From a Painful Past to a Purpose-Filled Future, with Jamie Kirschner

Jamie Kirschner’s childhood was marked by abuse, neglect, and deep pain. Growing up with a drug-addicted father and a mother who often disappeared for weeks, she struggled to find hope. As a teenager, after enduring even greater hardships, she reached her lowest point—until an invitation to church changed everything.

In this powerful episode of Living Testimonies, Jamie shares how God met her in the midst of her brokenness, revealed her purpose, and led her to a lifelong mission of serving teens. Her story is one of pain, redemption, and unwavering faith.

No matter where you’ve been, God has a purpose for you. Tune in and be encouraged!

Links to connect with Jamie Kirschner:

UncommonTEEN Website 

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Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:04

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. I'm grateful for your support and for being part of this community. If you've been enjoying the podcast so far, I'd love it if you could take a minute to leave a review. Your feedback helps me reach more people and share these inspiring stories with others. Let's spread the word. Please share this podcast with your friends and family. And if you haven't already, be sure to like and subscribe for new episodes. To stay connected and up to date on all the latest news, updates, and exclusive content, head over to my Facebook page, Living Testimonies. While you're there, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. The link is on the page. Thanks again for listening, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Welcome to Living Testimony, Stories of Faith and Redemption. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope that everyone that's listening is blessed and doing well today. With me today, I have my sister in Christ. Her name is Jamie Kirschner, and she's here to share her testimony. How are you doing today, Jamie? Can you introduce yourself to everybody?

Jamie Kirschner: 1:29

Absolutely. So I am Jamie Kirschner. I am married to an amazing man of God. We've been married. This is 21 years. It's so crazy to think about. And I have two teenagers, which I absolutely love. Well, I love my kids no matter what the age they were. But I was called to youth ministry at a young age. And so I love the teen years. And so I am the podcast host and life coach for Uncommon Teen. So that's a little bit about me.

Israel Caminero: 1:55

Hey man, she's here to share her testimony. But before we start with that, I'd like to pray over us. And I'd like to say, Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing Jamie here today and for her testimony that you have given her. I ask that you fill her with your peace and confidence as she speaks. Let your Holy Spirit guide her words so that they bring her encouragement and everybody else also. Healing and hope to those who need it. Remove any nervousness and let her heart be at rest in your presence. May everything she shares point back to your love and faithfulness, touching lives and drawing people closer to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Jamie Kirschner: 2:32

Amen.

Israel Caminero: 2:34

Jamie. You're here to share your testimony with all the listeners. So if you can start from the very beginning before you knew Christ, that would be great. The floor is all yours.

Jamie Kirschner: 2:45

Absolutely. So I grew up in a home where my dad was very physically abusive, mentally abusive, verbally abusive. My mom, I think she just had kids, started out way too young. She was 16 when she got married, 17 when she had her first child. I was her fourth at 22. It was too much for her to deal with. And so she would be gone for weeks at a time. We had no idea if she was ever coming back. And so, like that was my childhood growing up. And so it was a childhood where I remember just always thinking, the people who are supposed to love me don't love me. I never once, not once growing up, did I ever hear the words I love you, did I ever receive a hug from my parents. Like nothing encouraging really from my parents at all. And uh just remember thinking, like, the people who are supposed to love me don't love me. The people who are supposed to love me would leave me. And like those were the lies that I told myself from a young age. I when I did go to church with my grandparents, uh, my grandma went to a church that was actually a cult and not Christian. But thankfully, I really believe that God protected my mind because I never received what I had learned going to church with her. It was one of those things where I'd ask questions and I get yelled at for asking questions, and so I never received it. But like there was always this draw. I grew up in the Bible Belt, so everybody knew about Jesus. We didn't necessarily know him personally, but we knew about him. And but I always had this draw towards towards God, towards Jesus, and but I didn't really understand it at that young age just because of my home life. And I remember one time being eight years old, and uh my sister and I, who was not even a year older than me, we were hiding behind the couch because it was the only place we could hide where my dad hadn't found us yet. And he was just on a very angry, mean rampage. He was he was mad, he was coming after us, and so we were hiding. And I remember thinking to myself at eight years old that I did not want to live anymore. I was done. I was done with life. And God spoke to me so clearly in that moment in my heart, not with words, but just like in my spirit. And he told me that there is a reason you're here, and I want I want you to find out why. And I didn't know it was God at the time because I didn't know God. I didn't know his voice. I just I had this strong determination inside of me from the time I was young. And I was like, okay, well, if there's a reason I'm here, I'm gonna find out why I'm here. And that is the only thing that got me through the crazy years to come because I wish things I could say things got better after that point, but they didn't. They actually got worse.

