Why We Believe

Casey Griffiths has spent his career helping thousands of students face the hardest questions in church history without losing their faith. He is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, has published dozens of books and articles on the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, co-hosts the Church History Matters podcast, and even holds a Guinness World Record. For fourteen years he lived inside the papers of a forgotten Apostle named Joseph F. Merrill, a physics professor who, Casey says, believed science and faith were two sides of the same coin. Casey came away convinced that faith and reason were never meant to be enemies, and that the people who lose their testimony over church history are usually the ones who know too little of it.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Casey to trace the faith behind a lifetime of study. Casey shares the story of Joseph F. Merrill, who knelt as an eight-year-old boy to ask if the Church was true, heard nothing, and kept asking every night for ten years until the answer finally came the night before he left home. He explains why a cardboard version of perfect prophets does more harm than the real, flawed history ever could, and why he came to relate to the Apostle Peter more than he expected. He walks through the imperfect Saints who became his stepping stones to Christ. And when Nathan asks him why he believes, Casey does not reach for evidence or theology. He says the gospel of Jesus Christ makes him a better person, and that is reason enough.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that deep faith and honest questions can live together. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Casey Griffiths:Website: https://religion.byu.edu/directory/casey-griffiths

For seven years, Keith Erekson directed the Church History Library, the official archive of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and home to more than 20 million records. He holds a doctorate in history, spent years as a tenured professor in Texas, and wrote the go-to book for members who want to engage their own history honestly. Once people learned what he did for a living, they kept asking him the same thing: did anything in those archives ever shake your faith? The question confused him at first. Nobody had asked it when he taught secular history. The answer he landed on surprised even him, and it had nothing to do with facts. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Keith to trace a testimony that grew long before he ever set foot in an archive. Keith shares the priesthood blessing that healed him as a sick boy in Baltimore, the witness that came at twelve when his family finished the Book of Mormon, and a woman in Brazil whose dream taught her the plan of salvation before the missionaries said a word. He explains why prophets point people to Christ and never to themselves, and he describes the morning a letter from Joseph Smith passed into his hands and filled an archive room with the Spirit. Church history, Keith says, did not give him his testimony, so he cannot see how it could ever take one away. Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who wonders if hard questions about Church history have to cost them their faith. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Keith Erekson: Website: https://www.keitherekson.com/Twitter/X: https://x.com/KeithAErekson

Dr. Justin Top has spent his life chasing one question: how does the grace of God actually reach us? He has looked for the answer in places most people never see. He lived his junior year of high school in Jerusalem. He served a mission in South Korea. He taught seminary for seven years, then traded the classroom for a Navy uniform, deploying twice in the War on Terror and later building a spiritual fitness program for the Marine Corps at the Pentagon. He has sat with the dying as a hospice chaplain and with the hurting as a psychologist. Everywhere he has gone, he has watched grace show up in the dark.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Justin to trace where that grace has met him. Justin tells of an ICU patient who had not let herself be happy for twenty years, since the day her daughter was kidnapped, and a priesthood blessing where words he never planned came out of his mouth. He shares the mission companion he once begged God to fix, only to feel God turn the request back on him. He revisits the night he was ready to quit, when an Elder Holland message found him in the dark. Through all of it, Justin keeps arriving at the same witness: God's grace is with us even when we cannot feel it.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to be reminded that God's grace is with them even in the dark. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Justin Top:BYU Profile: https://religion.byu.edu/directory/justin-top

Brent L. Top spent 34 years teaching the gospel at Brigham Young University, where he rose to Dean of Religious Education and wrote more than 30 books. For years he had counseled students to cast their burdens on the Lord. Then the relentless weight of leading a mission brought him to a breaking point, and he had to find out if he truly believed what he had taught.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Brent to trace a faith tested across a lifetime. Brent shares the witness that came to him at 18 in the Austrian Alps, the discouraging Denmark mission that quietly became his own great conversion, and the embrace from Elder Uchtdorf that finally taught him how to offload his burden onto the Savior.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that the Savior's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Brent L. Top:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-l-top-8b24198b/

Craig Ostler has spent more than 40 years teaching the Restoration. He taught seminary and institute for 15 years, then 28 years at Brigham Young University, and co-wrote a 1,200-page commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants with Joseph Fielding McConkie. He has photographed and walked nearly every sacred site in early Church history, and he lived in Jerusalem with his family twice. With all of that study behind him, he will still tell you a testimony is not built from books. It is felt. He felt it at seven years old, kneeling on a porch when his dog had gone missing. He felt it on his mission, the night God told him in every fiber of his being that he was His son.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Craig to trace the moments his faith stopped being inherited and became his own. Craig describes the gentle change of heart he felt in the mountains before his mission, when he knew he had been forgiven. He shares the promise he had to make to a man facing prison and ruin, and the night he walked away and fell apart because the cost of belief had become real. He remembers watching his young children kneel to pray in the Sacred Grove, and standing in the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem contemplating the resurrection. Craig has never seen a resurrection. But he has felt the joy of forgiveness, and so he trusts that the rest is true.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that the joy of forgiveness they have felt is a witness that the resurrection is real. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Craig Ostler:BYU Faculty Profile: https://religion.byu.edu/directory/craig-j-ostler

What happens when a photographer feels prompted to delete every song from his computer and throw away all his art books? Mark Mabry did not know it then, but those quiet impressions were preparing him to create Reflections of Christ, the first mainstream photographic depiction of Jesus Christ.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Mark to hear how his bishop arrived unannounced one afternoon to set him apart as a photographer for an art form that had never been done and was not even allowed in the church handbook at the time. Mark shares the promise from that blessing that millions would one day see the work, and how that promise came true exactly as foretold. He also opens up about waking up one morning in 2016 with no faith at all, the car ride to the temple where his wife wept as he told her he no longer believed, and the spring afternoon walk through Hobble Creek Canyon where Elder Uchtdorf's voice brought every layer of his testimony rushing back. "Repentance works. That is where I find my testimony."Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone walking through their own season of doubt! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Mark Mabry:Instagram (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/itsmabry/Instagram (Reflections of Christ): https://www.instagram.com/reflectionsofchrist/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsmabry/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmabryjrWebsite: https://reflectionsofchrist.org/

