August 24, 2025 • 39 mins
Katie Hauck's powerful testimony will transform how you view faithfulness and purpose in seemingly small acts of obedience. With raw vulnerability, Katie shares her journey from deep shame about her blended family to discovering beauty in brokenness, ultimately reaching millions through prison ministries after years of apparent ministry failure.
Her perspective on Isaiah—who prophesied faithfully for sixty years, likely died believing he'd failed, yet became one of history's greatest prophets—offers profound encouragement for anyone wondering if their efforts matter. "The Lord may be using you in ways you can't see," Katie reminds us, challenging our culture's obsession with immediate, measurable results.
Katie's fresh insight on Jesus feeding the 5,000 might forever change how you read this familiar story. Why did only one boy offer his lunch? Katie suggests others either hoarded their provisions or believed their small offering wasn't enough to matter. "God doesn't need it to be enough," she explains. "He just needs your obedience to give what you have, and He'll multiply it."
For anyone struggling with shame about past mistakes, feeling inadequate in ministry, or wondering if small acts of faithfulness truly matter, this conversation offers life-giving perspective. You'll walk away with renewed confidence that God works through our broken pieces, insufficient offerings, and humble obedience to create extraordinary impact—often in ways we may never witness in our lifetime.
What small act of obedience might God be asking of you today? What "not enough" offering is He waiting for you to surrender? Listen now and rediscover how God's kingdom advances through ordinary people doing faithful things.
Watch Katie’s story:
https://youtu.be/wdemK7h2APM
Connect with Katie at
Katie Hauck Ministries - Katie Hauck Ministries
https://generationstogenerations.com/podcast
ordinarypeoplestories@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/ordinarypeoplestory
https://www.instagram.com/ordinarypeopleextraordinary/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nancy Bruscher (00:01):
I'm Nancy Brusher and I'm your host for
Ordinary People ExtraordinaryThings, and I'm so glad that
you've joined us.
If you're listening in theUnited States or any of the
other 112 countries, I'm sohappy you've found us.
We are talking about faith andhope, and today I get to talk to
Katie Hawk and she has anamazing story of how she
(00:24):
overcame shame.
But she also has some impactfulBible stories that are going to
resonate with you.
If you've ever wondered if thesmall faithful things you're
doing are enough, stay tuned.
I promise you'll walk awayrecommitted to what God has
called you to.
And if you'd like to watch thisinterview, it is on YouTube.
Find us at JenNancy that'sG-E-N.
(00:47):
Nancy, and you'll see many ofour Ordinary People
Extraordinary Things podcastinterviews.
Make sure to like, subscribeand leave a comment.
Let's get started.
Welcome to Ordinary PeopleExtraordinary Things.
I'm so glad to have Katie Hawkon the podcast.
Katie, thanks for being on.
Katie Hauck (01:05):
Hi, it's an honor and a blessing.
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited.
Nancy Bruscher (01:09):
One of the most wonderful things about doing
this podcast is the most amazingpeople I get to meet and talk
to, and you have just openedyour heart to me and just when
we were talking and seeing ifyou were going to be on, I just
got really real with you and youwere so gracious and loving
during that time and justministered to my heart.
(01:29):
So thank you for all that youdo.
Katie Hauck (01:33):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
It's a joy and I'm praying thatthis podcast reaches the
multitudes right.
So yes.
Nancy Bruscher (01:43):
If people don't know who you are, can you give
three words or phrases todescribe yourself?
Katie Hauck (01:48):
Yeah, so I'm really bad at describing myself.
I'm gonna give this a shot.
I just always feel like thosewords are like very arrogant and
bragging, you know and I don'twant to come across that way at
all, because I'm not, but 100%.
I've been praying about this,like because you had mentioned
three words, and I'm like well,what three words can I use?
I'm very driven, like, verydriven.
(02:10):
If the Lord gives me something,like I am on it, like probably
sometimes to my detriment,because I don't always sit and
wait for him to reveal all thedetails of it so very driven to
do what the Lord has called meto do.
Very passionate, passionateabout people, passionate about
the word of God, passionateabout sharing the gospel.
(02:31):
And then I would say teacher, Ilove to teach.
Teaching is my favorite thing.
I get the opportunity to teachoften and I take it every chance
that I can get so that those Iwould say driven, passionate
teacher.
Nancy Bruscher (02:47):
And are you talking about being a homeschool
mom?
Are you talking about speakingand preaching?
What?
What kind of teaching All of it?
Katie Hauck (02:55):
All of it.
I have seven kids in the housestill.
Out of all of our kids, onegraduated, but two of them I
full-time homeschool and thenthe other two I part-time
homeschool.
But then I also teach atCelebrate Recovery, I teach in
the jails, I teach in threewomen's rehab facilities Like I
just want to teach, so all of it.
Nancy Bruscher (03:17):
Yes, yes, and we'll have to link your things
because I have been reallyimpacted by your speaking, so we
will for sure do that.
What else you said?
You were driven to do what Godhas told you to do?
What has God told you to doright now?
Katie Hauck (03:30):
Several years ago, the Lord said go on YouTube.
And I was like, okay, I don'teven watch YouTube.
So I went on YouTube and waslike what do I do with this?
Do I talk about being ahomeschool mom?
Do I talking about living on afarm?
Do I talk about Jesus?
Which obviously I knew I wantedJesus to be part of it.
God told me to go on YouTube,but like how much a part of it.
(03:50):
And so I went through this longjourney of trying to understand
exactly what he was calling meto.
But because I'm driven, it waslike full force in this, full
force in this, whatever it was.
And then it was.
There was.
There was no fruit that wecould see.
I hired someone to help me andwe were putting out videos every
single day and we were like twoand a half years into it and
(04:12):
had finally built up 2,400subscribers.
Like we were praying for that2,500 subscriber.
And uh, and one day I'm likeLord, I have been going and
going and going.
I don't even like this at thispoint, like I feel like it's all
numbers driven.
I feel like I'm seeing no fruit.
Can you just, can you just takeover and like show me what to
do and like, just do it for me.
(04:33):
And it took me that long tosurrender that to him.
And in three months the Lordradically changed how our
ministry was reaching people,how we were talking to them,
what we were sharing, and wewent from 2,400 subscribers to,
I mean we crossed to about 150.
And today we're at 215, give ortake.
(04:55):
I don't even pay that muchattention to the numbers anymore
, but every day I feel called todo something to reach those
people through social media andthrough the videos and the
shorts and the teachings that wecreate, and so that's what
drives me most of the days.
That's mostly what I'm doing,but that ties hand in hand with
(05:17):
so those videos go into thealmost.
The numbers were just updatedand, again, I'm not that great
with paying attention to thenumbers, but I think we're in
over a thousand jails now.
I have a drive to to showpeople that, no matter what
they've done, it's not too late,like they are loved, and it's
not too late for the Lord and umand and he's always waiting
there for them, no matter what,and so I have a drive to let
(05:39):
people know how loved they areby their father.
You have to turn around andshare that love with others and
to read your Bible.
I want people to read theirBibles.
So that was a really longanswer to your question.
I'm not even sure I answered itproperly, but no that's so good
.
Nancy Bruscher (05:54):
I think sometimes I'll say me or we or
people we get really intolistening to sermons or podcasts
and that's what you and I bothdo and it's so wonderful.
But if we forget to actually goback and have our number one be
the Bible, we could get led offby someone who, knowingly or
(06:17):
unknowingly, in the right heart,is not teaching exactly what
the Bible says.
So I love that you're saying goback to the Bible and did your
ministry as when your shifthappened about two and a half
years in, did that go more intothe jails Did you start to?
Is that what God kind of toldyou?
Katie Hauck (06:39):
And so, okay, when I first started YouTube, I took
some classes and I took classeswith really well known, because
I was, I go all in right.
And so the Lord said go onYouTube.
So I found the best YouTubers,the best producers of YouTube
videos, and there was a classand I applied for the class and
they accepted me and I tooktheir class and what they kept
(07:00):
saying is you have to chooseyour audience.
They call it an avatar.
You have to know who you'respeaking to.
And that was really hard to me,and I was, you know, just
crossed like 40-ish years old,and I was like, well, I'm pretty
sure I'm going to talk to women, probably women in their
thirties, who are married andhave a couple of kids and they
go to church, but maybe they'renot, like their life is busy
(07:23):
with all their kids and theirjobs or whatever it is, and so
they don't put as much time intothe Lord as possible.
And so that's who I was tryingto reach for all those years.
I sat down with the person whoput on this class at one point
and my husband and then the guythat had partnered with me to
produce the videos.
The four of us sat down througha Zoom call and he was asking
(07:44):
me about my audience and I toldhim and he's like, you know, I
just I don't, I don't feel likethat's the right audience for
you and I'm like but that's whoI relate to, that's who I was,
you know, like this busy mom whodidn't give enough time to the
Lord.
And he and out of the blue,randomly.
I've had a thousandconversations with my husband
out of the blue, randomly.
(08:04):
He goes, I don't know, katie, Ifeel like maybe you need to
reach broken women, like reallybroken women that came from a
lot of dysfunction and things.
