The Living Story: Healing from Heartbreak, Finding Purpose, and Learning to Live Again

Hosted by Tennille Martinez

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Jun 2026

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About the show

You have done the work. Read the books. Sat in the therapy chair. Said the prayers or maybe stopped saying them altogether. And something still is not landing. You are not broken. You are not behind. You are in the middle of a chapter that is longer and harder than anyone told you it would be. You feel stuck between who you were and who you are still becoming. And you are looking for someone who has been exactly where you are. Welcome to The Living Story. Hosted by Tennille Martinez, a teacher, storyteller, and woman of faith, this is a podcast for women in their 30s and 40s navigating healing, identity, heartbreak, and the long journey of finding themselves again after loss, divorce, depression, and the kind of pain that changes everything. Each episode weaves together personal testimony, scripture, and honest spiritual conversation for women who are done performing and ready to go deeper. Whether you are healing after divorce, recovering from heartbreak, rebuilding your sense of worth and purpose after loss, walking through depression and faith at the same time, or simply trying to find yourself again after a season that left you unrecognizable, there is a chapter here for you. This is not a podcast for women who have it together. This is a podcast for women who are still in the middle of it and need to know the middle is survivable. Faith will meet you here exactly where you are. Even if you are not sure you believe anymore. Even if you are angry. Even if the last thing you expected was for God to show up in a chapter that looked like this. If you have been searching for a podcast about healing, starting over, self-worth, identity, purpose, and becoming the woman you were created to be, you just found it. The chapters you least understand are often the ones that change everything. You don't just read stories. You are one.

Listen to episodes

27 recent

June 11, 2026Episode 2617 min

E26 | When God Doesn't Change the Season | I Never Got My Why - Part 4

Send us Fan MailIn Part 4 of the I Never Got My Why series, Tennille explores the true context behind Jeremiah 29:11 and why God's promise of hope and a future was first spoken to people living in exile.What happens when God doesn't change the season?Through the story of Israel in Babylon, this episode explores how to stop putting your life on hold while waiting for the next chapter and how to build, grow, and flourish in a place you never planned to stay.Inside this episode:• The real context of Jeremiah 29:11• Why God's promise did not remove the exile• How to stop living emotionally packed for departure• The difference between surviving a season and growing inside it• What God may be building in your waiting seasonIf you've ever felt stuck, delayed, disappointed, or tempted to believe your real life starts later, this episode is for you.Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

June 9, 2026Episode 2514 min

E25 l You Are Not the Only One Who Asked | I Never Got My Why - Part 3

Send us Fan MailIn Episode 3 of I Never Got My Why, Tennille explores the wilderness story of Hagar and the powerful name she gives God in the middle of unanswered questions: El Roi, the God who sees me.This episode is about isolation, edited pain, emotional honesty, and the deep human need to be seen fully in suffering.Inside this episode:Hagar in Genesis 16El Roi, the God who seesemotional isolationthe edited version of painwhy women hide the full truth of their griefbeing seen versus being explainedSupport the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

June 5, 2026Episode 2414 min

E24 | When “Why” Becomes the Room You Live In | I Never Got My Why - Part 2

Send us Fan MailWhy do some questions stay with us long after the moment that created them?In Episode 2 of I Never Got My Why series, Tennille explores what happens when heartbreak, disappointment, and unanswered prayers stop being something we experience and start becoming the emotional place we live.Through the story of Naomi in Ruth 1, personal reflections, and an honest conversation about the gap between knowing truth and trusting it, this episode is for the woman who feels stuck in grief, waiting, or the unanswered question she cannot seem to move past.Inside this episode:• Why grief can become an emotional home• The story of Naomi and what Scripture teaches about bitterness• The difference between visiting pain and living there• Functioning publicly while grieving privately• The gap between the mind and the heart• Why slow healing is not spiritual failure• Hope for women who still have unanswered questionsSupport the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

June 2, 2026Episode 2312 min

E23 | Why Am I Still Stuck? | I Never Got My Why Series - Part 1

Send us Fan MailWhy can’t I move on… even when I know the relationship is over?In this first episode of the I Never Got My Why series, I explore the emotional and spiritual exhaustion of living inside unanswered questions. If you’ve ever wrestled with heartbreak, grief, disappointment, emotional looping, or wondering why God allowed something painful to happen, this episode is for you.Through honest storytelling, biblical reflection, and emotional truth-telling, we talk about:functioning publicly while grieving privatelywhy heartbreak can become part of your identitythe gap between what the mind knows and what the heart can holdMoses at the burning bushEl Roi, the God who seeswhy asking “why” is not weak faithThis episode is not about quick answers.It’s about learning how to stay honest with God in the middle of pain.Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

May 31, 2026Episode 2221 min

E22 | You Are Not Behind | Why Comparing Your Life to Others Is Keeping You Stuck

