I Almost Missed the Miracle

In this emotional and faith-filled episode of Unrelated Sisters: Truth & Grace Conversation, Shannon shares how physical sickness and exhaustion almost kept her from attending J Fest—but God had something waiting for her there.

After a week of feeling weak, discouraged, and spiritually distant, Shannon opens up about how God began speaking again through worship, children praising freely, and a divine moment of obedience involving a woman named Haley. All day long, Shannon felt God nudging her to pray over Haley and kept sensing children’s ministry in her spirit. Then, during a powerful worship moment, God gave Shannon a word: “Tell her what she is praying for is coming.” Haley broke down in tears and revealed she and her husband had been praying for a baby.

This episode explores spiritual sensitivity, obedience, hearing the voice of God again, and how God often speaks through weakness, worship, and surrender. If you’ve been spiritually exhausted, emotionally numb, or questioning whether God still speaks, this episode is for you.

Galatians 6:9

“Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

John 10:27

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Acts 2:17

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people…”

Matthew 18:3

“Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

James 4:8

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

 ENCOURAGEMENT 

To the person listening who feels spiritually numb…

God has not forgotten you.

And just because you haven’t heard Him clearly lately does not mean He stopped speaking.

Sometimes exhaustion clouds our hearing.
 Sometimes pain distracts us.
 Sometimes life gets loud.

But God still speaks.

And maybe your breakthrough is hiding in the place you almost didn’t go.

Maybe your awakening begins with simply showing up.

CLOSING PRAYER

Father…

Thank You for meeting us in weakness.

Thank You for reminding us that You still speak.

Lord, awaken our spirits again.
 Help us become sensitive to Your voice.
 Help us obey even when we’re nervous.
 Help us trust even when we don’t understand.

And Father, I pray for every listener carrying exhaustion, sickness, heaviness, or spiritual numbness.

Meet them the way You met me today.

Restore wonder.
 Restore worship.
 Restore sensitivity to Your Spirit.

And Lord, thank You for divine moments.
 The ones we almost missed.
 The ones heaven already prepared.

In Jesus’ name…

Amen.

We want this to be truly interactive podcast. Please go in the fan mail at
https://unrelatedsisterspodcast.buzzsprout.com and tell us your stories and let us know if it’s okay to share (no names). Let us know if you need prayer or how we can support you in your journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. 