And I just looked at him likewhere did that come from?
And that well-known YouTuber,he goes, that's it.
That's it, that's who you'recalled to, katie.
And I was like I don't have abackground in addiction.
(08:25):
Yes, I have brokenness, we allhave brokenness, right.
But I lived in a pretty stablefamily.
You know like things happened,but I didn't have this level of
dysfunction of so many peopleout there.
I was like, how can I reachthese people?
And the Lord said, well, maybeI don't need you to reach them,
maybe I want to be the one thatreaches them through you.
And so I stepped back and Isaid, okay, where do you want me
(08:47):
to go?
And he led me.
I'd never stepped foot in aCelebrate Recovery or a jail or
anything at that point.
And the Lord led me toCelebrate Recovery and I'm like,
what am I going to do?
I've never been in addiction,right.
But then I realized that we allhave these hurts, habits and
hangups that we need to healfrom.
And then he led me into thejail.
And then he led me intopartnering with God Behind Bars
(09:10):
to get the videos into hundredsand hundreds and hundreds of
jails.
And so none of that was on myradar.
None of that was what I wastrying to do, because I hadn't
taken the time to seek him, ormaybe I wasn't ready for the
answer that he was going to giveme and it just took me that
much time to get there.
And so radical shift ineverything that we did in our
(09:32):
ministry.
Nancy Bruscher (09:33):
Wow, and that's so interesting because what I
would mostly think is okay inorder to reach someone in jail,
you've had to have been in jailor known someone in jail or
something, but that's so God isalways like doing the
unexplainable right.
Katie Hauck (09:51):
Yes, he blows my mind.
Nancy Bruscher (09:55):
So how did you come to know Jesus?
Katie Hauck (10:01):
So I feel like when I was born I believed that
there was a God Like from as farback as I can remember I would
pray.
I fully trusted that there wasa God.
My parents were not believers.
I share a really great storyabout my dad and why he wasn't a
believer, but I won't.
It's long, I won't go into that.
But I was raised by parents whodidn't go to church.
(10:23):
Like my grandparents had usbaptized, my parents didn't go,
you know, because they wouldjust weren't believers in that
at the time, and I would gooccasionally with my
grandparents, but verylegalistic church, a lot of
rules.
And then I had a dad that Iadored.
He had been to prison before Iwas born and so he never wanted
to go back and so I felt like hehad a lot of rules and so this
(10:44):
God that I believed in was a Godwith a lot of rules, right, as
long as I was following all ofhis rules.
Then he loved me and that'sreally all I knew.
Like I went to some churcheswith some friends and things
growing up, but I didn'tunderstand.
I was either immature, notpaying enough attention to
understand salvation and Jesusand everything, the loving
(11:06):
father that we have.
And so then, when I was about18, I got married and he wasn't
really a believer and we werenot making the greatest choices
and I thought, well, gosh, youknow, I just am going to ignore
God now because he probablydoesn't love me that much.
And then I went through adivorce and became a single mom
with two kids and I thought,well, I can't take my two kids
(11:28):
to church.
You know, I had all thesereasons why I couldn't go.
But then I met a man who is nowmy husband, but he took me to
church and he told me about kidschurch which I'd never even
heard of, and taught me aboutJesus and salvation and grace
and mercy and things that I hadnever understood.
So I was 27 years old when Iwent.
(11:50):
Oh, this is not what I thought,and I gave my heart to the Lord
at 27 years old and beganfollowing him then.
Such a wonderful story.
Nancy Bruscher (12:01):
So I don't know if you brought this word up
during this time, but before,when we were talking about you
talked about the shame that youfelt and you might not have said
that word, but I think thatword was in there.
As far as you know, I didn'twant to do this.
I didn't think I could go tochurch.
I didn't think I could come toJesus with my life not there.
What would you say to someonewho feels shame?
Katie Hauck (12:22):
Yeah, shame is something that I struggled with
a lot and through CelebrateRecovery, I now claim that I
have a Celebrate Recovery fromdealing with shame Not that it
doesn't try to creep back inthere sometimes but can I share
just a little bit about why Ifelt so much shame and how it
brought me out of that, becausethat'll help set up what I would
(12:42):
tell someone.
And I'll be brief, but I toldyou that I had gotten married at
18 and was certain I was goingto live the rest of my life
content with that man and wewere going to have the perfect
life.
And everyone told me I was tooyoung and I didn't believe them.
But eight years later, when Iwent through a divorce and
became a single mom, it was thefirst time that I felt deep
shame, like deep shame, becauseeveryone told me I shouldn't
(13:03):
have married him.
Everyone told me I was tooyoung and now they were proven
right and I was wrong and I wasashamed to tell people that.
And then I met my currenthusband, who's the most
wonderful man of God you couldimagine, and he had also been
through a divorce.
He had adopted his first sonand then had two children with
his first wife and about a yearbefore my divorce he had gone
(13:24):
through a divorce and so when wemet each other and got married,
five children came with us intothat marriage and then we got
pregnant and had twins, so thatbrought two more, and then the
Lord called us to adopt.
So we adopted two children andsince then the Lord has called
us to an organization calledSafe Families, where we ended up
getting custody of two morechildren.
And then there was a girl thatwe kind of picked up along the
(13:46):
way and became parents to her,and so now we have these 12
children that we claim are ours.
And when you meet someone theyalways ask like hi, who are you?
Where are you from?
How many kids do you have?
Right?
Like that's just normalconversation.
And to say 12 was kind of likeuh, 12, you know, and then, oh,
are they yours?
Like people would ask thatthat's like the first question
(14:08):
and I would just say yes,because they are mine, are mine,
the Lord gave them to me, eventhough only four of them
biologically are mine, and andso I would, I would pretend or
put on this, this idea, that myhusband and I have this perfect,
happy marriage and everythingwas wonderful and we, we just
loved children, we just kepthaving them right, and so I
(14:28):
didn't want people to know likeit took my brokenness and my
husband's brokenness and theseother families brokenness right
To form our family, like it wasbuilt on brokenness, and I
didn't want people to know that.
But my husband, he has no shameand he would just be like yeah,
they're not really all ours,you know.
And he'd start telling themabout our divorces and different
things, and I would just sitthere feeling so ashamed because
(14:52):
my life didn't turn out the waythat I thought that it would
and I wanted people to thinkthat it did, and so I just kept
being embarrassed by that and itjust kept coming up.
And that's how the Lord, Ithink, works on us.
When he wants us to overcomesomething, was he keeps on
putting us in situations wherewe have to deal with it.
And so finally, one day, I'mlike Lord, I don't want to keep
(15:14):
telling people about all of thisbrokenness.
And the Lord said well, howabout, instead of telling them
about all that you did, whydon't you tell them about all
that I've done?
And that just radically changedmy picture.
And instead of seeing brokenness, what I saw was beauty.
And I saw how the Lord saidwhen you give me your brokenness
(15:34):
, I'll put it together.
And I look at my family and Ican't imagine something more
beautiful than what it is right,and the way that the Lord has
used this family and the waythat he brought random people
from around the world togetherto create this family.
And he did it, and he gets theglory and I don't have to be
ashamed of my past, becauseinstead, I can give him the
(15:56):
glory for what he's done withthat past.
And so when I meet these womenespecially who have this
brokenness and they've beenthrough trauma and divorce and
abuse and addiction and singlemotherhood right, okay, okay,
but what did the Lord do withthat and what can he do with
that let's focus on giving himthe glory, because I promise you
(16:17):
, I promise you, if you take allthose broken pieces and you put
them in your hand and you sayhere, lord, do something with
them, he's going to.
That's what, like, that's whathe says, that's his, that's who
he is, that's what his desiresare, but it's so that he gets
the glory.
So, instead of focusing on ourshame and our brokenness, let's
(16:38):
focus on the beautiful picturethat he creates through that.
Nancy Bruscher (16:40):
That's good.
So good, Do you feel and thisdoesn't have anything to do with
shame, but do you feel likesometimes people just want a
short answer as far as how manykids do you have?
Katie Hauck (16:56):
And that may be a little part of why you're like I
don't even want to get intothis.
Yes, yes, Because often it'sjust like conversation oh, where
are you from?
Oh, originally from Illinois.
Oh, how many kids do you have?
Oh, 12.
And then they're like wait, youknow, I didn't think this would
be a long conversation.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Nancy Bruscher (17:16):
So do you always go into your whole story or
sometimes, like if you can seethat they're not really trying
to go deep, do you just keep itsurface, or do you always try to
show God's glory in that story?
Katie Hauck (17:28):
So I try to use discernment in that I try to
show God's glory in that as muchas possible, and so as much as
I can I will, I will go intothat.
But you know that took me acouple minutes right to share,
and so sometimes I just say alot and move on and ask them a
question, or I'm not sure I'dhave to call home to see how
many are there right now, youknow, and something funny and
(17:49):
and and just sort of move on.
What about you, you know, andso it sort of depends on the
situation.
Nancy Bruscher (17:55):
That's so funny.
You have to call home.
I love that one.
