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October 19, 2025 15 mins

Today we’re tackling a topic that many shy away from but is so essential: the feeling of being angry at God. Yep, we’re going there. It's time to have  an honest conversation about those moments when life deals you such a hard blow that you find yourself looking up at the sky and asking, “Why, God? Why would You let this happen?”

If you’ve ever been in a place where disappointment turned into frustration, or frustration turned into full-blown anger at God, this episode is for you. Maybe you’ve wondered if feeling this way makes you less faithful or if admitting your hurt somehow betrays your beliefs. We're here to tell you that it doesn’t. God is big enough to handle your anger, your questions, and your doubts. He invites you to bring your real, raw emotions to Him—because true intimacy with God is built on honesty.

In this episode, Leanne shares her personal experience with feeling abandoned by God and how learning to be open with my emotions deepened her relationship with Him. We’ll look at examples from the Bible and explore practical steps on how to approach God in your hurt without shame. So, if you’re wrestling with anger, confusion, or doubt, join us as we talk about finding peace in God’s unchanging character and how being honest with Him is not a sign of weak faith but an act of true trust.

HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington 

To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
If you want to go on a journey, if you're skeptical,
don't worry. Not here to preach. I want to keep
it clean and talk to me and recall where faith
needs falls nature and get in touch with your creat
with a bacon, love and jew. She even speaks Hebrew.
What's that got to do? What's that? Well said busation?

(00:38):
We should talking transformation? What's that got too? Hey there,
lovely God pad listeners. We are back, and today we're
diving into something a little bit heavier, but it's something
that is so necessary to talk about. And it's that
feeling of being angry at God. And yeah, I just
said it. I know it might make some people unc

(01:00):
comfortable or feel like we're stepping into forbidden territory, but
I'm all about having raw, real and honest conversations here.
And if you've ever been angry at God or you know,
maybe you're in that place right now, I want you
to know that you are not alone. And I think
we've all had those moments right where those times when
life hits us so hard we find ourselves looking up

(01:20):
at this guy and saying like really, God, why like
why would you let this happen? Or maybe it's more like, God,
you promise you'd show up for me, but I feel abandoned.
I feel like you have forgotten about me. And if
that's where you are, I want to invite you to
lean in a little closer today, because we're going to
talk about how to be honest with God in your hurt,

(01:41):
and how to take that anger and that frustration and
that heartbreak and bring it with him, or bring it
to him, I should say, without shame or guilt or fear,
because here's the truth. God is big enough to handle
your anger, and he's big enough to handle your questions,
and he's loving enough to want you to bring it
all to him exactly as it is. And I know

(02:03):
firsthand how hard it can be to do that, because
you know, early in my faith walk, I thought that
if I admitted I was angry at God or told
him how hurt I was, it would somehow make me
a bad Christian or something like that, or show lack
of faith. And I felt like I had to keep
it all together and say it's okay, God, I'm fine,
I'm good. You know, even when I was falling apart

(02:24):
inside and I would just shove those feelings down because
I thought that that's what I should do, but I
learned that that's not what God wants it all. And
I want to share a little story with you from
my own life because maybe it's something that you can
relate to. So there was a time in my life
when I felt like God had completely let me down
and I'd been praying for something for years. It was

(02:45):
it was actually for a husband, like on my knees,
pouring my heart out kind of praying, and I kept
just saying, like, God, please, please just show up for me,
like I was so tired, right, and I just wanted
him to give me a sign, like I'm like, give
me a sign that you're here with me. But nothing
seemed to happen. And after a while, it wasn't just
disappointment that it was feeling that I was feeling in

(03:05):
my heart. It was anger. And I remember crying out
like God, are you even listening? Like do you even care?
Why do I feel so abandoned? And maybe you've been
in that place too, where your pain has turned into
anger and you've wondered if it's even okay to feel
that way towards God. But here's what I want you
to know. Like it is okay and it's normal, and
believe it or not, God actually invites us to come

(03:29):
to him with our honest emotions. In fact, when I
look at the Bible, I'm reminded of the Book of Psalms.
And so David, who's known as a man after God's
own heart, is constantly pouring out his raw emotions to God.
He cries out in Psalm thirteen one through two, he says,
how long Lord will you forget me forever? How long

(03:50):
will you hide your face from me? And how long
must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day
have sorrow in my heart? And so those are not
the words of somebody who's holding back right trying to
play nice with God. Those are the words of somebody
who is deeply hurt and confused and desperate for answers.
And God didn't rebuke or shame David for expressing his pain.

