.jpg)
Limitless Spirit
Feeling stuck in the daily grind? Longing for a spiritually rich and meaningful life? Limitless Spirit with Helen Todd is for those who crave a deeper faith, a greater purpose, and opportunities to serve beyond themselves. Through powerful stories and real conversations, this podcast explores how stepping out in faith—whether through mission trips, discipleship, or simply saying ‘yes’ to God—can change your life from surviving to thriving.
Limitless Spirit
From Addiction to Greater Purpose
If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a situation you knew wasn’t right, but felt powerless to leave, you’re going to relate to this episode.
Shirleen Smith faced the challenge of being addicted to a relationship that was not healthy. It almost cost her family, career and her relationship with God.
But through the foundation of faith since early childhood and choosing God above her personal needs, she not only found the strength to break free but also discovered a whole new purpose. That journey led her to a mission trip to Moldova, where her life was forever changed.
Shirleen's candid reflections serve as a powerful reminder that even when one strays, faith can be a guiding light back to purpose and fulfillment.
Her testimony of divine encounters in Moldova, and the pull to return, highlight the profound impact of presence and purpose in mission work.
Thanks for listening! Visit our website rfwma.org and follow us on Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/limitlessspiritpodcast/
and Instagram: @limitlessspiritpodcast
Help us make more inspiring episodes: https://rfwma.org/give-support-the-podcast/
Welcome to Limitless Spirit, a weekly podcast with host Helen Todd, where she interviews guests about pursuing spiritual growth, discovering life's purpose through serving others and developing a deeper faith in Christ.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Limitless Spirit, the podcast where we explore stories of transformation, purpose and faith through the lens of the Great Commission. I'm your host, helen Todd, and today we have an incredibly inspiring story to share with you. If you have ever found yourself stuck in a situation you knew wasn't right but felt powerless to leave, you're going to relate to today's guest to leave. You're going to relate to today's guest. She's a woman who faced the challenge of being addicted to a relationship that was not healthy, but through her faith and reliance on God, she not only found the strength to break free, but also discovered a whole new purpose. That journey led her to a mission trip to Moldova, where her life and her calling as a nurse found a new purpose. Whether you're seeking personal growth or feeling the call to step into something bigger than yourself, her story will resonate deeply with you. So let's dive in. Hello Charlene, welcome to Limitless Spirit. How are you today?
Speaker 3:I'm good, I thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you.
Speaker 2:It is my pleasure. I would love to talk to you about how you came to know Jesus. You have quite an interesting story. I feel like every story is interesting because not one is the same, and so that's why one of my favorite questions to ask a fellow believer so how did it happen for you?
Speaker 3:Well, first of all, a Christian background. Your father was a minister is that right? Parents that loved the Lord? And then we went to church and my sunny school and and we heard the message of the lord and his salvation. And well, I was about 10 years old and I was walking down the street from the church to our house and I just had this just great realization that I was a sinner and that I needed to ask the Lord for forgiveness and for him to come be my savior. And so I went home and told my mom and she said well, wait a minute, let's get dad. And so I had mom and dad both, and they walked me through the simple steps of salvation because I already knew I was a sinner. So we went through the simple steps and I accepted Jesus and asked for forgiveness and I knew that the Lord had sent Jesus to die for our sins. And so I count 10 years old as my point of salvation.
Speaker 2:This is pretty awesome because I think recognizing that you are a sinner at that young of an age, recognizing that you are a sinner at that young of an age, is an unusual experience. And goodness, what kind of sins were you carrying upon yourself by the age of 10? So do you remember what triggered that?
Speaker 3:What particular thought or event triggered that in you? You know, I remember that I did steal a little candy from a checkout stand at a little toy store. I remembered little things that I knew were not. I knew they were not right, they were not things I should be doing, and I don't think about it a lot. But if I thought about it, just little things, you know, maybe I, maybe I lied, or maybe I just little things that the kids can do of the Gospels since that early age.
Speaker 2:That juxtaposition of failing short of the standard spoke to you even at that age of 10. So since you accepted Jesus at this young of an age, a lot of times when we grow up in a Christian household and grow up in church and do accept Christ at a young age, there is a period, a season in life when you drift away, normally in young adulthood or teenage years. So did that happen to you?
Speaker 3:Oh yes, I'm sad to be part of the general crowd that has a drift in their lives. I suppose I've had a couple drifts and that was very disappointing to me. That cause, see, his word is our guide and he gives those commandments and his word for us to have a closer relationship with him. And if, if we're not looking to that word and looking to him and keeping him first, that's when we get in trouble. If we drift away from something he says, that he says it could be that it's not a commandment, it's just it's drifting away from his word, his message to us, for to have less sin in our life and less pain and less disappointment to him and ourselves.
