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In Ecclesiastes 3:11, we read that God makes everything beautiful in its time. It is comforting to know that nothing is wasted in God's economy, but all of it will be used for our good and His glory. You're invited to join us for poignant conversations and compelling interviews centered on believing for His beauty in every season.
Welcome to the Everything Made Beautiful podcast with Shannon Scott. This program is supported by the Kavah Podcast Network, home of streaming Bible studies, teaching series, and workshops to deepen your faith. Check them out at qava.tv. And now on with the show.
Shannon Scott:
Well, hey everybody and welcome to episode two of the Everything Made Beautiful podcast. I have to say, I am so thankful for the way you guys have engaged and shown up in support of this show. It has been overwhelming and thrilling and just know it means the world to me. Well, today I'm thrilled to have as my first interview for the podcast, author, Bible teacher, dramatist, storyteller, ministry leader, and my friend,
Allison Allen. I'm excited for you to hear this conversation because Allison has always relished the power of story and you will feel that as you hear hers today. But make no mistake in her story, you'll receive profound truth and soul comfort that you never even saw coming.
I won't give away all of it, but I can tell you that after such cool growing up in college years, which you'll hear about, Allison experienced the joy of being Women of Faith's dramatist for three years, performing her original one -woman pieces for thousands in arenas around the country. She counts walking the same platform as the Women of Faith porch pals among one of the profound honors of her life.
Offstage, Allison has spent a good deal of time writing the stories of characters who find themselves between a rock and a hard place spiritually and the Christ who specializes in just such tight spots. With nearly three decades of speaking, acting, and writing under her belt, Allison loves weaving biblical teaching and narrative together in unexpected ways for audiences of all sizes, from social media to podcasting to in -person events.
Since 2022, Allison has also served as wing woman to beloved Bible teacher and our dear friend Lisa Harper on her popular Back Porch Theology podcast, which we'll talk a bit about today. Allison's two nationally published books, Shine and Thirsty for More, take readers into Allison's own experiences with the ups and downs of pursuing God's purpose for our lives, navigating dry seasons and finding the beauty in hidden moments, even when they linger longer than we want them to. She's got another book and a Bible study out now that I can't wait for you to hear about because we've got a special deal for you too.
Allison is married to Jonathan, who is a worship leader, mentor and Bible teacher with more than 25 years of vocational ministry experience. They have two sons, Levi and Luke, and they reside right here in beautiful Tennessee. I'm not only grateful for Allison as a gifted communicator of truth, but as my friend. So get settled in for this sweet conversation next on the Everything Made Beautiful podcast.
Shannon Scott:
Well, hello, Allison Allen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being on the Everything Made Beautiful podcast. I am thrilled to have you. And I have to say, I feel a little bit like I'm letting people have a peek at a gift that I've known about for a long time. It's like I bought it in March and they're opening it on Christmas. And I'm so excited for people to see and hear you and to be so blessed by what you're going to share today. So thank you for doing this truly.
Allison Allen:
I need a box of Kleenexes. Thank you for saying that, Shannon. It's so kind. I want to brag on you for just a second. May I? Yes, it's so kind. Yeah, I've seen you in so many different contexts. Like I was just thinking about you and remembering a time at a coffee shop and all these incredibly creative ideas. It's worth from your brain. And then I've also seen you. I know a lot of people know you as a teacher, but I've also seen you do the incredibly difficult work of MCing and bringing these elements together and teaching and ministering and stewarding the moment. And so I don't know that I've ever known an MC who stewarded a moment any better than you. So I'm so glad that you're here and lending your voice to what the Lord is doing in your own life. So back at you sister.
Shannon Scott:
Thank you so much. That's so sweet. I do. It's interesting. You know, a lot of people the one thing they don't want to do is MC. I actually love it. It is fun to figure out how to get from A to B or from C to D and do it well. So thank you for saying that. So sweet. Well, for people who do not know you, I've already given the intro to people so that they know of you, but for people that don't know you, I would love for you to just take us back to the beginning if you can, like tell us about little Allison, like where did you grow up, family, all of that sort of thing. And take us all the way up to where you met your sweet husband, Jonathan.
