The Invisible Battle-How God Uses Painful Experiences to Help Others

Megan Carlson appeared to have it all. But behind her successful lifestyle and warm smile, Megan was fighting a battle invisible to the outside world. Following immense loss in her family, she felt as though she was drowning in a sea of grief and abandonment. She had no idea that her darkest days were all part of God’s incredible plan for her life.

When she was just 10 years old, Megan’s father died and she was left to care for her mother who had lapsed into alcoholism over the grief. In the years that followed, Megan’s mother also passed away and she lost her brother and sister to suicide. A successful business woman with a facade of a picture-perfect life, Megan was, in truth, dealing with a divorce and overwhelming feelings of a shattered heart and grief. She sank into a depression that robbed her of her career.

Trying to piece her life back together, Megan started working in a new industry. At her new job, a coworker invited her to church where she discovered God’s all-encompassing love and comfort—the missing elements in her life. As she grew in her relationship with Christ, she could clearly see how God used what she originally saw as devastation to bring her into a relationship with him that healed her heartbreak.

Today, Megan and that “coworker,” who is now better known as her husband Nels, attend and are involved in ministry at Saddleback Huntington Beach. She says she is blessed to be able to use her painful experiences to help others by discipling women on how to experience God’s love and comfort when their hearts are breaking. 

Click here to learn more about Saddleback's Support Groups, including Depression/Bring Back the Hope Support Group and Grief Support Workshop.