Marcus Martins joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1972 at age thirteen, six years before any Black member could hold the priesthood or enter the temple. He stayed anyway. He believed anyway. In June of 1978, when the revelation came extending the priesthood to all worthy male members, Marcus was nineteen, working as a construction inspector in Rio de Janeiro and engaged to be married. Weeks later he became the first Black missionary called by the Church in the 20th century, the son of Helvécio Martins, who would become the Church's first Black general authority.In this episode of Why We Believe, Marcus shares the conviction he held at seventeen when a leader told him a relationship with his future wife would cost him the celestial kingdom, the ordinary June day he came home from work and found his parents had been crying, and the prayer he offered on a dark mountain road outside Petropolis the week he was first ordained to the priesthood. He shares the moment in the Recife temple when grieving members stopped him in the foyer, each carrying a story about his father he had never heard, and the six words from the Book of Mormon that became his anchor: in Christ come all good things.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that in Christ come all good things. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Marcus Martins:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrMHMartinsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mhmartinspg/BYU Hawaii Profile: https://about.byuh.edu/directory/marcus-martins

A teenager with no religious background walked into the Mesa Arizona Temple visitor center and felt something shift. That single visit led to baptism, a mission to Georgia, and a return home determined to finish college. But Aaron Franklin had flunked out with a 0.96 GPA. What changed wasn't just his academics—it was him. He came home from his mission transformed, finished with a 4.0, and became one of the world's most influential nanotechnology researchers. Today, as a Duke professor studying light at the quantum level, he's discovered that physical light and spiritual light operate by the same principles.In this episode of Why We Believe, Aaron shares the miracle that unfolded during his mission when his stake president's prophecy came to pass in ways that defied logic. He explains how yielding everything to God didn't just change his grades—it changed his capacity. And he reveals what years of studying light have taught him about Jesus Christ as the light of the world. Aaron doesn't compartmentalize his lab work and his testimony. The gospel principles that govern light in the quantum world mirror the principles that govern light in our spiritual lives.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear how faith and science can strengthen each other. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Prof Aaron Franklin:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarondfranklin/Website: https://www.aarondfranklin.com/

Dave Lindsay has spent more than 25 years telling other people's faith stories on film, including Front Man: The Alex Boyé Story and four seasons of Come Follow Up on BYUtv. But the testimony that anchors his work began with a sophomore-year bribe. His mom's cousin was his seminary teacher and made him a deal: skip every class, just promise to read the Book of Mormon. Dave took the bribe to dodge a year of seminary. He didn't expect to find a testimony of Christ. By the time he got to Alma, he was rushing home from school to read more.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits with Dave to trace the page-by-page foundation of his testimony of Christ. Dave shares the Rapid City, South Dakota mission that humbled a cocky young elder, the quiet 1992 decision he and his wife made about an R-rated movie that's shaped their marriage ever since, the family-event conversation that launched his 25-year filmmaking career, and what producing four seasons of Come Follow Up on BYUtv taught him about the gospel as a map for life. His witness lands on a truth he learned page by page: testimonies are earned, not inherited, and the Lord prepares His servants long before the calling arrives.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that a testimony of Jesus Christ is built page by page. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmFollow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Dave Lindsay:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-lindsay-69b6638/Avalanche Studios: https://avalanche-studios.com

Daniel C. Peterson has spent his career doing something most people would rather avoid. He goes looking for the strongest arguments against the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, not the weakest ones, and he reads them on purpose. He earned his doctorate at UCLA, reads more than a dozen languages, taught Islamic studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University for decades, led the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, and now serves as president of the Interpreter Foundation. He can quote the Quran in Arabic and then tell you why it strengthens his witness of the Restoration rather than weakening it. After all of that searching, his faith in Jesus Christ stands as strong as it has ever been.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Daniel to trace where that faith began and why it has held. Daniel describes the night he baptized his own father, just hours before leaving for a hard mission in Switzerland. He explains why reason can clear the ground for faith but can never plant the testimony itself. He walks through the evidence that moves him most, the sheer existence of a complex book dictated in roughly two months by a barely schooled farm boy. And he shares the quiet experiences that have hit him out of nowhere across a lifetime, the kind no argument ever produced and no critic could take away. Reason and faith, he says, finally point to the same Christ.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that the most honest search for truth can lead back to faith rather than away from it. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Daniel C. Peterson:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profdanielcpeterson/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-peterson-58967a15/Interpreter Foundation: https://interpreterfoundation.org/Becoming Brigham: https://becomingbrigham.com/

Paul Alan Cox grew up the son of a Grand Teton park ranger and a scientist. He graduated valedictorian from BYU, earned his PhD at Harvard, and was named one of Time magazine's 11 heroes of medicine for searching the world's rainforests for cures that no laboratory had found. President Reagan named him a Presidential Young Investigator. Sweden made him the first King Carl XVI Gustaf Professor of Environmental Biology at Uppsala. The Goldman Prize, sometimes called the Nobel Prize for the environment, came in 1997 for saving the Samoan rainforest. None of those credentials are what shaped his faith. What shaped his faith was a coconut basket on a thatched mat, a mother dying of cancer, and a hurricane in Samoa that nearly took everything.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Paul to trace the faith behind those credentials. Paul shares the morning he watched a ranger named Red Rowe slip away to read his New Testament at dawn, and how that one moment sent him into the Sermon on the Mount as a boy. He describes the Samoan branch president who emptied his coconut basket of every coin he had on jars of food for a sick missionary. He talks about losing his mother to cancer and pivoting his life's work toward ethnomedicine, searching jungle healers for drugs that could fight HIV, ALS, and Alzheimer's. He closes with the night a hurricane-driven tsunami nearly took him, his wife Barbara, and their four children, and what saved his peace was a sealing made years before in a temple.Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that the same faith that holds a family together in a tsunami can hold theirs together in anything. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.YOUTUBE  Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Dr. Paul Alan Cox:Website: https://brainchemistrylabs.org/paul-alan-cox

