Walk Through Podcast
The Walk Through Podcast shares authentic stories of navigating life’s valleys & victories, highlighting how we find God in the midst of every season of life. Co-hosted by Gianina and Kiley, each episode offers hope and inspirations through real, raw & faith-filled conversations.
Walk Through Podcast
Finding Joy in Life's Valleys: A Journey of Faith, Growth, and Connection
Ever wonder if joy can exist in life's toughest challenges? Join us on the Walkthrough Podcast as we, Gianina and Kiley, embark on an exploration of life's valleys and victories. From our roots in Romania and Nebraska to our thriving friendship in Tennessee, we share how our connection blossomed through social marketing, culminating in memorable moments like our first meeting in Las Vegas. This episode isn't just our introduction; it's a heartfelt invitation to a journey shaped by faith, where sharing stories becomes a beacon of hope and encouragement for those who might feel alone in their struggles.
We're diving headfirst into the power of vulnerability and the strength found in authenticity. Through the lens of personal experiences, including helping a daughter navigate the tricky dynamics of school life, we highlight how open communication can break the chains of isolation. Our discussion underscores the idea that difficult times, though challenging, are fertile ground for growth and learning. We unpack a nuanced understanding of joy, one that allows it to coexist with sadness or anger, grounded in faith rather than fleeting happiness. This perspective is especially vital for Christians who often feel the pressure to maintain a facade of constant happiness.
As we emphasize resilience and authenticity, we're committed to building a vibrant community through shared stories. Our vision for the podcast is clear: to empower listeners to actively "walk through" life's challenges, rather than remain stagnant in pain. We invite you to engage with us, share your stories, and join our Facebook community, where support and encouragement abound. By launching with three episodes, including our personal journeys, we aim to forge a deep connection with you, reminding you that you are not navigating this journey alone. Together, let's find joy amidst life's struggles and take charge of our paths.
Hey there, friend, welcome to Walk Through stories from the valleys and the victories. We're your hosts, Gianina and Kylie, here to take you on a journey through life's ups and downs. That's right.
Kiley:Each week we're sitting down with incredible guests who share their real life stories.
Gianina:And together we're uncovering how God shows up in the middle of it all. Psalm 23 reminds us that even when we walk through the darkest valleys, God is with us.
Kiley:So, whether you're in the valley or celebrating the victory, you're in the right place.
Gianina:Let's walk through this life together. Hello everybody, welcome to the Walkthrough Podcast. My name is Gianina and I'm so excited that you're here. This is officially our first episode, although this is our third or fourth recording, which is really cool because we've had an opportunity to get to know a little bit on a deeper level who we're going to be talking to and the kinds of things that you're going to be hearing, and so we're really excited to share with you just a little bit more about ourselves and our why behind this podcast. My name is Gianina and I was born in Romania and have lived in the US sinceS since I was five, and I currently live in Tennessee with my husband, and I have one biological son and two amazing bonus kids that also are here with us part-time, and so we just love Tennessee. It's been an amazing journey for us and just walking through what the Lord has brought us into our lives and through our lives, so we're definitely excited to share with you.
Kiley:Hey, I'm Kylie. I was born in Nebraska, of all places, and lived in California most of my life. I now live in Tennessee as well. Even though Gianina and I are in the same state, we are probably what? Three hours away from each other?
Gianina:Yeah, probably about two and a half three and a half hours-ish.
Kiley:Yeah, so at least we're still in the. We're in the same time zone now.
Gianina:We're getting closer.
Kiley:Yeah, but yeah, I live here with my husband, ryan, and our 14-year-old daughter, and we are half of the year we're busy with club volleyball. And we are half of the year we're busy with club volleyball and the other half we are just enjoying our downtime and having visitors come and stay with us. And, yeah it's. We've been here for two and a half years, almost three, oh gosh, almost three years now. Yeah, well, you just we love it. I can't believe it's been that long. I know I had to think like we've been in our house almost a year, but that was a whole other process in itself. So Janina and I actually met through social marketing about 10 years ago, wow. And the first time we actually met each other in person, we were at a convention in Las Vegas and we roomed with three other girls that we had also never met before and it just clicked and we've been really close friends ever since that is so crazy to think about that.