Allison Allen:
Okay. No small task there. I was, I'm a Texas gal. I like to joke all in Texas, you know, I'm, I'm five 12. So I reside somewhere around six feet or right at six feet. Yeah, I grew up really in Katy, Texas and Dallas, Texas. And what I remember of my childhood's pretty magical, especially in the super young years. I have these very visceral memories and it will come full circle in just a moment when I talk a little bit about my college experience, Shannon, but my most visceral memories, because I'm the eldest child and had some years alone, revolve around when Godspell kind of swept the culture. I'm dating myself, but the early seventies. And so I have these very visceral memories of hearing day by day on the radio was kind of that first wave of anything Christian that broke through the mainstream, watching the movie on TV. And I actually had the album and it's kind of this wavy hair Jesus. It was red, black and white. And in my odd imaginative, I used to believe that Jesus lived next door to me in the farmhouse, okay? And I would get angry that he wouldn't show up bodily and come speak with me. So I think my drama queen tendencies were already there from very, very young. So from there, we moved to North Carolina. We had a little stop in Arkansas. North Carolina is really where I think that burgeoning artist, theater gal, theater geek, choir geek started to rise a little bit to the top and I I found myself in an incredible magnet arts program and I'll never forget the moment his name we call them see our director and I was looking at colleges Shannon you know that's such a seminal moment in a young person's life you're going to you know everybody in North Carolina really wanted to go to Chapel Hill tough to get into that was the the great a place that you wanted to go, but I really wanted to do theater.
And so I asked C one time, you know, C, where do you think I should apply? What do you think I should do? And he said to me, you know, I really think you should audition at Carnegie Mellon University. And even back then, Shannon, even in the late 80s, that was sort of pie in the sky. I mean, that was something I would never have dreamed of aspiring to. But because she believed in me, and that's, man, that's a whole other topic, isn't it? The belief of a teacher at an important moment, it changed the trajectory of my life. And he said, you need to try. And so I auditioned. By some miracle, the door was open to me, and I wound up studying at Carnegie Mellon in their acting slash musical theater program. And from there yeah, it was, you know, it's really so much of my life, Shannon, even spiritually, is connected to the theater in Carnegie Mellon. And in regards to really coming back to Jesus vibrantly, that occurred my freshman year at Carnegie Mellon. There were some kind of wild Christians who were tucked into the theater department and they asked me if I wanted to pray before a show.
So if there are any college kids listening out there, like never underestimate again, the power of just a simple question. Hey, you want to pray with us? And because they were upperclassmen, I thought I better oblige. And I'll never forget Shannon being in the back hallway. It was a little black box theater. It wasn't the main stage yet. And hearing these college kids pray in a way that I knew, like I knew my own name, that they intimately knew this Jesus to whom they were praying. And we all have, most of my life with Jesus has been kind of like an onion, he peels off a layer at a time, whether that's in regards to his revealing of himself or in regards to healing. But this was one of those moments. Like he here now, like a behold moment that you see in the scripture, behold.
As I heard them praying in a way that was so intimate and knowledgeable, it was like every seed, every dry seed that had been planted in my life by those very faithful youth leaders. Shout out to all the VBS, all the youth leaders out there. Every seed just broke open and started to bear life. And because of some obedient, faithful college kids, and then I hopped into church and really Shannon, from that moment, even though there were moments of healing, obviously things along the way that needed to peel off of my life because I'd lived a life, you know, pretty much in the mainstream and in the theater world, it was that moment that set the course for the rest of my life. From after graduating, I know you want from there to marriage. I'm going to try to hurry up.
Shannon Scott:
Well, I do I do just want to say like I think it's so important obviously the whole point of this podcast is recognizing the sovereignty of God in every season in every circumstance of our lives and so in an everything made beautiful context you're literally saying you know children's ministry and youth ministry leaders were being faithful to plant seeds and it was only later that everything was made beautiful in relation to what they planted. But what an encouragement to people who are watching and listening to this that are serving and thinking on each Sunday or Wednesday, I don't know that this is working. I don't know if I'm making a difference. We never know what the kingdom impact of so many things that we do will be. And so,
What a sweet encouragement just right there in your story of it was in college that those seeds broke open. So yeah, that was great. Well, I know, I hope you're going to tell us about my favorite fun fact about you because it is the thing that I'm so giddy about. So I'm going to let you go because I think you're going to know to get there. But if you don't, I'm coming back to it.
Allison Allen:
What I want to say because you brought it up and it the idea of the seeds, you know, the scripture says that God gives the increase, right? But one of the things about seeds that is so interesting to me, Shannon, is the seed has everything that it needs contained within it for life. But it is only when God waters it and it actually breaks open that it produces that flower, that fruit. So again, it's a double encouragement to those that are in the trenches and they're just scattering seed. That good work, God will not waste it. One day he's gonna rain on that thing and it's gonna break open. And that happened for me in that.
But I know where you want me to go. So I was, let's see, yeah, I was right out of school. So I had just graduated maybe a few months removed from graduation. And I got a call to come in for an audition in New York. And I will spare you all the rookie mistakes that I made in that audition, because there were, it was a boatload of mistakes that I made, but there was something that one of the producers must have seen in there something hidden in the dirt. And they asked me if I would come back. They didn't think I was right for the show that I was auditioning for that day. They had specifically called for tall girls. So of course I fit the bill. But I wasn't right for the show they were casting that day. But the casting director said, there's someone that thinks you're right for something we're casting in the future and we need you to come back and audition. And so I did.