Israel Caminero: 5:30

Now, this is at home they got worse.

Jamie Kirschner: 5:32

Yes, at home they got worse. Yeah. Um, and it was it was just a hard, it was very hard. I remember being this is the summer after my sixth grade year, and my mom had left and she was gone for months. This was the longest time she had ever been gone. And we were like, my dad was really upset because it was just him at home. And this this summer, he went after my older brother and I, uh like abusing us physically more than he ever had before. It was the worst that I had ever experienced up to that point, and actually found out about four years ago, um, during my childhood, my spine was actually broken and I had no idea. But that's just that's what we'd went through. And then I I come to find out the reason why my mom was gone for several months was she was trying to get money to to afford a lawyer so that she could go after my dad, get full custody of us kids, and um, and she ended up doing that. We ended up going to court, they ended up separating, and I was so excited. This was like the happiest day of my life. My dad was finally out of the picture, and uh wish I could say it was that way, but it didn't last very long. Uh just my teen years were really, really tough because I didn't have anybody to share their love with me, like share the love of God with me, or even my parents telling me that they love me. I looked for love in all the wrong places. I looked for acceptance in school, in my in the I was in band, I was in choir, like I was trying to get my acceptance from that. Obviously, it can't fulfill anything. I looked for acceptance and love from guys, and that only led to so much more heartbreak. Just every time uh there was a breakup or something like that, then it's it, it just it made my life so much worse. And then when I was 15, I was really excited because this guy started liking me, and and I was I was surprised because not very many people uh went out of their way to actually, you know, say hi to me or anything. And this guy he knew what he was doing. But anyways, he was 17 and for we dated for about two years, and about and even though I was not a Christian at the time, I had very high morals. I wanted to wait till I got married. I wanted to stay pure. Um, I that's that's where my heart was. And um, this guy, about a year after we started, about a year and a half, I guess, after we started dating, he started physically abusing me and then ended up sexually abusing me um in the process because I would not give in to what he wanted. And then that that relationship ended, and I was at the lowest of lows in my life. Like I don't know that I could have gone any lower than at that point. And during the beginning of my senior year in high school, so 12th grade, I'm 17 years old. A friend of mine invited me to come to church with her. And I wish that I could say that she wanted to invite me because she knew I needed Jesus, but no, she wanted to invite me because it was convenient. I was we were doing something on Saturday night late, and she's like, Well, why don't you just stay the night at my house and we're gonna go to church in the morning and then we can just drop you off after church? And this is a friend of mine that I had been friends with since I was in kindergarten at five years old. So for 12 years we had been really close friends. Never once did she ever share Jesus with me. And um, but it was at this church service that I heard the gospel for the very first time, and I was like, this is exactly what I've been missing. Like I knew in that moment that that little eight-year-old girl that this was the same person, the same God that spoke to me at eight years old, and he really wanted a relationship with me, and he had been pursuing me for all those years. I just hadn't realized that he was pursuing me. And um, and I'm so thankful I did. So I gave my life to Jesus when I was 17 years old, it radically changed my life, radically changed my life. I knew that I was all in for God, and um I had no idea what I was gonna do with my life, but I was like, okay, God, I whatever you want, I'm here for you. And so the summer after my senior year of high school, there was a Christian camp that was near our area, and they needed somebody, they needed extra people to help them at the camp that summer. Okay, and so I was like, all right, all in. And and they needed, I I stepped in as the cook. I had no idea. I mean, I cooked for our family, but it was mostly with ramen. We were very, we are very poor family, so we didn't eat like a whole lot of amazing meals. And uh, but I stepped in as a cook because that's what they needed, and I'm like, okay, I'm all in for God. If you need it, I'll figure it out. Teach me, I'll learn. And it was that summer that God revealed to my heart that I was gonna be serving teens. And so I remember one night I was walking around the campus and there was this group of girls that was under a tree, and I was extremely insecure. I was extremely shy. I didn't really talk to people much because I was just all of the the insecurities from how I grew up, and I just didn't trust people very well. But I saw this group of girls under the tree, and it had to have been God. I don't know why I went up and talked to them because that's not that was not my personality at the time. And I went up and started talking to them, and I found out that they were from the youth home that was next door to the camp. So they're all in foster, the foster system. And I got to share with them my story, and because I could relate with them in their story, God did something amazing in their lives and my life at the same time. So, like their eyes were open, and they're like, Wait, there's hope. Like, there's actually hope for somebody like me. And because of my story, I could say yes. I knew 100%. I mean, I knew anyway, but like I was I lived it. And so for them, that was really eye-opening to them, and they were just blown away that God would love even them. And then at the same time, God was speaking to my heart and said, This is what you're gonna be doing for the rest of your life. You're gonna be serving teens. And so at 18 years old, I knew that I was gonna be in some kind of ministry serving teens. That's all I knew.