Gianina:That was our first time meeting so many of us that were in that room and just me, me and you especially, because it feels like we had been friends forever prior to that and even after that. But it was definitely a crazy weekend, or however long it was that we were there. But we definitely got really close, partly because we were five girls to one room physically close, yeah, yeah, and it wasn't even like one of those big rooms, it was just like two queen beds in a hotel room with one bathroom.
Kiley:So, yeah, with lots of luggage and lots of cosmetics in the back.
Gianina:I have to say, though, I'm a really light packer like an abnormally light packer for a female, and so I cannot take credit for the tons of luggage.
Kiley:But I think I had a carry on and that was about it for me.
Gianina:But you know, it was probably our friend Chynna, that. Yeah, well, I love you. Sorry, Chynna we love you um awesome well, it is really cool to be doing this podcast with you, because how long have we been talking about this since before?
Kiley:you moved. You know, you're right, I think we kind of we kind of toyed with the idea a little bit before and life was just not wasn't having it at that time. And then when we moved here, I obviously had a lot more time to myself because we had moved away from family and friends, you know. Thus more free time because we weren't always attending events and parties and hangouts and whatnot. And then more of life happened with us buying our house and the renovations and you've had some stuff going on. And so now we're finally calm and settled and we're doing it.
Gianina:And it's so exciting, and it was one of those things where I truly say this and I feel like God just didn't let us forget. We kind of put it on the back burner and then something would just pop up whether it was a memory or a bible verse or a song or somebody speaking and we would have this nudge like so, are we going to do this? And then we'd kind of drop it for a while and then it would come back up and it just really feels like this is something that is led by God, because we would have forgotten about it and just not done this if it was in our own strength and willpower.
Kiley:When we first started talking about it, we wanted to.
Kiley:We just kind of, I think, we just wanted to do a podcast so we could just make a point of regularly talking with each other and just talking about things that are going on in our lives, and it evolved into something so much more.
Kiley:We both have stories to last a lifetime and we've realized that a lot of other people have a lot of stories that they would like to share, and there are people that love to hear others' stories and get hope from those stories and encouragement, and so it really did evolve into something a little bit more. I was originally thinking like, oh, it could be the girlfriend hour. We just sit and chit chat and it's like no, we need to have a little more purpose. Not saying that that's a bad thing, because I think everybody needs to be in community and fellowship with other people, but just the episodes that we've recorded so far that you guys, our listeners, the episodes that we've recorded so far, that that you guys, our listeners, will hear eventually it's. There's just so many incredible things happening in the lives of you know, our friends and our families, and it's it's wonderful to hear them share what they have experienced.
Gianina:Yeah, and I think there's so many different podcasts for so many different things that are really powerful and necessary, and this is just the lane that God has put on our hearts and what he wants to use our voices for, and honestly, that could change over time and it could be morphed into something different, just as God leads us in that. But I will say, for me this is just kind of my story and my why behind this, and obviously I won't share too much of my story because you guys are going to hear that on the third episode, but I just wanted to to honestly so much shock that I just froze and I didn't feel like I had community and probably most of that was me pushing people away unintentionally. I think another part of that is people have always kind of seen me as the strong one and so nobody really thought that I would need something or thought to reach out. And I think the other part of that is I didn't know how to connect with people about what I was going through, because it felt like a very isolating thing that I personally didn't know anybody who had gone through that, and so it just it was a really hard time and I think it was hard for people to understand where I was coming from because it was such a different dynamic, and so it was a time where I would say it was pretty isolating. But that was where God really worked in my heart and I got to see him in a way that I hadn't before.
Gianina:And even in just reading books and stories and podcasts and different things, I kept finding these beautiful stories that were written in hindsight and that told stories about. This is what I went through and this is where I was and this is the victory of what God has brought me through. And I remember, as I was reading those stories, just having this thought of like there needs to be a place where people are sharing the process and not just sharing from the mountaintop once they've gotten out of the valley, because the process is a lonely place and it's a place where you can just feel hopeless. So especially we talk about this in other parts of our lives where, like, people want to be a part of your journey and they want to be a part of your story and they don't want to just see the highlights. But I think the reason is because they can connect with those lows and they can connect with those valleys because we all have them and everybody can relate to them, and so I just felt, really felt led.