And it turned out that that show that they felt I was right for was the Broadway revival of Grease. So I wound up, I wound up being cast in the Broadway revival of Grease and it ran for many years. I actually did the show, opened with the show in 93, all the way through 95. So I did Grease for about 650 performances. I like to joke. And I still comes back in my nightmares, right? Or dreams. Good night. But in my tenure with the show, Shannon, I played, I had a role I did every night. And then I was the first cover for Marty, because people always ask this, Marty, who was Megan Mullally at the time, which I talked about in one of my books, right? Because she had so much more experience and I was quite young. But I covered Marty, Patty Simcox, and oddly, Miss Lynch, who's like a 65 -year -old character.
But I was really, I leaned toward, and I think I was more gifted in those character roles. And so Simcox and Marty and Miss Lynch are kind of the odd, little bit oddball, more leaning heavily on the acting component. And so master class, master class in performance, but also master class, spiritually speaking, because it was during that time that I would bop between David Wilkerson's church and Tim Keller's church. I mean, so a gift, what a gift. And God was setting my roots in some really good soil and maturing me and growing me up through that process. So yeah, the theater really has been, and I think it's, I think it's no mistake because of the grand narrative of scripture. Like I always see God the Father as the director who has written this incredible story. We get an invitation to be a part of that story and play a role. And even that that role that we play can change over time. You know, sometimes you're the one standing in the spotlight and Shannon, you know this and other times you're the one running the spot. You're the one throwing the light on someone else.
And so I think that's part of the thematic thread of my life is that we're called to a much bigger story than we can ever imagine and then we could ever predict and if we're open and we're surrendered and we fall in love with the fact that through the blood of Christ like we're invited to the story we're invited to play a role then all of a sudden it doesn't really matter if I'm the ensemble member or I'm the crazy secondary lead or I'm pulling the flies or running the lights because I have my eyes are fixed on a bigger story and that really is really is what the theater taught me.
Shannon Scott:
Yeah so fun. Well so tell us about Jonathan, sweet Jonathan, how did you guys meet? Just tell us about him. I've met him, he is a delight. So I definitely want you to have a chance to brag on and honor him.
Allison Allen:
I would love to do it. So after about two years of doing Grease, I just felt the grace had lifted from the experience. I don't know if you've ever heard that happen Shannon, were you just like, it's like the cloud of it. The only way I can describe it, it's like the cloud of the presence, you know, that is spoken of in the Old Testament, leading the children of Israel through it kind of lifted. I don't mean that his presence lifted. What I mean is that it felt like God was moving on. And I had the choice to either stay where I was. It wasn't a salvation issue, of course, but you know, there's grace for the time and place that you're in. And then when that moves, I've just learned you got to move with him. You must move with him.
The grace had kind of lifted off that experience of doing Broadway, and so I left. And I'm sure to a lot of people watching, it seemed like a crazy decision, but I knew like I knew my own name, God was saying it's time to move on. So I didn't really know where to go. So I went back home to Greensboro, North Carolina, which is, those were my formative years growing up. And at this point, let's see, I'm 26, headed up to 27.
And I had just begun to really ache to be married and had really prayed a very spiritual prayer that God would give me someone that loved him and a man with whom I could wear heels. Because listen, there are tall girl problems, right? Yes. They don't rank in terms of any real problem. But I mean, you're constantly trying to make yourself shorter. I grew up with a slump. I tried to slump.
So I had prayed, Lord, give me somebody that loves you and give me somebody with whom I can wear heels. And if he could be a musician, I know we have that in common. That would just be the bow on top of the present. And so I walked in Shannon to my home church back in North Carolina and I walked in and there was this guy up there, you know, leading and going after the glory of God with everything he had.
And at least from where I was standing, he seemed really tall. And I remember immediately thinking, who is that? So anyway, a couple of days later or a week later or something, my friend, we went, do you remember when like Frosties were all the rage? Like it for sure. Like we do Starbucks now. Like, yes, back when it was Frosties, right?
Shannon Scott:
And you, and you dip hot salty fries in them.
Yes. Like it was an event. Like we're going to go get not a latte, we're going to get a Frosty. So we go to get a Frosty, we're going to Wendy's. And my friend, who doesn't know any of my feelings about this man that I've seen, says, my gosh, I'd love you to meet my friend. And it was Jonathan. And he stood up. And then a person stood up next to him who was his 4 '11 girlfriend. And Jonathan is 6 '4". And I just thought, isn't that just the way of things? Anyway.
That relationship kind of ran its course and we, from our first date to marriage was nine months. And what God did in that season, Shannon, I don't know your own love story, but we really were able to develop a basis of friendship, mutual respect, a heart for the things of God because he was dating someone and I was actually dating someone. And even in that waiting, even in that hidden place, if you will, I could see God weaving a foundation and a net underneath us. So when it was finally that moment, I don't know if you ever had that with your husband, it was like, you know, and I'd already, it's cute.