Follow us on

 Facebook @Unrelated Sister's: Truth & Grace Conversation Podcast 

TikTok @Unrelated.SistersPodcast

 Email us at unrelatedsisterspodcast@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for this day. Thank you for your mercy, your blessings, and your grace, and thank you for this opportunity to share this story, Lord Jesus. I am so super excited to share this story with our audience, to talk for just a few moments. Uh please let it be your words, Lord Jesus. Please let it be your story. Please let the people that are supposed to hear it to hear it, Lord Jesus. We thank you and we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hey friends, and welcome back to Unrelated Sisters Truth and Grace Conversation. And today's episode feels really good. Feels kind of personal, but it feels really good today. Because, you know, over the last, I don't know, three or four weeks, I've been talking about struggling. I've been talking about not hearing God. I've been talking about just emotional burnout. Um, how I've been struggling, how you know, uh talking about abuse in my life and being raw and honest, how it took me for a for a loop um with emotions and things that I thought I dealt with. Um, and we talked about a lot of things. So this past week, I have been just been sick. Like it's been a rough week. Um, I got sick on Tuesday at work. I I was out of work on Wednesday because I was so sick. Um Thursday, my nieces graduated, so I got up and I went to graduation and I had a good time and I appreciated that. And Friday I got up and I went back to work and still not feeling the best. But I wasn't just tired or emotionally drained, I was actually sick. You know, that's just I was actually sick, and my body felt very weak all week long. And on Saturday, I was supposed to, I'm supposed to attend J Fest with my best friend, Franny. And honestly, I almost didn't go. Like, I honestly almost called her on Friday and said, hey, look, I'm gonna give you my ticket, find somebody to take it. I don't even care if they pay for it, just just take it. Y'all go, have a good time. I love you. We'll do it again next year. Um, everything in me wanted to stay home. I don't know what I need. Do I, you know, I don't know if I need rest, if I just want to lay down, if I just want to be away from people, from everything. Like, if I'm being honest, it wasn't only physical, but it was spiritual. Spiritually, I felt like two, off to. You know, those seasons where you still love God, you still pray, you still thank him, but you just feel distant. And that's you know, that's what I've talked about the last couple podcasts. That I just feel ugh, you know, like the noise of life has become louder than the voice of God. And that's where I've been. And today I realized something very, very powerful. Sometimes the enemy attacks hardest right before a breakthrough. You know, he didn't just attack me mentally, he attacked me physically too. Because what I didn't know was there was a blessing waiting for me there. Not just the music, not just the festival, but moments orchestrated by heaven. And a divine appointment, worship, healing, not just for me, but for the people around me. A reminder that God still speaks. And honestly, today felt like the beginning of a spiritual awakening for me. You know, I think sometimes we underestimate how spiritual resistance can feel physical. The enemy doesn't always attempt you just in sin. Sometimes he simply tries to keep you from showing up where you're supposed to be. Showing up to church, showing up to worship, showing up to the places where God wants you to encounter. And all week I kept thinking, maybe I just shouldn't go. I'm too sick, too tired, I just don't feel good enough. But there was something inside me that knew if I stayed home, I might miss something God hides for me. And to be if I'm being honest, you know, I needed the fulfillment that sitting with a bunch of believers, people worshiping all day with God, just Christian music all day long was something that I needed spiritually. You know, the Bible says in Galatians 6 9, let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Sometimes your greatest breakthrough is waiting on the other side of your decision not to quit. Let's read that one more time. Sometimes your greatest breakthrough is waiting on the other side of your decision not to quit. And maybe somebody listening right now is tired too. Physically tired, mentally tired, spiritually tired, and maybe the enemy has been whispering, don't go. Don't try, don't worship, don't believe anymore. But what if your blessing is waiting in the very place you're fighting hardest to get to? So let's talk about J Fest. And J Fest is an all-day concert in Chattanooga, Tennessee, um, in this big open field. Uh J103, the local Christian radio station puts it on. And there's 10 to 14 artists. Um and there's thousands and thousands of people. So me and Frannie get there and we set up our tents, and we set up our canopy thing and our chairs, you know, and the people in front of us, you know, they were very friendly, they were very nice. Um, we talked with them for a few minutes as the day started, and you know, and then their group grew and and they were with their group. But all day long, I kept feeling God put this woman who later I found out her name was Haley on my heart. She was in the group, it was in front of us. I just couldn't look away from her. I couldn't, I kept feeling her spirit all day long. I just over and over again, you know, and and all day long, you know, pray for her, pray for her. And honestly, I kept trying to brush it off at first. Because when God starts speaking after a season of silence, sometimes you question yourself, is that really God? Am I overthinking it, or what if I'm wrong? But we all know Shannon likes to question God, right? But all day long, it just kept, it just kept on me all day long. So the feeling wouldn't get wouldn't go away. All day long, I kept seeing children's ministry, I kept seeing children's babies, kids worshiping. Something about children stayed heavy on my spirit all day long. And eventually I realized God wasn't just asking me to notice something, he was asking me to obey. The Bible says in John 10, 27, My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. So, can we talk about how hard obedience can be sometimes? Because obedience feels vulnerable. You know, I didn't know these people. We'd literally spoke to them for like two minutes at the beginning of the day at like 10 o'clock in the morning, you know, and and we'd watched them all day long conversate and laugh, and you know, I'd watched them, you know, snack all day long and and all the all the things, and you know, and I all I could think of was what if I'm wrong? Like, what if these people think I'm crazy? Like, just because I can hear your voice doesn't mean they believe I can hear your voice. But delayed obedience is still disobedience, and as the day grew on and as the night got longer, and as the sun started to go down, um, as the next to last artist started to perform, things started to