Speaker 2:So what would you say was the most difficult season in your life, as you drifted away from that truth?
Speaker 3:Well, I think I'm actually thinking. I think there was two, two about two seasons really of drift. Not that we don't do little drifts, because the minute you the devil is tricking you, that thing that's tempting you or that's, he's telling you that that, that is nothing, that is nothing, that is, and I would correlate it to that. That's just a little weed. You know that's not, that's nothing big. Would correlate it to that. That's just a little weed, you know that's not, that's nothing big, you can do that.
Speaker 3:But then then that weed grows and it buries its roots in our lives and hearts and and it clouds our first relationship with the Lord and it does not become good. It starts threatening, you know, I mean it starts threatening other relationships work, it tangles up your mind. You're just not, you're not straight on, you're not. So you asked, like one of maybe one of the times, of the two tires. One time was well, I had five children and I worked full time. My husband did not have quite the capacity or quite the income, so we kind of switched roles for a while where he was the stay-at-home mom and you worked.
Speaker 3:Yeah, which was more than it is now. It was more against it in the past.
Speaker 2:It wasn't as acceptable as it is today. Today it's common, but back in those days it was very unusual.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was, and that's kind of showing my age, but that's where you get if you don't die, you get age. So well, my work was very entangling. I worked at that time home, health and hospice, so I had a lot of call during the night, a lot of draws, and then I had my five children and the financial struggles and everything. So I had actually drifted to a relationship that was more important with the Lord, be it addictions, substance or well, this was an addiction to relationship and I had my in my upgrowing.
Speaker 3:My mom was very mentally ill and I was the oldest and they had a lot of foster kids, because a lot of dad would meet up in homes where there was five kids and the mom was dying and all the husbands were gone, you know. So they split the kids up in the church and just so I and my mom got overburdened and she had a family history of mental illness. She became very manic, very three days up and three days suicidal, and I was like a caregiver and at that same age of 10, the Lord told me I was to be a caregiver.
Speaker 2:Which you, interestingly enough, carried into your profession, becoming a nurse and becoming a caregiver. So you were living out that calling that God placed on your life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, he's so good, he kind of he lets us know what he shows us are the gifts he's given us, he shows us the talents, anyway. So I had a kind of a gap in my mothering, I'd say, and I had to learn, as many do, how to parent themselves, how to fill that with the Lord, fill that gap with the Lord. So anyway, I had a relationship that was not pleasing to the Lord, where I almost lost my family, you know, and almost lost my job, and everybody thought I was something. I'm really not and I wasn't't. But the devil just kind of does stuff. So, long story short, this is how the Lord helped me through that and he showed me this this was wrong, it was very hurtful, but it it was wrong. You cannot have anybody above the Lord and, more importantly, you cannot have any drug above the Lord or any kind of computers. Your electronics can come above the Lord. I could name a whole list, but I know a whole list. This was a real difficult time because I had strayed from keeping the Lord.
Speaker 2:So in other words, Charlene, you were living a double life. You, you were a mother of five kids and a nurse, but you were having an affair at the same time.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, I guess you have to say that, but it wasn't like um, it wasn't like a sexual affair. I mean, it was the relationship affair it was. See, it just goes back and you might not want this in there, but it goes back to that lack of that mothering thing. I mean, I can understand myself, I can understand all the things, but to do something that's out of line is, you know, people can get away with it that don't have a standard to meet, that people don't expect things of and that people don't look up to. I can say all sorts of things, but it was wrong to care about her so much. I was helping her too.
Speaker 3:It was a gal that had just had a divorce, but that was probably the biggest wrong impact in my life, Probably one of the biggest mistakes in my life. Well, it wasn't a mistake. I told my dad about it and he didn't want me to tear myself up about it. I mean he could understand, he understood and but I mean you still have to get out of it. So when you have to get out of something, you know whether it's drugs and I help a lot of guys that are on drugs and there's steps to getting out of. If you want to know, there's steps to getting out, of getting out of something that you've gotten into, you've gotten tangled up in and the roots are deep.
Speaker 2:We're going to focus on your story right now. So what helped you so you recognize that this was a relationship that was unhealthy for your life and for your marriage? What was the breaking point when you realized that you have to deal with it? What helped you recognize? Because our first step to overcoming something that is unhealthy or maybe outside of God's will for our life is recognizing that we have a problem. What was the moment that helped you realize that it was a problem?
Speaker 3:Just that it was a big problem. I mean that it was a problem, Just that it was a big problem. I mean I knew I had to choose the Lord first and my family. So I talked to a few people that understood the Lord puts people in your life, that on purpose, he orchestrates things. I was talking to a couple of mentor kind of people and I had to get out of this relationship. What?
