June 8, 2025 • 13 mins
What happens when God’s grace meets our deepest wounds? Angelic Gibson’s powerful story shows how brokenness can lead to transformation.
After losing her father at age three, Angelic was raised by a single mother and faced rejection early on. Neighborhood kids weren’t allowed to visit, and bullying was constant. By 23, she was divorced with three young children—wounded, weary, and searching for more.
A bold move to New York City, seen by many as reckless, became the turning point. Through a nanny who introduced her to worship music, Angelic’s head knowledge of God became a real, personal relationship. That foundation of faith changed everything. She rose from an entry-level job to eventually becoming CIO of a top fintech company and has been married to her husband John for nearly 25 years, blending a family of six children who are now thriving adults.
Angelic’s honest reflection on her past—and the pain of feeling like an outsider in her own childhood—shaped how she lovingly raised her blended family. Her story is one of redemption: how God turns brokenness into beauty and hardship into hope.
Have you walked a similar path or wondered if real change is possible? We’d love to hear from you. Subscribe to The Double Dose Podcast for real conversations on faith, healing, and living with purpose.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friends, my name is Angelique Gibson and I'm
one of your co-hosts here atthe Double Dose Podcast.
We're kicking off this podcastwith a testimony, which means a
little bit about who we are andhow we encountered God Amazing
journeys.
I'm going to start my storywhen I was three years old at
the loss of my father.
Being a young little girllosing her father, that would
(00:23):
certainly leave a mark on mylife forever.
You can imagine all the pivotalmoments in any adolescence life
where your father is playingsuch a critical and important
role.
And I would say, well into myadult years, I really didn't
understand the impact of theloss of my father until I
started to unpack the varioushurts and pains that I went
(00:46):
through as a child, and I thinkit's important as you listen to
the loss of my father.
If you've lost a parent, howmight you see yourself in my
testimony?
Often, when I run into peopletoday and I learn that maybe
they lost a parent as a littlechild, they actually have never
(01:06):
taken time to grieve the loss oftheir parent because they don't
understand how to grieve theloss of something that they
never experienced.
And that's part of my story.
God has taught me that he is myHeavenly Father, but because I
lost my father at such a youngage, he has been by my side
(01:27):
since the time I was conceivedand born, being an earthly
father to me as well, and hegave me permission to grieve the
loss of something that I nevereven experienced, which is
absolutely crucial for any of uswho have lost a loved one, a
parent specifically crucial forany of us who have lost a loved
(01:48):
one, a parent specifically.
So at the age of three, my lifebegan really with being a
daughter of a single mom, and mymom had a lot of hardships
throughout her life, raisingmyself, my sister and my younger
brother, and I will say thatmaybe at all times in her life
she did not make the bestdecisions and choices that would
ultimately set me up forsuccess, my sister or my brother
(02:10):
, but at the end of the day, inreflection, I can say that there
was an absence of people comingaround my mother to love her,
to support her and really helpprovide resources to her to help
her be the best mother that shecould be, and so the
consequence of that is that shelived a life of judgment, yes,
(02:31):
accountable for her owndecisions, but at the end of the
day, she was judged severely inour community.
She was really shunned and wefelt the burden of that.
At an early age I receivedbullying from my peers across
elementary school, middle school, et cetera.
Why?
Because my mother had areputational issue in the
(02:53):
community.
People were not allowed to cometo my house and play because it
wasn't viewed as a safeenvironment for them.
So at a very early age therewas rejection as a part of my
testimony, not only rejectionfrom the loss of a parent, but
from children in our communitywhere one would hope that you
(03:13):
had a safety net of a community.
That was not my testimony.
Thankfully, today, many of thosechildren that I grew up with I
can actually call friends today,but it didn't start that way.
That would lead me into my teenyears and, you know, not having
a stable foundation, which Igrew up upon.
Not only did we grow up in alife surrounded by addiction,
(03:38):
addiction and then, of course, Imentioned the bullying there
was just a lot of pain andheartache riddled throughout my
childhood and I started my earlyteen years into doing what you
would take, what you wouldexpect to be typical not making
the best choices, choices thatwould have consequences that
(04:00):
even today I'm still living with.
So choices that I chose to make.
I got married at a very youngage by the time I was 23,.
I had three children and Ifound that I was going to be
going through a divorce.