Israel Caminero: 12:07

Wow.

Jamie Kirschner: 12:09

Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 12:09

You know what I love about your story so far is that you said this girl asked you to go to church and you said it was out of convenience. Look what God did there.

Jamie Kirschner: 12:20

Yeah, absolutely. I saw the teen girls though that I talked to. I'm like, if you have friends and you don't think they are, you don't think they're Christians, and you don't think they would even want to hear about it, tell them about Jesus anyway. Invite them to your church anyway, because I would have loved for you to do that. I would have loved for my friends to do that to me when I was younger.

Israel Caminero: 12:39

That's right, that's right. You know, I love that because some God took somebody that you weren't even expecting to ask you to go to this church and radically changed you.

Jamie Kirschner: 12:50

Yeah. You know, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Israel Caminero: 12:53

Considering your past as far as you know, your parents being not there and everything that you went through with them, and then trying to find love in other places, like you said, and this boyfriend of yours, and she asked you to go to church, and that's when you finally surrendered to God. That's so good.

Jamie Kirschner: 13:12

Yeah, that's when I heard the gospel, the good news for the first time. I'd never even living in the Bible belt, never heard the good news of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross and how he wanted a relationship with us. I'd never even knew that that was a possibility. I didn't really think about God more than just I knew he was there.

Israel Caminero: 13:32

Yeah. So you had mentioned hiding behind the couch at one point and God speaking to you when you were eight years old, even though you didn't recognize it as him at the time. How did that impact you as far as giving you hope?

Jamie Kirschner: 13:47

That was the um that was the only thing. I don't know. If if God hadn't spoken to me that day, I don't think that I would be alive today. I honestly don't. Because I I was I was already I it just breaks my heart as a mom. It breaks my heart to think of an eight-year-old wanting to take their life, you know, and like that was the thing that kept me going through. Like, okay, if there's a reason for me, I'm gonna find out what that reason is. And like that was the only thing that it kept me going through those teen years, it kept me going through the hardest moments of my life. It is the only thing that kept me going. There's a reason I'm here, and I need to find out why.

Israel Caminero: 14:26

Yeah, I get it. And as far as once you went to high school and everything changed there with your boyfriend, you know, what were some of your coping mechanisms as far as your pain during that time?

Jamie Kirschner: 14:39

I was very good at putting on a mask because that's what I had lived through my whole life. Up to that point, because my dad was so abusive. I was none none of my friends, I had five friends that I was really close to. Like I said, from kindergarten all the way, even through college. And not one of them ever knew what I was walking through because I was really good at putting on a mask. Nobody knew. But I when I was at home, uh, I was facing a lot of depression, but there was a lot of self-harm that went that went on. Just anything to that I I was so numb emotionally that I just wanted to feel something.

Israel Caminero: 15:19

Yeah. You know, after you heard God the first time when you were eight, did you ever feel like he abandoned you, or did you feel like he still had a purpose for your life?

Jamie Kirschner: 15:29

I I well I didn't didn't know it was God, so and I never really felt like he abandoned me. I didn't know that there was even such a thing as like having a relationship with God. I had no idea. Like that was that not a concept I had ever heard of. And so like I never really felt like he abandoned me. I just thought he was there. And I don't know what I really thought about him, actually. But like whenever I finally surrendered my life to God and I heard how good he was, and everybody was like, Oh, I don't know, I don't know why God causes bad things to happen. Or and I'm like, you know what? That wasn't God who did it, that was my dad who did it. Like, I just I like for me, like I just see God as this He's just amazing. He's amazing.

Israel Caminero: 16:15

Amen. Amen. He definitely is. So after you accepted Christ, did you did that experience change you immediately? Or was the healing a long journey for you?

Jamie Kirschner: 16:27

In a way, it changed me immediately. I I mean I knew I had a purpose and I knew what my purpose was, and I was ready to go in with God, but when it came to the depression, the insecurities, things like that, that was a healing process. That took quite quite some time. I remember actually um being in college and I was on my first foreign mission trip, and I was laying in my sleeping bag in Mexico, and I was laying in my sleeping bag, and uh I just like I like God just was getting a hold of my heart at that moment, and that was like the the release of like just letting it all go and giving it to God and just being like, Okay, God, take it, take it all, because I I'm done with it, I don't want to hold on to it anymore, just take it. And he he um I would say that he completely healed me, he healed me of it, but then I kept grabbing it back.

