‘I Get to Come Face to Face with God’

After decades of abusive relationships, Megan discovered hope found only in Jesus Christ while listening to Moody Radio

by Nancy Huffine  /  April 21, 2023

“I really didn't know anything outside of abuse and just a lot of dysfunction.”

Megan’s life story is a hard one to tell. Her father wanted to live “off the grid.” Way off. Megan’s parents raised her and her six siblings in a remote, wooded area outside of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho.

“We were raised in the woods and homeschooled in a hand-built log cabin. I spent the first decade of my life there,” Megan recalls. “We never had a phone out there. And it wasn't until I was, I think, five or six years old that we got electricity and a well, so it was pretty primitive.”

Though her parents made sure all the children were formally educated, there was no emphasis on any kind of faith. “My dad was an atheist. Even the few times he talked about Christians or the Lord, it was very negative,” Megan says. “We were raised with no spiritual background whatsoever. I did know that my mom was raised in the church, but she didn't talk about it much.”

Cycles of abuse and neglect

Making Megan’s home life even more difficult was emotional abuse that was always present. Then, at age 12, Megan was victimized by a child predator. This new kind of abuse continues to impact Megan 30 years after it occurred.

Megan and her siblings received a lot of unsupervised freedoms for kids so young, and those freedoms led Megan to pursue toxic relationships. At 13, she was dating men in their 20s. “I now know,” she reflects, “that I was probably seeking the approval of older men.”

Megan’s parents eventually divorced. Both left the home, leaving Megan and some older siblings to raise themselves for a while.

By age 26, Megan had four children—the first at age 16. She had been married twice and was in the process of trying to escape an abusive relationship. She and her children moved to another town to stay with a friend’s parents, who were Mormons.

Meeting Jesus through Moody Radio

The family was kind to Megan and she tried to fit in, but she was never comfortable with their religious practices. While Megan was questioning some of the spiritual principles her host family was teaching her, she began to read the Bible to, as she puts it, “fact check” what she was being told. It wasn’t long before she was introduced to KMBI, Moody Radio’s station in Spokane, Washington, by an unlikely source: her estranged mother.

“We were riding in the car,” says Megan, “and—this was so far from anything she'd ever introduced me to—but she said, ‘I found this radio station, and I thought you might like it.’ I was about 28 at that time. And I just loved it. I started listening, and I would get up early and have my notebook out and my Bible.”

Megan’s trials and difficulties would continue for many more years, including a period of trauma and sexual abuse as recently as 2020. But, having placed her faith in Christ more than a decade ago, she maintains a steadfast belief that God has never abandoned her and that Moody Radio’s biblical teaching has brought her strength.

A favorite is John MacArthur’s Grace To You program. “I love the Bible. I love the word-for-word, line-by-line teaching,” Megan says. “And he gives the deep teaching that you need to really understand who God is and what your role is (as a believer).

“I listen to Dawn and Steve in the Morning. And then from there, it's Colin Smith (photo above) and then Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth (Revive Our Hearts) and Erwin Lutzer. I listen all throughout the day to the entire lineup. People know (when I’m listening) that I’m not going to answer the phone.”

Finding a pathway to emotional healing

Now in her 40s, Megan is seeing a Christian counselor for the first time. She is also connected with two local churches and two faith-based recovery programs (Reboot and Celebrate Recovery) where she’s receiving trauma-informed care and support as she finds a pathway toward emotional healing.

Megan loves to encourage others to listen to Moody Radio, especially those who feel lost and alone.

“You are going to find out who your Father in heaven is. You are going to come face to face with people who know Him and love Him and can share truths, solid truths, stuff you can trust,” she says.

“There's just never a day that God's voice doesn't come through. So you get God. I believe that I really do get to come face to face with God, you know, knowing Him. Moody Radio helps to facilitate that every day. It's amazing.”