26):
doubt Periodically, find myselfback in church, and I would go
to the altar over and over again, rededicating my life, because
I just I always wondered like,am I really saved?
I knew I believed in God, but Ikept searching for like some
kind of moment that would justmake me feel different.
(02:46):
But what I've come to realizeis that salvation isn't about an
emotional experience.
It's about trusting in Jesus,surrendering to him and
believing what he's already donefor you on the cross.
And so now, like looking back,I can see that all along, god
was drawing me to himself.
(03:08):
And even through thosestruggles, through all the
questions, the doubt, he neverlet go of me.
And as messy as my journey hasbeen, I now know that my faith
isn't based on how I feel.
It's based on the truth of whoGod is.
Gianina (03:32):
That is so powerful and just I love how you talked
about it not being an emotion,but something that God has
already done for us and justtrusting in that, because it's a
lot of times when we're in themoment, it's easy to focus on,
like what is God doing right nowand where am I in my life, and
kind of this back and forth andjust realizing like it's already
been done, it is finished, likethat is that's so powerful, for
sure.
Kiley (03:52):
Well.
Gianina (03:52):
I think it's really amazing seeing especially as
we're about to get into yourstory just seeing his
faithfulness in your life fromsuch a young age and how, even
then, with your neighbor andwith your friend that had
brought you to church, like Godknew that this moment would
happen.
He ordained things in youryoung life and just his
(04:15):
faithfulness throughout yourlife, even when maybe you didn't
feel like you were beingfaithful, so absolutely and
praise God for that Absolutelyand praise.
Kiley (04:23):
God for that I was thinking too like.
He has that early realizationthat you had about it not being
emotional.
Gianina (04:30):
In a sense, he was preparing you for this very
moment because he knew that youneeded to have thought that your
faith is an emotionalexperience and now going through
what you're going through andthe emotions that you're going
through.
(04:50):
If your faith would have beenin your emotions, where you
would be right now?
Krista (04:57):
Absolutely.
I completely agree.
Gianina (04:59):
Well, it's been about I would say two weeks, maybe
three weeks, since we connectedon social media and I think
we're both a part of like awomen's Bible group and I just
remember seeing this post and,honestly, a lot of times I
scroll past things on socialmedia, especially when it comes
to kids being hurt, like I'llsay a quick prayer and then I'll
(05:21):
scroll past them, because I getreally bad anxiety when I see
things about kids being inhospitals or sick, hurt, like
I'll say a quick prayer and thenI'll scroll past them because I
get really bad anxiety when Isee things about kids being in
hospitals or sick and I justpicture my son in that situation
.
But this particular time I justremember the Lord pausing me and
saying, hey, pay attention tothis.
And so I read through it andhonestly, I saw right away,
(05:42):
obviously, that it had somethingto do with your son's heart
which I know we'll get into, butas a another and prayed for one
another and with one another,and even my son has just been
(06:11):
praying for Landon as well.
And so I definitely would lovefor you to share a little bit
about your journey and whatyou've been going through over
the last month and just kind ofhow things started and where
you're at right now.
Krista (06:26):
Yeah.
So if you would have told me ayear ago that I'd be sitting
here talking about my sonfighting for his life, I
wouldn't have believed you.
Gianina (06:35):
Yeah.
Krista (06:35):
Because for most of Landon's life, I mean, he was
relatively healthy outside ofyou know just the sicknesses
that they get when they're ababy and stuff but he, like I
said, he was relatively healthy.
And then in 2018, that's whenthings kind of started to change
a little bit he ended up havingto go to the emergency room
(06:57):
because the nurse at school hewasn't homeschooled at that time
, but the nurse at schoolnoticed that his heartbeat was
off.
That something was funny.
So she had him sent to the ERand we found out that he had an
SVT and I'm not going to try topronounce the medical term for
that because I will totallybutcher it but basically what it
(07:17):
is is it's a overly fastheartbeat, there's something
just not right with theelectricity in the heart, and so
he ended up having to have aheart ablation and basically
that was just a procedure tokind of fix that faulty
electricity and to make hisheart rhythm regular again.