I'd already thought I was, I'd already, you know, my eye had been, you know, attracted to him, but it was really cool of the Lord to pull us back because we both have experience and really, really have something solid that God was building. So we married, from that first date we married fairly quickly because we knew did you have that experience at all or it's so
Shannon Scott:
It is so interesting that you're saying that because Jeff and I actually sang in a band together and so I you know I'm a vocalist he's playing guitar and vocals and I had sworn off dating I had just you know the several relationships that I'd had were either unhealthy or were just like were super sweet and pure, but not at all like romantic or attractive. And so I just was like, you know what, Lord, I'm good. And so I kind of swore off dating, but I had asked when I was young that God would give me a man who could either sing or play piano. That was my ask is could he sing or play piano?
And my husband is the best singer I know and he can play any instrument put in front of him. So God answered in spades. But interestingly, as part of this band, you know, I've sworn off dating and so I can be your friend because we're not going to date. And so the band would all go do things and we'd inevitably be paired up together because everyone else was attached to someone and, and it wasn't a big deal because I was a great friend, you know?
And so he would date people and ask for advice and I'd give advice and he'd be so grateful for my wisdom. And you know, it just, it was so natural. And then he wasn't dating anyone and we were still hanging out all the time. And my roommate said to me, you know that you like him, right? And I was like, no, I don't, you know, just like protest. And she's like, okay, kind of like, we'll just wait for you to be where we all already are.
And so Jeff, of course now 25 years in says that he was just reeling me in the whole time and I didn't know it, but that is what happened. Well, tell us about your kids.
Allison Allen:
Yeah. So I've got, we have, we have eight and a half years between our children. So I'm a really old mama. I'm 54 with a sixth grader and I've got another child Levi who was in college. So, really interesting. Having two children that many years apart, psychologists say it's like having two only children because once you get past about five or six years, psychologically and emotionally, the experience for them is more akin to being an only child. They love each other to pieces, but Levi has blonde hair, Luke has curly red hair. You know, I've got, I always joke that I've got an old covenant son, Levi and a new covenant son, Luke, because they're super different.
And I'm a, Jonathan and I are different parents, you know, now. I had Levi at 33, and again, I was 41 with Luke. And, you know, the sweet story there is that Jonathan and I had had eight or almost nine years of secondary infertility. That's, you know, doctors will say that happens when you have no problem getting pregnant with the first child, but for reasons they don't really understand, you have a hard time getting pregnant again.
And in those intervening years, Shannon, we had at least one miscarriage, but just that long journey, at least for me, for a lot of reasons. My mom passed away when I was 34 from a really devastatingly quick bout with pancreatic cancer. So my brother and I had really been there for my mom. My mom and dad had divorced years previous to her illness.
And I think, I think because of that experience, I really just in my emotional self, I didn't want Levi to have to weather that alone ever if it came to it. And so that was part of my heart, just my heart's cry for another child, a sibling for Levi, you know, and I'd held on to that and held on to that. And I'll never forget when the Lord took me to my knees and surrender and I just had this.
Change of heart where it was like father if an only child is your best for us if it is your will for us Then I surrender to that and I can describe that by saying I just went palms up and I think you know I'm the kind of gal Shannon I want to I want to know the way to move into a new season with Jesus. Give me the formula. Give me the stuff and scriptures to study. Give me the prayer and the fasting. And what I realized in that moment was I could not work my way into a new season. I could only surrender my way into a new season. And so Jonathan and I came to that place of surrender and we were giving away all the baby furniture that we were holding onto. And what is crazy to me, Shannon, and it doesn't always work this way. So I'm not saying this is a formulaic story in any way. God is God all by himself.
But at that moment of surrender, I was already eight weeks pregnant. With no medical intervention. And we'd have a real journey bringing Luke into the world. I had three months of bed rest. We had to have an emergency cerclage. We almost lost him. But what I will never forget is that in the moment of surrender, there is already a miracle gestating within. Whether that's the answer to prayer or it's something else that the father wants to do.
The minute we can go palms up, there's new life being birthed within. Luke came into the world and he keeps me young. He keeps me on my toes. And he's also, and Levi are the greatest reminders that our seasons are in God's hands. When we seem too old for it, or we seem too young for it, or...
You know what we feel like we've passed whatever chronological mark the world says, you're too old. God, God can't use it. God is no respecter of persons. And I've learned he's also no respecter of the world's definition of seasons. And so maybe somebody is out there watching this and they're going, I I'm too old. I just want to say God specializes in spiritual late bloomers.
And I've always been one of those not only in the natural also in the spiritual. So you're not too young. You're not too old it hasn't God's plan for you has not passed you by because of a clock.
Allison Allen:
So good. that that is so good. Thank you so much for sharing that I was imagining the people who need to hear It's not too late for whatever for whatever it is not even just related to infertility or parenthood or anything like that, but in hopes deferred and long-held dreams and all sorts of things that often, you know, I think of that scripture that even our sighing is not hidden from God There's some there's some sighing that is hidden to everyone But God and it's not too late. So Thank you so much for saying that.
