Believe in God—but Also Trust Him

About The Podcast

After spending his formative years in and out of prison, fighting in a street gang, Franklin Rivas Hodge left his native El Salvador for the United States with a bounty on his head. But crossing the Rio Grande was only the beginning. Franklin still had to overcome his feelings of anger and hopelessness. This felt impossible until an adoptive family gave Franklin his first-ever glimpse of God’s love in action. Franklin talks this week about the desolate lows and improbable triumphs of his life, offering inspiration for men battling self-doubt and struggling to put their full trust in God.

Show Notes

Additional Resources

The Awe of God: The Astounding Way a Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life by John Bevere

Timestamps

0:00 — Intro/”Marriage is my first ministry”

4:33 — Dealing with voices of doubt and inadequacy

9:46 — What does redemption mean to you?

14:24 — How Franklin climbed out of a dark place in his life and found the Lord

27:22 — Men who have made a difference in Franklin’s life, and how he’s helping to disciple others

36:38 — Franklin’s troubled upbringing in El Salvador and his journey to the US

44:49 — The desperate move that resulted in a new family and a new life

53:08 — Franklin reconnects with his biological mother

64:24 — A few closing thoughts

Discussion

1. In what area of your life are you most likely to feel the effects of “impostor syndrome”—i.e., the belief that people are giving you credit or praise you don’t deserve? When you hear the voices of self-doubt and inadequacy speaking to you, what kinds of things are they saying? What are you able to ignore, and what do you find yourself listening to and internalizing?
2. Have you ever thought that the world would be better off if you weren’t in it? What prompted those thoughts, and did you ever act on them? Psalm 139:14
3. Do you ever feel like you’re in the spiritual place Franklin was in before his suicide attempt in 2021—that you believe in God, but don’t trust Him? What do you think is standing in the way of that trust? Are there any misfortunes, failures, or disappointments in your life that you’ve tended to blame God for, and have you ever considered that the one you’re really angry at is another person, or yourself? Isaiah 26:3
4. As Franklin and Nate discuss, much of discipleship is simply inviting someone else into your life so that they can see how you follow Christ. If you invited a disciple or mentee into your life, what would they see? What are the things about your daily life that might inspire them? Matthew 28:19-20
5. Franklin says that one of the main reasons he joined a gang as a preteen in El Salvador was because they provided the trust and protection his own family did not. Did your own family fail to provide certain important things when you were young, and did you go seeking those things in unhealthy places? Have you since been able to fill those needs in healthier, more authentic ways, or do you still feel like critical things are missing from your life?
6. Do you think there’s anyone in your life who loves you more than you love yourself? Talk about what the reasons for that discrepancy might be. Why do you find it difficult to take pride in or give yourself credit for some of the things that person loves about you? John 3:16-17
7. Franklin says he’s been able to forgive his birth mother and begin building a relationship with her because he’s “got to choose what the word says [over] what happened.” Is there a grudge or resentment you’ve been harboring toward someone close to you? What does the Bible say about that kind of animosity? If you told Jesus about that grudge, what do you think He would say in response? Ephesians 4:32