And that's really how I wasstarting adulthood 23 with three
children, single mom, and I wasin a community that didn't
(04:24):
offer the best environment forthose three babies.
So I made a really crucialdecision at the age of 23, post
my divorce is that I needed tostart over and start new.
I was raised in the Midwest,outside the Chicago region, and
I decided to pick up and move toNew York and that's where I
would really hit the resetbutton on my life and start over
with a huge focus primarily formy children.
(04:46):
God blessed me very early onwith a career in technology.
I was literally hands-onkeyboard by the time I was 18,
19 years old, working my waythrough college, also having
children, and today, just kindof fast forward, I serve at one
of the best fintech companiesthat I would call in the globe
as their CIO.
(05:07):
So even at an early age, I hadthe privilege and opportunity of
being in an incredible field oftechnology and having a
prosperous career, but clearlymy personal life did not begin
in such a way.
But that career created theopportunity for me to move to
New York where I could hit thatreset button for myself and for
(05:31):
my three children.
And I would say it was New Yorkwhere, ironically, my family
thought that was the worst placefor me to be going.
Big city, lots of temptation,maybe it's the second sin city
in our nation next to Vegas, butmy family really thought that
that was the worst decision Icould ever make and through
God's grace and mercy, it wasliterally the best decision I
(05:54):
made.
I found Christ there.
God brought me an incrediblenanny that was able to be a
live-in nanny for me, havingthree kids.
Daycare was not an option forme, just with the demands of my
job and not really having anycommunity to support me.
I was on my own in New York,having Mary Beth who was my
(06:20):
live-in nanny.
She was a godsend.
She was with me for almost adecade but she was pivotal in my
faith journey where sheintroduced me to modern
contemporary worship music,which was really a catalyst.
God got my heart through musicand if you're not one who
listens to contemporaryChristian music I would
encourage you.
Brandon Lake is one of myfavorites today, cece Winans is
another one.
But there's so many greatartists out there that really
(06:43):
sing through the hardships oflife and where God just meets us
in our pain, and that reallygrabbed my heart when I was
living alone with my three kidsin New York, and so I thank Mary
Beth for introducing me toChristian music.
It was Casting Crowns back inthe day.
Just love their music.
(07:05):
But from there I just started todig into God's word and really
understand who he was.
Even as a little girl, I grewup in a lot of darkness that I
shared with you.
But the other side of that coinis the light, and so,
thankfully, I was very blessedin the sense that part of my
life was very dark and I wasexposed to some of the worst
(07:27):
things this world can offer.
And then, on the other side ofthat coin, I was exposed to some
of the brightest and mostbrilliant spots of God on this
side of heaven.
And you may ask yourself, well,how is that possible?
Because my father's parentswere sold out for Jesus Christ
and from a very young age theywere incentivizing me to
(07:47):
memorize scripture TenCommandments.
They had me in VBS and that waswhen I was introduced to who
Jesus was.
So Jesus has always been a partof me throughout my life.
But there's a difference betweenhead knowledge of Him and heart
knowledge of Him.
And again, when I would get toNew York, that's where it would
really start to shift for me,where I would just not speak
(08:09):
about God, from head knowledgeand from what I hoped my
relationship would be like withhim.
But I started to live it out.
I started to follow his waysinstead of my ways and
eventually that led me tomeeting my husband today, john,
and we've been together foralmost 25 years.
We are a blended family.
(08:31):
I had the three children, hehad two girls and then we had
our son, john, together, and ourbaby is now 21 years old.
It's hard to believe.
We've been incredibly fortunate.
We're putting in the hard work,toiling up the hard ground of
my heart, his heart, even ourchildren's heart.
We've worked really, reallyhard to blend our family.
Albeit not perfect no familyever is I'm incredibly blessed
(08:55):
to have the family that I havetoday and as our family
continues to grow, our babybeing 21,.
Our eldest is now 31,.
We also have three son-in-lawsand five grandchildren, and my
children are going to keepgiving me more grandbabies my
target's 24.
Who wants two dozen?
I do.
So.
The family is rich and blessed,and I say all this because it's
(09:18):
only possible through the graceof Jesus Christ.
I mean he literally has takensome of our worst moments and
just His gentleness and HisSpirit just shows up in such a
beautiful way.
It's transformed my heart, mylife and my entire outcome.