So when we were on the phonetalking about if we were going
to be able to do this podcast,you brought up something that
has been on my mind ever sinceand you talked about the
faithfulness and being faithfulin the small things, and then
you shared a story from theBible because we went back to
(18:17):
the Bible of the prophet Isaiahand how he was faithful.
And could you share that story?
Because, like it has, literallyit's I don't know if I want to
say blown my mind, but it has,and I've read through the Bible
many times, but I thinksometimes you don't get those
years right, you don't quiteunderstand, or that part didn't
(18:39):
click or something like that.
So I would love for you toshare that with our listeners.
Katie Hauck (18:45):
Yeah, so I think what started our conversation
was that we were talking aboutin ministry and how the Lord
calls us to something, and thenwe want it to be successful
right Because if the Lord callsit, we should have fruit.
It should be successful right.
That's just it is.
That's how ministry is.
And so when you're doingsomething and you're being
obedient and you're not seeingfruit and you're not seeing
(19:06):
success or in my case, I wasn'tseeing numbers on my YouTube
channel, or I would do a Biblestudy and nobody would come, or
I would write blogs and nobodywould read them and I would
teach a class and again likenobody cared, and I'm like God,
I feel like you're calling me todo these things, but no one's
coming and it's not successful.
(19:28):
Okay, at least it's notsuccessful according to the
world and how the world definessuccess.
But when I was complaining tothe Lord one time about that
success, he showed me how he heviews success very differently
than we do and in a verydifferent timeframe than we do.
And so he brought me to Isaiah.
And as I started to study Isaiah, I realized Isaiah came at a
(19:50):
time when there was a lot ofbrokenness in Israel in the Old
Testament, and the Lord calledIsaiah to prophesy to the people
and to warn them.
Warn them to turn back fromtheir wicked ways, turn back to
the Lord right, because if theydidn't, there was judgment
coming and there was exilecoming and these Assyria and
Babylon.
They were going to come andtake over these nations right
(20:12):
and Israel had already split andthey were living these wicked
lives.
And so God told Isaiah warnthem about what's coming.
And so Isaiah warned them andhe prophesied and he spoke for
60 years.
60 years, that's our best guess, based on the Kings Like he
doesn't say it was 60 years inthere, which is why it's so easy
(20:32):
to miss but based on the kingsthat he prophesied under.
We believe 60 years heprophesied and they got so tired
of hearing him that they sawedhim in half to shut him up.
That's what tradition tells us,that the sawing wasn't in
scripture, but that's whathistory and tradition tells us,
that they just wanted him toquit talking and they sought him
(20:56):
in half.
And I believe Isaiah diedthinking he had failed because
Israel didn't turn back, theydidn't fix things, they didn't
turn back to the Lord and givetheir hearts back to them.
And I believe he died believinghe was a failure.
Give their hearts back to them.
And I believe he died believinghe was a failure.
But today, today, we read thebook of Isaiah and his prophecy,
(21:19):
and we know that he's one ofthe greatest prophets that ever
existed.
We know that his book is calledthe fifth gospel because
there's so many references toJesus Christ that today we can
look back and see.
And we see like he proved theMessiah.
You know through his writings,and it's like this amazing man
that one day I cannot wait tomeet in heaven.
(21:40):
But he died thinking he failed,and so it's just such a
beautiful picture when the Lordshowed me that that I don't know
who he's using me to reach.
But it's not about me and it'snot about me hitting certain
numbers and being a certainthing or getting a certain
accolade from people.
It's not even about mepreaching the gospel and
watching others come tosalvation.
(22:01):
It's not about that at all.
The lord says I'm using you andyou have no idea what I'm going
to do with your ministry.
You have no idea what, ahundred years from now, this
will look like, or even in anarea that I just don't get to
see, and I may die believinggosh.
Lord, you didn't do anythingwith me and I'll get to heaven
and he'll be like look at all ofthese lives that were changed
through the gospel because youwere obedient.
(22:23):
And so I just love that aboutIsaiah.
Nancy Bruscher (22:27):
So when people say and we hear this a lot, or
I've been hearing it a lot islike it's the small things that
move God's kingdom and it's thefaithfulness God asks us to keep
being faithful, faithful,faithful.
And so if someone is listeningor is feeling that of like I'm
trying to be faithful inwhatever God's called me to the
(22:49):
workplace homeschooling, being astay-at-home mom, whatever
God's called me to the workplace, homeschooling, being a
stay-at-home mom I mean afterretirement and I'm trying to
help my kids or my grandkids, orwherever you are, would you
tell them to think back toIsaiah?
Would you give them some otherkind of an encouragement on how
to stay faithful?
Katie Hauck (23:07):
Gosh, there's so many directions.
I could take that, and I thinkabout a different study that I
did one time about how the Lordcalled people to something right
and I use Moses and Jeremiahand Gideon as examples in the
Old Testament and how the Lordcalled them to something and
(23:28):
they felt completely inadequateand they made all these excuses
and the Lord basically said,okay, quit making excuses, just
go Right.
And they did amazing things.
Like Moses was this amazing manright.
Like he led millions ofIsraelites across the Red Sea
and saw this dramatic miracleand saw, you know, food rain
(23:48):
down from heaven, and like itwas dramatic and it was amazing.
But then I would go to a mannamed Ananias in Acts, and he
called God to pray for Paul whohad just been blinded because he
had an experience with the Lord.
And Ananias was afraid becausehe knew that Paul was coming to
arrest Christians you know,believers in Jesus and he was
(24:11):
afraid to go.
And the Lord said go and hewent and he prayed over Paul and
Paul received his sight backand that's it.
That's all he did, right?
Yet the person he prayed overbecame the greatest missionary
of all time Right, the greatestchurch planter that ever existed
, right, but Ananias believed hejust helped one person, right,
just one, that's it.
(24:31):
But God needed him.
God needed someone to have thefaith and the obedience to do
something, even though it wasscary, even though it was
outside of his comfort zone,even though it didn't make sense
, even though it seemed small,to change the world.
And so, like in those smallthings, you have no idea what
God's going to do with thosesmall things.
(24:52):
You may think, gosh, I've onlyever shared the gospel with one
person.
Well, you know what that oneperson could be?
The next great evangelist thatleads millions to Christ, right?
Well, I only take care of mykids?
Right, but you have no ideawhat your children are going to
do in the kingdom of God whenthey grow up, right?
Or I've only ever, you know,I'm just a stay at home mom.
Okay, do it with glory, andpeople will watch you and
(25:14):
they'll see things in it.
Right, like we don't even knowGod's ways.
The Bible tells us God's waysare not our ways, right, we
can't begin to understand whathe's going to do with our
obedience, right?
So, even though it doesn't looklike you're doing very much,
even though it doesn't look likeyou're seeing fruit from it,
even though it looks like oh,I'm frustrated.
Do I keep going?
Yes, just keep going, becauseone day you may look back and
(25:39):
say, wow, look what God did withmy little tiny acts of
obedience.
And one more.
I'm sorry talk a lot because Ijust love this.
Bible.
But there's one more story Ithink about when Jesus fed the
5,000, right, and here's what Ithink about my family got to be
on the Chosen and we got to bein the scene where Jesus fed the
(26:00):
5,000.
We're not on camera, but wewere there and it was an awesome
experience, right, and therewere literally 5,000 people
there for that filming, and Ilooked around and I thought to
myself I had a bag full ofsnacks for my kids in between
filming and I had to hide itbecause it wasn't like, didn't
line up with the century that wewere in, and so I had to hide
this back.
But bad, but when they wouldpause the filming, I take it out
(26:23):
, give my kids snacks, becausemy kids need to eat.
And so I started thinking aboutthe original 5,000 people or
more, I mean theologians saycould have been as many as
15,000 people were there, right,and I can't believe that no
mother came ready to listen toJesus for as long as he spoke,
without snacks for the children,without food, right, and so I'm
(26:45):
like so why was it when Jesussaid who has food?
Go out among the people andfind out what you can have?
Only one boy was willing totalk about his food.
Only one boy brought his loavesand his fish, even though it
wasn't enough.
I thought I know other peoplethere had food, I know they did.
(27:06):
So what were they?
Just keeping it for themselves,like my family's going to need
this, I can't share this or didthey think it's not enough?
It's not enough.
What I have to give isn'tenough, right?
But God didn't need it to beenough, right?
(27:26):
Jesus needed the faithfulnessand obedience to say here you
can have this.
I know it's not enough, buthere you go.
And then he multiplied it inways that we can't even begin to
imagine.
And I think what if we sat athome thinking what I have to
give isn't enough?
Teaching one thing this onetime isn't enough, reaching this
one person?
It's not enough.
And the Lord says I don't needit to be enough.
I just need you to obedientlygive it to me.
(27:46):
Give me your time, give me yourresources, give me whatever you
know, the little amount ofmoney that's in your bank
account, whatever it is, give itto me, I'll multiply it.
I just need your obedience.
And so just continue to befaithful and obedient, even when
it feels like it's not enough,even when it feels like it's not
successful, like the Lord willdo the miracle.
(28:09):
He just needs you to stepforward and give him what you
have.
Nancy Bruscher (28:13):
Oh, katie, thank you.