Allison Allen:
You're so welcome Shannon. I think the purposes and the dreams and the plans that we have at one age, when they're hidden in that way, they deepen and they mature. And when they are finally made manifest, a lot of times they look a whole lot different than what we might've dreamed when we were 23. And I think that's a part of the maturation process as well. And when they come to fruition, what I've discovered is they're the thing that are more suited to who I am, you know, and God gives us, he implants those delights in our heart.
It's not just that he, he's not a wish -fulfiller, but that purpose, I believe, will come forth at the right time. And so those moments of surrender are producing something that will be great.
Shannon Scott:
So, yeah. No, it's so good. And I, you know, this whole concept of seasons and even difficult seasons and having a right theology that says,There is not a season God is trying to figure out how to respond to now, but instead is utterly and completely sovereign. I now have the maturity at 47 to say I would not undo the difficult seasons of my life. I would not be who I am. I would not have learned what I've learned. I would not know what I know had it not been for those seasons of suffering and for what they cultivated in me that doesn't get there another way.
Allison Allen:
And so somebody listening out there, God is preparing you in that hidden season and those roots are going down deep into that soil because he's going to bring forth some branches and those branches are going to bring forth some fruit and that fruit might be a little bit heavy and you need that root structure. So I agree with you. I love what you just said. He's never caught off guard from our season.
And he is doing something of inestimable worth, especially if we can surrender to the season that we're in, trusting him that he'll change it when the time comes. That is so good. I want you to tell us about your books, all of them. I know we have a special one that we really want to focus on and we have a great opportunity for people who are listening and I'm so thrilled about it. But before we talk about that, talk to us about Back Porch Theology, because I want to make sure that people know about it and have the opportunity to engage in it. I'm telling you, I will put you guys on in my earbuds while I clean closets or do things. And I am cackling and I'm amening and I'm saying preach and it's amazing. So tell us about Back Porch Theology.
Allison Allen:
Goodness. Well, we are rounding up on three years, which I can't believe. And it's Lisa Harper's Back Porch Theology. If you don't know who Lisa Harper is, you can quickly do a search and find out. I'm sure you would assent to this, Shannon. She is in any room that I'm in with Lisa, she would eschew this praise. She is likely the smartest brain in the room. And she's definitely the funniest human in the room. And so when you take that brilliance, the high regard for scripture and God's word and God's ways and God's character.
And you marry that to a brilliant, brilliant, almost unequaled storyteller. And then you add the humor to it. You've just got this gospel bomb that goes off and really even my being a part of it. So I always say that I'm a co-chatter on Back Porch Theology, the hard and the content really flows from Lisa's heart.
And then at the end, we generally have one of her seminary professors, Dr. Howard, come on and kind of tie up the theological bow and clean up the mistakes. Not so much that she's made, probably that I've made. But I love just getting to talk with her and be a bit of kind of rumble strips and ask more questions. One of our great desires is that you know, it's called back porch as Lisa explains because the front porch is where everything is pretty and shiny. And the back porch is where you get to be yourself. I always say it's the place you can wear your eating pants, right? And your ratty old shirt and your hair can be in a top knot and you can have not a stitch of makeup on and still join and have these conversations about God and his word.
And my involvement, we talked about this, I think, and truth be told, I was previous to starting to record Back Porch Theology with Access More. I was walking through a season of just, I just have to call it utter desolation. That's what it felt like. And in that season, she's one of those friends, Shannon. She kept calling and kept calling and kept texting. And I would pick up and talk with her. It's not that I'm not an avoidant personality, I don't think.
And, but there was a doggedness to her pursuit of me. And so I just want to say, if you're that friend and you see another friend, man, it's better to show up and not be needed than it is to be needed and not show up. And Lisa, for me, and she was a show up kind of friend and she started to kind of pepper in her idea and her, her dream of Back Porch Theology, the title, the heart, the field, the community Shannon, she kept asking me, she said,
You know, Ali, she calls me Ali. I think you need to be a part of this. I want to converse with you. I want us to chat. We have a lengthy friendship. We met during doing Women of Faith. I was doing drama. She was teaching. So our relationship goes back probably 15 years. And honestly, Shannon, I kept saying no. I kept just saying this is I can't venture out into what I suspect this is going to be in the. just the fragility of emotion, that emotional state that I found myself in.
She kept asking and kept asking. And she says, I don't recall the number of days it was, but she remembers that it was almost up to the day that she was going to start recording that I said no. And then I finally gave her a yes. And it's one of the best yeses that I've ever given, but it's...
