Loving People Out Of Their Trauma: Holly Hayes & Rebecca Smith
Jesus Calling: Stories of Faith
Jesus Calling
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Bible shows time and time again that Jesus was near to the broken. He was close to those that society discarded, He brought healing to the hopeless, and He reached into the pit of sin and rescued those who didn’t even believe themselves worth rescue. That is our call as Christians, to provide that same type of love and support to those who need it the most, rather than turning our backs on them. CEO of the Sanctuary Project, Holly Hayes, was saved from a life of violence and trauma by turning to a stolen Bible. Now, Holly uses her company, which creates jewelry, to employ women coming out of violence, trafficking, and addiction, giving them a place to start fresh, a place to feel loved, and a place to develop a relationship with Christ, free of judgement. Founder of Better Life Bags Rebecca Smith thought God had made a mistake calling her to move to a little town in Michigan, thinking she’d never feel at home. But after Rebecca’s bag company grew too big for her to handle by herself, she found that there was a large community of women who desperately needed employment and a place to connect with other women. Holly and Rebecca have both experienced the call of God in their lives, and now hope to make that same difference for the people they help by meeting them in their pain and needs.
Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:
Past interview: Tammy Arnold
Upcoming interview: Lucas Hoge
Interview Quotes:
“I went from this really normal, healthy young girl who had trauma but didn't know it to someone who began acting out in every sense of the word and in every way. And all of the sudden my inward trauma became very outward.” - Holly Hayes
“I was homeless, addicted, completely lost, completely broken. And I was on the floor of a public bathroom just crying and watching my tears hit the floor one day and three words fell out of my mouth. I said, ‘God help me.’” - Holly Hayes
“You would think I cried out to God and then I was all better, right? It took years for me to even realize who that God was that I cried out to.” - Holly Hayes
“I was desperate to know who this God was that saved me all those years ago on that bathroom floor, because at this point, I knew I had been so miraculously rescued and everything I had searched for had come up empty.” - Holly Hayes
“I stood face to face for the first time with this God who had rescued me off the floor of that bathroom those years ago. And so it was so clear in that moment that Jesus was the God that would rescue someone in the pit of sin and give them a whole new life.” - Holly Hayes
“I know there is only one way to get needs met, and that is through prayer.” - Holly Hayes
“He is so faithful to the people He loves, especially the vulnerable.” - Holly Hayes
“When it comes to meeting the needs of his Beloved, of His people, He is so faithful.” - Holly Hayes
“Anything that's different than what we grew up with or are used to is scary if you're just entering it. But my challenge to myself and to people who are scared, I think any time we are confronted with fear of any sort of race, religion, like any sort of difference, is just meet somebody. Like, get a face and a name and shake their hand, get to know their story.” - Rebecca Smith
“If we're hurrying through life and rushing, we can't hear those [whispers from God]. We're just too loud and too busy to be able to hear His still, small whispers.” - Rebecca Smith
“God has a plan for each one of our lives. He has it laid out for me. He has this pathway laid out. And my only job is just to take one step at a time. I don't have to run down the path. I can simply walk and God reveals the next step as it comes.” - Rebecca Smith
“To me, the goal in life, in business, in parenting, in any of it is not winning. The goal is not to finish first, the goal is to finish and to finish well in the lane that God has given us to run.” - Rebecca Smith
________________________
Enjoy watching these additional videos from Jesus Calling YouTube channel:
Audio Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PrbuwH
Video Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PsmEkJ
What’s Good? Playlist: https://bit.ly/3i7VUlZ
________________________
Connect with Jesus Calling
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Understanding that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and |
| 0:04.9 | understanding that in my own self even today helps me to be so much more |
| 0:09.8 | gracious and so much more forgiving for all the hurts that have been done to me |
| 0:13.9 | because I know too that hurting people hurt people. |
| 0:17.4 | Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast in a life that's had many hurts where |
| 0:22.6 | trauma is a part of daily living. One is vulnerable to the darker |
| 0:26.2 | sides of our human existence. Though we can't always know what a person's |
| 0:29.7 | motive is for destructive behavior toward themselves, we can ask ourselves this |
| 0:33.6 | question, would Jesus love them through their trauma? Jesus was regularly |
| 0:37.7 | seeing communing with questionable people, often who are outcast because of |
| 0:42.4 | their moral or social status. In Mark 217, Jesus explained that it's not the |
| 0:47.8 | right as he came to save, but those who were sick with sin. |
| 0:55.6 | Our guests this week have seen and walked through unimaginable trauma, only to |
| 1:00.4 | find that God was there to meet their needs. Holly Hayes, the CEO of the |
| 1:04.8 | Sanctuary Project, was a victim of sex trafficking, descending to a point so |
| 1:09.0 | low that she found herself in a basement crying out to God to save her. And when |
| 1:13.2 | no one else would love her through her pain, he did. Rebecca Smith saw a need |
| 1:18.0 | in her community for immigrant women who had only ever experienced less than |
| 1:21.6 | ideal working conditions and were looking to make a fresh start. Through her |
| 1:25.5 | company, Better Life Bags, she was able to employ many of these women and made |
| 1:30.0 | a way for them to better their lives, even as her own life was made better by |
| 1:33.7 | opening herself up to their needs. Let's begin with Holly Story. My name is Holly |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jesus Calling, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Jesus Calling and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.