I have never heard.
I've heard this like thepreaching of that so many times,
specifically the the multimultiplying the lunchbox or
whatever they want to call it.
But that is so interesting that, like, the gospel does not say
that more people had it, butlike, yes, out of that many
(28:33):
people, no one brought any foodexcept for one boy.
Like no one brought anything,for I mean, they would have had
to walk and know they were goingto be.
Like that makes so much sensethat there had to have been and,
yes, maybe one of those twothings stopped them.
Oh, again, wow, I'm going to bethinking about this for so long
(28:54):
and I hope that people start tolisten to some more of your
speaking, because I thinkthey'll be greatly impacted by
it.
But, as we wrap up, what Bibleverse or story is one of your
favorites right now?
Katie Hauck (29:09):
So every time I teach on something I say this
one's my favorite.
I think I have a lot offavorites, but I'll share
quickly both my favorite verseand probably my favorite passage
at the moment.
But my favorite verse is Romans8, 28.
God works all things togetherfor the good of those who love
him, who are called according tohis purpose, and I think that's
so beautiful because when Ipicture the brokenness that he
(29:31):
did in my life, I think abouthow he worked it together for my
good and his glory, and I thinkhe wants to do that for all
people, and so that's justreally beautiful.
But there's a passage in theBible that probably is my
favorite.
It's found in Mark, chapter nine, and a man has a son who is
filled with demons and he bringsthem to the disciples and the
(29:52):
disciples can't cast out thedemons.
So he brings the boy to Jesusand he says can you heal him?
Basically, this is the Katieversion.
Right, go read it for yourselfand whatever version you want to
read, but this is mytranslation.
And Jesus basically was likecan I?
Well, anything's possible forthose who believe.
And the man says, well, Ibelieve, help my unbelief.
(30:14):
And that's one of my favoritelines in scripture because I
think it's so relevant and it'sso real and raw and vulnerable.
And it's how I feel at times.
Like I believe I believe, but Ialso have some unbelief that
I'm dealing with right.
Like I believe you're theMessiah, but I have unbelief
about whether or not you canactually heal.
I believe you have a plan, butI have unbelief about whether or
(30:35):
not it's actually going to workout.
I believe you know, and so it'sjust the most real and raw verse
, I think, from anyone inscripture that's just like so
relevant to my life, like yes, Ibelieve, I believe I believe,
but I'm also struggling withthis unbelief in this area, and
so I just I love that because itmakes me like, gives me grace
(30:57):
for myself when I'm struggling,when I'm praying for someone for
healing, but I'm struggling tobelieve it, or I'm praying for a
situation and I'm struggling tobelieve it that God still
healed that man's son.
He healed him.
That it took faith, but it alsothere was grace for the lack of
faith when he was honest aboutit.
Nancy Bruscher (31:17):
So that I just feel like God's saying Nancy,
tell this story.
So, if you'll, if you'll, letme.
What you are saying just reallyreminded me, and you know I
believe in prayer, I believe inin just big miracles.
But last December there was aman from our church that was
(31:39):
dying from cancer and I got tobe with him and his family and
walk this journey with him.
And the family called and askedif I could come in.
They said, you know, they thinkhe only has like a day to live.
And so I went and we prayed andhe was like I really want to go
to church one more time.
And I was like, yeah, I think.
(32:06):
In my head I was like it's notgoing to happen.
Like I'm looking at you, thedoctors, the nurses are saying
this, like there's no way you'regetting out of this bed.
So I'm thinking that and so wepray and I actually I pray for
it.
But I even stipulated in theprayer God, if, like, he can't
go to church, could you have himhave peace about it?
That's how little I believed.
That prayer Kind of breaks myheart that I said that.
But then a few days later I geta text from his daughter we're
(32:31):
going to church on Sunday.
No, he called me, the mancalled me and he's like I'm
coming to church.
And it was on voicemail becauseI couldn't pick it up.
So I texted his daughter and Iwas like, is your dad kind of
going insane?
Like what, what's happening?
And he's like she's like no,we're coming to church.
I was like what?
And they did, and God gave hima few more weeks and that has
(32:57):
just really impacted me on likenot trying to put God in the
worldly box.
Like really praying and reallybelieving and knowing he can do
anything.
And I mean, I think I'llprobably always struggle with it
(33:18):
.
And maybe part of it, if I'mbeing honest, is we know that
God sometimes says no right andso you're asking for a miracle
and you know he can do it.
But if I ask so blatantly andhe doesn't do it, will that hurt
my heart as well?
Katie Hauck (33:35):
Yeah, and to that my dad died of cancer and I
fully believed that he was goingto live, and that's why I've
struggled with believing forhealing for so many years.
And I spoke to a pastor friendof mine one time and I said how
do you handle that Believing forhealing when you've seen people
fail?
And he said, well, I choose tostand on the word of God, not my
(33:58):
circumstances fail.
And he said, well, I choose tostand on the word of God, not my
circumstances.
So I will stand on the word ofGod and the promises of God, not
my experiences andcircumstances and lack of things
in this world.
And then accepting that hisways are not our ways, right,
and so that was powerful for me.
I will choose to stand on thisis what your word says.
I'm standing on it, even if itdoesn't happen.
That's not my problem.
Not my problem to explain whyit didn't happen or even
(34:20):
understand why it didn't happen,which we know from the book of
Job, that it's not, it's not us,we weren't there when he
created the world, right and so.
But that's a hard one, and so Iprobably would have prayed a
similar prayer as you.
You know give him peace if hecan't come to church.
How amazing that the Lord,despite that, answered that
prayer and let him go to churchagain.
(34:44):
That's so cool.
Nancy Bruscher (34:45):
It is what are you grateful for?
Katie Hauck (34:48):
I wake up every day .
And don't get me wrong, we'vehad hard days, right.
We have four children in myhouse right now that weren't
born from me or my husband.
That came from a lot of traumaand there's a lot of ups and
downs with that.
The Lord has called me to starta relationship with some of
their biological family andthat's hard, right.
(35:11):
It's hard to see thatbrokenness.
It's hard to deal with the kids.
It's hard to be so busy.
There's a lot of hard.
The kids.
It's hard to be so busy, likethere's a lot of hard.
But every day I wake up and Ilook around at my husband and my
kids and our house and myministry and my church and
everything that he's broughtinto my life and I'm like, why
did you do this?
Like he's given me suchgratefulness for the things that
(35:36):
he's done and the people thathe's put into my path that I
can't even understand.
Even in the heart, even in theheart, it's like, no, it's an
honor and a blessing to be usedin this heart and so, um, I'm
grateful for everything, uh,everything.
And I'm grateful for you, um,doing this podcast.
(35:58):
I love, like I'm so passionateabout sharing stories and
sharing testimonies because, Imean, revelation tells us we
overcome by the blood of thelamb, which is most important,
but the word of our testimony,and so I'm just praying that
your podcast blows up and thatmillions watch it.
Whether that's in your lifetimeor down the road, I don't know,
(36:18):
but I know the Lord has a planfor it, and so I'm grateful that
I get to be a part of it.
And because I know he's goingto do something with it, I know
he is, and so I'm grateful forthat and all of it.
Nancy Bruscher (36:35):
What is a kindness you have received or a
kindness that you've shown inthe last week?
Katie Hauck (36:39):
What is a kindness you have received or a kindness
that you've shown in the lastweek.
This to me was like the mostkind thing and it's just such a
blessing.
So I told you that we're injails and I think the number is
over 1,000 right now and I getletters every day from inmates,
every day letters from inmates.
I read every single one of them.
I love getting the letters, butI can't personally respond to
(37:00):
all of the letters that come in,and and nor would I, because
the majority of letters are frommen, and I just I don't believe
that that's appropriate tobuild that sort of relationship
with a man.
But I so desperately wantedthese men to have a personal
response, and so I prayed about,like Lord, how do we do this?
Like I would send them ageneric letter, like, hey, we're
(37:21):
praying for you, because I do.
I pray for all of them.
I read every letter, but it justdidn't feel the same as having
something personal.
Go back to these people who areincarcerated, who are seeking
God, who are feeling broken andneed some encouragement.
And I had an organization thatI got in touch with.
It's a men's 12-monthfaith-based rehabilitation
(37:41):
program called Fountain of Hope,and they agreed to write
letters to all of these men,personal handwritten letters to
these men who are incarcerated.
And so I showed up at church onTuesday and they had a stack of
letters for me to send back tothe inmates.
And it just brings me so muchjoy to know that there's this
(38:05):
group of people who are brokenthemselves right.
They're in recovery, they'vejust met the Lord, many of them
are new in their walk, butthey're so kind and loving and
compassionate that they want toreach others with the same good
news and that they're willing totake some of their day and
write out these letters forthese other people.
And it just to me was like soawesome that they would do that,
(38:29):
and so that's kind of kindnessfor me, because I asked, but
really it's the kindness tothose who are incarcerated and
to the Lord, I just adore that,and so that to me this week was
like so special.
Nancy Bruscher (38:42):
Oh, that's so wonderful.
And partnering with people, Ithink, is so powerful.