(04:14):
He welcomed it because David's honesty led to intimacy, and
it created a space for God to step in and
meet David right where he was. And I think about
all the times I had to put on that, you know,
good old faithful Christian mask and tell God what I
thought he wanted to hear. But friend, it's not about
telling God what you think he wants to hear. It's

(04:35):
about coming to Him as you are, with your heart
wide open, just like David did. And He wants you
to come to Him with all your emotions, your joy,
your pain, your anger, and yes, even your doubts. So
if you're feeling angry at God right now, I want
you to know that you are not less of a
Christian and you're not failing at faith. You're being real

(04:56):
just like David was, and God can handle it. So
how do you handle it when you're in that place? Well,
I'm no expert, you know, I'm just a gal who's
on her own journey of discovery. But I've laid out
the three steps that have brought me so much freedom
and peace when I'm mad at God, and I believe
they can also lead you to so much freedom. So

(05:18):
Step one is just give yourself permission to be honest.
And you see, I truly believe that bringing your hurt
to God is giving yourself permission to be honest. And
that might seem simple, but it's not always easy, especially
if you are raised in a faith tradition that said
that you should always be grateful and positive like no
matter what. But here's the thing, God already knows what

(05:41):
you're feeling, and so pretending that you're not angry doesn't
fool him. It just keeps you from experiencing the freedom
and healing that comes from being real. And this actually
comes up in the work that I do with my
stresslesseding clients as well. And I remember one of my clients, Melissa,
who came to me originally for her food and body struggles,
but she was also experiencing a devastating loss that had

(06:02):
happened just a few weeks into our work together. And
so while the majority of the work I do with
women ironically has very little to do with food, even
though they think it's so like food's the thing that
they think is driving their life, it ends up being
about all that stuff underneath and in their heads, their hearts,
and of course you know, their brains and nervous systems.
And so I don't run a faith based program per se,

(06:24):
But if my clients have a connection and a relationship
with God, you better believe I'm going to invite them
to invite God into the work that we're doing with
food in their bodies from day one, because you can't
have a self image and identity conversation without God if
God is a part of your life, and a big
part of their struggles is actually learning how to be

(06:44):
emotionally and spiritually available to themselves in those moments instead
of turning to food or the next diet as a
coping mechanism. And so after Melissa's devastating loss, and she
kept saying, Leanne, I'm trying so hard to stay positive.
I'm trying kind of focus on God's goodness, but I'm angry,
Like I'm so angry, and I feel like I'm betraying

(07:05):
him by even just admitting that. And Melissa's words broke
my heart because I could feel the weight that she
was carrying and the tension of wanting to stay strong
in her faith but also wanting to be honest about
how broken she felt. And so I told her, like, Melissa,
what if I told you that your honesty is exactly

(07:26):
what God wants from you right now? Like what if
I told you that bringing him your pain and anger
is actually a form of worship. And so that's what
she did. She started praying like God I'm angry and
I don't understand why you allowed this to happen. But
I'm bringing this anger to you, and I'm asking you
to help me make sense of it. And so the

(07:48):
shift in her spirit was pretty immediate, like she started
experiencing a level of intimacy with God that she'd never
felt before. Because when you let yourself be honest with God,
it opens up the door for him to meet you
in your pain. And so in Psalm thirty four eighteen,
it says the Lord is close to the broken hearted

(08:09):
and saves those who are crushed in spirit. And so
when you're hurting, God is closer to you than ever,
and you don't have to hide your pain to be
close to him. You just have to bring it to him.
Step two is to bring your questions and doubts to God.
So if you're angry, it's probably because something doesn't make

(08:30):
sense to you, right Like, maybe you're confused by what
you believe God allowed to happen, or maybe you feel
let down by unanswered prayers, or maybe you just don't
get why God feels so distant when you feel like
you need him the most. And all of that is okay,
and asking like why God, or where are you? Doesn't

(08:51):
make you a bad Christian? It makes you human. Even
Jesus himself, in the darkest moments of his life on
the cross, cried out, my God, My God, why have
you forsaken me? That was in Matthew twenty four to
forty six. And so if Jesus can express that kind
of pain and confusion to his father, then we absolutely can.
And so when I was working with one of my clients,

(09:12):
Samantha or Sam as she likes to be called, but
she had been dealing with binge eating syndrome and horrible
body shame for her whole life. But interestingly enough, she
had just gone through a painful breakup and that's what
actually made her realize that she didn't want to just
keep running from her demons anymore. She wanted to face
them head on. In one of our first conversations, she