Israel Caminero: 17:24

So when did you notice that he began restoring the broken areas of your heart as far as him trying to take it, but you keep taking it back like completely.

Jamie Kirschner: 17:34

It it was probably in my low 20s, whenever um I got I met my husband when I was 21 and we got married when I was 22, moved to a different state, which I think was really important for me because I grew up just outside of Kansas City, Missouri, went to college in uh middle Miss Central Missouri. So like all of everything was like in that same area, and I was surrounded by the same stuff. For me, I needed to get away and just be able to like start over and like to really seek God. And so my husband and I got married, we moved to Tennessee and found an amazing church. And this church, our pastor is really good at teaching the word and helping us to know what to do instead of just like how he teaches us how to do it, not just what to do. And when I started to apply those things to my life, that's when I started realizing was I was becoming completely free, even like with forgiveness. That was a huge thing that I had to walk through with my dad because I mean, every time I thought about him, it was like I was angry, I was hurt, just it would bring back those feelings. And then he shared our pastor shared with us that you know, forgiveness isn't a feeling, it's a choice. And we make that choice to forgive. And anytime those feelings come up, we tell them to go because we've we've already forgiven. And it took me about a year of doing that. But like today, I am completely free of any pain, any baggage, anything that would hold me back, which is why I can even share my testimony today. Because I just I know how good God is. I know that He has made me completely free from all of that stuff that I went through, all that stuff that the enemy tried to throw at me to bring me down to stop me. I've been completely made free.

Israel Caminero: 19:21

Amen. You know, you hit it right on the nose. The hardest thing for someone to do when they go through pain is forgive someone. Me included. Been hurt before. That's like the hardest thing for someone to do is just forgive someone. But I always remember what Jesus did on the cross and what he said. Forgive them for they not know what they do.

Jamie Kirschner: 19:42

Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 19:42

And I always remember that and try to apply it, but it's so hard sometimes, isn't it?

Jamie Kirschner: 19:48

Yeah. I know with my dad, you know, now I have a compassion for him and it just makes me sad. I haven't seen my dad since I was seventeen. It just I have a compassion for him. That I just feel I feel bad that he just didn't know the love of the father, that he felt like he he couldn't cope with life, that he had to go towards, I didn't say this, but he was a drug addict, he was an alcoholic, on top of being abusive. But I felt like it just makes my heart feel sad for him, that he felt like that was the only way that he could cope with life. I just I pray even to this day that he comes to know Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior and that he's made free. Because as as far as I know, his life has not changed much since when I was growing up.

Israel Caminero: 20:35

Well, you know what they say also is hurt people, hurt people. So your dad has his testimony that things that probably happened to him that cause this generational curse in him.

Jamie Kirschner: 20:47

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and and that's really true. I mean, like his my grandpa, his dad, I wasn't around him much when I was growing up, but he was abusive towards my dad and his brothers.

Israel Caminero: 20:59

Yeah, see, well, there you go. And it keeps happening through generations, and there's always that generation that always stops it. Those generational curses that keep going and going and going. And God has a lot to do that with that also. But I want to go back to the summer after high school when you when God revealed it to you being called to serve teens. What made you say yes to that calling and what did stepping into it look like? If you can get a little bit into that.