It's been an incredible gift. I will say this, in a tough season for Jonathan and I, a really seasoned believer who'd walked with the Lord for a really long time said, I wanna say something to you, Allison, and I want you to hear me with the heart in which it's delivered. And she said, I believe you and Jonathan will be healed in the doing, you will not be healed in the sitting still. And I know that isn't always the case for everyone. I think there are seasons we go away, we heal.
In fact, a lot of my book is about that and we have those seasons and they're necessary. But it's been very interesting that I've actually been healed Shannon in the continuing to move with Jesus. There is a moment in our spiritual life where the Lord says, you've kind of been here long enough and there are things that are still going to be healed and revealed way down the road, but it's time to get moving again.
And for me, Back Porch Theology was that. And of course, we've been, we were sitting in a meeting recently and just kind of hearing some stories and seeing how God has used it. And I usually in those meetings just shake my head because I was trying so hard. I was trying so hard not to do it. And it's been,
an honor and a delight.
Shannon Scott:
Well, I highly recommend it to everyone listening. You can find it everywhere podcasts are, but it's worth your time and it will, you will laugh. It will be poignant. You will grow in your faith and you'll grow in your knowledge and understanding of scripture as well. So, I highly recommend it. And I will say that your role in it is profound. So thank you for it. Thank you for your yes. Finally.
Allison Allen:
Yes, I have some I have some yes, finally is in my life Right where you you go kicking and screaming and into the thing and I you know, I think of you know, I think of Gideon You know, I think of Gideon who we talked about in a lot of context I'm sure you've even maybe yourself taught on him but there's there's that moment where the Lord is like You're gonna get up and you're going to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Midianites in the strength that you have.
And, you know, I've been looking at that story freshly and going, you know, Gideon doesn't really have any strength of his own. I think what the Lord is talking about is as you begin to move Gideon, you're going to discover a stronger strength than you ever knew that you had. That's my strength. And that goes all the way to Paul's writing when he says, OK, if my weakness is the place that your grace is attracted to Jesus, then I will boast all the more in weakness that your strength may be made perfect. And so I think there was some of that going on for me with Back Porch Theology. Like I can't do that Lord, it's out of my wheelhouse. I don't understand the podcasting world. How is this gonna work? And I think the Lord was saying like Gideon, you've kind of been hiding in the wine press long enough and you actually have a strength that you don't know you have Allison, but you will know that when you begin to move and my strength is made manifest. So. Yeah, it's been profound on a lot of levels, corporately and personally. And so thanks. Thanks for your kind words.
Shannon Scott:
Yes, that second Corinthians 12, nine and 10 that you just referenced the the so therefore I will all the more gladly boast in my weakness. Why? Not just because I want to be self deprecating or embrace false humility, but so that the power of Christ may rest on me like that. Yes all day long let me boast in my weakness.
Allison Allen:
Yeah, well and you know Shannon i'm, so glad that you brought up the address of the scripture because I would encourage folks that are Struggling with with feeling I am so weak. I can't do that That's actually the place before the lord that you're called to boast and watch what he does I mean, it's just so good my whole life My whole life is that that is god makes far more use of our consecrated weaknesses than he will ever make of our so -called perfected strengths. I have lived that, I have known that, and so I've become a whole lot more quick to go. I need to boast in that weak place and watch how you show up.
Shannon Scott:
Yes, that's the story of my life, no question. I would say, I tell women often that often your greatest strength when surrendered to the power of God is your greatest weakness when not. And so for me, I can, I can boast in the weakness that my words can be when they are all Shannon's. And by the grace of God, my words seem to be the thing he wants to use when surrendered to him to help people to, you know, to help illuminate things of scripture, et cetera. And so, but, but I think it's often that that strength, I cannot boast in my words because I know too well the weakness of them, if that makes sense. So I agree with you.
Allison Allen:
Well, and even boasting, you know, for me, I have a little bit of a backstory of being bullied as a kid, that's because we moved a bit and that was just kind of different and artistic. And I, you know, was often, I often felt more connected to teachers than I did students.
And so I was just a different kind of kid. And so there was, you know, there were seasons of that. I was not bullied, stem to stern. It would kind of roar to life and then it would hibernate for long seasons and then roar to life. And so, you know, Shannon, I have spent my whole life in the natural wanting to disappear. And of course that's a little hard when you're six feet tall. It's also a little bit hard when the gift that you discover is one that is performed on stage. And so even as I...
And when I say boast, I don't mean publicly. I mean, in my private prayer life with the Lord, I've even watched the most profound emotional weakness, emotional, psychological wounding be the very place that he actually places his glory, the weight of his own reputation. And so I so agree with you. It is our strength and become our weakness. Our weakness can become our strength, depending on whether that's surrender to the Lord. But I've also discovered in my own life, man, the place where I never thought I could stand up straight, where I always thought I would have to walk through life with a slump, now is the place where I can stand on the stage and be as tall as I am. And I'll never forget when the Lord began to minister to me, you're going to be as tall as you are, Allison, not just in the physical.