Scott Anderson's family has been building Utah since 1847, when three of his ancestors walked into the Salt Lake Valley beside Brigham Young. Their homestead site sits beneath Zions Bank Tower today. Scott went on to run that same bank for 25 years as president and CEO, growing it from $3.2 billion to nearly $100 billion in assets while steering it through 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Silicon Valley Bank panic of 2023. He chaired the American Bankers Association, served on more than 90 nonprofit boards, and has been called Utah's unelected governor. None of that is how he would describe his career. He would describe it as a lifelong attempt to answer the question the Pharaoh once asked about Joseph of Egypt: where can we find a man in whom the spirit of God is?In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Scott to trace the faith that has run through his family for generations. Scott shares how the Polynesian people of Tahiti taught him what simple faith actually looks like during his mission there, and how studying philosophy at Columbia left his testimony stronger rather than shakier. He walks through the parable of building on a rock as his operating manual through every crisis Zions Bank ever faced. And he tells the story of a seventeen-year-old pony express rider, his own ancestor, lost in a Sierra Nevada blizzard at midnight and about to give up, until a voice told him to circle a tree and sing until sunrise. He did. He survived. Scott Anderson has been listening for that same voice ever since.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that the same faith that carried a family through a blizzard can carry them through anything. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Scott Anderson:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ascottandersonTwitter/X: https://x.com/ascottanderson

Garrett Batty has spent his career turning faith-based stories into cinema, but the story that shaped him most started in a hospital bed when he was 15. A routine scoliosis surgery had dropped bone chips into his spinal cord and left him paralyzed. The doctors began training him for life in a wheelchair. Lying alone, Garrett whispered a question to his Father in Heaven and asked if a wheelchair was really the plan. Then he felt his paralyzed foot move. Forty days later, he walked out of the hospital.In this episode of Why We Believe, Garrett shares the open heart surgery he survived at six, the prayer that began his deepest faith in Christ, and why he chose faith-based filmmaking over a more lucrative path. He talks about a mission president in New York who taught him the spirit of the law, the Russian father who returned a missionary's snow cap years after the real Saratov kidnapping took place, the South African film crew who asked for 120 copies of the Book of Mormon by the final week of production, and how the Help Them See Foundation now connects mission-driven donors to faith-based stories. His witness is that Christ is in relentless pursuit of His children, leaving fingerprints in every life He has touched.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to know that God answers prayer in the moments we feel most alone. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Garrett Batty:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettbatty/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garrettbatty/Help Them See Foundation: https://www.helpthemseefoundation.org/

What does a United States Senator say when asked why he believes? For John Curtis, it starts on a mountaintop in Galilee, where at 19 he went 48 hours without food or water and climbed alone to ask if God would forgive him. He walked down certain the answer was yes, and the first to say he would not recommend the method.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Senator John Curtis of Utah, a direct descendant of Brigham Young and former mayor of Provo. Curtis shares the story of a great-great-grandmother who chose the gospel over her oldest son, a family legacy where all eight sons served as mission presidents, and how a 30-year-old bishop in Richmond, Virginia learned that constant inspiration is the only way to lead beyond your experience. He talks about serving a mission in Taiwan, returning decades later to sit with Taiwan's president as a senator, and why a pattern from those early mission days has guided every chapter since.Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who has wondered if their road back to faith is still open. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Senator John Curtis:Website: https://curtis.senate.govYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SenatorJohnCurtisTwitter/X: https://x.com/SenJohnCurtisInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/senjohncurtis/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenJohnCurtisLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-r-curtis/

Brett Sampson moved 14 times before he ever left home, served a mission in Rochester, New York where the Sacred Grove was part of his assignment, and grew up to help lead one of the most dramatic transformations in Latter-day Saint education. He has served as a stake president, taught public speaking on campus for over two decades, and led University Relations at BYU-Idaho for 26 years. In this episode of Why We Believe, Brett Sampson shares how the Church became the one constant through 14 childhood moves and how the atonement of Jesus Christ became real to him in a basement bathroom on his mission. He talks about why an unfamiliar scripture came to him during the call to be a stake president, how he kept his footing on the day a beloved prophet died, and what it really means to put down the rocks of unforgiveness we carry in our pockets. Along the way, Brett teaches what it means to surrender what we cannot fix, why following the prophet steadies us in every storm, and how Christ heals more than sin. He heals the actual hurt we carry. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to know that Christ meets us in our hardest seasons. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Brett Sampson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-sampson-1288149Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brett.sampson.10/BYU-Idaho: https://www.byui.edu/directories/brett-sampson

Sarah Norton grew up in a faithful home, served in her community, and believed in Jesus Christ her whole life. But belief became something far deeper the night a stranger walked up to her outside a doctor's office, wrapped her arms around her, and said, "Everything is going to be okay." That was the first of three separate angel moments, each with an identical message sent by God at three of the darkest hours of her life.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with his former neighbor and longtime friend to hear how Sarah survived losing her sister, her brother, and two nieces to suicide, healed from years of abuse and an eating disorder, and found her way to a life she once could not have imagined. Sarah is the founder of Your Beautiful Soul, a certified art healer and trauma integration coach who has hosted seven healing retreats and reached more than 16 million people through social media. Her story is not about perfect circumstances. It is about a God who keeps showing up, no matter how dark it gets, and a woman who learned to trust that He always will.Loved this episode? If this episode reminded you that God sees you in your hardest season, please help share it. Leave a rating and review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, add a comment with the moment from Sarah's story that meant the most to you, and don't forget to download your free guide, 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, at WhyWeBelieve.com to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Sarah Norton:Website: https://www.yourbeautifulsoul.net/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahjeannorton/

What happens when the youngest CEO in NBA history finds himself kneeling by his bed in London, begging heaven to save his bleeding grandson? David W. Checketts ran some of the most recognizable sports organizations in the world. He took over the Utah Jazz at 28, led the Knicks to two NBA finals, owned the St. Louis Blues the year they won the Stanley Cup, and built Real Salt Lake from scratch. Through all of it, he served as a bishop, a stake president, and eventually walked away to spend three years leading missionaries in London for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with David to hear how studying Jesus the Christ on his mission cast out a lifetime of fear, how his brother's tragic death taught him that Christ carries us through grief, and why a business card with three words reshaped everything he believed about prayer. His testimony is no longer belief alone. It is sure knowledge. Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that expecting miracles is not optimism but a decision to trust the Lord! Leave a review forWhy We BelieveonApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow David W. Checketts: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_CheckettsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dwcheckettsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwcheck44/Twitter/X: https://x.com/davechecketts

