Episode Details

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues the “Faith in the Furnace” series on Singing Through Fire with entrepreneur, podcast host, and former bivocational pastor Matthew Efird who shares his family’s testimony of suffering and faith. Matthew recounts learning during his wife’s pregnancy that their son Noah had Trisomy 13, the months of anticipatory grief, and Noah’s birth on March 7, 2020 and death on March 9, including God’s mercies surrounding timing just before COVID shutdowns. He describes praying for healing, moving toward costly acceptance, lament through tears, Scripture, worship, and community, and reframing Noah as “fully healed” in Christ. Matthew also discusses their oldest son Walker’s genetic epilepsy, wrestling with anger, relinquishing control, taking life one day at a time, and encouraging careful empathy that points sufferers to God’s character.

*Chapters*
00:00 Meet Matthew Efird
02:06 Noah Diagnosis Journey
05:04 Birth Loss And Mercy
06:43 Faith Under Unanswered Prayer
11:14 Costly Acceptance And Surrender
14:22 Is God Still Faithful
19:56 Abraham Isaac and Why
23:25 Lament and Grief Practices
27:21 Holding Joy and Sorrow
28:38 Permission for Joy
29:35 Healing Hole Metaphor
31:02 Surrendering Control
32:55 Feeling God in Grief
35:24 Honoring Noah’s Life
40:04 Hope and Key Verses
41:44 Thankful Through Loss
44:55 God Outside of Time
50:18 Walker’s Epilepsy Journey
55:45 Trusting God’s No
58:34 Empathy Without Harm
01:00:44 Final Blessing

Matthew's new book, Even Though, We Will
Matthew's Facebook
Matthew's LinkedIn
Matthew's Website
Matthew's podcast on YouTube
Matthew's podcast on Spotify

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PODCAST DESCRIPTION:

Welcome to the Singing Through Fire podcast! I’m your host Lara Silverman, and this is where we:

• Worship when it hurts
• Discuss hot takes from the furnace of affliction
• Explore a biblical theology of suffering with a side of sass and sarcasm 

From lamentations to laughter, this podcast is for anyone desperate for hope who has ever asked, "Why, Lord, why?”

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"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2nd Corinthians 4:17.