But in the spiritual and the emotional place. And so I see that not only that weakness, not only born out in our gifts, if that makes sense, but it's also born out in the place where we think you can't possibly want to use me in that way because that's the place I've been the most wounded. And I realize now that when we stand in the story, wherever that is, in the wings, in the spotlight, back in the house, in the hallways, serving kids, in the church, helping people part, that when we allow the Lord to meet us in the place of wounding, it's amazing what He does when that wounding begins to heal and we realize, my goodness, you're going to use me right in the place not only of weakness but also of wounding. Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on all that.
Shannon Scott:
No, I need to go process that in a little bit because that was preaching to me. So speaking of that, talk to us about hidden. You know, the whole concept of everything made beautiful is so much of the beauty is hidden for so long. It feels like, so talk to us about hidden, but also talk to us about seen secure and free. Like I just, I want people to know about these and especially want people to know about their opportunity with hidden.
Allison Allen:
you're so, you're so kind, Shannon. I would say this hidden, which is a Bible study six weeks video Bible study and see insecure free are kind of flip sides of the same coin. And really, the way I would describe it is both are a bit of a spiritual travel log, if that makes sense, kind of down the hidden Carolina coast. So the outer banks of North Carolina, which are really hidden and not known by a lot of people. And then Colossians three, of course, for our lives are now hidden with Christ in God is where that title is from the hidden component there is taken from Colossians three.
And then in both the book and the Bible study, I sort of use the concealed characters of scripture or the more hidden figures in scripture, if you will, to bring forth different components of the hidden with Christ life. So we talk about Huldah the prophetess and her story, which is so critical, spoken of in Chronicles and Kings, and how she affirms and confirms kind of the lost word of God has been discovered when they're rebuilding the temple. And when the king says, hey, could you go make sure this is the word of God, they bring it to Huldah. And she steps out. What I love about the story of Huldah, Shannon, is she steps out at this very key moment and she basically says,
Yeah, all the judgments that I see here are going to come to pass. And in that moment, scholars say she's actually affirming what she's looking at as the very word of God. So she steps out into this moment. It's an absolutely critical, pivotal moment in Israel's history. And then she fades back into the story. So it's this idea that we've got to be obedient to the moment that the Lord presents to step in and step out of it whenever he says so.
We talk a lot about Baruch, Zipporah, Afia, who's spoken of in some of the epistles, the anonymous woman of Luke 8. I imagine what her story might have been, one of those many others that traveled with Jesus, providing for him out of their own resources. We talk about Cleopas we talk about the daughters of Shallum one of my other personal favorites.
In Nehemiah 3, there's this little phrase, Shannon, I know you know where I'm going because I recently did a dramatic piece on the daughter of Shallum. But as the children are called to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem in Nehemiah, there's this one little phrase in Nehemiah 3 that says Shallum, the son of Halahesh, rebuilt the next section of the wall with the help of his daughters.
And when I saw that, I saw it years ago, I actually write about it in my very first book, which is called Shine Stepping Into the Role You Were Made For. I wrote about it back then, but not in this particular context. And it's like, I mean, Shannon, imagine it. You have literally a cast list in Nehemiah 3. And this man and this family rebuilt this component. And then you have this little phrase, the daughters of Shallum got to partake in the rebuilding of the wall.
And of course, we don't know anything else about them save that they joined in a great work. Question for me there is, as the men and women of God, are we building something up or are we tearing something down? And Father, what are you calling us to join in building? What are you asking us to put our hands to in this day, in this age and that we build faithfully?
And then again when it's done, we remove our hands and we move on to that next component of the story. Anyway, that's a little bit of how we go through the Bible study and how we go through the book is looking at these, maybe, I hope, characters that we don't normally look at and look for beauty and hiddenness.
Shannon Scott:
Yeah. Yeah. So good. So tell everybody about the Faith Gateway opportunity, because I want everyone to take advantage of this. This is a wonderful opportunity and we have literally scheduled this podcast so that you can take advantage of it. So I hope you will. So Allison, tell us about this chance.
Allison Allen:
I sure will. Thank you, Shannon. You're so kind. You're so dear. So Faith Gateway selected Hidden to be one of their online Bible studies for the summer and it's kicking off July 22nd. So all the video sessions are free. The community is free. I'm actually going to be hopping on for many of the weeks, you have the opportunity to purchase the physical study if you want to, but you don't have to have that to go through the study. And so I just hope that you would join us. I'm so excited to get to introduce folks to some of these concealed characters in the scripture and also see what the Lord might say to us as we walk through Colossians and some of the thematic scriptural elements that that brings up. So that's faithgateway.com/hidden and I hope that they'll sign up and join us starting July 22nd. How's that for all the details?
