ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide

Hosted by Todd Andrewsen

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227

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Oct 2026

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ToddTalks--Spirit By Design is for those of you who desire to increase your spiritual wellness, utilize spiritual gifts, and overcome spiritual obstacles. If you struggle to maintain your spirituality, your beliefs, your testimony, in this chaotic world, come listen in and learn some things that can change your life. Maybe you can't make it to church due to your responsibilities whatever they may be. Maybe you struggle with your Testimony or beliefs and are looking for help. Maybe you just need someone to give you ideas on how to build and strengthen your faith. This podcast is to help you design your spiritual life. Spirit by Design means you are in charge of your life. You surrender it to God and allow him to help you design the life you desire. By developing and strengthening your spiritual side, you will find peace, joy and serenity in this chaotic world that is only getting worse.

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October 27, 2026Episode 5921 min

Do What You Can, Give God the Rest: Trusting God When You Can't Control Life

Suffering can shrink your world until all you can see is the walls of your own Liberty Jail. In this episode on trusting God when life is out of your control, we start with Doctrine and Covenants 123:17 to build a blueprint for mature faith: cheerfully do all that lies in your power, then trust God with everything outside it. • Why "trusting God" can quietly become a way to dodge the responsibilities Heaven expects you to own — in marriage, finances, and your spiritual habits • A flight-training story from Afghanistan: one engine fails, the student says "Inshallah," and the hill keeps getting closer — you can't control the failure, but you can move the controls you've been given • From Liberty Jail to Nauvoo (D&C 124): you may not be able to undo what happened to you, but you can decide what you will build from here Scriptures in this episode: Doctrine and Covenants 123:17; D&C 121–124 A question to take with you: What do you want God to change — and what is the next faithful thing you can do right now while you wait? If this helped you, send it to one person who is in a Liberty Jail moment right now. And follow ToddTalks: Spirit by Design so you don't miss next week's episode. 📚 The story in this episode comes from my book Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly — the spiritual lessons I learned teaching Afghan pilots to fly, and how, with Christ's help, we can overcome any obstacle: https://a.co/d/06JTyhHT Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

October 23, 2026Episode 5824 min

How to Keep Your Faith in the Refiner's Fire: Trials, Suffering, and D&C 122

Pain has a way of shrinking your world down to one brutal question: why would God allow this? We wrestle with that question head-on through the image of the refiner’s fire, where heat does not exist to destroy what’s precious, but to separate what doesn’t belong. That doesn’t make suffering “good,” and we’re careful about that line, but it does open the door to growth that can’t be faked when life gets hard. We revisit Liberty Jail and the Lord’s words in Doctrine and Covenants 122, including the piercing phrase “All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” I talk about how injustice stays injustice, even when God can still teach and heal through it. The refiner’s fire is not permission to excuse cruelty or accept abuse, and faith is not pretending everything is fine. The real work is asking what hardship is revealing about where we place our trust, what kind of person we’re becoming, and whether we’ll let Jesus Christ work in us without demanding full explanations first. Then we take a surprising turn into the cockpit. As a pilot, I’ve learned turbulence feels scary even when the aircraft is safe, and that same principle applies to spiritual turbulence, anxiety, and doubt. Feelings are real, but they are not always reliable, so we talk about “spiritual instruments” like scripture, prayer, the Holy Ghost, personal revelation, and trusted wisdom that help you see clearly when life shakes. We close with “Art Thou Greater Than He” as an invitation to covenant faith, Christlike character, and righteous influence rather than bitterness or control. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s hurting, and leave a review to help more people find hope through the fire. The link to my recent Fantasy novel on Amazon: https://a.co/d/02tGXN9I Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

October 20, 2026Episode 5722 min

You Did Everything Right and Still Got Wrecked: What Liberty Jail Teaches About Suffering (D&C 121–123)

You can do everything you believe God asked you to do and still end up in the middle of a storm. That’s the gut-punch question I’m sitting with today: when you’ve prayed, tried to be obedient, and made sacrifices, why does life still break in ways you didn’t see coming, and where is God when it does? I walk through Joseph Smith’s experience in Liberty Jail and the revelations that became Doctrine and Covenants 121 through 123, where a dungeon-like prison turns into a classroom and even a temple. Joseph’s honest cry, “O God, where art thou?” matters because it shows this question isn’t a weakness, it’s a real prayer. We talk about why faithfulness doesn’t guarantee an easy path, and I connect Liberty Jail to the broader scriptural pattern seen in Job, Joseph of Egypt, the Apostle Paul, and ultimately Jesus Christ, who was perfectly obedient and still suffered beyond what we can comprehend. We also get practical about what trials are and aren’t. Not every painful circumstance is a divinely designed test. Agency, injustice, mortality, and a fallen world are real, and other people’s choices can hurt us. Even then, the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that God can work with us in suffering, offering peace before explanations and helping us grow into something stronger. The line that stays with me is the call to “endure it well” and the idea that enduring well means refusing to let pain have the final word about who we become. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with someone in a hard season, and leave a review so more people can find Todd Talk, Spirit by Design. What helps you keep turning toward God when the storm doesn’t move? Link to my new fantasy novel on Amazon. https://a.co/d/0c8Ghnu0 Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