Gianina:Honestly, it originally started with an idea for a book and I started writing that and it was the walkthrough book and it was became more of like a journal of me, just like writing out what God was speaking to me and what he was saying and just writing my heart. And from that was birthed this idea of why not share other people's stories in this too, because there's just so much value in hearing and, just like we've already experienced with the guests that we've had on the show, there's so much wisdom from everybody.
Gianina:Yeah, there's, there's so much that we can learn from one another, and I never wanted it to become a place where I feel like I know everything and I've learned everything, and especially about grief. Like I don't want to be known as the person who's the expert in grief, because I don't ever want to be an expert in that, but it's just the chapter that God has me in right now and has had me in for the last couple years and what I'm learning and processing through. But I want this to also be a place where people can share the highs and not just the lows, where we can just share real life. And so that's kind of my heart behind it and I wanted to share that. And then, kylie, I also want to just hear your perspective and your heart and why behind like why?
Gianina:why this podcast? Why this topic? Why is this important to you?
Kiley:Well, I mean, honestly, it started with me just kind of being gung ho for just doing this with you. But the more we've talked, the more I do realize that it is important to share our stories. And especially now with social media, everybody is so inclined to share the highs, you know, the highlights, the perfect pictures and all that kind of stuff and you don't. I mean, there are times when you see people sharing about rough things that are going on in their lives, but I definitely think there's a lot of people out there that don't wanna share that stuff because it's hard. It's easy to ask for prayers if a family member is sick or somebody has passed away, but it's not as easy to ask for prayers if a family member is sick or somebody has passed away. But it's not as easy to ask for prayers when you're going through something so traumatic that you don't think either you don't, you don't want to burden people with it, or you don't feel like they're going to understand what it is that they're going through. You know, you see the please pray I can't give details, but please pray for me and um, I I think people need to know that they are not alone in what they're going through Even if, even if somebody can't necessarily relate to what it is that is happening with them, they can still be there to be a shoulder if somebody just needs to listen. And I'm right there with you.
Kiley:I don't. I have grown in my own wisdom and I've grown in my own faith, but I definitely I don't know it all by any means. I know what I've experienced and I'm happy to share my stories with people, and I think part of it, too, is with my daughter being as old as she is. Now she's getting to an age where it's always the end of the world drama and I keep telling her you will be okay, you will be okay. I know you don't think that I know what you're going through, but I've been through it, I understand and I think that's that's part of it too is, you know, having certain stories that you you've encountered and being able to share that wisdom because it, you know, over small it might be or or however big you know you still can can share what you've experienced and hopefully encourage somebody else.
Gianina:Yeah, I think one of the things that you hit on that really just spoke to me is sometimes people are afraid to share where they're at because they're afraid to be a burden or they're afraid of what people might think of them. And I just I feel like that's so key what people might think of them. And I just I feel like that's so key because the enemy wants to keep us in darkness. And when things that we're facing are in darkness like think about even your daughter, for example, if she's going through something where, say, like there's drama at school and she feels betrayed by a friend and she is being lied to and being told things that aren't true about herself, and she kept that to herself and she was like I don't want to be a burden to anyone. I'm just going to keep this to myself.
Gianina:I mean, I know from personal experience, the more I keep things in my head, the bigger it grows and the more that it just like festers and it turns into a wildfire and before I know it, I'm having all these negative self thoughts and doubts and speaking negatively to myself. And then I'll say something to a friend like I know you and I have even had these conversations and then you can speak life and just say you know what? I've felt that way too, and then you start to realize that the enemy isn't that creative and we're all being fed the same lies.
Gianina:And we're all kind of going through some of the same darkness and I think when we bring that to light, just it kills the power that it has. And that's like a really cool part of this that, honestly, I hadn't thought of until you said that is that when we speak these things as we're going through them, like it takes power away from the enemy because he no longer can control this thing in darkness right, well, and I something of something what you just said.