Yes, yes, katie, this has beenan amazing time.
I have been so blessed by it,and I know that our listeners
are going to too, so thank youfor taking the time to chat with
us today.
Katie Hauck (39:01):
It was an honor.
Like I said, I really amviewing this as a blessing and
just believing big things foryour ministry and your podcast
and I'm excited to be a part ofit.
Nancy Bruscher (39:13):
Thank you, katie .
On Ordinary People,extraordinary Things.
Your story is His glory.
What impacted you about Katie'sstory the things that keep on
resonating with me is Isaiah's60 years of ministry and her
perspective on the 5,000 peopleJesus fed.
I can easily relate, eitherkeeping it for myself or
(39:35):
thinking it's not enough to giveto Jesus.
If any of the story resonatedwith you, make the small
difference in someone's life andshare this podcast with them
right now.
I'll be back in two weeks andwe're talking to legend.
I'm Nancy Brusher and I'm your host for
Ordinary People ExtraordinaryThings, and I'm so glad that
you've joined us.
If you're listening in theUnited States or any of the
other 112 countries, I'm sohappy you've found us.
We are talking about faith andhope, and today I get to talk to
Katie Hawk and she has anamazing story of how she
(00:24):
overcame shame.
But she also has some impactfulBible stories that are going to
resonate with you.
If you've ever wondered if thesmall faithful things you're
doing are enough, stay tuned.
I promise you'll walk awayrecommitted to what God has
called you to.
And if you'd like to watch thisinterview, it is on YouTube.
Find us at JenNancy that'sG-E-N.
(00:47):
Nancy, and you'll see many ofour Ordinary People
Extraordinary Things podcastinterviews.
Make sure to like, subscribeand leave a comment.
Let's get started.
Welcome to Ordinary PeopleExtraordinary Things.
I'm so glad to have Katie Hawkon the podcast.
Katie, thanks for being on.
Katie Hauck (01:05):
Hi, it's an honor and a blessing.
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited.
Nancy Bruscher (01:09):
One of the most wonderful things about doing
this podcast is the most amazingpeople I get to meet and talk
to, and you have just openedyour heart to me and just when
we were talking and seeing ifyou were going to be on, I just
got really real with you and youwere so gracious and loving
during that time and justministered to my heart.
(01:29):
So thank you for all that youdo.
Katie Hauck (01:33):
Absolutely, Absolutely.
It's a joy and I'm praying thatthis podcast reaches the
multitudes right.
So yes.
Nancy Bruscher (01:43):
If people don't know who you are, can you give
three words or phrases todescribe yourself?
Katie Hauck (01:48):
Yeah, so I'm really bad at describing myself.
I'm gonna give this a shot.
I just always feel like thosewords are like very arrogant and
bragging, you know and I don'twant to come across that way at
all, because I'm not, but 100%.
I've been praying about this,like because you had mentioned
three words, and I'm like well,what three words can I use?
I'm very driven, like, verydriven.
(02:10):
If the Lord gives me something,like I am on it, like probably
sometimes to my detriment,because I don't always sit and
wait for him to reveal all thedetails of it so very driven to
do what the Lord has called meto do.
Very passionate, passionateabout people, passionate about
the word of God, passionateabout sharing the gospel.
(02:31):
And then I would say teacher, Ilove to teach.
Teaching is my favorite thing.
I get the opportunity to teachoften and I take it every chance
that I can get so that those Iwould say driven, passionate
teacher.
Nancy Bruscher (02:47):
And are you talking about being a homeschool
mom?
Are you talking about speakingand preaching?
What?
What kind of teaching All of it?
Katie Hauck (02:55):
All of it.
I have seven kids in the housestill.
Out of all of our kids, onegraduated, but two of them I
full-time homeschool and thenthe other two I part-time
homeschool.
But then I also teach atCelebrate Recovery, I teach in
the jails, I teach in threewomen's rehab facilities Like I
just want to teach, so all of it.
Nancy Bruscher (03:17):
Yes, yes, and we'll have to link your things
because I have been reallyimpacted by your speaking, so we
will for sure do that.
What else you said?
You were driven to do what Godhas told you to do?
What has God told you to doright now?
Katie Hauck (03:30):
Several years ago, the Lord said go on YouTube.
And I was like, okay, I don'teven watch YouTube.
So I went on YouTube and waslike what do I do with this?
Do I talk about being ahomeschool mom?
Do I talking about living on afarm?
Do I talk about Jesus?
Which obviously I knew I wantedJesus to be part of it.
God told me to go on YouTube,but like how much a part of it.
(03:50):
And so I went through this longjourney of trying to understand
exactly what he was calling meto.
But because I'm driven, it waslike full force in this, full
force in this, whatever it was.
And then it was.
There was.
There was no fruit that wecould see.
I hired someone to help me andwe were putting out videos every
single day and we were like twoand a half years into it and
(04:12):
had finally built up 2,400subscribers.
Like we were praying for that2,500 subscriber.
And uh, and one day I'm likeLord, I have been going and
going and going.
I don't even like this at thispoint, like I feel like it's all
numbers driven.
I feel like I'm seeing no fruit.
Can you just, can you just takeover and like show me what to
do and like, just do it for me.
(04:33):
And it took me that long tosurrender that to him.
And in three months the Lordradically changed how our
ministry was reaching people,how we were talking to them,
what we were sharing, and wewent from 2,400 subscribers to,
I mean we crossed to about 150.
And today we're at 215, give ortake.
(04:55):
I don't even pay that muchattention to the numbers anymore
, but every day I feel called todo something to reach those
people through social media andthrough the videos and the
shorts and the teachings that wecreate, and so that's what
drives me most of the days.
That's mostly what I'm doing,but that ties hand in hand with
(05:17):
so those videos go into thealmost.
The numbers were just updatedand, again, I'm not that great
with paying attention to thenumbers, but I think we're in
over a thousand jails now.
I have a drive to to showpeople that, no matter what
they've done, it's not too late,like they are loved, and it's
not too late for the Lord and umand and he's always waiting
there for them, no matter what,and so I have a drive to let
(05:39):
people know how loved they areby their father.
You have to turn around andshare that love with others and
to read your Bible.
I want people to read theirBibles.
So that was a really longanswer to your question.
I'm not even sure I answered itproperly, but no that's so good
.
Nancy Bruscher (05:54):
I think sometimes I'll say me or we or
people we get really intolistening to sermons or podcasts
and that's what you and I bothdo and it's so wonderful.
But if we forget to actually goback and have our number one be
the Bible, we could get led offby someone who, knowingly or
(06:17):
unknowingly, in the right heart,is not teaching exactly what
the Bible says.
So I love that you're saying goback to the Bible and did your
ministry as when your shifthappened about two and a half
years in, did that go more intothe jails Did you start to?
Is that what God kind of toldyou?
Katie Hauck (06:39):
And so, okay, when I first started YouTube, I took
some classes and I took classeswith really well known, because
I was, I go all in right.
And so the Lord said go onYouTube.
So I found the best YouTubers,the best producers of YouTube
videos, and there was a classand I applied for the class and
they accepted me and I tooktheir class and what they kept
(07:00):
saying is you have to chooseyour audience.
They call it an avatar.
You have to know who you'respeaking to.
And that was really hard to me,and I was, you know, just
crossed like 40-ish years old,and I was like, well, I'm pretty
sure I'm going to talk to women, probably women in their
thirties, who are married andhave a couple of kids and they
go to church, but maybe they'renot, like their life is busy
(07:23):
with all their kids and theirjobs or whatever it is, and so
they don't put as much time intothe Lord as possible.
And so that's who I was tryingto reach for all those years.
I sat down with the person whoput on this class at one point
and my husband and then the guythat had partnered with me to
produce the videos.
The four of us sat down througha Zoom call and he was asking
(07:44):
me about my audience and I toldhim and he's like, you know, I
just I don't, I don't feel likethat's the right audience for
you and I'm like but that's whoI relate to, that's who I was,
you know, like this busy mom whodidn't give enough time to the
Lord.
And he and out of the blue,randomly.
I've had a thousandconversations with my husband
out of the blue, randomly.
(08:04):
He goes, I don't know, katie, Ifeel like maybe you need to
reach broken women, like reallybroken women that came from a
lot of dysfunction and things.
And I just looked at him likewhere did that come from?
And that well-known YouTuber,he goes, that's it.
That's it, that's who you'recalled to, katie.
And I was like I don't have abackground in addiction.
(08:25):
Yes, I have brokenness, we allhave brokenness, right.
But I lived in a pretty stablefamily.
You know like things happened,but I didn't have this level of
dysfunction of so many peopleout there.
I was like, how can I reachthese people?
And the Lord said, well, maybeI don't need you to reach them,
maybe I want to be the one thatreaches them through you.
And so I stepped back and Isaid, okay, where do you want me
(08:47):
to go?
And he led me.
I'd never stepped foot in aCelebrate Recovery or a jail or
anything at that point.
And the Lord led me toCelebrate Recovery and I'm like,
what am I going to do?
I've never been in addiction,right.
But then I realized that we allhave these hurts, habits and
hangups that we need to healfrom.