I mean to think that I startedadulthood as a broken teenager.
(09:43):
Having children young, gettingmarried young, really not having
a bright future or not a clearpath, I should say for myself or
my children.
To look at what God has doneover the past three decades is
nothing short of a miracle.
How do you go from the bottom,the pit of life to being on top
(10:06):
of what people would view theworld?
I mean having just greatsuccess in my marriage.
I have not come from a lineageof multi-decade marriages in my
family, so I'm super blessed andgrateful for what my husband
and I have together, supergrateful that we have been
successful in blending ourfamily.
(10:29):
Part of my childhood.
I actually left the care of mymother and I went and lived with
an aunt and uncle, and theywere incredible people to us.
They loved to the best of theirability, but they weren't my
parents, my uncle wasn't myfather, and I could always feel
the tension and the dividebetween how they cared and loved
(10:50):
for us versus what came verynatural for their own biological
children.
And so I had that purview in mylife when God gifted me two
children that weren't my own,and my heart's desire, through
our marriage you know, andcontinues to be going forward,
is that they wouldn't feel thatpain and that division that I
(11:12):
lived through as a child and,you know, facing adulthood now,
and you know they have their ownindependent testimonies.
Sure, there's absolutelymoments and seasons in life
where they have felt that divide.
Uh, because, at the end of theday, we're all broken people
raising people that will bebroken because we live in a
broken world.
But his grace and mercy is sogood it covers all mistakes.
(11:38):
And so I have a beautifulrelationship with all of my
children.
I love them very much and Icontinue to believe for God's
best for each and every one ofthem, and I'm super excited for
what God has in store yet for mymarriage, my career and even
this podcast.
So why this podcast?
For me, god has done so much inand through my life that it
(12:00):
would be robbery if I didn'tshare what he has taught me,
what he has helped me conquer inmy life, because without him I
would not be where I'm at.
So when I think about the peopleout there there's so many
hurting people out there and thehurt is the separation from God
and I know what he's done forme and I want everyone to have
(12:23):
that gift and so, as I'm sharingthis testimony it's in service
to you.
I hope that there's somethingthat you could grab onto that
you may be able to see yourselfin my testimony, or even in my
co-host, elisa's testimony.
She's got a beautiful testimonyas well, but the prayer is that
you can see a bit of yourselfin our testimony and either
(12:47):
celebrate that yeah, I can seemyself and God's helped me there
too or, if you don't have arelationship with God, maybe
this can start to you know,pique your curiosity of what
could a life with God, maybethis can start to you know,
pique your curiosity of whatcould a life with God look like.
And the outcome again for mehas been healing, restoration
and divine redemption, and forthat I will always be grateful.
(13:10):
For Blessings to each and everyone of you.
Hello friends, my name is Angelique Gibson and I'm
one of your co-hosts here atthe Double Dose Podcast.
We're kicking off this podcastwith a testimony, which means a
little bit about who we are andhow we encountered God Amazing
journeys.
I'm going to start my storywhen I was three years old at
the loss of my father.
Being a young little girllosing her father, that would
(00:23):
certainly leave a mark on mylife forever.
You can imagine all the pivotalmoments in any adolescence life
where your father is playingsuch a critical and important
role.
And I would say, well into myadult years, I really didn't
understand the impact of theloss of my father until I
started to unpack the varioushurts and pains that I went
(00:46):
through as a child, and I thinkit's important as you listen to
the loss of my father.
If you've lost a parent, howmight you see yourself in my
testimony?
Often, when I run into peopletoday and I learn that maybe
they lost a parent as a littlechild, they actually have never
(01:06):
taken time to grieve the loss oftheir parent because they don't
understand how to grieve theloss of something that they
never experienced.
And that's part of my story.
God has taught me that he is myHeavenly Father, but because I
lost my father at such a youngage, he has been by my side
(01:27):
since the time I was conceivedand born, being an earthly
father to me as well, and hegave me permission to grieve the
loss of something that I nevereven experienced, which is
absolutely crucial for any of uswho have lost a loved one, a
parent specifically crucial forany of us who have lost a loved
(01:48):
one, a parent specifically.
