Every Christian faces a time in their relationship with Jesus that is frustrating, that’s full of questions, full of doubt, full of wondering if God is even real, if He listens, or if He cares. But time and time again, the Lord has proven that He does hear your every prayer, as Psalm 66:19 reminds us: “God has surely listened and has heard my prayer.” God is also okay with our doubts—He gives us the space we need to figure out for ourselves that He is good, all the time, and He will be with us always. This week’s guests are two dreamers—the founder of IT Cosmetics, the largest luxury makeup company in the country, Jamie Kern Lima, who faced years of trials and God doubt but managed to find a way to keep the faith, and God rewarded her with the breakthrough she’d been longing for. And the creator of Black Liturgies, Cole Arthur Riley, a born skeptic who educated herself on a variety of religions before finding a home in the Christian church who held space for her questions.

Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:

Jesus Calling Podcast

Psalm 66:19 NIV

Jesus Calling

TV show Jesus Calling Stories of Faith

Susie McEntire-Eaton

Circleallacess.com

Past interview: Dominic Done

Upcoming interview: Michael Franzese

Jamie Kern Lima

IT Cosmetics

Believe It

Jesus Calling app

Rosacea

QVC

Cosmetic Executive Women

Miss Lisa Mason. QVC show host

jamiekernlima.com 

itcosmetics.com

Cole Arthur Riley

Black Liturgies

Chesterton House

Blackliturgust.com

Instagram

Interview Quotes:

“I think so many of us learn that sometimes God's setbacks are really set ups for what we're supposed to do next.” - Jamie Kern Lima

“Truthfully, there are nights when I’d get these really hard rejections and I’d end up crying myself to sleep. And the one thing that kept going as I would literally pray and be like, ‘God, I feel like you put this dream on my heart and I don't understand why it's not working, am I wrong?’” - Jamie Kern Lima

“All of us have had people reject us or tell us we're not enough or we need to change who we are to fit in or we don't belong. And I think so many times learning to turn down the volume on that and not let it take root in our spirit is so important, because I believe our calling is always stronger than our opposition.” - Jamie Kern Lima

“I would rather show real women all ages, shapes, sizes, skin challenges, skin tones. And if the single mom in Nebraska is going to give me two seconds of her time and she turns on her television, even if she buys nothing, I would rather have her see women who look like her and me calling them beautiful and meaning it, than sell a ton of product and stand for nothing.” - Jamie Kern Lima

“I was really fortunate to have spiritual mentors early on that allowed me to have a lot of agency over my seeking even as they were teaching me things that probably felt really basic to them in many ways.” - Cole Arthur Riley

“Words do have tremendous power, both their presence and their absence. I think our task as Christians is to be really honest and faithful discerners of what any given moment