But after we did all thefollow-up appointments and
(07:40):
everything, we were told he wasokay.
We moved forward and we neverimagined that years later, out
of nowhere, everything wouldchange.
And now here we are.
You know, like you mentionedbefore my son, he's now had open
heart surgery and he's on atransplant list and we're just
walking a road that we never sawcoming.
And being a heart mom issomething I never thought I
(08:00):
would be.
No one prepares you forsomething like this.
They can't prepare you to knowwhat it feels like to watch your
child suffer and to pray for amiracle and to wonder when it'll
come.
There's no manual for this kindof pain.
I mean it just it breaks you inways that you never knew were
possible.
But yet somehow, in the middleof the hardest season of my life
(08:22):
, in the middle of the hardestseason of my life, I've never
felt more peace.
I've seen God's hand in themoments that have just felt
unbearable to me, and I've seenhis love through complete
strangers who have become family.
I've seen his strength throughLandon himself, gosh.
(08:46):
Even in his suffering, he stillpoints people to Jesus, and
that's just what amazes me themost.
You know you have this17-year-old boy who gosh.
I could tell you so manystories, but this is a boy that
would sit in his room and justread his Bible and listen to
sermons and talk to his friendsabout God.
I mean, he's not somebody thatwas being told to do that, Like
(09:06):
he did that on his own, becausehe loves the Lord that much and
Jesus is his lifeline.
And so just to see him in thisbattle, to see him in the middle
of it and pointing people toJesus, it's just, it's
phenomenal.
And, honestly, as much as thisjourney has been painful, I
can't I can't deny the fact thatI've also seen a lot of beauty
(09:27):
in it.
Kiley (09:30):
I had reminded Janina that back in 2008, I had viral
meningitis and I washospitalized for nine days.
And when we were talking aboutthis, I think it was like two
days before my surgery and I wasreally afraid that I wasn't
going to come out of the surgerythe same.
And she said you know, theenemy doesn't want good things
(09:50):
for you and it makes sense thatthat's why he's trying to attack
that part of you, because heknows that you're a unique and
kind and generous person and hedoesn't.
He doesn't want the world tohave that and he had mentioned.
It kind of set me even more atease knowing that, okay, god's,
god's got me.
Gianina (10:10):
Yeah, it just makes me think about like.
So Kingston, my son, is verysimilar to Landon in that way.
He's only 11, but he is one ofthose.
He has the strongestrelationship with the Lord that
I've ever seen, especially for achild, and just the way that
God reveals things to him that Iwould have never known at his
(10:32):
age.
And so it's so interestinghearing your story and it's like
, literally, the enemy isattacking their heart and their
heartful part of them.
It just really makes me thinkabout.
There's truly something specialinside of Landon that the enemy
is terrified of and is tryingto shut down, and so I'm so
(10:53):
grateful and thankful that hehas people who fight for him.
I truly believe Jesus isfighting for him on his behalf
too, and so just wanted toencourage you with that that
there's a reason that the enemyis attacking his heart because
he has this purity, and it justis going to be so cool to see
the testimony that God is goingto use in his life, and the
(11:14):
testimony that God is going touse in his life and the way that
he's going to be able to touchpeople.
Krista (11:18):
So I want to say something and kind of go off of
what you guys had said, becauseI was just having a conversation
with my cousin earlier today.
Because there's been so manytimes and I know we'll talk into
this a little bit more in a fewminutes but the hard road that
I kind of went down as a specialneeds mom and there were so
many times that I wanted to getrid of social media because it
(11:41):
really hurt me to watch otherpeople not only live normal
lives per se, but like it waspainful to see how some of my
friends that I looked up to inthe faith that they were being
able to like serve God and justdo things that I always longed
to do but felt like I was nevergoing to be good enough to be
(12:04):
used in that way or have theopportunity to because of the
situation I was going through inlife.
And so there were so many timesthat I would be like I'm just
gonna get rid of social media.
And my cousin Tracy was, youknow, and my best friend
Savannah, but they were alwaysright there, like just always
encouraging me please do not getrid of social media.
(12:27):
God is using you, he's gonnacontinue to use you and that's
just the enemy trying to likesilence, silence you.