Send us Fan MailBefore you compare your life to someone else’s, remember this:You joined their story in the middle.In this episode of The Living Story, we’re talking about comparison, social media, waiting seasons, and the quiet belief so many women carry that they are somehow “behind” in life.Maybe you thought you’d be married by now.Maybe you thought you’d have children, clarity, healing, purpose, or peace by now.Maybe you scroll through someone else’s life and wonder why their story seems to be moving while yours feels stuck.But what if you’re not behind at all?What if you’ve simply been comparing your page one to someone else’s page three hundred?In this episode, Tennille Martinez explores: why comparison is emotionally destructive how social media distorts our timelines the hidden middle chapters people never show what the stories of Joseph and Hannah reveal about waiting why God’s timing is not punishment and how your “middle chapter” may actually be the place where transformation is happening most deeply This episode is for the woman who feels overlooked, delayed, discouraged, or exhausted from measuring her life against everyone else’s.You are not behind.You are being formed.Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

May 30, 2026Episode 2120 min

E21 | The Stories I Told Myself Before I Met God | Healing Lies About Worth, Love & Purpose

Send us Fan MailBefore I met God, I had a whole library of stories I believed about myself.Stories about rejection. Worth. Being overlooked. Being too much and somehow not enough at the same time. Stories about love, purpose, identity, and whether I was chosen at all.In this episode of The Living Story, we’re talking about the quiet lies women carry for years — the ones repeated so often they stop feeling like stories and start feeling like truth.If you’ve ever struggled with: low self-worth overthinking relationships feeling unseen people pleasing fear of rejection comparison identity confusion heartbreak or believing you missed your purpose… this conversation is for you.We explore: how false narratives are formed why emotional wounds become internal beliefs the stories women silently rehearse what happens when God interrupts those narratives and how healing begins through truth, surrender, and renewal of the mindFree Resource:Download “The Story She Keeps Telling Herself,” a truth-and-lie reflection guide designed to help you identify the narratives shaping your life. My gift to you!Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

May 28, 2026Episode 2018 min

E20 | When Self-Help Is Not Enough: What I Found When I Finally Opened the Bible

Send us Fan MailYou read the books. You went to therapy. You journaled, processed, grew, and did everything the personal development world told you to do. And something is still missing. Not because the work was wrong. Because there is a question underneath all of it that none of it could answer. Am I actually known by something larger than all of this? This episode is for the woman who has tried everything available and still feels like one piece is not quite in place. What changed when the Bible stopped being something she circled from a distance and became something she actually opened. And what it says about who she is that nothing else could tell her.Here is the free guide mentioned on today's episode: The Story She Keeps Telling Herself. It is a truth-and-lie finder for the woman who is ready to stop believing everything the middle has told her about who she is and who she will become. My gift to you!Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

May 20, 2026Episode 1922 min

E19 | The Gold Thread: How God Fills the Broken Places and Why Nothing in Your Story Was Wasted

Send us Fan MailThere is a Japanese art form called kintsugi. When pottery breaks, the artist repairs it with gold. The cracks do not get hidden. They become the most luminous part of the whole piece. What if God works the same way in your story? What if the chapters you have been trying to get past are actually the chapters He has been filling with something that makes them the most beautiful part of what He is building? This episode is a slow and honest look at the gold thread running through your life. Even the chapters that felt like detours. Even the ones you would rewrite if you could. Nothing was wasted. And the story He is telling through your life is more beautiful than you can see from where you are standing right now.Here is the free guide mentioned on today's episode: The Story She Keeps Telling Herself. A truth and Lie Finder for the woman who is ready to stop believing everything the middle has told her about who she is. My gift to you.Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

May 13, 2026Episode 1829 min

E18 | Her Story Begins: What 20 Years in the Classroom Taught Me About the Stories Girls Tell Themselves

Send us Fan MailTwenty years. Thousands of girls. And one thing that has never changed: the moment a girl decides she doesn't matter is the moment the world loses something it cannot afford to lose. This episode is for every woman who remembers being that girl. And for every parent, mentor, or educator who has one in front of them right now. Tennille Martinez opens up about what she has watched happen to girls in classrooms during her career, what she wished someone had said to her at twelve, and why she built Her Story Begins — a literary and identity experience that gives girls what the curriculum never could. If you have a daughter, a niece, a student, or a girl in your community who is disappearing quietly into someone else's idea of who she should be, this episode is for you both.Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

April 28, 2026Episode 1719 min

E17 | When Healing Keeps Restarting: What I Learned About Letting Go & Reaching Back

Send us Fan MailI deleted messages on WhatsApp. More than once. And every time I did, I restarted the clock on my own healing without realizing it. If you have ever reached back for something God already moved, if you have ever stood in a room with tears running down your face while worship music played and wondered why it was not getting easier, this episode is for you. This is what real healing actually looked like for me. Messy and circular and full of grace I did not earn. And what I found in Isaiah 30 on the night I finally stopped running from the truth.Support the showFREE COMPANION GUIDE TO THE SERIES:I Never Got My Why: What I Got Was BetterBible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat. Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us.If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you!Follow and connect with us on Instagram!