What happens when a Grammy-winning artist wakes up paralyzed from the neck down the day after auditioning for Disney? Adassa Candiani couldn't walk, couldn't talk, couldn't eat. Doctors had no answers. She went home to die. The next morning, she woke up alive and got the call: she had landed the role of Dolores in Encanto.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with the voice behind We Don't Talk About Bruno to hear how premature birth with underdeveloped lungs became Grammy-winning vocals, how her successful reggaeton career led to temple covenants, and why her husband refusing to hang up on a Disney casting director changed everything. Adassa shares what it means to live every day as your last, why your talent isn't yours, and how the Atonement turns backward lives into something better than you could ever create yourself.Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that God's plan is better than perfection. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Download your FREE guide, 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, at WhyWeBelieve.com to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ. Follow the Why We Believe Show -Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam -LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Adassa Candiani -LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adassa-candiani-39047769/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adassaofficial/Website: https://www.adassa-official.com/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@adassaofficialFacebook: https://facebook.com/adassaofficialpageTwitter/X: https://x.com/adassaofficialLinktree: https://solo.to/adassa

Brad Wilcox was born on Christmas Day, spent his earliest childhood in Ethiopia, and grew up to write the most-viewed BYU devotional in history. He has served as a mission president in Chile, a member of the Young Men General Presidency, and a BYU professor whose teachings on grace have reshaped how a generation of Latter-day Saints understand the Atonement. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam, sits down with Brad to talk about the end of scouting in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and why the fruits are already showing. They discuss why the new Eagle is a temple recommend, how bishopric involvement with the youth is changing everything, and what Brad learned from a childhood in Africa, a mission in South America, and a lifetime of teaching. Along the way, Brad teaches what grace really is, why faith is a choice rather than pretending, and how Christ does not wait for you to finish changing. He walks with you while you do. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to know that Christ meets us right where we are. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Brad Wilcox: Church profile: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/bradley-r-wilcoxInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradrwilcox/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YM1stCounselor/Twitter/X: https://x.com/BradleyRWil

A 19-year-old missionary was locked in a customs shed in Fiji with pigs and cows. No one knew where he was. No one was coming. He knelt down and heard his mother's voice praying for him from thousands of miles away, and every fear disappeared. That young man was Elder John H. Groberg, the general authority whose mission to Tonga inspired the movie The Other Side of Heaven.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Elder Groberg to hear what a lifetime of faith looks like from someone who has lived it at every extreme. Elder Groberg shares how a testimony meeting interrupted a game of hangman and changed his life, how he nearly starved to death on a tiny island and fell asleep unsure which side of the veil he would wake up on, and how one quiet decision on a wharf, when he thought no one was watching, brought a man and his family back to the gospel years later. He baptized seven people on a small island, and one of those converts now has over 300 great-grandchildren and an entire stake traces back to her faithfulness. Elder Groberg's message is simple: Jesus Christ is your closest friend, and staying faithful is all He asks.Loved this episode?If this episode reminded you that Jesus Christ knows exactly where you are, please help share it. Leave a rating and review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, add a comment with the moment from Elder Groberg's story that strengthened your faith, and don't forget to download your free guide, 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, at WhyWeBelieve.com to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Elder John H. Groberg:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnhgroberg/Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001JP8HO6

Eva Timothy grew up in communist Bulgaria where religion was banned, Christmas did not exist, and her father hid a copy of the U.S. Constitution like a treasure. At 14, after the Berlin Wall fell, she saw two missionaries on the street carrying a picture of Jesus Christ. A prompting told her to stop and talk to them. She had never prayed in her life, but at her first church meeting in a rented room above a soccer stadium, she spoke to God for the first time and felt His love fill her entire body. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Eva to hear how she and her family were baptized just weeks later as some of the earliest members in Bulgaria, how her father became a district president and defended the Church before government officials, and how she eventually made it to America through a series of quiet miracles. Eva also shares how her faith now shapes her art, including the story behind her decision never to show the Savior's face in her photography. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that God can reach anyone, anywhere. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Eva Timothy: Website: https://www.evatimothy.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eva_timothy/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Eva_TimothyFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/eva.k.timothy/

How do you find God in your everyday life? Rob Call has spent a lifetime answering that question, and his answer is simpler than you think: you look. Rob has trained himself to spot the hand of the Lord in every chapter of his story, and every time he looks, he finds it.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Rob to hear how baptizing his little brother at 16 first awakened his testimony, how God sent him back to the exact city he mocked as a missionary, and how a desperate prayer at 10 PM saved his newborn son's life in a way that left no room for doubt. Rob also shares how a name that would not leave his mind for years led a family to the temple, and how an ancestor's handwritten journal from the earliest days of the Church still strengthens his faith today. His secret is not complicated. Pay attention, write it down, and trust that God is already there.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that the Spirit still speaks today! Leave a review forWhy We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,  or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Rob Call:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-call-mba-a270917/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rdcall/Twitter/X: https://x.com/rdcall

What happens when 17 years of saving other people's lives nearly destroys your own?  Jeremy Claridge spent nearly two decades as a paramedic with his hands in trauma every single day. When severe PTSD brought him to his breaking point, he told his doctor he was done with emergency medicine and that he was going to be a crop duster. His wife looked at him and asked if he was serious. He was.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Jeremy to hear how that decision launched a chain of events only God could have planned. Jeremy and his wife drove across Idaho looking for a place to fly, and the moment they hit Main Street in Rexburg, they both knew it was the place. They moved with no job, no connections, and no plan beyond following the Spirit. Jeremy shares how walking into the Far West temple site on his mission gave him a testimony he could never deny, how a late-night walk as a new bishop brought him the only instruction he needed, and why he believes God cares just as much about a little girl's dinosaur tutu as He does about the biggest problems in the world.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that God has a plan even when yours falls apart! Leave a review forWhy We BelieveonApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Looking for practical ways to strengthen your testimony? Get your FREE guide, 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ by subscribing to the Why We Believe newsletter at WhyWeBelieve.com.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Jeremy Claridge:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jyclaridge/

What happens when a lifelong church member realizes he has never truly tested his own testimony? Jason Barney grew up in a family with roots reaching back to Nauvoo and Joseph Smith himself. He knew the stories. He had the heritage. But when his high school friends asked him point blank if he really believed in Joseph Smith, he walked away unsure. Years later, kneeling in a remote Japanese town on his mission, Jason asked God directly and received a vivid, unmistakable witness of the First Vision. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with the composer and land developer to hear how recreating Third Nephi scenes in the Honduran jungle made the Savior feel unmistakably real, how a family prayer hours after his father's death replaced fear with clarity, and why being a grandfather is the greatest success of his life.Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that personal revelation can turn inherited belief into unshakable conviction! Leave a review forWhy We BelieveonApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Jason Barney:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/talmage/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/t.jason.barneyWebsite: https://www.jasonbarney.com/Talmage Music: https://www.talmagemusic.com/Highbridge Land: https://www.highbridgeland.com/