You know, and I mean I almostgot rid of social media and I
actually deactivated my accountfor a good while and then
decided to get back on becauseof their encouragement.
And I just think about thissituation right now that if I
(12:50):
would have gotten off of socialmedia and this happened to my
son not only would the enemyhave had been successful at
silencing me, but it would haveprevented us being able to share
Landon's story as well.
Kiley (13:06):
The amount of people that have already been touched by
his story.
Landon is one person and theenemy is really afraid of one
person, and now he's got to beafraid of a whole lot more
people, because it's oh, there'sjust and it's not to say that
we always talk about when thingslike this happen it's like why
(13:26):
is this happening?
Why is God making this happen?
And it's not that he's makingit happen, but he is going to
use it for his glory, and that'sexactly what's happening.
Right, it happen, but he isgoing to use it for his glory,
and that's exactly what'shappening right now.
What do you think is somethingthat?
Krista (13:41):
God has been teaching you through this journey.
If there's one thing that God'sbeen truly teaching me in this
journey is how to truly, trulytrust him, like we've just been
talking about.
And I don't mean the kind oftrust where, like you say, okay,
god, I trust you when thethings are going well.
I mean the kind of trust yousay when you have nothing left,
(14:07):
no control, no answers, and youknow you have to decide and
really believe within yourselfthat he is still good.
And for so long I thought trustmeant understanding.
I thought that if I trusted God, he would make everything make
sense to me.
But now I see that trust isn'tabout understanding.
It's actually about surrenderand it's about saying God, I
don't get this, I don't like it,but I will still hold on to you
(14:29):
.
Gianina (14:30):
Something I've really been struggling with is fear
when it comes to my son, andtruthfully, I feel like that
started from when I was pregnant.
I had a little bit ofcomplications when I was
pregnant and it seems like fromthat moment.
So I was about 20 weeks when Ifound out just the complications
that we were having and I justwas paralyzed by fear.
(14:53):
And then, of course, he wasborn, and the next day I was
told he has a heart defect, andthen that was like more fear,
and then things that havehappened over his life.
And I just remember being inworship one day and the Lord
literally showed me a vision ofwhat are you going to lay down
on the altar, and it wasn't in away of like sacrificing
(15:16):
Kingston, obviously, but I hadthis image in my mind of putting
him on the altar like Lord, youlove him and care about him
even more than I possibly could.
And so I'm laying this downbecause you can take care of
Kingston better than I can, andjust like I'm going to let go of
that fear, because that wassomething that I was literally
(15:38):
just paralyzed for.
I mean, kylie can probably tellyou too, and even Kingston
wants to play football now, andso it's like everything just is
fear, fear, fear, fear.
Like I'm scared this is goingto happen.
I'm scared that's going tohappen, and so how are some ways
that you feel like you've beenable to overcome fear, because
you had to have been afraidduring this?
Krista (16:00):
process.
I think in this kind ofsituation, fear is a natural
emotion that anybody would feel.
But what is important is thatwhenever we feel that fear is
that we realize that that's notcoming from God and we have to
take those thoughts captive andwe have to stand on the word of
(16:22):
God and fight against that.
And so when I find myselfgetting afraid and spiraling
downhill, I just I pick up theword of God and I just soak
myself in his promises and Ijust pray because I mean there's
just no way out of it, in myopinion, other than just
(16:44):
releasing it to him and digginginto his word, because if I
don't have his word, then I am,I'll be honest, I will be a hot
mess because I will be all up inmy emotions and it will just
consume me.
Gianina (16:57):
Yeah, I love what you said about fear isn't from God
and I was actually thinkingabout this as I was processing
through like different fear is?
The Bible never actually speaksabout fear as an emotion.
It talks about the spirit offear and just like like claiming
that off of your life and likeLord, I'm laying this down, like
(17:19):
I'm not partnering with thisfear and I give it to you and I
just reading his word, like yousaid, that is so powerful.
Kiley (17:27):
Yeah, One of the words that just keeps popping into my
mind right now is peace, and,janina, I'm with with the other
episodes that we've recorded.