And then he led me into thejail.
And then he led me intopartnering with God Behind Bars
(09:10):
to get the videos into hundredsand hundreds and hundreds of
jails.
And so none of that was on myradar.
None of that was what I wastrying to do, because I hadn't
taken the time to seek him, ormaybe I wasn't ready for the
answer that he was going to giveme and it just took me that
much time to get there.
And so radical shift ineverything that we did in our
(09:32):
ministry.
Nancy Bruscher (09:33):
Wow, and that's so interesting because what I
would mostly think is okay inorder to reach someone in jail,
you've had to have been in jailor known someone in jail or
something, but that's so God isalways like doing the
unexplainable right.
Katie Hauck (09:51):
Yes, he blows my mind.
Nancy Bruscher (09:55):
So how did you come to know Jesus?
Katie Hauck (10:01):
So I feel like when I was born I believed that
there was a God Like from as farback as I can remember I would
pray.
I fully trusted that there wasa God.
My parents were not believers.
I share a really great storyabout my dad and why he wasn't a
believer, but I won't.
It's long, I won't go into that.
But I was raised by parents whodidn't go to church.
(10:23):
Like my grandparents had usbaptized, my parents didn't go,
you know, because they wouldjust weren't believers in that
at the time, and I would gooccasionally with my
grandparents, but verylegalistic church, a lot of
rules.
And then I had a dad that Iadored.
He had been to prison before Iwas born and so he never wanted
to go back and so I felt like hehad a lot of rules and so this
(10:44):
God that I believed in was a Godwith a lot of rules, right, as
long as I was following all ofhis rules.
Then he loved me and that'sreally all I knew.
Like I went to some churcheswith some friends and things
growing up, but I didn'tunderstand.
I was either immature, notpaying enough attention to
understand salvation and Jesusand everything, the loving
(11:06):
father that we have.
And so then, when I was about18, I got married and he wasn't
really a believer and we werenot making the greatest choices
and I thought, well, gosh, youknow, I just am going to ignore
God now because he probablydoesn't love me that much.
And then I went through adivorce and became a single mom
with two kids and I thought,well, I can't take my two kids
(11:28):
to church.
You know, I had all thesereasons why I couldn't go.
But then I met a man who is nowmy husband, but he took me to
church and he told me about kidschurch which I'd never even
heard of, and taught me aboutJesus and salvation and grace
and mercy and things that I hadnever understood.
So I was 27 years old when Iwent.
(11:50):
Oh, this is not what I thought,and I gave my heart to the Lord
at 27 years old and beganfollowing him then.
Such a wonderful story.
Nancy Bruscher (12:01):
So I don't know if you brought this word up
during this time, but before,when we were talking about you
talked about the shame that youfelt and you might not have said
that word, but I think thatword was in there.
As far as you know, I didn'twant to do this.
I didn't think I could go tochurch.
I didn't think I could come toJesus with my life not there.
What would you say to someonewho feels shame?
Katie Hauck (12:22):
Yeah, shame is something that I struggled with
a lot and through CelebrateRecovery, I now claim that I
have a Celebrate Recovery fromdealing with shame Not that it
doesn't try to creep back inthere sometimes but can I share
just a little bit about why Ifelt so much shame and how it
brought me out of that, becausethat'll help set up what I would
(12:42):
tell someone.
And I'll be brief, but I toldyou that I had gotten married at
18 and was certain I was goingto live the rest of my life
content with that man and wewere going to have the perfect
life.
And everyone told me I was tooyoung and I didn't believe them.
But eight years later, when Iwent through a divorce and
became a single mom, it was thefirst time that I felt deep
shame, like deep shame, becauseeveryone told me I shouldn't
(13:03):
have married him.
Everyone told me I was tooyoung and now they were proven
right and I was wrong and I wasashamed to tell people that.
And then I met my currenthusband, who's the most
wonderful man of God you couldimagine, and he had also been
through a divorce.
He had adopted his first sonand then had two children with
his first wife and about a yearbefore my divorce he had gone
(13:24):
through a divorce and so when wemet each other and got married,
five children came with us intothat marriage and then we got
pregnant and had twins, so thatbrought two more, and then the
Lord called us to adopt.
So we adopted two children andsince then the Lord has called
us to an organization calledSafe Families, where we ended up
getting custody of two morechildren.
And then there was a girl thatwe kind of picked up along the
(13:46):
way and became parents to her,and so now we have these 12
children that we claim are ours.
And when you meet someone theyalways ask like hi, who are you?
Where are you from?
How many kids do you have?
Right?
Like that's just normalconversation.
And to say 12 was kind of likeuh, 12, you know, and then, oh,
are they yours?
Like people would ask thatthat's like the first question
(14:08):
and I would just say yes,because they are mine, are mine,
the Lord gave them to me, eventhough only four of them
biologically are mine, and andso I would, I would pretend or
put on this, this idea, that myhusband and I have this perfect,
happy marriage and everythingwas wonderful and we, we just
loved children, we just kepthaving them right, and so I
(14:28):
didn't want people to know likeit took my brokenness and my
husband's brokenness and theseother families brokenness right
To form our family, like it wasbuilt on brokenness, and I
didn't want people to know that.
But my husband, he has no shameand he would just be like yeah,
they're not really all ours,you know.
And he'd start telling themabout our divorces and different
things, and I would just sitthere feeling so ashamed because
(14:52):
my life didn't turn out the waythat I thought that it would
and I wanted people to thinkthat it did, and so I just kept
being embarrassed by that and itjust kept coming up.
And that's how the Lord, Ithink, works on us.
When he wants us to overcomesomething, was he keeps on
putting us in situations wherewe have to deal with it.
And so finally, one day, I'mlike Lord, I don't want to keep
(15:14):
telling people about all of thisbrokenness.
And the Lord said well, howabout, instead of telling them
about all that you did, whydon't you tell them about all
that I've done?
And that just radically changedmy picture.
And instead of seeing brokenness, what I saw was beauty.
And I saw how the Lord saidwhen you give me your brokenness
(15:34):
, I'll put it together.
And I look at my family and Ican't imagine something more
beautiful than what it is right,and the way that the Lord has
used this family and the waythat he brought random people
from around the world togetherto create this family.
And he did it, and he gets theglory and I don't have to be
ashamed of my past, becauseinstead, I can give him the
(15:56):
glory for what he's done withthat past.
And so when I meet these womenespecially who have this
brokenness and they've beenthrough trauma and divorce and
abuse and addiction and singlemotherhood right, okay, okay,
but what did the Lord do withthat and what can he do with
that let's focus on giving himthe glory, because I promise you
(16:17):
, I promise you, if you take allthose broken pieces and you put
them in your hand and you sayhere, lord, do something with
them, he's going to.
That's what, like, that's whathe says, that's his, that's who
he is, that's what his desiresare, but it's so that he gets
the glory.
So, instead of focusing on ourshame and our brokenness, let's
(16:38):
focus on the beautiful picturethat he creates through that.
Nancy Bruscher (16:40):
That's good.
So good, Do you feel and thisdoesn't have anything to do with
shame, but do you feel likesometimes people just want a
short answer as far as how manykids do you have?
Katie Hauck (16:56):
And that may be a little part of why you're like I
don't even want to get intothis.
Yes, yes, Because often it'sjust like conversation oh, where
are you from?
Oh, originally from Illinois.
Oh, how many kids do you have?
Oh, 12.
And then they're like wait, youknow, I didn't think this would
be a long conversation.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Nancy Bruscher (17:16):
So do you always go into your whole story or
sometimes, like if you can seethat they're not really trying
to go deep, do you just keep itsurface, or do you always try to
show God's glory in that story?
Katie Hauck (17:28):
So I try to use discernment in that I try to
show God's glory in that as muchas possible, and so as much as
I can I will, I will go intothat.
But you know that took me acouple minutes right to share,
and so sometimes I just say alot and move on and ask them a
question, or I'm not sure I'dhave to call home to see how
many are there right now, youknow, and something funny and
(17:49):
and and just sort of move on.
What about you, you know, andso it sort of depends on the
situation.
Nancy Bruscher (17:55):
That's so funny.
You have to call home.
I love that one.
So when we were on the phonetalking about if we were going
to be able to do this podcast,you brought up something that
has been on my mind ever sinceand you talked about the
faithfulness and being faithfulin the small things, and then
you shared a story from theBible because we went back to
(18:17):
the Bible of the prophet Isaiahand how he was faithful.
And could you share that story?
Because, like it has, literallyit's I don't know if I want to
say blown my mind, but it has,and I've read through the Bible
many times, but I thinksometimes you don't get those
years right, you don't quiteunderstand, or that part didn't
(18:39):
click or something like that.
So I would love for you toshare that with our listeners.
Katie Hauck (18:45):
Yeah, so I think what started our conversation
was that we were talking aboutin ministry and how the Lord
calls us to something, and thenwe want it to be successful
right Because if the Lord callsit, we should have fruit.
It should be successful right.
That's just it is.
That's how ministry is.