Twelve years ago, Ganel-Lyn Condie's 40-year-old sister Meg died by suicide after a lifetime of mental health struggle. Six weeks later, Ganel-Lyn submitted her first manuscript. That grief became 20 books, more than 2,000 keynotes, and a mission she never planned. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam talks with Ganel-Lyn about how the woman with the issue of blood reframed 13 years of unanswered prayers as the very definition of faith, how the stewardship principle changed the way she parents with lupus, and the day God left a green sticky note on her windshield at the temple when prayer alone was not enough. Ganel-Lyn carries her sister Meg as a mission companion in every conversation about mental health. Her message to anyone who feels done trying: today is not your forever. Even the thread of His robe is enough. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that God sees them in the struggle. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Ganel-Lyn Condie: Website: https://www.ganellyn.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ganel-lyn-condie-11645213/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ganellyn/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ganellyn

What happens when an MBA graduate feels prompted to NOT get a job? Russell Banz told his wife he wasn't supposed to look for work after finishing his degree. The in-laws weren't thrilled. But following that prompting led him to discover the internet at a trade show, start his own company, and eventually build KSL.com and KSL Classifieds, the only major market in America that beat Craigslist.In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with his former colleague to hear how God prepared Russell for decades before his biggest assignment. As a teenager, he felt prompted to read the entire classified section every Sunday. Years later, he knew exactly how to organize KSL Classifieds without opening a newspaper. Russell shares how a mission baptism of a Hell's Angels biker taught him about the Atonement, how golf became a gospel platform for his four kids, and why he refuses to take credit for any of it. "If I were to say this was my idea, I would be stealing from the Lord."Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that following the Spirit leads somewhere! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Russell Banz:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/Russell-Banz/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Russell.Banz/Twitter/X: https://x.com/RussellBanzFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Banz.Russell/Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/RussellBanzWebsite: https://coachBanz.com/

What if the foundation of your testimony is not built on one dramatic miracle but on a lifetime of quiet answers? Dr. Kendall Peck , Online Vice President at Brigham Young University - Idaho , shares how daily repentance became the anchor of his faith. A sixth-generation Church member raised on an Idaho farm, he learned early from his mother not just how to pray, but why prayer matters. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam explores Dr. Peck's journey, including a defining lesson from Elder Kikuchi, and what it means to be a striving but imperfect disciple who clings to the Atonement. His story is a powerful reminder that the healing and enabling power of Christ is not reserved for extraordinary moments but is available every single day. Loved this episode?   Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that imperfect disciples can still cling to Christ! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or YouTube . Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Dr. Kendall Peck: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kendall-peck-213a0722/

What happens when doctors spend 27 years running tests and still can't explain why your body is in constant pain? Crystal Gwilliam has lived that reality since she was 16 years old. Bedridden for months at a time, wheelchair-bound, and facing brain surgery that cost her 70% of her field of vision, she still raised three daughters on a foundation of faith and consistency. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with his wife of 27 years to hear her story of finding Christ on the top bunk of her childhood bedroom, learning to savor moments as the molecules of eternity, and the day she flew to Portland, went into a doctor's office in a wheelchair, and walked out healed. Her family was so confident in the miracle that they left the wheelchair behind. Crystal shares how chronic illness taught her to focus on what matters most and why she still chooses to believe despite decades of unexplained suffering.Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that God still sends miracles! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Crystal Gwilliam:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialentrepreneurshipLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-gwilliam-2a00408/

What happens when a violinist catches a searing hot curling iron with her bare hand hours before a music video shoot? Jenny Oaks Baker, Grammy-nominated Billboard #1 artist and daughter of President Dallin H. Oaks, watched her bright red, shiny hand heal completely within 20 minutes after praying for a miracle. In this episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Jenny shares the email her father sent from the BYU Jerusalem Center that taught her the difference between faith in outcomes and faith in Jesus Christ when her mother was dying of cancer. She reveals how walking the Grammys red carpet taught her that the world erases your name the moment you pass, but God keeps ours written on His hands forever. Jenny also opens up about the moment she realized God had solved her impossible dream of being a concert violinist AND a present mother, 46 years before she even knew the answer. Her story reveals that when we follow the Spirit without knowing the destination, God creates paths we never could have imagined. Loved this episode? Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that they belong to Christ no matter where they come from! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256 Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Jenny Oaks Baker: Website: https://www.jennyoaksbaker.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-oaks-baker-64315918/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennyoaksbaker/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JennyOaksBakerTwitter/X: https://x.com/jennyoaksbaker

Two years ago multiple myeloma threatened to end his life's work before completion. Sculpting to music, a song came on with the lyrics have a little faith. The Lord said you're not done yet. After one month of treatment, his cancer markers dropped from one in a thousand to one in one. He's been in remission for over eight hundred days, racing to finish sixty Book of Mormon sculptures by 2028. In this episode of the Why We Believe show with host Nathan Gwilliam, Dr. Steven Neal shares how a temple vision thirty years ago changed everything for him. Alone in the Portland Temple, he saw a bird's eye view of a sculpted park with an eighteen-foot Christ at the center. The Spirit told him this explained his patriarchal blessing he never understood. You shall hold a light where it may be seen from afar. That light is the Savior, not him.Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that their life's work isn't finished even when time seems short! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!#WhyWeBelieve #DrStevenNeal #MonumentOfTheAmericas #HaveALittleFaith #CancerSurvivor #MultipleMyeloma #LehiWasReal #BookOfMormon #TempleVision #PatriarchalBlessing #SculptureGarden #ChristStatue #MedicalMiracle #BuildingForChrist #SacredArt #LifesWork Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhm Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Dr. Steven Neal:Website: https://www.monumentoftheamericas.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monument_of_the_americas/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevennealmd/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@monumentoftheamericas