Kiley:It it made me not realize, because I've known this for a long time, but it just put on my heart. We were created to be in relationships with each other and part of being in a relationship is that communication and talking with people. And so when you, when you talked about the enemy wanting to keep us in darkness, obviously he wants us to not share with people because he knows that once we get into that community, we'll have the support that we need and we'll grow in our faith and he's just going to be.
Kiley:You know so and I, I. I also want people to know that, no matter where they are, no matter what they're experiencing, they are worthy of being listened to. They're worthy of being heard and helped and, um, I just I hope that this can be a doorway for that to just expand for people and know, you know, that people care about them and want to help them.
Gianina:What do you think is? This is just like kind of something I'm thinking about is like a lot of times we hear people say if you could only see the light at the end of the tunnel or if you could only see the fog clearing, then you'll be able to have the endurance to make it to the finish line. What do you think is something beautiful that we can take away from the process and not just getting to the finish line?
Kiley:Well, I think it's knowing that we're learning more about ourselves and learning how God helps us through those things. And yeah, it's great when we make it through those tough seasons. But without the hard times, there wouldn't be those.
Gianina:Right.
Kiley:You know everything would just be kind of status quo. And as much as you know, as much as it sucks to go through that stuff that you're growing and you're learning to go through that stuff that you're growing and you're learning, and it's probably not always something that you want to have happening to you. But one of the Bible verses that I love is I'm probably not going to say this word for word correctly, but it's we focus our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen or what. What is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal, and so it's not. While we are growing here on this, this earth and this life is temporary, we're also helping to grow the kingdom and yeah, and those things that we are learning yeah
Kiley:and so I would I as as hard as it is to say, enjoy the journey, because I know it's not always enjoyable, but I I think it's important for people to know too that you can. You can have joy in the morning, um, you can have joy and be sad at the same time. You can have joy and be sad at the same time. You can have joy and be angry at the same time, because joy is not a feeling. It's that faith and it's that knowing that God is there and he's going to get you through it.
Gianina:That's so good, because I think a lot of times as Christians, especially as women, we're taught that if we don't have joy which quote unquote happiness, if we don't display happiness, then we're lacking faith.
Gianina:Or if we don't act joyful, then we're not trusting God, and so that's really cool, just the way that you put that. That joy is so beyond like you can be angry and have joy at the same time, and you can. You can be sad and have joy at the same time, and I think for me, how that kind of was showed in this season that I was in is having faith that this isn't the end and that right like there's still joy there, even though, like this sucks, but still being real in that of like god, this is just a hard season or this is a hard day and I'm really struggling right now, but even then I have joy because you are the source of joy and I have you. So that's like such a powerful thing to keep in mind. I think, just having the perspective of eternity and how like this is temporary and seeing God through that lens of of eternity and seeing God through the lens of Jesus and really looking at, like what the truth that the Bible tell us are, because it's so easy to like live our own truth, quote unquote like oh well, my, my truth right now is that, like God's not good fulfill his promises or he's not faithful, like Jesus can't physically lie and if Jesus says that God is good, then God is good and we just need to look for where that goodness is in that situation.
Gianina:And it might be hard, we might not see it right away, but I think it's just trusting that he's there and, honestly, like I had moments and I hate even saying this, it's hard for me to say but I had moments where I was angry with God, like not just angry, but I was angry at God. And even in those moments it was still like God, like I'm angry at you and I don't understand, but I'm going to. I just need you to show me, just prove me wrong. Like show me that I'm wrong, show me that my anger, like I shouldn't be mad at you, show me why I shouldn't be angry with you. And he does and he's faithful, and so I think that's really cool just to think about being able to share these things as people are walking through.
Gianina:And I know one of the guests that we're going to have very soon I'm in just a few episodes. She is like very much in a season of loss and grief, and so I think it's going to be so special to be able to hear her perspective of where she's finding God in this situation, and so those are. Those are really the things that we wanted to be able to share with you guys and we. We didn't want to keep it just all low because that could be hard to just hear like sad story after sad story.