Speaker 3:I think the devil does is sometimes the devil puts our weak spots together with someone else in a weak spot. If it's a relationship, I think he puts weak spotted. He puts we spotted people together and if we don't stay in tune with the Lord, then we can get sidelined. So it just it wasn't going to work. My family was praying barbed wire, barbed wire around me. My family knew his mom and dad knew that she was too important. So then I had to get out of it and I had to get tools to get out of it and ultimately you can get out of things.
Speaker 3:It takes time and you have to have perseverance and at first it's very, very often you're dealing with it. But as you keep seeking the Lord and seeking his face, even though it's hard, and you really don't maybe want to break your, break a relationship or something, you first have to start with it's. I need help with this and I can't do it myself. And then you just have to keep steps and I I'd look up to the sky and and I'd say I choose you, jesus, I, you know that's.
Speaker 3:I just and I still still, once in a while, do that too. It's like I choose you, jesus, and I just look up into his beautiful sky. So, anyway, I'm over it.
Speaker 2:Praise God. It is interesting how things or people can become idolatry in our lives. Anything that takes the position in our lives that belongs to God is an idol. Essentially, it could be things, it could be substance, it could be a relationship, and yet God has the power to help us overcome. And only he does because it's something and only he does because it's a trap that is very hard to get out of, and your story is yet one more example and testimony that you can. It's not simple, it's never simple, and I don't want to minimize the difficulty of overcoming that difficulty of overcoming that. But when we verbally and consciously choose God, he equips us and gives us strength and perseverance, and that's what I feel your testimony is about.
Speaker 3:Yes, I totally agree. He is our source. All of our lives, whether we're children or adolescents, or adults or old adults, he is our source. We need him and he is there.
Speaker 2:And again, what I hear in your story is the fact that you received that foundation from your family taking you to church as a child, teaching you the word of God as a child. It's like a mirror that exposes sin in our lives. Whether it was little things when you were at the age of 10, or this significant stronghold that you experienced later in life, you had the standard of what you should aspire towards that inevitably reflected back to you anything that was not measuring up to that standard. So I feel like you know it's such an inspiration to pour into kids before the age they can consciously understand. This is something that builds a foundation in them that will carry them through life. So my question then is at what point in your life you felt the calling towards missions, and what was that call that connected you with World Missions Alliance?
Speaker 3:Well, I have been on missions, medical missions, for a lot of years, different years, with the military and with other groups, and I went with a group to Mexico in November of the year before Moldova, and I was so disappointed with the focus or, you know, just disappointed with the or the Lord wasn't in it. You know that it was just disappointing. And with the big invasion of Ukraine with Russia, I I was wanting to go help refugees from Ukraine, ukraine and, and I've been on the internet looking for groups and found a lot of groups, but the Lord led me to the WMA and I I found the mission to Moldova and that was close to Ukraine and you know, of course, loving the Lord and desiring to serve him, of course, loving the Lord and desiring to serve Him, desiring to help others to the Lord, and so I think it was a great match. The awesomeness of the Moldova experience was the.
Speaker 2:Well, before we go into that, let me ask you did you know a whole lot about Moldova? I mean, you knew it was close to Ukraine, but what did you know about it before you went?
Speaker 3:Well, I did read up on it. It's close to Russia too. That section on the east side is occupied by Russians. There's a big political drive towards democracy. I like the fact that they and you can take this out if you want I like the fact that they are trying to be in a democracy that's so different than a like a communistic kind of way of life or socialistic or any of those. But I think one of the biggest factors is the closeness to Ukraine, and they do have. I saw that they had Ukraine refugees and there wasn't much out there that showed me how I could get there, to get close to Ukraine, to help the refugees in a capacity as a Christian. I mean I could get there in other capacities, but it just stood out as a perfect opportunity to serve people there.
Speaker 2:Does that. And so what was your? Was this, your remind me? Was this your first mission with World Missions Alliance?
Speaker 3:Yes, and it was very impressive.
Speaker 2:Yes, so it was so impactful for you that you are signed up to go back to Moldova with World Missions Alliance next year.
Speaker 3:So let's talk about some of the most memorable moments, or some of the most impactful experiences for you To be honest, the group of Christians that the Lord sent that trip were just bless my heart, just bless my life. The Lord sent prayer people, the Lord sent people to work with the children. I mean he just sent a perfect group to meet the needs that we were looking at, that WMA was looking at in Moldova, and he just sent the greatest blessing with the group of Christian people. I was just so impressed. The fellowship was just wonderful. The freedom, it was just beautiful. How the people worked together, providers worked together, the people leading the children. Moldova was extremely impressive to me too.
Speaker 2:Were there, some things that surprised you when you actually visited Moldova.