happen. And I think sometimes we pray for God to speak to me, but when he does, fear makes us hesitate. You know, I've talked about him being silent, about not being able to hear him, about just the world's noise being loud over the last couple months, and how you know how I miss it, or how I it makes me feel sad when I when I can't hear him. And then let's talk about the moment, the moment that happened. So everything around me slowed down spiritually, and I heard God so clearly in my spirit say, tell her what she's praying for is coming. And I remember thinking, Lord, that's bold. That's I mean, what if I'm wrong? What if what if she's not, you know? I mean, I'm sure we're all praying for something, but he's talking about something big. But I couldn't shake it, you know, so I kept thinking, okay, well, when's the perfect time? Right, so um, as the sun starts to go down at J Fest, you know, you take your tents down and you take them to the you know, you take your tents to the car and you get ready for the last two artists to perform. And the next to last artist was performing, and it was Danny Gokie, and and through his whole set, like I found my moments, right? Where it was just me and God and the music, and and I heard him, I heard him so clearly say, pray for her, pray over her, pray with her, you know, and so finally I just you know, I was like, well, you know, and then a lady from their church walked up and was talking, and they were all laughing, you know, Danny Goky's still performing, and and I'm just like, it's okay, it's okay, you know, it's just not meant to happen right now. The lady walks off, and and the artist is done, and we're waiting for the next artist for Matthew West to get up on stage, you know, and finally God just was like, You're gonna get up and you're gonna go over there and you're gonna do what I say. So I finally walked over and I asked Haley if I could pray for her, and I told her, I said, What you're praying for is coming, and instantly she started to cry. I said, the quietness and the peace that you've been feeling has been preparing you for this moment, and that you are prepared and you are ready, and that it's coming sooner than you think. When we finished praying, she looks at me and she said, We've been praying for a baby, and I can't even fully explain what that moment felt like. I can't fully explain how it feels to hear a voice that you've been searching for, to just follow what he asks you to do and the feelings that come over you. Because in that moment, it wasn't about me, it was about realizing that God still speaks, that even in the silence, he still speaks, not just in the Bible days, not just for pastors, not just for your super spiritual people, God still speaks to ordinary people willing to listen. And I think what wrecked me the most was realizing I almost stayed home. I almost missed this moment, the one that I've been praying for, the one that I've been asking for, the one that you know I thought would make me feel whole again. I almost missed the moment. I almost let sickness stop me from walking into an assignment heaven already prepared for me. You know, in the Bible, it says in Acts 2.17, in the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. I believe God is still pouring out his spirit, I believe he still speaks, he still moves, he still heals, he still confirms, and he still comforts. And maybe what happened today wasn't just for Haley, maybe it was for me too. Because for the first time in a minute, I heard God clearly again. And so many things happened at J Fest, and I want to talk about one more. One of the most powerful parts of today wasn't even on the stage. It was watching children worship, praise their, raise their hands, sing freely. They wasn't embarrassed, there was no pride, no performance, just pure worship with the artist that they love and the music that they love. You know, I stood there realizing somewhere along the way, adulthood makes us complicated. Life hardens us. Work stress, bills, disappointment, church hurt anxiety, schedules, comparison, and before we know it, we stop worshiping with wonder. You know, Jesus said in Matthew 18, 3, unless you change and become little, come become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Children believe big, trust freely, and they worship openly. And honestly, watching them awaken something in me today, not hype and not emotion, just faith, just simple faith once again. I don't think today fixed everything overnight, but I do think today started something, maybe a spiritual awakening in me. Some not something loud, not something dramatic, but something deep. You know, a realization that my spirit has been hungry, that it can't survive off old encounters with God, that somewhere in the busyness of life I stopped listening as closely as I should. And maybe that's what awakening really is not becoming perfect, but becoming aware again, aware of his voice, aware of his presence, aware of his movement. The Bible says in James 4 8, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. And that's what today felt like God drawing nearer again, or me drawing nearer to him. Not because I earned it, not because I had it altogether, but because he is faithful. To the people listening who feel spiritually dumb, God has not forgotten you. And just because you haven't heard him clearly lately doesn't mean he stopped speaking. Sometimes exhaustion, doubts are hearing. But God still speaks, and maybe your breakthrough is hiding in the place you almost didn't go. When you think about it, and when I think about the last few months or just this whole year, maybe, I don't know. It's just been feeling like a struggle. A struggle to do things, and not just spiritual things, and not just time with God, but just to do things. I'm just tired. But today after yesterday it's gonna be different. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna listen. I'm gonna hear him. I'm gonna start being bold again. Father, thank you for meeting us in our weakness, and thank you for reminding us that you still speak. Lord, awaken our spirits again. Help us become sensitive to your voice, help us obey even when we're nervous, help us to trust even when we don't understand. And Father, I pray for every listener carrying exhaustion, sick, sickness, heaviness, or spiritual numbness. Meet them the way you met me today. Restore wonder, restore worship, restore sensitivity to your spirit, and Lord, thank you for your divine moments, the ones we almost missed, the ones haven't already prepared. Lord Jesus, thank you for today. Thank you for this encounter. I feel fresh and renewed this morning. Jesus, I just praise you and I give you all the glory, Lord Jesus. I just praise you today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You know, if this episode encouraged you today, share it with someone who may need the reminder that God still speaks. And remember this sometimes the miracle is waiting in the place you almost didn't go. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, speak freely. Listen to God and stay in your peace.