October 9, 2026Episode 5625 min

When Character Fails, Freedom Falls: Why Laws Can't Replace Morality

Right and wrong didn’t disappear. We just started treating them like opinions, and that shift is costing us more than we realize. We dig into why a moral code matters more in 2026 than it did for previous generations, because today we have more technology, more anonymity, more influence, and more ways to do something wrong while convincing ourselves it’s fine. We connect the dots between freedom and character through the lens of America’s Founders, including the blunt warning from John Adams that the Constitution depends on a moral and religious people. Laws can punish theft, but they can’t manufacture honesty, generosity, or self-control. When personal morality fades, we keep stacking rules and enforcement to compensate, and we still end up asking the same uncomfortable question: what happens when we expect government to replace self-government? From a Christian perspective, we turn to scripture and the Book of Mormon to argue that agency is always taking us somewhere liberty or captivity, life or death. We challenge the “if it feels right, it must be right” mindset, talk about discernment in a world of deepfakes and information overload, and lay out seven modern moral battlegrounds from integrity and sexual purity to words, money, power, and self-control. We also share “Ten Commandments for modern life” as practical, grounded commitments to help you govern yourself before something else governs you. If you found this meaningful, subscribe, share it with someone who’s been wrestling with moral confusion, and leave a five-star review so more people can find the show. Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

October 6, 2026Episode 5524 min

True Freedom Starts With Virtue: Joy vs. Pleasure, Agency, and 2 Nephi 2

“The pursuit of happiness” doesn’t mean chasing whatever feels good. We dig into a deeper definition that’s rooted in virtue, character, self-government, and a life aligned with God, and we draw a bold line between short-term pleasure and lasting joy. We connect the Founding Fathers’ moral framework to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon’s teachings on agency. In 2 Nephi 2, agency isn’t framed as unlimited permission. It’s the power to choose between outcomes, liberty and eternal life through Christ or captivity and spiritual decline. That context makes “men are that they might have joy” feel practical, not poetic: God’s plan is designed to shape what we become, not just deliver quick comfort. We also get honest about what steals freedom in real life. If you can’t govern appetites, emotions, and impulses, you may have choices, but you aren’t truly free. Romans 6:16 warns that what you repeatedly obey becomes your master, whether that’s food, money, sex, entertainment, approval, anger, or even comfort. From there we reframe commandments as a “happiness system” (D&C 130:20–21), explain why “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10) still allows for sin to be pleasurable, and show how temptation hides consequences by compressing reward. If you’re tired of the “I want, I consume, repeat” loop, this is a better map: choose, become, receive. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest idea you’re taking into your week. Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

October 2, 2026Episode 541 hr 1 min

From Seeking to Jesus: Laura Ruth Stewart's Conversion Story, and Learning to Pray and Listen

A single sentence in a dorm Bible study can crack a worldview wide open and sometimes it takes years to understand what just happened. We sit down with Laura Ruth Stewart and her daughter, Hope, to talk through a long, honest path from spiritual seeking to a life centered on Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We get into the real-life details people actually wrestle with: confusion from mixed religious exposure, the pull of yoga and “Christ consciousness,” the role of science questions, and the humbling moments that reveal how much we build walls against God. Laura shares how a series of seemingly small interventions, a Spirit-filled mentor, a chiropractor’s office, Christian music, and opening the Gospel of John, became turning points in her born again Christian testimony. Then we go practical with Christian prayer. We talk about using scripture-based prayer to stand on God’s promises, and the surprisingly hard discipline of slowing down to listen so intimacy with God becomes real. Hope adds her own voice, including what she loves about Queen Esther and how she prays quietly in daily life. If you’re hungry for spiritual growth, a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit, or a clearer way to pray when you don’t know what to say, this conversation will meet you right where you are. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find it. Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

September 29, 2026Episode 5319 min

Faith Like a Mustard Seed Still Moves Mountains: A 7-Day Practice When Your Faith Feels Small

You might be waiting for “bigger” faith before you try again, pray again, repent again, or hope again. We challenge that assumption head-on with the Savior’s promise: faith like a grain of a mustard seed can move mountains. Not because the seed is impressive, but because it is alive, planted, and willing to grow. We lean on teachings from President Russell M. Nelson and the scriptures to show why the Lord does not require perfect faith before we can access His perfect power, and why the next step matters more than a dramatic feeling. We also take a surprising detour into aviation. When a pilot flies in clouds, feelings can mislead, panic can spike, and the only safe move is to trust the instruments. Spiritually, life has IMC moments too: fear gets loud, answers feel delayed, and the horizon disappears. We talk about what it looks like to “fly by instruments” with prayer, scripture study, the temple, covenants, personal revelation, prophetic counsel, and the Holy Ghost, plus why holding the ground you have already won can keep you steady. Finally, we get practical about “moving mountains.” Sometimes the Lord removes obstacles, and sometimes He hands you a shovel and the strength to dig through addiction, grief, resentment, self-doubt, financial stress, or uncertainty. You’ll leave with a simple seven-day faith practice to plant, act, and nurture that seed until it becomes spiritual strength. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs steadier faith, and leave a review with the one next step you are going to take. Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

