Westside Stories: Sallye Sullivan

Sallye Sullivan has spent the last few years learning what it actually means to trust God in suffering, not just talk about it. What she shares, openly and without flinching, is what a season of suffering tied to the loss of a relationship did to her faith, and what it gave back.

For most of her life, Sallye describes having the right theological answers about suffering without ever having to live them. God is with us in pain. He's good even when our circumstances aren't. Then came a season she describes as deeper, darker, and longer than anything she'd walked through before. Asked to describe it as a painting, she doesn't hesitate: floor to ceiling dark, with erratic brushstrokes, like trying to make sense of pain that didn't seem to have a point.

What's striking about Sallye's story isn't the absence of doubt. It's what she did with it. She kept a running note on her phone called "Daily Bread," writing down one small thing each day that God gave her to make it to the end. Inchworms. Chipmunks. Birds of prey. Small, strange provisions that reminded her, again and again, that she wasn't alone. She admits she used to hear "God is with you" as a kind of consolation prize, the thing people say when there's no better answer. Now, she says, she understands that nearness to God is the whole point.

Eventually, a mentor suggested an extended season of rest at a place called La Brea, an international ministry where people go to rest and wrestle honestly with questions of faith. Sallye calls the decision to go less brave than desperate, she was simply too tired to say no. She spent five months there across two stays, walking past fields of tiny white snowdrops blooming in the dead of English winter, and sharing meals with an elderly couple who welcomed her like a granddaughter. Both, she says, preached a quiet sermon: even in winter, there's growth happening that you can't yet see.

Her return to Atlanta came with its own strange grace, a wrong train, a walk through London with her luggage, and an unplanned Atlanta billboard that made the next step suddenly, almost comically clear. She's back now, working for a ministry called Help the Persecuted, telling the stories of persecuted Christians around the world.

Sallye is honest that her story is still unfolding, that healing isn't finished. But she's less afraid of suffering than she used to be, and more curious about what God might be doing inside it.

As you listen, we want to invite you to sit with two questions: do you have a place you can experience restoration? If not, can you search for or create one? And how is God revealing Himself to you today?

And a challenge, if you're willing: write down one thing today that the Lord is using to excite you through the day, whether it's a tiny white flower or a conversation with a friend. Walk with awareness and curiosity.

Listen now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or find the full episode on our website.