Kiley:Yeah, so we have, but we also don't want to keep it, you know, oh, look at, all of this stuff has worked out for me. Yeah. We want to make sure that it's real, it's raw, it's not. Not everything is rainbows and butterflies and unicorns all the time. We all have our things that we're going through.
Kiley:We all have our things that we've been through and, I think, just humanizing life, because life happens and it's what you, what you learn from those lessons and what you're encouraged by in those lessons that we we want to try to to share with everyone.
Gianina:Yeah and like. One thing I really want to emphasize too is that this podcast is called walk through. It's not called stay here, and so we're not building houses in the valley, we're walking through this and we're going to get through this. And I think that's a really important part of it is. I remember when I first started attending this church and the pastor said you know, we all hear the phrase it's okay to not be okay, Like we all hear that right, and everyone's like it's okay to not be okay as they pat you on the back. But this pastor was like it's okay to not be okay, but it's not okay to stay there, and that that just really hit me of like this, we're not going to be in this season forever, and so that's something that I want for our listeners and for this podcast too, is we're not going to like just keep each other comfortable in our misery, you know, or?
Gianina:in our hurt or in our pain, and that's something God is really speaking to me right now too, because, honestly, this is just like a vulnerable moment for me. But I do feel like the past couple years I've had more of a victim mentality and I've seen that carried over more than just the situation that I went through. It's like I was operating from such a place of hurt, in that that I was acting like a victim in multiple areas of my life, and so I'm learning how like literally, I prayed that today I said, god, I need you to show me how to go from victim to victory, because I don't want this to be my story where I always feel like I'm a victim of something, and so I want that for our listeners too, and I want that for people to just know that you may be going through this, but we're not going to just pat you on the back and compare scars and compare wounds, like that's not the purpose of this, it's to get through this together.
Gianina:We're not going to stay in this season forever.
Kiley:Yeah that's, oh, that's so good sometimes. Sometimes I have a lot of words and sometimes I don't, and that was, that was just. That was really good, you know, and I I think one of the things that I would also like to say is I've always kind of operated on the glass half full mentality and one of the going back to the joy. You know you have to find the joy. Things may be not going right, but there's still a lot of other things that are good and you can be joyful about them, and so I agree, you can be sad, you can be hurt. Just don't unpack and live there yeah, and don't let that, that emotion, drive the car.
Kiley:You don't want to be a passenger to that. You want to be the driver. You want to. You want to be able to make those moves and do what you need to do to get through the season. Yeah, that's true so well, I am really, really excited for everybody to hear all of the stories and I would love to even I don't know have have people message us or write in about their thoughts or anything that they might want to share too.
Kiley:We have a questionnaire. If any of our listeners want to be a part of this podcast and want to share their story and you feel led to talk to us about what's going on, we would love to have that, because I really think it's just so important for people to know that there's people that care about what's going on in their lives.
Gianina:Yeah, for sure, that's really good. I want to hear feedback from people too, and that's an important part of this for me is the community and getting to know people and, honestly, kylie knows this, but eventually, my hope would be for us to be able to meet up in person in some way and connect with everybody who's listening, and be able to hug your necks and, you know, cry together, laugh together, sing together, whatever we want to do, like.
Gianina:I just think that that would be so cool.
Gianina:So this isn't just something where Kylie and I like to hear each other's voices and I mean, although I do, like I love hanging out with you and chatting, but we can do that on the phone with just ourselves.
Gianina:So, yeah, this is a community and something that, like, we really wanted to share with other people and truly something that I feel is God led, and we just pray that the people who are meant to hear these stories will hear them. And so, with that being said, share this with your friends if you think that this is something that they would benefit from. Listen to the next couple episodes, because we're going to be releasing three episodes, including this one the first day, so you can actually hear Kylie's story and you can hear my story as well, and so that'll give you a little bit more insight to what this podcast is about. And then we also have a Facebook group that I will link in the comments of this so that you can grab that link and hop in the Facebook group too, just because, truthfully, we want it to be a community and not just something where Kylie and I are the stars of the show, because that's not what it's about at all.
Kiley:Thank you, guys for being here and for joining us. We're so excited to walk through everything together with you and just remember that you are, you're not alone. We got you.