172 | Praying Through Chronic Illness & Suffering with Olivia Gerber

Verity by Phylicia Masonheimer

Phylicia Masonheimer

Religion, Religion & Spirituality, Theology, Christianity

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Olivia Gerber is a sunset-chasing, Jesus-loving adventurer based in Northern Indiana. She finds pleasure in perfectly ripe avocados, plane tickets, and lavender lattes, but her deepest joy is found at the feet of her Savior and she longs to spread His hope in the world. Her health challenges have given her a tender heart toward those facing chronic pain, and she loves bringing hope to this under-served community through her book, Hold Hope. She recently married the curly love of her life and is loving her new adventure with Jack! In this conversation, Olivia shares how suffering stripped away her sense of control and turned her faith inside out—and how praise, specific prayer, and keeping a record of God's faithfulness carried her through the hardest years. If you're in a season where the answer feels like "no" or "not yet," I hope this encourages you to keep praying anyway. You can find Olivia at letterstoholdhope.com and on Instagram @letterstoholdhope. Her book "Hold Hope" is available through the Every Woman a Theologian shop. **Buy Hold Hope:** https://phyliciamasonheimer.com/product/hold-hope-paperback/ **Shop Prayer Resources** ⦿ Every Woman a Theologian Shop: https://phyliciamasonheimer.com/shop **Watch the full Verity Podcast Prayer Series:** https://www.youtube.com/@veritypodcast **Subscribe to Verity Podcast:** https://apple.co/veritypodcast Verity Podcast is an Every Woman a Theologian company. We believe every woman should be a theologian—every woman a student of the heart of God. **Order Every Woman a Theologian:** https://tsfqr.com/EWATbook **New Release: Not-So-Quiet Time: The Book of Psalms Volume 1** https://tsfqr.com/psalms **Follow along:** Substack: https://phyliciamasonheimer.substack.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/phyliciamasonheimer EWAT Instagram: https://instagram.com/everywomanatheologian Subscribe for weekly biblical theology, spiritual warfare teaching, and practical guidance for growing in discernment and confidence in Christ. #ChronicIllness #PrayerLife #HoldHope #VerityPodcast #EveryWomanATheologian #SufferingAndFaith #ChristianWomen

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think if I just said one thing to someone about prayer, it would be this, to pray specifically.
0:07.0	I see his footprints right beside me the whole way along.
0:10.0	And I can look back and be like, wow, I know that he is real and he is present and he is
0:14.9	actively involved in my life.
0:28.0	Welcome back to Verity Podcast friends. I'm Felicia Masonheimer, your host. We are wrapping up our prayer series, and as we get close to the end, we're concluding with three awesome interviews
0:33.8	on the topic of prayer. Today's episode is an interview with Olivia Feller Gerber,
0:40.4	who you may know if you bought her book Hold Hope from the Every Woman a Theologian shop.
0:47.3	Since Hold Hope has been in the world, we've been able to encourage hundreds of women who are
0:53.1	walking the path of chronic illness and pain
0:55.5	through this resource that we published with Olivia's authorship. So in this interview, you will get
1:03.0	to hear from Olivia herself as she shares, how do you pray through times of suffering, through long
1:10.0	seasons of illness or chronic pain. How do you
1:14.1	hold on to hope when it seems like all hope is lost? And how do you persevere in prayer when you
1:22.7	start to wonder if God is even listening? Olivia is a sunset chasing Jesus-loving adventurer based in northern Indiana.
1:33.6	And today you're going to hear from her why her deepest joy is found at the feet of her
1:39.9	savior.
1:40.9	She wants to spread the hope of Jesus to the world, including to those who are suffering and
1:47.1	beginning to question whether God really loves them and God sees them in their pain. Her health
1:54.7	challenges have given her a tender heart towards those who are facing chronic illness, and she
2:00.3	loves bringing her hope to the
2:02.9	underserved community of chronic illness. And this interview is one way that she does that.
2:09.8	I hope you enjoy our time together with Olivia Gerber.
	...

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