Speaker 3:One thing that really surprised me is and really impressed me was how the Lord planned meetings of group, meeting with the group and with people from Moldova. He actually he sent a young man from Moldova. He actually sent a young man around the lake. He told that young man to walk around the lake and he would meet up with some people that could help him in the ways of his spiritual needs. And I was with a translator that had a deep love for the Lord and a deep translation capacity and it was just a blessing to meet up with that young man and to hear his story that he had been sent by the Lord to meet up with people that loved him, the Lord, and wanted to share him with anybody, everybody.
Speaker 2:That's a great story, because this is, I feel, so often happens on the mission trip, when you actually feel called by God to be on this particular mission in this particular country at this very time, and he connects you with the people that are literally waiting for you to come and minister to them.
Speaker 2:This young man. As you happen to be in the park, walking around the lake with your interpreter, god brought this young man that was seeking for spiritual guidance and your paths crossed. You were obedient enough to start the conversation. He was obedient enough to confide in you that he has been looking for something, looking for help, and then what I call the magic happens. You know, the Lord does his thing, and so I love these stories. We tend to focus on the numbers. You know how many people received Jesus or how many people were treated in the medical clinic, but if it were just for that one young man, wouldn't it be completely worth it?
Speaker 3:Yes, but it wasn't just that one young man, because there was more blessings in the medical clinic and one of your other leaders was there and I just couldn't believe the blessings of the people coming through the medical clinic and the staff that was in place could address and talk the spiritual concerns as well as the physical, the spiritual concerns as well as the physical, and actually see we were going into a country actually and a church that was in two locations. The people needed the Lord there. They'd looked for the Lord there because their spiritual, the spiritual background of the country and the spiritual opportunities are not really a personal relationship with the Lord. They just came back to the worship times and they were just so blessed with the connections that the Lord had orchestrated and it was just a blessing to see the people blessed. So it's a blessing. The team was a blessing, the Moldovan people were a blessing and their desire to worship, learn about serve the Lord. It was just a totally awesome experience.
Speaker 2:Well, since then, you have been on several missions with World Missions Alliance to different countries, to Pakistan and Republic of Georgia, and yet you feel the call to return to Moldova. Yes, what is it that is drawing you back to the country?
Speaker 3:I know I've seen other countries that seek to know about the Lord and see if the people are, you know, yearning for a real life, a real life of peace and forgiveness and everything. But Moldova was. The people were just so interested in the things of the Lord and the leadership in the churches, the whole family was involved and they are just blessed with musical talent, and I mean the whole experience is one that you should do once in your life.
Speaker 2:In the end, I think that it is always God that places that desire and determines the timing. Desire and determines the timing. Just like you mentioned your first experience there of connecting with this young man that was walking around the park, because God led him there, perhaps there is another person there, charlene, who can benefit from your experience with the Lord, from your testimony, which is really your greatest weapon. You are a fantastic nurse, you are a very caring and nurturing and compassionate person, but I believe that your personal experience with the Lord, your testimony, is what makes you so effective on the mission field. You know firsthand what God has done in your life and no one can take this experience away from you, no matter how painful it is. It is your victory, and your victory, your story, is your greatest evangelistic tool on the mission field, and so it is a great pleasure for us to have you as part of the World Missions Alliance family and and we look forward to being with you in Moldova and other missions that God has led you on with World Missions Alliance. Thank you, helen.
Speaker 2:As we wrap today's episode, I hope you were as moved as I was by Charlene's journey from a place of emotional dependency to spiritual freedom and ultimately stepping out in faith on a mission trip to Moldova.
Speaker 2:This is a powerful reminder that, no matter what we're facing, god can use it to redirect our lives towards his greater purpose. If you're feeling that nudge to grow in your faith or maybe step into something new, like a mission trip, perhaps even to Moldova, let this be an encouragement to you. God is always ready to meet us where we are and take us where we need to go. I invite you to check our website, rfwmaorg, and look for the opportunities for you to fulfill the Great Commission. You don't have to be perfect. If you choose Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, he equips you to be His ambassador. Again, the website is rfwmaorg and we are returning to Moldova in the May of next year, so we invite you to join us. Thank you for tuning in to Limitless Spirit. Until next time, may you continue to live out your purpose and walk in faith.
Speaker 1:I'm Helen Todd. Limitless Spirit Podcast is produced by World Missions Alliance. We believe that changed lives change lives. If your life was transformed by Christ, you are equipped to help others experience this transformation. Christ called his followers to make disciples across the world. World Missions Alliance gives you an opportunity to do this through short-term missions in over 32 countries across the globe. If you want to help those who are hurting and hopeless and discover your greater purpose in serving, check out our website rfwmaorg and find out how to get involved.