A depressed Palestinian teenager who thought God had abandoned her people found peace after following a prompting to attend BYU instead of accepting a $56,000 scholarship elsewhere. In this episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Sahar Qumsiyeh shares how she spent 12 years climbing 10-foot walls, hiding from soldiers, and paying watchmen to spot military shifts just to attend the Latter-day Saints church in Jerusalem. One day soldiers spotted her on a hill and started shooting. A stranger said he would distract them so she could escape. She made it to church that day because he took the risk for her. Sahar grew up five minutes from Bethlehem but had to travel to Utah to find Christ. After her bishop told her not to join the church because it would be hard, she ignored him and contacted missionaries herself. Walking toward Golgotha years later she heard divine words that transformed her identity. Sahar is author of Peace for a Palestinian and faculty at BYU Idaho. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that they belong to Christ no matter where they come from! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or YouTube . Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! EndFragment Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhm Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256 Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Sahar Qumsiyeh: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saharq/Sahar's Book: https://amzn.to/4iuK6KB

In this episode of Why We Believe,with host Nathan Gwilliam, award-winning songwriter Melanie Hoffman shares the canyon drive when words for Gethsemane hit her like a thunderbolt after months of fearing how to explain Christ's suffering to children. She sat at her kitchen table and words poured out as she wept through writing the bridge about the hardest thing ever done and the greatest pain ever known. Every child who received the album wanted to sing that one song.Years later, a Tabernacle Choir member told Nathan this would go down in history as their greatest recording. After videos by an Oregon couple, Jenny Phillips, and three-year-old Claire Crosby built momentum, the church included it in Children's Friend and selected it for the new hymnbook. Steve Schenk called the night before release to tell her personally. Melanie reveals how 47 years of self-employment walking by faith fulfilled her patriarchal blessing promise that she would never want.Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear the story behind the brilliance of the song Gethsemane! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhm Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Melanie Hoffman:Website: https://www.hoffmanhouse.com/Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/melanie-hoffman/208147108Gethsemane: https://www.hoffmanhouse.com/gethsemane

In this episode of Why We Believe, speaker and author Leta Greene shares the moment her husband died in her arms at a hospital and a voice whispered about covenants before silvery light reanimated him. After moderate severe heart damage left him with less than five years to live, fifteen doctors witnessed a provable miracle when all dead heart tissue completely healed with no medical explanation. Leta reveals how childhood molestation from age two taught her to differentiate between God's voice and shame, why being named "Lead Them On" became her freshman spirit queen breakthrough, and how nine-year-old prayer in dangerous woods established her testimony when a boy ran past saying "I can't see her." Her journey proves that temple covenants provide supernatural peace during impossible trials, and simple gospel practices create miracles modern medicine cannot explain. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear Leta Greene 's story! Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or YouTube . Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256 Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Leta Greene: Website:https://letagreene.com/https://hotnesscosmetics.com/https://jeddito.letagreene.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hotness/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LetaGreeneInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/leta_greene/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leta.greene/

In this episode of Why We Believe   with   host Nathan Gwilliam , professional entertainer Jason Hewlett shares how a bus full of strangers in Florianopolis , Brazil became his first audience for opening his mouth boldly. After the Spirit prompted him to sing "How Great Thou Art" in English on public transportation, that courage defined his mission and eventual career performing G-rated shows for corporate audiences worldwide including PGA pros and military troops. Jason reveals how defending the Book of Mormon at age 15 against a teacher's attacks built testimony foundations, why a BYU director disqualified his standing-ovation Michael Jackson performance, and how a misunderstood church camp lesson taught him about bearing crosses like Christ. His story demonstrates that early promises to God create guardrails preventing compromise when worldly opportunities demand we choose sides. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear Jason Hewlett's story! Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhm Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256 Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Jason Hewlett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhewlett/Website: https://jasonhewlett.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasonhewlettentertainer/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonhewlett/

In this episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, discover the miraculous true stories behind gospel musician Garth Smith's sacred compositions. Each hymn arrangement carries personal testimony of divine intervention, from childhood prayers that brought angels to a bizarre 7-Eleven spiritual experience predicting adoption miracles twenty years before they happened. His music ministry emerged from choosing sacred service over Nashville fame. Garth reveals how early morning seminary teaching sparked nationwide Christ-centered firesides blessing thousands, why infertility heartbreak prepared his family for adoption blessings beyond imagination, and how temple service as an ordinance worker expanded his testimony. His journey demonstrates that music becomes most meaningful when it points listeners toward Christ rather than applauding the performer, transforming personal struggles into ministry opportunities. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear Garth Smith's story! Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube - your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhmApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256 Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Garth W. Smith: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garth.w.smith/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garth.w.smith/Website: https://www.garthsmithmusic.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@garthsmithmusic2663

Professional MMA fighter Westin Wilson shares how listening to the Holy Ghost transformed his UFC career and what martial artists can teach us about spiritual discipline. From getting his first calling to teach self-defense at girls camp to receiving a prompting at a gas station that led to his UFC debut, Westin reveals how staying in tune with the Spirit opened doors he never expected. In this episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Westin discusses three lessons from the cage that changed his faith: why your spiritual coach matters more than your technique, how small and simple repetitions build both knockouts and testimonies, and why true freedom comes through commandments rather than breaking them. After serving a mission in Rochester, New York, surviving a devastating loss in Shanghai, and building a software career alongside his fighting, Westin shows how enduring to the end means getting back up when doors slam shut. His story proves that whether you're cutting 30 pounds in three weeks or raking leaves in a suit as a missionary, God uses our disciplined efforts to prepare us for opportunities we can't yet see.Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear Westin's story! Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube — your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere!Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-we-believe/id1751537256Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6T9DjmWBXJZPFyIFXUCdhm Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Westin Wilson:Website: https://westinwilson.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/westin-wilson/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westinwilsonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/westinwilson22Twitter/X: https://x.com/westinwilson22

What happens when a homeless teenager eating from London trash cans encounters Latter-day Saint missionaries and transforms into an international recording artist who presents The Book of Mormon to the future King of England? Alex Boyé's journey through foster care, abandonment, and abuse became the foundation for an unshakable testimony that has taken him to stages worldwide. After his mother left for Nigeria and never returned, Alex survived eight years of homelessness and guardian abuse before discovering the Latter-day Saints church through the missionary efforts of McDonald's manager.In this episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Alex shares how trials became his greatest gifts, the miraculous two-day healing from pornography addiction through daily Book of Mormon reading, and the divine courage required to approach royalty with scripture. His story reveals that God's refining fire burns hottest when preparing us for extraordinary purposes, and that covenant-based scripture study provides healing power beyond human capability.  Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Alex Boyé :Website: https://AlexBoye.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexBoyeRealInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/@AlexBoyeMusic/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/@AlexBoyeReal/Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/@AlexBoyeReal/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/@AlexB2/Email: [email protected]#WhyWeBelieve #AlexBoye #RefinersFile #FaithThroughTrials #AddictionRecovery #FosterCareStory #PurposeThroughPain #SpiritualGrowth #Latter-day SaintsTestimony #BookOfMormon #TrialsToTriumphs #DivineRefinement #RecoveryStory #FaithJourney #ChristianTestimony #OvercomingAddiction #Inspiration #Hope #Faith #Recovery #Testimony #SpiritualTransformation #NeverGiveUp #GodsLove