Everybody that we've talked toso far has gone through so many
different things, but theunderlying theme is just that
(17:48):
they have this sense of peacebecause they know whose they are
and they know who they are, andit's so incredible to make that
connection because it can onlybe explained by having that
relationship with Amen.
Gianina (18:10):
Yeah, I do want to say if there's someone listening
that is maybe like well, I knowthe Lord and I'm going through
this season in my life and Idon't have peace that it's okay
to ask for it.
There's no shame, you're notdoing anything wrong, you're not
lacking faith because you don'thave that, but just ask for it,
(18:32):
and if you need that peace,just pray for it and God will be
faithful to answer.
So, krista, is there anythingthat you've done to kind of
cultivate this peace in yourlife, or has it just been more
just resting in the Lord?
Krista (18:45):
Honestly, it's just been resting in the Lord because I
haven't always had this kind ofpeace.
I haven't always had this kindof peace.
There was a time in my life,and actually just recently, that
I walked through a dark seasonand I didn't rest in the Lord, I
didn't cling to Jesus and Ididn't have peace.
(19:06):
In fact I pushed Him away.
So just to give you a littlebackstory for the past 10 years
my husband and I, you know,we've been special needs parents
and we've been raising my son,elijah, who is autistic and
nonverbal, and throughout thatseason I have just been utterly
exhausted physically,emotionally, spiritually, just
(19:29):
completely sleep deprived, justin that season where you're just
barely making it through theday.
And I became angry.
I was angry, I was bitter,mostly because I knew that God
could change the situation hehas the power to do so and I
knew that he could make thingseasier.
(19:49):
He could have given us rest, hecould have answered my prayers
the way that I wanted him to,you know, but he didn't and it
made me bitter and instead ofrunning to him, I ran from him
and instead of trusting him, Iquestioned him and I didn't let
him carry me.
I tried to carry all the weightby myself and all it did was
(20:13):
break me down even more.
I mean, I felt empty, I feltalone, I felt abandoned.
I didn't even want to hearanything about faith because I
just, I was just not in a goodplace.
And fast forward from then tillnow with the situation with
Landon.
You know, here I am in thehardest battle of my life, but
(20:34):
this time I made a differentchoice.
Instead of pushing God away,I'm clinging tighter to him than
I ever have, and the differencein that is amazing.
That's where I found the peace,that's where I developed
strength, his strength.
I'm doing this all by hisstrength and just it's given me
(20:55):
the ability to breathe and inall the uncertainty.
And this situation, obviously,is much harder than the
situation with my son Elijah,but my heart doesn't feel as
heavy and the burden isn'tcrushing me the way that it did
before, and it's not because I'mstronger, it's because I'm not
carrying it alone this time and,honestly, that's the difference
(21:19):
between walking throughsuffering with God and walking
through it without him.
I mean, the struggle is stillthere, the pain is still real,
but with God you're not consumedby it.
Gianina (21:32):
You're not consumed by it.
What do you think made thatswitch for you?
Was it basically just thissituation where you kind of went
from pushing God away and beingmore bitter towards him and
then Landon being in thehospital softened your heart and
made it turn towards God?
Or was there something elsethat happened in your life that
(21:53):
caused that shift?
Krista (21:55):
Well, when I pushed God away before, it was like I still
loved him, right, but I wasangry.
But in this situation, my son isfighting for his life, you know
, and he could have died.
You know what I mean.
Thank God he didn't, but hecould have.
And it's like when you hit rockbottom like that and you just
(22:15):
are in so much pain, the onlything you can do is cry out to
God and just to cling to him andto beg him to be there for you
and to carry you through it,because the pain is just so
overwhelming.
And I think, just knowing how Ifelt before in that situation
(22:35):
of pushing him away and seeinghow it affected my life, versus
now in this situation where Istarted just holding on tight
and saying, god, this is killingme, but I'm going to trust you,
no matter how the situationgoes, I am going to trust you in
every single aspect of it.
And to see how he is working inmy life and how he is just
(23:00):
surrounding us with a beautifularmy of believers and just
outpouring of love, it's amazingand it just proves that you
need God.