Jamie Kirschner: 21:29

Yeah, absolutely. So as I said, like when I became a Christian at 17, I was all in for God. If there was anything that he told me to do, I was in, I was going for it. And so in that moment, he he spoke to my heart again. And like I said, not with words, but just in my spirit, he spoke to me and said, This is what you're gonna be doing for the rest of your life. And I was like, All right, I mean, who am I to say no? Because like I just saw these girls' lives changed right in front of me, just from sharing just how much God loves them. So I was all in from that point. For me, though, talking to God about it was it was interesting because I was like, I thought I was gonna be working with inner city teenagers, inner city youth, because I grew up in a really rough home life. I can relate to them. And so that's where I thought God was gonna put me. And I didn't know anything at that point. I just knew that I needed to get into youth ministry. So I was in camp ministry for the next couple years after that, still serving teens. And then when we moved to Tennessee, my husband and I got plugged into the youth ministry at our church, and we've been at our youth ministry this year. It's it'll be 21 years that we've been in our youth ministry. But I knew it was always more than youth ministry. We're not youth pastors, we're actually volunteer youth leaders, have been for the whole 21 years that we have been serving, and we are completely fine with that because it is an honor to get to give to God. And I knew that it was more than youth ministry. I knew God wanted me to do something outside of the church, and so when around, I guess, 2014, God began to speak to me about working with Christian teens. And that it was funny to think about now because at that point in my life, I had already been serving in youth ministry for 10 years. When God started working, telling me I was gonna work with Christian teens, I fought back hard. I was like, who am I to work with Christian teens? I was barely even a teen when I became a Christian. And so for years I fought God on that. And for years I held myself back because of just those insecurities of like, I'm not good enough. Like the imposter syndrome, like all of that began to set in. And honestly, it wasn't until well, I started, I guess, around 20 2018, I started started reaching out and doing a little bit with uh with Uncommon Teen. It was not called Uncommon Teen back then, but um, but I started reaching out a little bit and putting posts on Facebook and not Facebook, Instagram, and just trying to reach out here and there and just encourage teens. That in 20 in 2020, when the shutdown happened, that's when a live when I fire was kind of lit under me. So God had been talking to me about starting the podcast for since 2018. And so, like for three years, he and he's like, I want you to start this podcast for Christian Teen Girls. And I'm like, No. Because I was growing up again, I like I was super shy, I was insecure, and actually, even that didn't change for me until 2011, after I already had my two kids, and so I was already an adult by that time, where I finally was like, I need to push past this and not let that insecurity hold me back. But in 2020, when the shutdown happened, I remember that first service that we did online, and my heart broke. And I was just like crying out to God, we were supposed to have youth ministry that night. It was Wednesday night, and instead we were watching service on TV. And I was like, God, how am I supposed to reach these teens if I can't even see them? And that in that moment, like God doesn't speak to my heart and to my spirit very clearly very often, but when he does, it's been a huge, pivotal, like transformational time in my life. And this was another one of those times he spoke to my spirit, and he said, You're not just holding yourself back, you're holding these girls back. And when he said that, I was like, All right, I'm done. I'm done with the excuses. I've got to do this. And so that's when everything changed for me. And in 2020, I wrote the Dare to Be Devotional. I had so many people that year asking me, like, what's a good devotional for my teen girl? What's a good devotional? And I'm like, none, the Bible. I I'm not a big fan of devotionals. I I want, I feel like a lot of times devotionals are a substitute for the Bible for a lot of people. And so that's why I'm not a big fan of them. And so I'm like, you need to read the Bible. That's the only thing that can make you free.

Israel Caminero: 26:16

That's true, that's very true.

Jamie Kirschner: 26:18

And so I wrote a devotional, yeah, yeah. And so I wrote a devotional that did that. It it shared like a story with them, talked about a subject or something that they an area where they might struggle, and then it was designed to get them into the Bible, to read it for themselves, to think about what it's saying, how can they apply it to their life? And so that was uh in 2020 that I wrote that devotional. And January 2021, I started the Uncommenting podcast, and this is January of this year was four years, and we are just about to reach a half million downloads. And I just I I am like blown away. I'm like, okay, this is not me. This is all God. Like I just said yes. I do not take credit for any of it. I I will not take credit for any of it. I look at those numbers and I'm like, thank you, Lord, for reaching these people and using me. Because it just, I know who I was. I know that I should have, I know that I shouldn't even be here today because of how bad the enemy came at me like growing up. And I'm just I'm humbled and I'm honored. I'm just like, thank you, Lord, for using me.

Israel Caminero: 27:32

Amen. That's good. Congratulations. All praise to God. So you've been faithfully serving teens for 21 years, you said, correct? Or 21 or 25?

Jamie Kirschner: 27:44

Well, starting in so if you count camp ministry, which is still serving teens, I started in 2000. So this is my 25th year.

Israel Caminero: 27:53

Wow. That's that's great. 25 years. Um, what's what's been the most rewarding part of that journey?

Jamie Kirschner: 28:01

Anytime a student gives them life their lives to the Lord.

Israel Caminero: 28:05

Amen.

Jamie Kirschner: 28:06

That's the most rewarding thing ever. And then followed by that is like these girls that listen to the podcast and they're like, you know, I didn't really care about God much. I was a Christian, but I didn't really care about God much. But when I started listening to your podcast, you just shared the Bible in a way that made sense to me. And now I'm hungry. I just want, I just want to go all in for God. Like, oh, those moments are like, it's all worth it. It's all worth it.

Israel Caminero: 28:34

Well, I bet. Amen. And you probably have a lot of girls that you can relate to as far as your past experiences, I'm guessing, you know. Do you? Does that help you connect and minister to the girls that you serve?

Jamie Kirschner: 28:48

It does. And actually, after I said yes to God, this is interesting. So I fought God for so many years on the whole Christian teen thing. But after I said yes to God, actually, this was just last year. So I had already started on Common Teen. I'd already been doing the podcast for years in life coaching for a couple years, and God revealed to me why he called me to Christian Teens. And he um basically he was saying, the reason why I called you to Christian teens is one, you said yes. And I knew that you would say yes, but then two, what the girls are walking through today is very similar to what I was walking through when I wasn't a Christian as a teenager. The the I mean, school today is I'm like, school was hard when I was in school. I went to a public school, it was hard then. I can't even imagine what these these these teens are going through today.

