Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
Stop Waiting for "Perfect" to Find Peace | The Big Leap of Faith
https://waustingardner.com/the-big-leap-of-faith-believing-god-loves-you-exactly-as-you-are/
W. Austin Gardner
Podcast: followedbymercy.buzzsprout.com
https://waustingardner.com/book-page/
Are you waiting until your life is "perfect" before you finally approach God? In this episode, we talk about the "Internal Delay"—the feeling that we have to clean ourselves up before we are worthy of peace.
The truth is, the greatest leap of faith isn’t just believing God exists; it’s believing He loves you exactly as you are, right in the middle of your mess.
What we cover in this episode:
- The "Performance Trap" in our spiritual lives.
- Why Jesus spent His time with "messy" people.
- How to take the "Big Leap" into grace.
Read the full Hub Article here:
https://waustingardner.com/the-big-leap-of-faith-believing-god-loves-you-exactly-as-you-are/
#Faith #Grace #PersonalDevelopment #WAustinGardner #ChristianLeadership
My Books: https://waustingardner.com/book-page/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/austin-gardner
Hub Article: https://waustingardner.com/the-big-leap-of-faith-believing-god-loves-you-exactly-as-you-are/
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Welcome back. I'm Austin Gardner, and I want to start today by asking you a question. I had to ask myself a thousand times. What are you waiting for? Most of us have this internal delay when it comes to God. We think I'll dive into my faith once my marriage is fixed. I'll start praying again once I get this habit under control. Or I'll go back to church once I don't feel like such a hypocrite. We treat God like a finish line judge. We think he's standing at the end of our self-improvement project, waiting to see if we finally made it. But I'm here to tell you today that if you wait until you're perfect to find peace, you're going to be waiting forever. Peace isn't the reward for being perfect. Peace is a result of being honest. You see, I need you to think about Jesus and who he spent time with. He didn't hang out with the people who had their lives together. Fact is, he was criticized because he spent his time with messy people. Tax collectors, outcasts, demon-possessed, people who were visibly broken. Why? Because God isn't intimidated by our mess, by your mess. He's not waiting for you to clean up the house before he comes over. He's the one who wants to help you do the cleaning. Yeah, I just wish I could somehow help you get over this caricature of God that you have. This idea that God is like a judge. This idea that God is expecting so much from you. We act like I have to produce. Did you know we don't find God? He comes and finds us. We're not looking for God, he's looking for us. Adam and Eve didn't say, God, we messed up and we want to fix it up and we'll be real good from now on. We'll do the right thing from now on. That's not the Bible story at all. I think you know that. I think if you look at it, Jesus was explaining to people, I came to earth to seek and save that which was lost. And he tells three stories right in a row in Luke chapter 15. One's a sheep, it's just kind of dumb and wandered off and didn't do the right thing. But the shepherd didn't say, I got 99 more sheep, I'll just keep them and forget that one that left. No, he went to find the sheep. That sheep's you. He's looking for you. He's coming for you. And he doesn't come to discipline you or spank you or beat you. He doesn't come to make you do right. He comes to say, I love you, I'm rescuing you, I'm placing you around my shoulders, I'm talking sweet nothings to you, and your head is right there at his head because you're laid around his, you got that, you're laid around his neck, and he's going, I love you, I found you. I'm sorry you're scared. It's okay, I'm here now. And he takes him home, and instead of being angry, he throws a massive party and he says, I found my sheep. Y'all come celebrate with me. He didn't eat the sheep, he didn't beat the sheep, he didn't break the sheep's leg. Again, he tells another story about a coin. The coin didn't even do anything wrong. Now the sheep could you could say, well, he wandered off, he did wrong. But the coin is just a coin. No brains, no legs, no ability to do anything, but it gets lost. And the lady goes looking for it. Jesus is saying, This is what my dad's like. This is what our father's like. He loves you. And he finds it, and again, guess what they do? They rejoice. They're excited. They're excited. Then there's the son, we call it the prodigal son. No, he runs away, does wrong, he mistreats his dad, he shows no respect. I mean, he's really a mess, isn't he? And yet the father's waiting for him. Then there's the Pharisee's son, it's kind of like I've been. You know, I'm the goody guy that never left the house and always did the right thing. I've been here, and so certainly if you've ever you should love me. But the father just loves him just like he loves all the rest of them. And he loves you right wherever you are. Now, if you're listening and you're in what we call the heavy suitcase season, you know, where you're carrying the weight of past mistakes or health struggles or just the exhaustion of trying to be good enough. I want you to hear this. God sees you right now. Not the future you who has it all figured out, but the current you, the one you are right now, the guy who's just trying to make it through the day. And you know which version he loves? You. The version of you that's exactly right now is the one he loves. I need you to understand that. I need you to understand it is so hard. I wrote an article on my website called The Big Leap of Faith. And the leap isn't believing God exists, even the demons do that. The real leap is believing that God loves you exactly as you are right now. That is a terrifying thought for a lot of us because we've been trained to perform. That's me. I was trained to perform, you know, and I performed for my bosses, I performed for my family, and then I and I performed for God. And we think that the paycheck is peace and happiness and joy and blessings because of all the stuff we've done. That's not what the Bible's teaching at all. Grace doesn't work that way. Grace is a gift that already is paid for everything, and you got to stop trying to earn it. You can finally start experiencing, you can take that big leap and realize that your value isn't based on your conduct, it's based on his character, and that's what I'm calling on you to believe. So here is my challenge for you today. Stop the delay. Don't wait for a better version of you, a better version of yourself to show up before you talk to God. Just go talk to him. You have access, free access, with confidence. Boldly enter and talk to him. And know this he loves you, loves you right now, right where you are. I understand you. I want you to understand, I know it's hard for me to accept that he really loves me right now. But he does. If you'd like to go deeper into this, I invite you to go to walstongardner.com and read the article I wrote, The Big Leap. I'll put a link to it in the description of the podcast. It's the core of everything we're talking about. Remember, you are seen, you are known, you are deeply loved, not for what you do, but for who you are in Christ. Thank you for being with me. I'll see you tomorrow. God bless each and every one of you.