Gianina (23:09):
You know it's so sweet because, as you were sharing
that, I, just I had this imageof Landon praying for you.
You know, going through thissituation, and I just can't wait
.
I just feel like one day he'sjust going to tell you I was
talking to Jesus and I waspraying for you.
You know what I mean?
I just see that and I feel itand just I can just the way that
(23:30):
you've described him and theperson that he is.
The Lord has favor over hislife and, even if his words
couldn't speak it, like hisspirit was speaking it and
crying out to God on behalf ofhis family, and I, just, I truly
believe that.
(23:50):
And so what an amazing image ofstrength for him to be the
reason that your whole family isstrong in the midst of him
suffering.
Krista (24:03):
I actually want to say that you just gave me chills and
I'm so glad that you said that,because Landon is just, he's
such an amazing kid and therewere so many times that he would
see me just stressed out aboutsomething because, you know, we
were in the thick of the wholespecial needs parenting thing
and he would just walk into theroom and he would be like mom, I
(24:23):
don't know why, but I just feellike I need to pray for you
right now, or I feel like weneed to pray about this
situation, or, you know, hewould pray the most beautiful
prayer and it just so.
When you just told me that, likeyou could, you had this vision
of him praying for me.
I absolutely do see that and infact, when I was just talking
to him and my husband on thephone a little bit ago, I was
(24:44):
thanking my husband for, youknow, just being there and
telling Landon how proud I wasof him and just how I'm glad
that he's just being so strongand and he just, with the
sweetest voice, he's like mom,I'm proud of you too.
He's just, he's an amazing kid.
Gianina (25:03):
God will definitely use his story for his good, for
sure.
Kiley (25:08):
Yeah, and it's exciting to see it happen here in real
time too.
Krista, what are someunexpected ways you've seen God
show up for your family duringthis time.
Krista (25:21):
God has shown up in so many unexpected ways in this and
it's just been amazing,unexpected ways in this and it's
just been amazing.
I first started posting aboutLandon and just expected it to
just be with my friends andfamily on Facebook, just letting
them know that I was taking himto the, you know, to the ER,
and or that my husband was, butnever in my wildest imagination
did I think that you know hewouldn't be coming home that
(25:43):
night.
I didn't think that we'd besitting where we are today.
I also didn't expect to seewhat God was going to be doing
throughout this whole situation,just to see how this story has
just spread the way that it has.
I had no idea that in just amatter of weeks, that hundreds
or even thousands of peoplewould be surrounding us, lifting
(26:04):
us up in prayer, walkingthrough this journey with us.
But the amazing thing is is thatGod knew right.
He knew.
He knew that I was going toneed all this love and support
just surrounding me.
He knew that Landon was goingto need all the love, the
support, the prayers, my husband.
He knew all of that and heprovided it.
(26:25):
That's the amazing thing.
And just the outpouring of love, the messages, the prayers, the
way that complete strangershave just become like family to
us.
It's been overwhelming in thebest kind of way, and never in
my life have I ever experiencedthis kind of love and support
before.
I mean, it's in this kind oflike hard season that you
(26:48):
realize that God is really thereand that he's moving and that
he's reminding us that we're notalone.
Kiley (26:55):
I just keep thinking about the amount of stories that
you're going to hear for yearsto come after this Absolutely
people's lives and this is amoment in time for you guys, but
I think the ripple effect ofeverything is going to be
exciting to see.
Maybe somebody is going toreach out to you years from now
and say, hey, I followed yourstory and because of that, this,
(27:18):
this and this happened.
I have no doubt that it's sohard to be going through it in
the moment, but you know wealways talk about how hindsight
is 20-20.
And so once he's home, you canstart to look back and think,
wow, this actually, you knowthis impacted a lot of people.
Krista (27:35):
Well, it's amazing that you say that because there's
been so many comments from somany people about how his story
is increasing their faith.
It's just it's amazing to seebecause Landon has always,
always wanted opportunities toshare about God to people and he
(27:56):
would sit there and brainstormwith me and my husband and try
to figure out ways of how hecould approach people and talk
to them about God, and we wouldjust try to help him come up
with different scenarios of thebest way to bring it up to
somebody and just things likethat.