So at the age of three, my lifebegan really with being a
daughter of a single mom, and mymom had a lot of hardships
throughout her life, raisingmyself, my sister and my younger
brother, and I will say thatmaybe at all times in her life
she did not make the bestdecisions and choices that would
ultimately set me up forsuccess, my sister or my brother
(02:10):
, but at the end of the day, inreflection, I can say that there
was an absence of people comingaround my mother to love her,
to support her and really helpprovide resources to her to help
her be the best mother that shecould be, and so the
consequence of that is that shelived a life of judgment, yes,
(02:31):
accountable for her owndecisions, but at the end of the
day, she was judged severely inour community.
She was really shunned and wefelt the burden of that.
At an early age I receivedbullying from my peers across
elementary school, middle school, et cetera.
Why?
Because my mother had areputational issue in the
(02:53):
community.
People were not allowed to cometo my house and play because it
wasn't viewed as a safeenvironment for them.
So at a very early age therewas rejection as a part of my
testimony, not only rejectionfrom the loss of a parent, but
from children in our communitywhere one would hope that you
(03:13):
had a safety net of a community.
That was not my testimony.
Thankfully, today, many of thosechildren that I grew up with I
can actually call friends today,but it didn't start that way.
That would lead me into my teenyears and, you know, not having
a stable foundation, which Igrew up upon.
Not only did we grow up in alife surrounded by addiction,
(03:38):
addiction and then, of course, Imentioned the bullying there
was just a lot of pain andheartache riddled throughout my
childhood and I started my earlyteen years into doing what you
would take, what you wouldexpect to be typical not making
the best choices, choices thatwould have consequences that
(04:00):
even today I'm still living with.
So choices that I chose to make.
I got married at a very youngage by the time I was 23,.
I had three children and Ifound that I was going to be
going through a divorce.
And that's really how I wasstarting adulthood 23 with three
children, single mom, and I wasin a community that didn't
(04:24):
offer the best environment forthose three babies.
So I made a really crucialdecision at the age of 23, post
my divorce is that I needed tostart over and start new.
I was raised in the Midwest,outside the Chicago region, and
I decided to pick up and move toNew York and that's where I
would really hit the resetbutton on my life and start over
with a huge focus primarily formy children.
(04:46):
God blessed me very early onwith a career in technology.
I was literally hands-onkeyboard by the time I was 18,
19 years old, working my waythrough college, also having
children, and today, just kindof fast forward, I serve at one
of the best fintech companiesthat I would call in the globe
as their CIO.
(05:07):
So even at an early age, I hadthe privilege and opportunity of
being in an incredible field oftechnology and having a
prosperous career, but clearlymy personal life did not begin
in such a way.
But that career created theopportunity for me to move to
New York where I could hit thatreset button for myself and for
(05:31):
my three children.
And I would say it was New Yorkwhere, ironically, my family
thought that was the worst placefor me to be going.
Big city, lots of temptation,maybe it's the second sin city
in our nation next to Vegas, butmy family really thought that
that was the worst decision Icould ever make and through
God's grace and mercy, it wasliterally the best decision I
(05:54):
made.
I found Christ there.
God brought me an incrediblenanny that was able to be a
live-in nanny for me, havingthree kids.
Daycare was not an option forme, just with the demands of my
job and not really having anycommunity to support me.
I was on my own in New York,having Mary Beth who was my
(06:20):
live-in nanny.
She was a godsend.
She was with me for almost adecade but she was pivotal in my
faith journey where sheintroduced me to modern
contemporary worship music,which was really a catalyst.
God got my heart through musicand if you're not one who
listens to contemporaryChristian music I would
encourage you.
Brandon Lake is one of myfavorites today, cece Winans is
another one.
But there's so many greatartists out there that really
(06:43):
sing through the hardships oflife and where God just meets us
in our pain, and that reallygrabbed my heart when I was
living alone with my three kidsin New York, and so I thank Mary
Beth for introducing me toChristian music.
It was Casting Crowns back inthe day.
Just love their music.
(07:05):
But from there I just started todig into God's word and really
understand who he was.
Even as a little girl, I grewup in a lot of darkness that I
shared with you.
But the other side of that coinis the light, and so,
thankfully, I was very blessedin the sense that part of my
life was very dark and I wasexposed to some of the worst
(07:27):
things this world can offer.
And then, on the other side ofthat coin, I was exposed to some
of the brightest and mostbrilliant spots of God on this
side of heaven.
And you may ask yourself, well,how is that possible?
