Overcoming Abuse with Courage and Faith
What does it take to speak when silence once felt like the safest option?
In this episode of Honest Christian Conversations, I sit down with LaShaundra Barnes — a follower of Jesus, a mother, and a survivor of domestic abuse — to talk about faith, courage, and the long road toward healing.
LaShaundra shares her story not to revisit her trauma, but to offer hope to the world. Through her journey, we explore how faith can sustain us through unimaginable circumstances, why silence often feels safer than truth, and what it looks like to take the first steps toward freedom with the proper support.
This conversation addresses the realities many carry quietly:
Why do abusive situations feel so difficult to leave?
How does faith intersect with safety, healing, and professional care?
And what does courage look like when it’s practiced one small step at a time?
⬇️ Listen now to step into this conversation.
After listening, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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Wife. Mother of five. Podcaster. Fiction Novelist
Ana is the host of the Honest Christian Conversations podcast and a prodigal saved by God’s unending grace.
She grew up in a legalistic Christian home where asking questions often felt wrong. In her early twenties, overwhelmed by confusion and hurt, she walked away from her faith. Yet even then, God’s love never stopped pursuing her. At thirty years old—and after a painful second divorce—He brought her back to himself, and she has never looked back.
As Ana returned to Christ, she began rebuilding her faith from the ground up and asked the questions she once feared to ask. Along that journey, she discovered inconsistencies, misplaced teachings, and even lies woven into the Christianity she grew up with. Instead of destroying her faith, this only deepened it. Out of that discovery, she founded Honest Christian Conversations. Ana's heart is to help others navigate the same tension she once lived with: wanting to know the real Jesus while sorting through the noise of deceptive teachings, spiritual manipulation, and “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
Everything she creates flows from gratitude for the God who rescued her, restored her, and continues to shape her into who He intended her to be.
5.00 (41 Reviews)