But it's just it's amazing tosee that God is using him even
from a hospital bed.
(28:16):
I'm sure that he didn't expectthat.
It's just going to be excitingto see everything that God does
through this.
Gianina (28:23):
Yeah, it's interesting because I remember when you were
first posting about who Landonis, and specifically when of him
singing when he was a littleboy, and I remember having this
thought of, like God, why wouldyou allow this to happen to
someone who loves you so muchand who has just prayed and laid
(28:45):
down his life and dedicated hislife to you?
And I just and I'm sure you'vehad those thoughts too of why
Landon?
Why are you, like literally allhe's done all his life is
praise you, why are you allowingthis to happen?
And I just in that moment feltthe Lord kind of shift my
thinking to instead of thinkingwhy Landon, when he has
(29:09):
dedicated his life to you,shifting it to how amazing that
God prepared him and laid such astrong foundation and was so
close to him his whole life andgave him this beautiful heart so
that he would have this impact.
And so that, even more thanimpact because, yes, you know,
impact is a good, good thing andit spreads the gospel and the
(29:31):
message of Jesus but even morethan that, just just his life,
his heart God cares about Landon, like so much.
And so just thinking about that, I think is is so powerful that
reversing it into thinking thisis about God's grace.
All of those moments leading upto this was God's grace over
(29:54):
Landon's life, because God knewwhat was going to happen and
kind of preparing his heart andhis mind Because I mean, I know
you've told me or you've sharedhow he's struggled to kind of
fight through some of this stuffand just imagine somebody who
wasn't as strong in his faithmaybe would have given up and
just been like man.
(30:14):
This fight, this fight is justtoo much.
Krista (30:17):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I even put myself in hisposition and I'm just amazed at
everything that he does.
I mean, when we sit there andwe try to give him encouragement
and pep talks and pray with him, I mean all he does is he just
points his finger up to the Lordand he just praises him.
When I think about that, youknow, I would like to think that
I would be that positive and Iwould hope that I would be, but
(30:42):
you never know how you're trulygoing to be in a situation until
you're experiencing it yourself.
And to see that there's a17-year-old boy who is going
through such a horribleexperience but yet has that
strong of faith, it's just, it'sreally inspiring.
Kiley (30:59):
So, krista, what would you say for someone who is going
through a similar situation?
Krista (31:05):
I just want to say, if you're walking through something
like this, I just want toencourage you that you are not
alone, that I see you.
I know how heavy it feels.
I know how terrifying it is towake up every single day not
knowing what's coming next.
I know that there's momentswhere the fear grips you so
tightly that you just don't evenknow how to breathe.
But if there's one thing thatI've learned from this journey
(31:26):
is that you just don't even knowhow to breathe.
But if there's one thing thatI've learned from this journey
is that you just have to clingto Jesus with everything you
have.
You have to cling to him, evenwhen it hurts, even when it
doesn't make sense, even whenyou can't even see a way forward
.
You just have to cling to himand do not push him away,
(31:46):
because he is the only thingthat is strong enough to hold
you together when everythingelse feels like it's falling
apart.
Honestly, one of the biggestways to hold on to him is to get
in the word.
Read the Bible.
I know how easy it is to beoverwhelmed and distracted,
especially when life is justcrumbling everywhere.
But the moments that I havespent in God's word, even when I
(32:09):
didn't feel like it.
Those were the moments thathave sustained me, because the
truth is, when everything elsefeels uncertain, his word is
unshakable and the enemy isgoing to come in and he's going
to try to make you believe thatyou are alone and that God isn't
moving, that nothing ischanging.
But please do not believe thatlie, because God is in every
(32:34):
single detail.
He is holding you.
He's there right now, in thisbattle with you.
You may not have all theanswers, you may feel like
you're barely holding on, butjust grab onto him and don't let
go.
Make time to just sit in hispresence, read his promises and
(32:55):
just let his truth anchor you,because the paddle won't break
you if Jesus is the one that'sholding you together.
Gianina (33:00):
Yeah, it's so good.
Well, I would love to have theopportunity to pray for you and
your family and for Landon.