Israel Caminero: 29:42

Right. Yeah, I say the same thing. There's a lot of bullying and all sorts of stuff happening at school these days.

Jamie Kirschner: 29:50

Yeah. So yeah, and so so I do I share my story on almost every single podcast episode. There's something about my story that I share to connect with them to let them know, hey, when I was your age, I understand. This is I've I remember going through these things, or even today, like uh there's a moment last year where I had to really fight anxiety because of being in a big crowd. I'm not a fan of big crowds, but but I'll tell them, I'm like, you know, I still I still have challenges that I have to overcome too. And so what I'm telling you guys to do, like this, I'm doing myself. And that really helps to connect with them to let them know, like, hey, I'm not alone in this, and I can do this.

Israel Caminero: 30:36

That's right. With God, you could do anything. Absolutely, and he's been guiding you all this time, and you're doing great 25 years. I still can't get over there. That's great. Have you met any of these girls in person at all, or is it all podcasts?

Jamie Kirschner: 30:52

I have met several of them in person. So we have a an uncommenting live conference every year, and the first year that we did it, we had girls from seven different states come in.

Israel Caminero: 31:04

Wow. Amazing.

Jamie Kirschner: 31:07

Yeah, so it was pretty awesome.

Israel Caminero: 31:08

And some of the girls give their life to Christ at these events.

Jamie Kirschner: 31:12

So far, the ones that have come have have been Christians, but there have been there have been teen girls that come that are like they leave sharing Jesus with people that and like before they would never do it because they never really understood how. And so the conference is very practical. It's very like um it it speaks to their heart and the challenges that they're having, but then it also tells them how to take steps and overcome it. And so we have girls that have like gotten out and started their own kind of little ministries. There's one with like she does like post-it notes and she'll like hand them to people and just say, Hey, I'm praying for you, and they have encouraging Bible verses on them. And and so it's it's been fun to get to see the results of like the conferences. But um, my favorite, I think my favorite story of all time of somebody giving their life to Jesus is this girl that's in the UK and in England right now. There are not a lot of Christians. And so she was listening to the podcast, gave her life to the Lord, and then she was asking, she told me all about it, and she was so excited, and she's like, and I bring my Bible to school with me, but the kids are like, What is that? What is that? And so she's like, How do I explain to them what it is? And like that's my favorite. I I told her, I'm like, just get really excited about it. Say, are you kidding me? You've never read this. This book will change your life.

Israel Caminero: 32:36

It will for sure.

Jamie Kirschner: 32:38

Absolutely. That's I just I absolutely love it. I love, I am so honored by all the girls that like are listening, that reach out. Like, I just I'm blown away by God in like Ephesians 3.20, where it says he will do exceeding abundantly far from above. All we can ask or think or even imagine, like that's that's where I feel like I'm living today. It's in that like place of like, wow, God, you just blow me away every time I turn around.

Israel Caminero: 33:07

That's right. That's right. He does, and he's always there. Whether you believe he's there or not, he's always there, whether you're going through hardships or not. He's just great. I don't know what to say more than God is good. And I know that's kind of cliche because everyone says it, but it's the truth.

Jamie Kirschner: 33:24

Yeah. I know I talk to the girls all the time. I'm like, you know, when we were little, we all sang, not all of us, but a lot of us saying Jesus loves me. And like we sang it and it was fine. But like when you really think about it today, like, Jesus, like how much he loves me. Oh my goodness. That that cliche turns into like a very powerful, powerful statement.

Israel Caminero: 33:45

That's right. So, what encouragement would you have for anyone listening that's in a dark place right now?

Jamie Kirschner: 33:52

The same encouragement God gave me when I was that eight-year-year-old girl sitting behind the couch is there is a reason that you're here. Don't give up on life. Because God will He will show you what that reason is. I think of Jeremiah 1.5, and it says that before the before you were formed in your mother's womb, God knew you. He knew every little thing about you, right? And he approved of you. And for Jeremiah, he set him apart to be a prophet to the nations, but God has a specific gift for every single one of us, specific calling and destiny for every one of us. He created us because there was a problem that he knew only we could solve. Because God, oh my goodness, what he can do for your life, it just blows me away. And even to this day, being, I don't know how many years ago, um over 26, 27 years ago, when he changed my life, I cannot even, I mean, I still am blown away by what God has done in my life. Looking back to somebody who should not have ever even been successful in life. Statistically speaking, I should be I should not be anywhere close to where I am today. But with God, like you said, all things are possible, and he is so good.