What happens when a woman who considered herself "human garbage" discovers she's actually a treasure worth saving? Jen Spencer spent two decades trapped in methamphetamine addiction and homelessness, convinced God hated her as much as she hated herself. Her warped understanding of repentance left her buried under mountains of shame, believing she was born bad and beyond redemption. In this episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Jen shares the desperate prayer behind a storage unit that changed everything, the divine encounter that felt like God running toward her instead of away, and the moment she realized she'd been living in a hell of her own making through self-judgment. After 10 years of sobriety, she now leads the Turtle Shelter Project, creating over 6,000 thermal survival vests for homeless individuals. Jen's transformation reveals that no one is too broken for divine love, and sometimes our lowest moments become launching pads for missions that save thousands of lives. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Jen Spencer: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennspencer5/Website: https://turtleshelterproject.orgFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/turtleshelterproject/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turtle-shelter-project-6aa0aa1a4/

What drives a young mother to travel alone to Romania and rescue orphaned children after watching a single TV show? Dr. Holly Joy Richardson's adoption journey began with undeniable spiritual confirmation that changed everything. After adopting 20 children from eight different countries and giving birth to four more, Holly became a fierce advocate for families while serving as a Utah state legislator. In this episode of the Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Holly shares the divine moment that sent her to Romanian orphanages, the heartbreak of losing three daughters, and the immigration bill that tested her conviction that God sees humanity in everyone. She reveals the grief that nearly broke her faith, the deliberate choices that rebuilt her testimony stronger than before, and the political battles where she refused to separate spiritual conviction from public service. Holly's story proves that following spiritual promptings can lead to a life beyond anything we imagine possible, even when the path includes unthinkable sacrifice and loss.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Dr. Holly Joy Richardson:Website: https://www.hollyrichardson.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hollyonthehill/Twitter/X: https://www.instagram.com/hollyonthehill/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hollyjoyrichardsonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyonthehill/

What happens when a struggling LDS musician sits down at a church piano and receives one of the most beloved sacred songs ever written? Roger Hoffman's faith journey as a BYU employee turned acclaimed LDS composer seemed impossible until divine intervention changed everything. In this episode of the Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, discover the miraculous testimony behind "Consider the Lilies" and the exact moment when both music and lyrics flowed through him at his ward's piano. Roger shares the leap of faith that led him and his wife Melanie to leave steady employment, the mysterious grocery deliveries that appeared on their doorstep, and the $50 bills that would magically appear in his pocket after church. Roger reveals the divine partnership behind decades of LDS sacred music creation, including Scripture Scouts and collaborating on "Gethsemane." His story proves that when we trust God's timing, our greatest struggles often become our most beautiful testimonies and lasting legacies.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Roger Hoffman:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-hoffman-97686617/Primary Website: https://www.hoffmanhouse.com (Hoffman House Music)Personal Website: https://www.rogerandmelaniehoffman.comBusiness Email: [email protected]: https://www.youtube.com/@latterdayhymnstories

What happens when a teenage science lover discovers that DNA testing can unlock family secrets and spiritual truth? In this episode of Why We Believe with Nathan Gwilliam, meet Diahan Southard, founder of Your DNA Guide, who built three successful DNA businesses while helping thousands find their birth families. Her story includes converting to the LDS Church, becoming a RootsTech speaker, and using her expertise to reunite her adopted mother with over 30 biological relatives. Diahan shares how she went from drawing blood samples at BYU to becoming an author and entrepreneur who proves faith and science work together in God's plan. This episode explores DNA testing, adoption mysteries, and faith-based entrepreneurship for anyone interested in seeing how God uses modern technology for eternal purposes. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: www.whywebelieve.comYouTube: www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcastLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam Diahan Southard's Social Media: Website: Your DNA Guide: www.yourdnaguide.com Twitter/X: www.twitter.com/dnadiahanInstagram: www.instagram.com/diahansouthardFacebook: www.facebook.com/diahan.southardLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/diahan-southardYour DNA Guide - The Book (goodreads.com/book/show/52270572-your-dna-guide-the-book)

When Bill Norton dropped out of high school and worked construction, no one predicted he'd become a constitutional scholar with a master's degree earned without ever getting a bachelor's. In this episode of Why We Believe with Nathan Gwilliam, Bill shares his transformation from an inactive teenager smoking cigarettes to a missionary called to study America's founding documents through direct revelation. His journey includes battling cancer, navigating divorce and remarriage through spiritual guidance, and discovering how constitutional principles actually strengthen testimony rather than compete with it, showing that God can use anyone willing to ask sincere questions and act on divine answers.Follow the Why We Believe show:Website: whywebelieve.comYouTube: youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: instagram.com/whywebelievepodcastLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-showFollow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam

What happens when a lifelong artist discovers something he loves even more than creating art? David Bowman thought that his whole life was laid out in front of him, an illustration career after graduating from BYU, however, one summer as an EFY counselor completely transformed his calling. In this episode of the Why We Believe with Nathan Gwilliam, David reveals the moment he realized his true calling wasn't making art but teaching teenagers about faith. He opens up about abandoning the security of his artistic path to become a seminary teacher, then later taking an even bigger leap to create the viral "DRAWN IN!" video series. David shares the touching story behind his most famous painting that helped a Sandy Hook family heal, the mission experience that taught him love can only grow through service, and the divine timing that launched his family-focused ministry just before COVID hit. His journey shows that sometimes our greatest talents are just stepping stones to our real purpose, and that following spiritual promptings can lead to impact we never imagined possible.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow David Bowman:Website: https://www.davidbowmanart.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidbowmanart/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@davidbowmanart3513LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-bowman-74900127/DRAWN IN! Series: https://www.davidbowmanart.com/pages/drawn-in