Lord, I just thank you so muchfor this opportunity to be here
tonight and to share togetherwith Krista and with Kylie, and
I thank you for the opportunityfor us to talk about your
(33:23):
goodness, talk about yourfaithfulness, talk about your
peace and just the things thatyou bring to us that we can only
learn when we're in the valley,and we don't see them on the
mountaintops, but we see them inthe valleys, and so thank you
for those beautiful flowers thatyou grow in the valleys that we
would miss out on if we didn'twalk through those seasons too.
(33:43):
And I just want to cover Kristaand her whole family and Brian
right now God, with your love,your unwavering love, that, no
matter what happens, they wouldfeel your peace, just sweep over
them, and I thank you that thathas been such a big testimony
over her life so far in thisjourney that you've just been
(34:04):
her peace, and so I just askthat you would continue to be
that for her moving forward andeven as Landon starts to
transition, to come back homeand have different things that
they're going to be navigatingand challenges.
I pray that even then, youwould continue to be her peace,
that you would continue to justlead and guide them.
And we pray right now overLandon and his body, and we
(34:27):
speak life to his heart, wespeak life to his bones, as he's
going to start to have to learnhow to walk again and have to
learn how to do different thingson his own.
We just speak life into it.
God, I ask that you would bringeven more peace over to his mind
and his heart.
Father, he would just I almostfeel like laugh when he thinks
(34:48):
about how stressed out everybodyis, because he just knows that
he is anchored in you and he'sgoing to be okay.
And so, lord, I thank you forthat.
I thank you that you've givenhim such a strong foundation
throughout his life that nowthat he's going through
undoubtedly what's the hardestthing in his life, that he's
able to be anchored on you,because we truly can't imagine
(35:10):
going through seasons like thiswithout you.
And so, lord, I thank you thatyou've been faithful over Landon
and over his life, and I justcontinue to ask that you would
speak to the doctors about theplans moving forward for his
healing, god, that you wouldgive them the right tools and
the things to do and the thingsto say for his healing to just
(35:32):
be continued.
But, Lord, I also pray over theimpact that he's going to have
and how far his story is goingto reach.
And we just say right now that,whatever the enemy meant for
evil, you're going to turn itaround for good.
And so this attack that camefrom the enemy, he's going to
turn it around for good.
And so this attack that camefrom the enemy, he's going to
really, really wish that henever brought this attack on
(35:52):
Landon's life because, truly,you're going to be glorified
through it, lord.
And so we just thank you forthat.
We pray that people will getsaved through this story.
We pray that people will getbaptized because of his story
and that ultimately, it's justgoing to lead to a surrender,
that people are going tosurrender their lives to you,
and I just thank you for this,thank you for this opportunity
(36:13):
to talk to Krista and hear herheart and just how beautiful her
journey through this has beenwith you, lord.
And so we just thank you forthat and we honor you in Jesus
name.
Kiley (36:23):
Amen, amen.
Well, krista, thank you so muchfor sharing your heart and your
family's journey with us today.
Your faith, even in the hardestmoments, is such a powerful
reminder that God is with us inthe waiting and in the pain and
in the unknown.
If you are listening today andyou're in a season of
uncertainty whether you'rewaiting for healing, for answers
or for a miracle know thatyou're not alone, healing for
(36:44):
answers or for a miracle, knowthat you're not alone.
Just like Krista and her family, you can bring every fear,
every question and every momentof heartache to the Lord.
He sees you, he hears you andhe is walking through this with
you.
Thank you for joining us foranother episode of Walkthrough.
If today's conversation spoketo you, please share it with
(37:05):
someone who needs encouragement.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss an episode.
If you'd like to stay up todate on Krista and Landon's
story, we'll be posting herFacebook link in the show notes,
so be sure to check it out soyou can follow along.
Next week, we'll be hearingfrom a widow who has walked
through the depths of grief withthe Lord by her side.
It's a conversation about loss,healing and the unwavering
(37:26):
presence of God in the midst ofsorrow.
You won't want to miss it.
Until next time, keep walking,keep trusting and know that you
are never alone.
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