(09:32):
told me that she felt like God had ripped the
rug out from under her, and she kept asking, like, God,
why did you let me believe that this relationship was
part of your plan? If you were going to just
let it fall apart? Right? And she felt betrayed, but
she didn't want to admit it because she thought it
would mean that she didn't have faith, and Gosh, I
had been in her shoes before this, right, And so

(09:54):
here's what I told her. Faith doesn't mean that you
don't ask questions. Faith means that you bring your questions
to God, trusting that he can handle them. And it
means coming to him with your pain and saying, God,
I don't understand, but I'm still choosing to bring this
to you. And so over time Sam's heart started to

(10:17):
soften and she found that bringing her questions and doubts
to God, it didn't push him away. It actually brought
her closer to him. And so she didn't get all
the answers that she wanted right away, like there was
a beautiful divine timing to it all. But in the
end she found this deep sense of peace and trust
in knowing that God was with her even in her confusion.

(10:40):
So step two is bring your questions and doubts to God.
Step three is to find comfort in God's unchanging character
and to remember who God is. And so when we're
in pain or we're feeling abandoned, it's easy to believe
the lie that God has turned his back on us,
But the truth is God's character doesn't change based on

(11:03):
our circumstances. In Hebrews thirteen five, God promises, never will
I leave you, never will I forsake you. That means
even in your anger, and even in your questioning, and
even in your deepest hurt, he is right there with you,
and he's not disappointed in you. He's not angry that
you're angry. He's with you, and he loves you right now,

(11:27):
right in the middle of your mess. Another verse that
brings me so much comfort is Romans eight twenty eight,
and it says, and we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love Him,
who have been called according to his purpose. And that
doesn't mean that everything that happens is good. It means

(11:49):
that God can bring good out of even the most
painful situations. And it means that when we can't see
how it all fits together, God is still working behind
the scenes, weaving our story into something beautiful. So when
you're struggling, try to shift your focus from what you
don't understand to what you do know about God. And

(12:11):
you know that he's good, and you know that he's faithful,
and you know that he loves you unconditionally, and sometimes
just anchoring yourself in those truths is enough to keep
you grounded when everything else feels shaky. And so just
to put our wrapper around everything that we talked about,
being honest with God is a form of faith. And

(12:35):
let's be real, being honest with God about your anger
is not a sign of weak faith. It's a sign
of authentic faith. And it's saying God, I trust you
enough to bring all of me to you, the good,
the bad, the ugly, and it's showing up in the
fullness of who you are, believing that God can handle
it and that he wants to handle it. So if

(12:58):
you're hurting right now, and if you're angry God or
really just questioning him, I want you to know that
God isn't turning away from you. He's not ashamed of you,
he's not disappointed in you. He's waiting for you to
bring it all to him, because that's how real relationships work,
and that's what we're after here. This is not about religion.

(13:18):
It is about relationship with God. So thank you for
joining me today. I see you and I am praying
for you as you bring your honest self to God
and let him hold you in your hurt, let him
support you and hold space for your hurt in your
anger even and as always, if this message resonated with you,

(13:40):
just share it with somebody who might need to hear
it too. And let's keep reminding each other that we
can bring all of ourselves to God and that He
meets us right where we are. So until next time,
take care of yourself, lean into God's love, and hopefully
you're seeing a whole new picture of God's love, and
just keep looking for his presence even in the pain,

(14:00):
even when you're hurting, and even if you're angry, And
I promise you he's here for all of it and
he can handle all of it. He wants you to
come find him and meet him there. So I will
talk to you next time. Bye. We'll be back with
more What's God got to do with It? But in
the meantime, I would definitely love to hear from you,

(14:23):
so just tell me where you are in your story
or maybe what questions you have, like where do you
feel you need clarity or support or wisdom in your
own journey. I definitely want to hear from you, so
head on over to What's God Got to Do With
it dot com and scroll down to the form to
share your thoughts, your questions, your feedback, and you can

(14:43):
do that instantly. So What's God Got to Do With It?
Dot com You'll find all the ways to do that.
And if you like this podcast and want to hear more,
go ahead and follow, like, and subscribe wherever you listen
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Got to Do With It? New episodes drop every single Tuesday,
and while you're there, be sure to rate and review

(15:06):
to show your support. It really means so much. What's
God Got to Do With It? Is an iHeartRadio podcast
on the Amy Brown Podcast Network. It's written and hosted
by me Leanne Ellington, executive produced by Elizabeth Fazio, post
production and editing by Houston Tilley, and original music written
by Cheryl Stark and produced by Adam Stark

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