Because my father's parentswere sold out for Jesus Christ
and from a very young age theywere incentivizing me to
(07:47):
memorize scripture TenCommandments.
They had me in VBS and that waswhen I was introduced to who
Jesus was.
So Jesus has always been a partof me throughout my life.
But there's a difference betweenhead knowledge of Him and heart
knowledge of Him.
And again, when I would get toNew York, that's where it would
really start to shift for me,where I would just not speak
(08:09):
about God, from head knowledgeand from what I hoped my
relationship would be like withhim.
But I started to live it out.
I started to follow his waysinstead of my ways and
eventually that led me tomeeting my husband today, john,
and we've been together foralmost 25 years.
We are a blended family.
(08:31):
I had the three children, hehad two girls and then we had
our son, john, together, and ourbaby is now 21 years old.
It's hard to believe.
We've been incredibly fortunate.
We're putting in the hard work,toiling up the hard ground of
my heart, his heart, even ourchildren's heart.
We've worked really, reallyhard to blend our family.
Albeit not perfect no familyever is I'm incredibly blessed
(08:55):
to have the family that I havetoday and as our family
continues to grow, our babybeing 21,.
Our eldest is now 31,.
We also have three son-in-lawsand five grandchildren, and my
children are going to keepgiving me more grandbabies my
target's 24.
Who wants two dozen?
I do.
So.
The family is rich and blessed,and I say all this because it's
(09:18):
only possible through the graceof Jesus Christ.
I mean he literally has takensome of our worst moments and
just His gentleness and HisSpirit just shows up in such a
beautiful way.
It's transformed my heart, mylife and my entire outcome.
I mean to think that I startedadulthood as a broken teenager.
(09:43):
Having children young, gettingmarried young, really not having
a bright future or not a clearpath, I should say for myself or
my children.
To look at what God has doneover the past three decades is
nothing short of a miracle.
How do you go from the bottom,the pit of life to being on top
(10:06):
of what people would view theworld?
I mean having just greatsuccess in my marriage.
I have not come from a lineageof multi-decade marriages in my
family, so I'm super blessed andgrateful for what my husband
and I have together, supergrateful that we have been
successful in blending ourfamily.
(10:29):
Part of my childhood.
I actually left the care of mymother and I went and lived with
an aunt and uncle, and theywere incredible people to us.
They loved to the best of theirability, but they weren't my
parents, my uncle wasn't myfather, and I could always feel
the tension and the dividebetween how they cared and loved
(10:50):
for us versus what came verynatural for their own biological
children.
And so I had that purview in mylife when God gifted me two
children that weren't my own,and my heart's desire, through
our marriage you know, andcontinues to be going forward,
is that they wouldn't feel thatpain and that division that I
(11:12):
lived through as a child and,you know, facing adulthood now,
and you know they have their ownindependent testimonies.
Sure, there's absolutelymoments and seasons in life
where they have felt that divide.
Uh, because, at the end of theday, we're all broken people
raising people that will bebroken because we live in a
broken world.
But his grace and mercy is sogood it covers all mistakes.
(11:38):
And so I have a beautifulrelationship with all of my
children.
I love them very much and Icontinue to believe for God's
best for each and every one ofthem, and I'm super excited for
what God has in store yet for mymarriage, my career and even
this podcast.
So why this podcast?
For me, god has done so much inand through my life that it
(12:00):
would be robbery if I didn'tshare what he has taught me,
what he has helped me conquer inmy life, because without him I
would not be where I'm at.
So when I think about the peopleout there there's so many
hurting people out there and thehurt is the separation from God
and I know what he's done forme and I want everyone to have
(12:23):
that gift and so, as I'm sharingthis testimony it's in service
to you.
I hope that there's somethingthat you could grab onto that
you may be able to see yourselfin my testimony, or even in my
co-host, elisa's testimony.
She's got a beautiful testimonyas well, but the prayer is that
you can see a bit of yourselfin our testimony and either
(12:47):
celebrate that yeah, I can seemyself and God's helped me there
too or, if you don't have arelationship with God, maybe
this can start to you know,pique your curiosity of what
could a life with God, maybethis can start to you know,
pique your curiosity of whatcould a life with God look like.
And the outcome again for mehas been healing, restoration
and divine redemption, and forthat I will always be grateful.
(13:10):
For Blessings to each and everyone of you.
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