And so when you're doingsomething and you're being
obedient and you're not seeingfruit and you're not seeing
(19:06):
success or in my case, I wasn'tseeing numbers on my YouTube
channel, or I would do a Biblestudy and nobody would come, or
I would write blogs and nobodywould read them and I would
teach a class and again likenobody cared, and I'm like God,
I feel like you're calling me todo these things, but no one's
coming and it's not successful.
(19:28):
Okay, at least it's notsuccessful according to the
world and how the world definessuccess.
But when I was complaining tothe Lord one time about that
success, he showed me how he heviews success very differently
than we do and in a verydifferent timeframe than we do.
And so he brought me to Isaiah.
And as I started to study Isaiah, I realized Isaiah came at a
(19:50):
time when there was a lot ofbrokenness in Israel in the Old
Testament, and the Lord calledIsaiah to prophesy to the people
and to warn them.
Warn them to turn back fromtheir wicked ways, turn back to
the Lord right, because if theydidn't, there was judgment
coming and there was exilecoming and these Assyria and
Babylon.
They were going to come andtake over these nations right
(20:12):
and Israel had already split andthey were living these wicked
lives.
And so God told Isaiah warnthem about what's coming.
And so Isaiah warned them andhe prophesied and he spoke for
60 years.
60 years, that's our best guess, based on the Kings Like he
doesn't say it was 60 years inthere, which is why it's so easy
(20:32):
to miss but based on the kingsthat he prophesied under.
We believe 60 years heprophesied and they got so tired
of hearing him that they sawedhim in half to shut him up.
That's what tradition tells us,that the sawing wasn't in
scripture, but that's whathistory and tradition tells us,
that they just wanted him toquit talking and they sought him
(20:56):
in half.
And I believe Isaiah diedthinking he had failed because
Israel didn't turn back, theydidn't fix things, they didn't
turn back to the Lord and givetheir hearts back to them.
And I believe he died believinghe was a failure.
Give their hearts back to them.
And I believe he died believinghe was a failure.
But today, today, we read thebook of Isaiah and his prophecy,
(21:19):
and we know that he's one ofthe greatest prophets that ever
existed.
We know that his book is calledthe fifth gospel because
there's so many references toJesus Christ that today we can
look back and see.
And we see like he proved theMessiah.
You know through his writings,and it's like this amazing man
that one day I cannot wait tomeet in heaven.
(21:40):
But he died thinking he failed,and so it's just such a
beautiful picture when the Lordshowed me that that I don't know
who he's using me to reach.
But it's not about me and it'snot about me hitting certain
numbers and being a certainthing or getting a certain
accolade from people.
It's not even about mepreaching the gospel and
watching others come tosalvation.
(22:01):
It's not about that at all.
The lord says I'm using you andyou have no idea what I'm going
to do with your ministry.
You have no idea what, ahundred years from now, this
will look like, or even in anarea that I just don't get to
see, and I may die believinggosh.
Lord, you didn't do anythingwith me and I'll get to heaven
and he'll be like look at all ofthese lives that were changed
through the gospel because youwere obedient.
(22:23):
And so I just love that aboutIsaiah.
Nancy Bruscher (22:27):
So when people say and we hear this a lot, or
I've been hearing it a lot islike it's the small things that
move God's kingdom and it's thefaithfulness God asks us to keep
being faithful, faithful,faithful.
And so if someone is listeningor is feeling that of like I'm
trying to be faithful inwhatever God's called me to the
(22:49):
workplace homeschooling, being astay-at-home mom, whatever
God's called me to the workplace, homeschooling, being a
stay-at-home mom I mean afterretirement and I'm trying to
help my kids or my grandkids, orwherever you are, would you
tell them to think back toIsaiah?
Would you give them some otherkind of an encouragement on how
to stay faithful?
Katie Hauck (23:07):
Gosh, there's so many directions.
I could take that, and I thinkabout a different study that I
did one time about how the Lordcalled people to something right
and I use Moses and Jeremiahand Gideon as examples in the
Old Testament and how the Lordcalled them to something and
(23:28):
they felt completely inadequateand they made all these excuses
and the Lord basically said,okay, quit making excuses, just
go Right.
And they did amazing things.
Like Moses was this amazing manright.
Like he led millions ofIsraelites across the Red Sea
and saw this dramatic miracleand saw, you know, food rain
(23:48):
down from heaven, and like itwas dramatic and it was amazing.
But then I would go to a mannamed Ananias in Acts, and he
called God to pray for Paul whohad just been blinded because he
had an experience with the Lord.
And Ananias was afraid becausehe knew that Paul was coming to
arrest Christians you know,believers in Jesus and he was
(24:11):
afraid to go.
And the Lord said go and hewent and he prayed over Paul and
Paul received his sight backand that's it.
That's all he did, right?
Yet the person he prayed overbecame the greatest missionary
of all time Right, the greatestchurch planter that ever existed
, right, but Ananias believed hejust helped one person, right,
just one, that's it.
(24:31):
But God needed him.
God needed someone to have thefaith and the obedience to do
something, even though it wasscary, even though it was
outside of his comfort zone,even though it didn't make sense
, even though it seemed small,to change the world.
And so, like in those smallthings, you have no idea what
God's going to do with thosesmall things.
(24:52):
You may think, gosh, I've onlyever shared the gospel with one
person.
Well, you know what that oneperson could be?
The next great evangelist thatleads millions to Christ, right?
Well, I only take care of mykids?
Right, but you have no ideawhat your children are going to
do in the kingdom of God whenthey grow up, right?
Or I've only ever, you know,I'm just a stay at home mom.
Okay, do it with glory, andpeople will watch you and
(25:14):
they'll see things in it.
Right, like we don't even knowGod's ways.
The Bible tells us God's waysare not our ways, right, we
can't begin to understand whathe's going to do with our
obedience, right?
So, even though it doesn't looklike you're doing very much,
even though it doesn't look likeyou're seeing fruit from it,
even though it looks like oh,I'm frustrated.
Do I keep going?
Yes, just keep going, becauseone day you may look back and
(25:39):
say, wow, look what God did withmy little tiny acts of
obedience.
And one more.
I'm sorry talk a lot because Ijust love this.
Bible.
But there's one more story Ithink about when Jesus fed the
5,000, right, and here's what Ithink about my family got to be
on the Chosen and we got to bein the scene where Jesus fed the
(26:00):
5,000.
We're not on camera, but wewere there and it was an awesome
experience, right, and therewere literally 5,000 people
there for that filming, and Ilooked around and I thought to
myself I had a bag full ofsnacks for my kids in between
filming and I had to hide itbecause it wasn't like, didn't
line up with the century that wewere in, and so I had to hide
this back.
But bad, but when they wouldpause the filming, I take it out
(26:23):
, give my kids snacks, becausemy kids need to eat.
And so I started thinking aboutthe original 5,000 people or
more, I mean theologians saycould have been as many as
15,000 people were there, right,and I can't believe that no
mother came ready to listen toJesus for as long as he spoke,
without snacks for the children,without food, right, and so I'm
(26:45):
like so why was it when Jesussaid who has food?
Go out among the people andfind out what you can have?
Only one boy was willing totalk about his food.
Only one boy brought his loavesand his fish, even though it
wasn't enough.
I thought I know other peoplethere had food, I know they did.
(27:06):
So what were they?
Just keeping it for themselves,like my family's going to need
this, I can't share this or didthey think it's not enough?
It's not enough.
What I have to give isn'tenough, right?
But God didn't need it to beenough, right?
(27:26):
Jesus needed the faithfulnessand obedience to say here you
can have this.
I know it's not enough, buthere you go.
And then he multiplied it inways that we can't even begin to
imagine.
And I think what if we sat athome thinking what I have to
give isn't enough?
Teaching one thing this onetime isn't enough, reaching this
one person?
It's not enough.
And the Lord says I don't needit to be enough.
I just need you to obedientlygive it to me.
(27:46):
Give me your time, give me yourresources, give me whatever you
know, the little amount ofmoney that's in your bank
account, whatever it is, give itto me, I'll multiply it.
I just need your obedience.
And so just continue to befaithful and obedient, even when
it feels like it's not enough,even when it feels like it's not
successful, like the Lord willdo the miracle.
(28:09):
He just needs you to stepforward and give him what you
have.
Nancy Bruscher (28:13):
Oh, katie, thank you.
I have never heard.
I've heard this like thepreaching of that so many times,
specifically the the multimultiplying the lunchbox or
whatever they want to call it.
But that is so interesting that, like, the gospel does not say
that more people had it, butlike, yes, out of that many
(28:33):
people, no one brought any foodexcept for one boy.
Like no one brought anything,for I mean, they would have had
to walk and know they were goingto be.
Like that makes so much sensethat there had to have been and,
yes, maybe one of those twothings stopped them.
Oh, again, wow, I'm going to bethinking about this for so long
(28:54):
and I hope that people start tolisten to some more of your
speaking, because I thinkthey'll be greatly impacted by
it.
But, as we wrap up, what Bibleverse or story is one of your
favorites right now?
Katie Hauck (29:09):
So every time I teach on something I say this
one's my favorite.
I think I have a lot offavorites, but I'll share
quickly both my favorite verseand probably my favorite passage
at the moment.