September 26, 2026Episode 5222 min

When Life Gets Turbulent, Fly the Fundamentals: Simple Gospel Basics That Steady Your Faith

The fastest way to drain your faith is to bury it under extra rules, endless debates, and spiritual overthinking. We keep returning to a simple claim: Jesus Christ made the gospel clear, and the power is in living it, not endlessly complicating it with opinions, comparison, or checklists. I connect discipleship to a pilot’s instinct during an emergency. When the cockpit gets chaotic, you do not invent new principles, you simplify and go back to fundamentals: aviate, navigate, communicate. That same pattern can steady your spiritual life when stress hits, relationships strain, or your mind starts spinning. We talk about why “profound” does not mean “complicated,” and why adding complexity often creates distraction, perfectionism, and burnout instead of real growth. Then we get practical and scriptural. We walk through the doctrine of Christ and the primary answers that keep you moving forward: love God, love your neighbor, follow Christ, repent, forgive, serve, pray, keep covenants, and endure faithfully. We also name the pressures that try to hijack your focus, from social media to church culture to political arguments, and offer simple questions to test whether something is essential or merely interesting. If you want Christian discipleship that actually leads to transformation, start with small daily steps and repeat them with steadiness and cheer. Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels spiritually overloaded, and leave a review so more people can find the simple path back to Christ. Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

September 22, 2026Episode 5125 min

Commandments Aren't Restrictions: How Obedience Brings Peace, Health, and Purpose

Commandments can feel like fences until you notice what they’re actually doing for you. I’m digging into a question that changes everything: what if God’s commandments aren’t restrictions on your happiness, but instructions for accessing God’s blessings and becoming the kind of person who can hold more peace, strength, and joy? We talk honestly about what following Jesus does and does not promise. Christ never said we’d avoid sickness, heartbreak, financial pressure, or adversity. He did promise His presence, His power, and His peace. I connect that promise to the idea of universal law: just like your body adapts to exercise and your mind responds to what you feed it, your spirit adapts to prayer, gratitude, repentance, and covenant keeping. Sometimes the blessing is not that God removes the problem, but that Christ changes what the problem can do to you. From physical health and the Word of Wisdom to mental and emotional steadiness, money stress, tithing, debt, and marriage, I walk through practical gospel principles that build real-world resilience. If you want less chaos inside your head and more stability in your life, this is about consistent discipleship, not perfection. I close with a clear 30-day challenge: don’t just believe in Christ, follow Him and watch for the miracle happening inside you. If this helps, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a five-star rating and review so more people can find it. Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

September 18, 2026Episode 5042 min

Choosing a Mission Over a Basketball Scholarship: Spencer Kimball on Building Unshakable Faith

A scholarship offer can feel like a lifeline until it forces the real question: what does God want me to do? Todd sits down with his friend Spencer Kimball, a stake president in Destin, Florida, to talk about building faith when the road ahead looks murky and you are tempted to take the easiest exit. Spencer shares the moment he had to choose between a basketball dream and serving a mission, and how one act of prayer changed the entire trajectory of his life. We get honest about what faith looks like when it is tested: financial stress, family pressure, chronic pain, and the kind of uncertainty that takes you to your knees. We connect personal stories to scripture, including the idea that the storm you fear may be the very wind carrying you to where you are meant to go. Along the way, we dig into spiritual promptings, how to act when you do not know the full plan, and why hindsight so often reveals God’s steady hand. We also explore “looking forward with an eye of faith” as a practical, gospel-centered form of visualization, plus the power of language and mindset in dark seasons. Spencer explains how he helps people rewrite the story they are telling themselves, return to the habits that once made them feel close to the Lord, and choose a healthier circle of influence. If you want Christian encouragement, faith-building tools, and a grounded approach to spiritual resilience, you will find it here. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. To work with Spencer, visit his website: Xpansion.com Send us Fan Mail Support the show ToddTalks: Spirit by Design is a weekly podcast for Latter-day Saints and Christians trying to keep faith strong in hard seasons. Host Todd Andrewsen — former missionary and military instructor pilot — brings lessons from the cockpit and the scriptures to help you hear God and endure well. Instagram: @toddtalks_ig Email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.com Support the Show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1422736/supporters/new 📚 Books by Todd: Fire and Ice: My Adventures and Spiritual Growth While Teaching Afghans to Fly, his spiritual memoir of teaching Afghans to fly And his new Fantasy Novel: Crossing the Horizon: Escape to Destiny, a modern fantasy about grief, fate, and the battle between darkness and light. Find both on his Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/toddandrewsen

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