What happens when an Air Force kid who struggled socially becomes a 15-year missionary with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Michael Young shares his journey from childhood awkwardness through moving every few years to finding his voice on the world's stage. In this episode, Michael reveals the sacred experiences that come with being set apart as a missionary in the choir, performing for millions worldwide, and using music to minister to individuals. He opens up about his challenging mission in Germany, where cultural barriers made sharing the gospel difficult, yet led to a baptism on his final day that changed everything. Michael also shares the heart-wrenching story of his daughter Maggie, born after years of secondary infertility and a miraculous 76-day hospital stay during COVID. Through IVF treatments paid for by a former missionary companion, emergency deliveries, and countless prayers answered, Michael's family experienced firsthand that God's plan isn't always easy, but it's always worth it. His story shows that faith grows through both everyday steadiness and extraordinary miracles.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: whywebelieve.comYouTube: youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram: instagram.com/whywebelievepodcastLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-showFollow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Michael D Young:Twitter/X: x.com/mdybyuFacebook: facebook.com/mdybyuYouTube: youtube.com/@MikeDropMusicWebsite: authormichaelyoung.com/aboutFacebook: facebook.com/authormichaelyoungThe Tabernacle Choir Page: thetabernaclechoir.orgVocal Coach Website: micdropauditions.wordpress.comSheet Music Website: thesongoftherighteous.wordpress.com

When a BMX accident at 14 ended Kelly Loosli's NFL dreams, it redirected his path toward animation and eventually to co-creating BYU's nationally recognized animation program. In this episode, Kelly shares how a spiritual experience while working on a church film led him to embrace missionary service in Portugal after initially rejecting it. After building a successful career at DreamWorks and Disney, Kelly made the surprising decision to leave Hollywood behind when family tragedy struck. Now 25 years into teaching at BYU, he reveals how his students have taught him that his talents were meant to bless others, not himself. Kelly opens up about his family's fertility struggles, the grace he discovered on his mission that transformed his Old Testament view of God, and why he believes love is the most transformative principle of the gospel. His journey shows that sometimes God closes doors to open better ones, leading us exactly where we need to be.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website:https://www.whywebelieve.com/Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Kelly Loosli:BYU Animation: https://animation.byu.edu/

When an inactive teenager named Jason received an unexpected challenge from his bishop, who happened to be named Moroni, everything changed. After years away from church, this single conversation sparked a mission to France that transformed his entire life trajectory. But Jason's real test of faith came later as a father and bishop. In this episode, Jason shares his family's journey through his son's premature birth and over 20 brain surgeries for hydrocephalus, the devastating loss of his business during COVID, and the unthinkable tragedy of losing his daughter in a car accident. Now serving as a bishop himself, Jason reveals how these trials taught him that we can either turn away from God or fall to our knees, and why choosing to turn toward Him brings a peace that nothing else can provide. His story shows that even in our darkest moments, God's compensatory blessings and the healing power of Christ's atonement can carry us through anything.Follow the Why We Believe Show:Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShowInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/Follow Nathan Gwilliam:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/Follow Jason Bringhurst:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbringhurst/

What happens when a malnourished toddler abandoned on a Costa Rican mountain grows up with an unshakeable desire to return home? Ana Katia's story begins in a tin shack where she and her siblings survived alone for months while their mentally ill birth mother wandered for days. Adopted at age three and raised in America, Ana spent years making birthday wishes to "fly home" to Costa Rica. When she finally embarked on a 14-day search with only her birth mother's name, what followed defied all odds. Through divine timing and miraculous encounters, Ana discovered that her real journey wasn't about finding her birth mother—it was about understanding her worth as a daughter of God. Her emotional reunion, marked by an unexpected gift of a simple cucumber, revealed truths about divine love that changed everything.

When tanks rolled through Dejan Tahic's hometown at 7 AM on what should have been a normal school day, his childhood ended instantly. This Bosnian teenager spent months separated from his parents across three different refugee camps, surviving on Red Cross donations while 100,000 people died in the civil war around him. After resettling in Canada speaking zero English, Dejan never expected that meeting one girl would introduce him to a 2,000-year-old book about ancient wars that would change everything. The Book of Mormon's battle chapters resonated with someone who had lived through modern conflict, and the church's teachings about eternal families spoke directly to a young man who had lost all sense of home and belonging. Today, as a father of four daughters pursuing his degree at BYU-Idaho, Dejan's temple sealing gave him what war had stolen: roots, future, and the promise that families can be forever. His transformation from a displaced Muslim refugee to a devoted Latter-day Saint proves that sometimes the most unexpected spiritual journeys begin in the darkest circumstances.

What happens when a successful wedding photographer's perfect life crumbles into a federal indictment and maximum prison sentence? Portia Louder's story takes you through photographing 200 weddings a year, then hearing "84 months in federal prison" echo through a federal courtroom. But this isn't just another cautionary tale about mortgage fraud and poor choices. Inside those concrete walls, Portia discovered something that would forever change her understanding of grace, redemption, and divine love. Her spiritual awakening behind bars led to extraordinary connections with fellow inmates, including a remarkable young woman whose faith journey would span prison cells and temple walls. Through heartbreak, separation during her seven children's formative years, and the darkest moments of despair, Portia found sacred ground in the most unlikely place. Her story proves that sometimes our greatest failures become the foundation for our most beautiful transformations, and that there's no depth too deep for divine love to reach.

Award-winning author Heidi Tucker never planned to write books until a vivid dream on an airplane changed everything. After battling severe postpartum depression that left her hiding under her baby's crib, she discovered how to transform life's darkest moments into sources of strength and service. Her latest book, "A Necessary Lie," tells the harrowing story of North Korean defectors and is now being developed into a worldwide feature film. Through her father's examples of secret service and her own journey through mental health struggles, Heidi learned that faith isn't just about believing but about taking action on those beliefs. Listen as she shares how God continues to bring her the stories she's meant to tell and why she sees Christ as the steady lighthouse guiding us through life's storms. Her insights on patience, service, and finding purpose after trauma will inspire anyone seeking hope in their own difficult seasons.Connect with Heidi Tucker:LinkedIn: Heidi TuckerWebsite: The Pickled SunflowerInstagram: heidi_tucker_/Youtube: @heiditucker897Facebook: heidi.tucker.10