#379: Can I Get Back Up When I Want To Give Up? With Shawn Johnson

4:13 Podcast with Jennifer Rothschild

Jennifer Rothschild

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

5 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When life gets hard—really hard—it can be tempting to throw in the towel. But today you're going to hear an incredibly powerful testimony of why you shouldn't.

Pastor Shawn Johnson talks about how he received a devastating brain disease diagnosis that left him wrestling with despair, doubt, and the desire to give up on everything, including his faith and his future. But through vulnerability, community, and choosing to worship even in the middle of his pain, Shawn discovered that joy can coexist with suffering.

He'll give you three reasons to keep fighting as well as seven strategies for resilience to help you hold on to hope when everything in you wants to let go. You'll learn how to balance vulnerability with strength, humility with courage, and faith with perseverance—so one day you can look back and say, "Thank God I didn't give up, because look what God has done!"

This was such a deeply meaningful conversation that I decided to end this episode by singing over you a song I wrote called "Take Me to the Cross," because that's the place we all need most.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	He said, I'm not saying it's not going to be hot.
0:03.7	I'm not saying it's not going to burn.
0:06.2	But we're not walking away from this.
0:09.1	He said, this is not going to steal your joy.
0:13.1	It's not going to steal your calling.
0:15.8	It's not going to steal who you are as a husband or a father.
0:20.2	He said, we're going to walk through this thing, and we're going to come out stronger on
0:24.0	the other side.
0:24.9	And he said, I'm going to be with you every single step of the way.
0:27.8	And they just said it again, we're going to kiss this fire and walk away whistling.
0:36.1	When life turns up the heat and you just really want to give up, will you face the flames?
0:42.1	Will you keep the faith?
0:43.4	Will you keep fighting until God does the miraculous?
0:48.0	Well, Pastor Sean Johnson found himself asking those very questions after he was diagnosed
0:53.9	with a terrible, devastating
0:56.8	brain disease that made him just want to give up on everything, including his faith and
1:03.0	his future.
1:03.9	But the turning point was a phone call from a friend who said to him that this situation
1:09.4	was not going to steal his joy, take away his peace, or change his calling?
1:15.9	His friend said this, and you're going to love it.
1:18.5	You are going to kiss this fire and walk away whistling.
1:23.2	Oh, my friends, this is one of the best conversations that you will ever hear.
	...

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