Israel Caminero: 35:15

That's right. God knew what he was doing, and he knew exactly what he you were gonna do for him. So, out of all these things that happened in your life and what you're doing now, which is great with the teens and everything, what's been the biggest lesson God has taught you through your journey?

Jamie Kirschner: 35:34

To just say yes and do it and don't think about it. Don't question him because he knows what he's talking about.

Israel Caminero: 35:42

It's sometimes it's hard though, right? Because he makes us uncomfortable before we're comfortable.

Jamie Kirschner: 35:47

Exactly. That's that's the thing. I have my the biggest lesson I've learned in my walk with God is I have to learn to live or have to learn to live outside of my comfort zone.

Israel Caminero: 35:58

That's right. That's right. It happens to it happens to the best of them, trust me. It happened to me. And it's like, come on, like really, but hey, he knows exactly what he's doing. And you'll see the fruit of it, like you're seeing, you know, the fruit of these girls giving their life to Christ and you doing this for so long, it's it's it that's the fruit of it all.

Jamie Kirschner: 36:22

Yeah, he's so good. He really is so good.

Israel Caminero: 36:26

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Jamie Kirschner: 36:28

I would just say, don't give up. Don't give up on life, don't give up on hope. I just think of I think of Zachariah, where he says to be a prisoner of hope. He said, return to the stronghold, you prisoner of hope. And a stronghold is a thought process. And he's saying, return back to that thought process of when you first discovered me, when you first realized how good I was, how much I love you. Return to that thought process and become that prisoner of hope. And that word hope means a confident expectation of good. You can expect good things because God is on your side, He's not He's not against you, He is for you, and He is fighting with you in your corner.

Israel Caminero: 37:06

That's right. Can you mention the name of your ministry one more time?

Jamie Kirschner: 37:11

Absolutely. It's Uncommon Teen.

Israel Caminero: 37:14

Uncommon Teen. I'll have links to her podcast and any other information that she's going to share will be on the description of the podcast. If you want to contact her or if you have teens that might want to listen to the podcast or just connect with her, I'll have all that information in the description of the podcast. But I want to thank you, Jamie, for being here and taking the time to share your testimony with everybody. Everyone's test is why we have a testimony. And obviously you went through some tests in your life, but look where you're at now.

Jamie Kirschner: 37:50

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's always an honor to get to share what God has done in my life. And I just pray that I, through my story, that somebody leaves today with hope.

Israel Caminero: 38:02

Amen. And that's what it's all about, like we were talking earlier, right? We're just the pawn that he's using to glorify his name. But before we leave, there's always two questions that I ask my guests. And one of them, you kind of I wouldn't say ruined already, but you you used a lot of scripture. That's one of them, as far as you used uh three verses that I remember. My first question is basically: do you have a life verse that you would always run back to and read that stuck with you throughout life when you were having a bad time or going through a bad day, and what that verse is and what it means to you?

Jamie Kirschner: 38:42

That's a great question. Which one do I choose?

Israel Caminero: 38:46

Well, you already shared three, so I don't think you want to share those three.

Jamie Kirschner: 38:52

I would say Jeremiah 1.5 is one that really stood out to me, but one actually the verse behind Uncomment Teen is from Acts 4.13. And this verse really stood out to me big time because this was, um, and that's why I I named my ministry Uncomment Teen. But Acts 4.13 talks about how Peter and John, I'm like, I'm blanking right now, how they the crowd looked at them and marveled because they were out there sharing what God had had told them, had spoken to them, and they were teaching it to the people. And the people were looking at them like, you're not even educated. There's nothing even special about you. You guys are just fishermen. But they looked at them and they could tell that these were not just common ordinary men. Like Jesus had come in and changed their lives. And so it's that the crowd marveled because they could tell they had been with Jesus. And I love that because that's exactly what happened to my life. I was just a common person. There was nothing special about me. But then when we give our life to Jesus and He comes in, he takes that uncle, he takes that. Common and turns us into uncommon or that ordinary and turns us into extraordinary.

Israel Caminero: 40:05

Amen. Amen. That's so true. That's so true. I always remember of how I used to be and how I am now. And it's like a night and day, total different person that sometimes people don't even recognize anymore. Yes. And I I'm so appreciative of that always. And that's why I try to honor him in everything that I do. But now we're going to my back to the past section of the podcast. And basically what my back to the past section is, if the Jamie of today can travel back in time and talk to the younger Jamie while she was going through all the turmoil, what would you say to her and why?