Shannon Scott:
Yes, so good. And I obviously for everyone, I'll put all this in the show notes. I'll put all of Allison's books in the show notes. I'll put Back Porch Theology in the show notes. Like I'll make sure that you have resources that you need. But you know, as you were saying that Allison, I'd just love to encourage any women who are listening, who have older daughters at home with you this summer, I would say, you know, even older elementary, middle school, high school, college, this would be such a sweet thing for you to do together, to look into some of these more hidden characters in scripture. What an opportunity. I know often as parents, we feel under -resourced to talk about things of faith with our kids. So you can let Allison do it.
But you can be in scripture together in Colossians together. You can be learning about some of the hidden characters of scripture that even if they go to a private Christian school, they are likely not talking about in Bible class. So it would just be a sweet opportunity to talk about that together. And so I would love to encourage that. That just kind of flew into my mind as Allison was talking. But I will put it all I'll put it all for you in the show.
Allison Allen:
I'm telling you this is why you're the, You're the ultimate MC. Sorry, I had to interrupt you. I want you to go with me everywhere I go. Done, done, done. Okay. Well, okay.
Shannon Scott:
So the last question, this is the question I ask all my guests. Are you ready?
Allison Allen:
Okay. I'm going to be ready. Yes.
Shannon Scott:
If you could design your perfect, beautiful day, what would it look like from start to finish? And my one caveat is you don't have to abide by like if you have allergies, if you're gluten intolerant or celiac or any of that, you don't have to abide by that in your perfect, beautiful day. So some of those restrictions can fall off if it's helpful to you.
Allison Allen:
Okay. this actually makes me teary. I didn't expect that. I would wake up and my house would be perfectly clean. I would be able to exercise fully. I have a, I've laid a bit of an injury that has affected my right arm. And so I'm not able to garden the way I once did. So I would be able to garden again. I would be able to exercise fully again. I'd be able to dance again. And so.
Those are things that I am a little bit limited on and God is still good in the limitations, but they are limitations nonetheless. And so my perfect day would be to be physically fully at capacity. And then I am just a music geek. Shannon, I could listen, if I could have earbuds in, I know I'm in my 50s, but I feel like I'm 16 in regards to music. So it would be the most perfectly curated playlist and it would definitely include earth wind and fire september for sure
You know, it would definitely include like some good tears for fears and worship music, but it would be all over the place, right? We would just be every genre would be represented. and then I love to drive with the window down with jonathan And so I gosh i'm all over the place, but I think It would be just a day of returned capacity And I love to travel. I travel a lot when I speak and I know you do too. And you know, that is a blessing. I love traveling and getting to women's groups and go to different churches. It's always such a joy. But I think I would wake up in Florence, Italy. And I would go to sleep in, I've always wanted to go to Patmos in the Greek Isles.
And it's real, it's not easy to get to. And even if you go, I've never been to Greece, but they say, even if you go to Greece, it's a whole other thing to get over to the Isle of Patmos. And so that's what I think I would do my perfect day if I had magic, which I don't. I'm going to try not to cry. I would spend one day with my mom. I would spend one day with my mom. Yeah. And yeah, it's just, you know, and we would listen to Earth, Wind and Fire and she would play and we would go out and we would deadhead petunias, which is what she loved to do is to pluck off all the components of a flower and she would dance and sing with Luke and And that would be a perfect day in a magical world. So I gave you three days. Shannon, I'm too verbose. I'm sorry.
Shannon Scott:
No, it's perfect. It should be beautiful nonetheless. And it was. So yeah, that sounds like a perfect, beautiful day or days. Well, Allison, as I knew you would be, you are a delight and you have profound wisdom and you steward it so well and it's for the sharing and you share it so beautifully. So thank you so much for taking this time with us. I know people are already Googling you so that they can continue to stay connected with everything that you're doing. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
Allison Allen:
Shannon, I said it at the top and I'll say it again here. I'm just so thrilled. I'm honored to be with you and to say that it goes without saying, but some things that go without saying must still be said. But I'm so glad your voice is in the world and so glad that the Lord in his goodness, it's like those seeds we talked about at the top of today's show. I just am so glad he's using your voice like seed and just beginning to scatter it in a lot of different fields. And so I'm excited to watch this journey for you and cheer when the fruit that I know is so good is produced. So thank you, friend for having me on.
Shannon Scott:
Well, thank you. Yes, absolutely. You're my first interview guest to air. So I'm so excited that it's you. So I'm so glad. Everybody be sure to check the show notes and get all the information on being able to do Allison's hidden study. The tagline of it is finding delight in your life with Christ. I don't know anybody that does not need that. So I hope that you guys have a wonderful day and that you continue to be looking for all the ways that God is making everything beautiful, including you. And we will see you next time.
Allison Allen:
See you soon.
Thanks for joining us for Everything Made Beautiful. We are so grateful for your willingness to tune in. Be sure to follow and download the podcast and check out the show notes for additional links and resources from today's episode. You can also follow Shannon on Instagram and Substack. This information and more is available at shannonsusannscott.com. See you next time.