But my favorite verse is Romans8, 28.
God works all things togetherfor the good of those who love
him, who are called according tohis purpose, and I think that's
so beautiful because when Ipicture the brokenness that he
(29:31):
did in my life, I think abouthow he worked it together for my
good and his glory, and I thinkhe wants to do that for all
people, and so that's justreally beautiful.
But there's a passage in theBible that probably is my
favorite.
It's found in Mark, chapter nine, and a man has a son who is
filled with demons and he bringsthem to the disciples and the
(29:52):
disciples can't cast out thedemons.
So he brings the boy to Jesusand he says can you heal him?
Basically, this is the Katieversion.
Right, go read it for yourselfand whatever version you want to
read, but this is mytranslation.
And Jesus basically was likecan I?
Well, anything's possible forthose who believe.
And the man says, well, Ibelieve, help my unbelief.
(30:14):
And that's one of my favoritelines in scripture because I
think it's so relevant and it'sso real and raw and vulnerable.
And it's how I feel at times.
Like I believe I believe, but Ialso have some unbelief that
I'm dealing with right.
Like I believe you're theMessiah, but I have unbelief
about whether or not you canactually heal.
I believe you have a plan, butI have unbelief about whether or
(30:35):
not it's actually going to workout.
I believe you know, and so it'sjust the most real and raw verse
, I think, from anyone inscripture that's just like so
relevant to my life, like yes, Ibelieve, I believe I believe,
but I'm also struggling withthis unbelief in this area, and
so I just I love that because itmakes me like, gives me grace
(30:57):
for myself when I'm struggling,when I'm praying for someone for
healing, but I'm struggling tobelieve it, or I'm praying for a
situation and I'm struggling tobelieve it that God still
healed that man's son.
He healed him.
That it took faith, but it alsothere was grace for the lack of
faith when he was honest aboutit.
Nancy Bruscher (31:17):
So that I just feel like God's saying Nancy,
tell this story.
So, if you'll, if you'll, letme.
What you are saying just reallyreminded me, and you know I
believe in prayer, I believe inin just big miracles.
But last December there was aman from our church that was
(31:39):
dying from cancer and I got tobe with him and his family and
walk this journey with him.
And the family called and askedif I could come in.
They said, you know, they thinkhe only has like a day to live.
And so I went and we prayed andhe was like I really want to go
to church one more time.
And I was like, yeah, I think.
(32:06):
In my head I was like it's notgoing to happen.
Like I'm looking at you, thedoctors, the nurses are saying
this, like there's no way you'regetting out of this bed.
So I'm thinking that and so wepray and I actually I pray for
it.
But I even stipulated in theprayer God, if, like, he can't
go to church, could you have himhave peace about it?
That's how little I believed.
That prayer Kind of breaks myheart that I said that.
But then a few days later I geta text from his daughter we're
(32:31):
going to church on Sunday.
No, he called me, the mancalled me and he's like I'm
coming to church.
And it was on voicemail becauseI couldn't pick it up.
So I texted his daughter and Iwas like, is your dad kind of
going insane?
Like what, what's happening?
And he's like she's like no,we're coming to church.
I was like what?
And they did, and God gave hima few more weeks and that has
(32:57):
just really impacted me on likenot trying to put God in the
worldly box.
Like really praying and reallybelieving and knowing he can do
anything.
And I mean, I think I'llprobably always struggle with it
(33:18):
.
And maybe part of it, if I'mbeing honest, is we know that
God sometimes says no right andso you're asking for a miracle
and you know he can do it.
But if I ask so blatantly andhe doesn't do it, will that hurt
my heart as well?
Katie Hauck (33:35):
Yeah, and to that my dad died of cancer and I
fully believed that he was goingto live, and that's why I've
struggled with believing forhealing for so many years.
And I spoke to a pastor friendof mine one time and I said how
do you handle that Believing forhealing when you've seen people
fail?
And he said, well, I choose tostand on the word of God, not my
(33:58):
circumstances fail.
And he said, well, I choose tostand on the word of God, not my
circumstances.
So I will stand on the word ofGod and the promises of God, not
my experiences andcircumstances and lack of things
in this world.
And then accepting that hisways are not our ways, right,
and so that was powerful for me.
I will choose to stand on thisis what your word says.
I'm standing on it, even if itdoesn't happen.
That's not my problem.
Not my problem to explain whyit didn't happen or even
(34:20):
understand why it didn't happen,which we know from the book of
Job, that it's not, it's not us,we weren't there when he
created the world, right and so.
But that's a hard one, and so Iprobably would have prayed a
similar prayer as you.
You know give him peace if hecan't come to church.
How amazing that the Lord,despite that, answered that
prayer and let him go to churchagain.
(34:44):
That's so cool.
Nancy Bruscher (34:45):
It is what are you grateful for?
Katie Hauck (34:48):
I wake up every day .
And don't get me wrong, we'vehad hard days, right.
We have four children in myhouse right now that weren't
born from me or my husband.
That came from a lot of traumaand there's a lot of ups and
downs with that.
The Lord has called me to starta relationship with some of
their biological family andthat's hard, right.
(35:11):
It's hard to see thatbrokenness.
It's hard to deal with the kids.
It's hard to be so busy.
There's a lot of hard.
The kids.
It's hard to be so busy, likethere's a lot of hard.
But every day I wake up and Ilook around at my husband and my
kids and our house and myministry and my church and
everything that he's broughtinto my life and I'm like, why
did you do this?
Like he's given me suchgratefulness for the things that
(35:36):
he's done and the people thathe's put into my path that I
can't even understand.
Even in the heart, even in theheart, it's like, no, it's an
honor and a blessing to be usedin this heart and so, um, I'm
grateful for everything, uh,everything.
And I'm grateful for you, um,doing this podcast.
(35:58):
I love, like I'm so passionateabout sharing stories and
sharing testimonies because, Imean, revelation tells us we
overcome by the blood of thelamb, which is most important,
but the word of our testimony,and so I'm just praying that
your podcast blows up and thatmillions watch it.
Whether that's in your lifetimeor down the road, I don't know,
(36:18):
but I know the Lord has a planfor it, and so I'm grateful that
I get to be a part of it.
And because I know he's goingto do something with it, I know
he is, and so I'm grateful forthat and all of it.
Nancy Bruscher (36:35):
What is a kindness you have received or a
kindness that you've shown inthe last week?
Katie Hauck (36:39):
What is a kindness you have received or a kindness
that you've shown in the lastweek.
This to me was like the mostkind thing and it's just such a
blessing.
So I told you that we're injails and I think the number is
over 1,000 right now and I getletters every day from inmates,
every day letters from inmates.
I read every single one of them.
I love getting the letters, butI can't personally respond to
(37:00):
all of the letters that come in,and and nor would I, because
the majority of letters are frommen, and I just I don't believe
that that's appropriate tobuild that sort of relationship
with a man.
But I so desperately wantedthese men to have a personal
response, and so I prayed about,like Lord, how do we do this?
Like I would send them ageneric letter, like, hey, we're
(37:21):
praying for you, because I do.
I pray for all of them.
I read every letter, but it justdidn't feel the same as having
something personal.
Go back to these people who areincarcerated, who are seeking
God, who are feeling broken andneed some encouragement.
And I had an organization thatI got in touch with.
It's a men's 12-monthfaith-based rehabilitation
(37:41):
program called Fountain of Hope,and they agreed to write
letters to all of these men,personal handwritten letters to
these men who are incarcerated.
And so I showed up at church onTuesday and they had a stack of
letters for me to send back tothe inmates.
And it just brings me so muchjoy to know that there's this
(38:05):
group of people who are brokenthemselves right.
They're in recovery, they'vejust met the Lord, many of them
are new in their walk, butthey're so kind and loving and
compassionate that they want toreach others with the same good
news and that they're willing totake some of their day and
write out these letters forthese other people.
And it just to me was like soawesome that they would do that,
(38:29):
and so that's kind of kindnessfor me, because I asked, but
really it's the kindness tothose who are incarcerated and
to the Lord, I just adore that,and so that to me this week was
like so special.
Nancy Bruscher (38:42):
Oh, that's so wonderful.
And partnering with people, Ithink, is so powerful.
Yes, yes, katie, this has beenan amazing time.
I have been so blessed by it,and I know that our listeners
are going to too, so thank youfor taking the time to chat with
us today.
Katie Hauck (39:01):
It was an honor.
Like I said, I really amviewing this as a blessing and
just believing big things foryour ministry and your podcast
and I'm excited to be a part ofit.
Nancy Bruscher (39:13):
Thank you, katie .
On Ordinary People,extraordinary Things.
Your story is His glory.
What impacted you about Katie'sstory the things that keep on
resonating with me is Isaiah's60 years of ministry and her
perspective on the 5,000 peopleJesus fed.
I can easily relate, eitherkeeping it for myself or
(39:35):
thinking it's not enough to giveto Jesus.
If any of the story resonatedwith you, make the small
difference in someone's life andshare this podcast with them
right now.
I'll be back in two weeks andwe're talking to legend.
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