Episode Details
Back to Episodes
Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith - Fear Comes Free, Hope Takes Effort: Jon Acuff & Leland Vittert
Description
This week, we’ll hear from Jon Acuff, a bestselling author and speaker who turns personal challenges into practical lessons for living with intention and resilience. From mastering goals to overcoming negative thinking, Jon shares insights that help listeners navigate life’s “hard middle” and keep moving forward, even when it feels impossible.
Later in the episode, we’ll hear from journalist and anchor Leland Vittert, whose new book, Born Lucky, is a deeply moving story of his childhood with autism and the profound sacrifices his father made to give him hope and teach him resilience.
Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:
Past interview: Ken Abraham
Upcoming interview: Rebecca St. James
Interview Quotes:
“I just had this sense that if I would take responsibility for my life, I could change a lot of things I wanted to change.” - Jon Acuff
“I think a lot of goals work better when they’re measured, when they are paced.” - Jon Acuff
“I think that a lot of life is talking yourself into doing things you don’t want to do, but you really want to. There’s a lot of mornings I don’t want to write, I don’t want to work out, I don’t want to be polite, I don’t want to be detailed—but I really do want that. If I’m honest, I really want the benefits of those things. And so I figure out games inside the middle that get me to where I want to be.” - Jon Acuff
“One of the soundtracks I use in my life is that fear comes free, hope takes work. You’ll never have to look for fear. It will find you. You’ll never have to look for stress or anxiety. They will find you. Hope takes effort. Positivity takes effort.” - Jon Acuff
“The difference for me between a broken soundtrack, meaning a negative thought that’s running on a loop, and a prompting from the Holy Spirit, is often what it leads to. I think a prompting of the Holy Spirit leads to prayer, it leads to change, it leads to journaling, it leads to confession to a friend, it leads to plugging back into your small group.” - Jon Acuff
“Your thoughts turn into actions, your actions turn into results. What you think becomes what you do, becomes what you get.” - Jon Acuff
“[My dad] didn’t know how it was going to end up, but he knew that being there every day and becoming my friend—he still is my best friend—was my only hope.”- Leland Vittert
“Everybody needs to feel like they have somebody who be