Jamie Kirschner: 40:53

I this is I mean, if I was like a mentor talking to her, like my biggest thing would be to share with her that she is loved. That that God is good and uh that he is the answer to every problem that she would ever ever walk through, and that she doesn't have to do the life this life alone. If I was like a mentor, that's what I would tell her. If I was her again, all like all over again.

Israel Caminero: 41:22

Yeah, like if if you like the things that you know now, things that you already know happened, if you can go talk to a younger version of you, like what would you say to her?

Jamie Kirschner: 41:35

I mean, because I didn't know God, that's a little bit challenging. But if I went back to like when I first learned about God, it would probably be just trust. Trust, trust in God is good, and trust that he has your best interest in mind, that he loves you so much, because like like I said, there were so many times fought him because I didn't I was like on the whole like working with Christian teens or starting the podcast. Like I fought him for so many years, and I held myself back for so many years. And I mean, there are people that God had to bring other people along the path and do my job because I fought him instead of saying yes. And so that would be the biggest thing was just say yes. If God if God asks me to do something, just say yes because he knows what's best, and he knows that it's it's gonna be better for everybody. He just he loves us that much.

Israel Caminero: 42:33

Amen. He does love us. I mean, look what he did on Calvary. So I always think about that. Like, I don't know, would I have done that? I'm not God, I'm not Jesus, but it's like that was a lot.

Jamie Kirschner: 42:47

Especially for people who hated you, and that's right. Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 42:52

But I want to thank you once again, Jamie, for sharing your testimony with my listeners. Um hopefully it don't impact somebody, and hopefully someone that's listening might even reach out to you. Like I'll have links to her ministry, to her podcast on the description of this podcast if you want to connect with her. And before we close out, Jamie, can you pray over us?

Jamie Kirschner: 43:16

Absolutely. Absolutely. Lord, I thank you so much for your great love. Lord, I just pray for anybody who's listening to this podcast episode today, or even just to the podcast in general. Lord, I just pray that if they're walking through a hard time, that they know that they can reach out to you, Lord, and you will always meet them right where they are. You love them so much, and you're not you're not looking at them with just this like you're in trouble or reproach or anything like that, but you're looking at them with light eyes of love and compassion. And you know, even in our darkest moment, even in the moments where we made the worst decisions of our lives, you always look at us with our eyes of love and compassion, saying, Oh my goodness, my daughter, my son, just come home to me. Come running to me. I'm not mad at you. I love you so much. And Lord, I just thank you. I thank you for that heart of compassion. I thank you for that heart of love that you have for us. I thank you, Lord, for just reaching down into the lives of the people listening. Lord, um, maybe, God, that you've done a work in them and you know they need encouragement in whatever area of their life, Lord. I thank you, God, that you bring the right people along their path that they need so that they can uh just see how much you truly do love them. Lord, I thank you, God, that you have everything orchestrated out so beautifully and your plan is to make a difference, to shine the light of hope into this dark and hurting world. And Lord, I just thank you, God, that any any person that's listening that's hurting, that's broken, Lord, I thank you that you are the healer and that you are bringing them that hope. And I thank you for using us. Maybe we've walked through that and now we're on the other side and we're living a life of peace and joy. Lord, I just pray that we are bold and we shine the light of Jesus to those that are around us. Help us to walk out in confidence and boldness, sharing with those people who need your love so that we don't just sit back and not do anything, Lord, but we see the hurting in this world and we go and we do something about it. And we just praise you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 45:31

Amen. Thank you for that wonderful prayer. And once again, thank you for being here. And I just want to say thank you for blessing these girls' hearts with your ministry. A lot of people, you know, some people do that, but for you to be doing it 25 years, that is awesome. And I give you kudos for that. And I give all praises to God before I give praises to you. But he's working, he's working in you to keep doing it, and I love that.

Jamie Kirschner: 46:00

It's an honor. It is an honor.

Israel Caminero: 46:02

It's all to glorify God. I always say this in all the podcasts. It's Jamie's story, but we're here to glorify him and what he did in Jamie's life. So, yeah, I'd like to just say thanks again, and I'd like to say thank you to all the listeners. I just wanted to take the moment to thank each and every one of you for the love and support you've shown my podcast. It means the world to me. If you're a first-time listener, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider liking, subscribing, and following me on your favorite podcast platform. And if you really loved it, I'd be forever grateful if you could leave me a five-star review. Here's the thing: reviews are a huge deal for a podcaster like me. They help me get discovered by new listeners, and they also help me understand what you're loving about the show. When you leave a review, you're not just giving me a virtual high five, you're also helping me create content that resonates with you and the rest of the community. So thank you again for being an amazing listener, and I'll catch you in the next episode. So until next time, God bless, and praise God.