S6 Episode #7- Minda Corso
THE ONE WITH MINDA CORSO
This week I am excited to welcome my neighbor and friend, Minda Corso, to the podcast! In this episode, Minda shares about the importance of seeking God and resting in His faithfulness, even in the midst of hard times. If you feel like you are walking through a fire right now (literally or figuratively), then Minda’s message of hope and encouragement is for you! Minda reminds us to trust God's plans, even when they don't align with their own expectations, and stay committed to reading and seeking God's Word.
MORE ABOUT MINDA
Minda has worked in social and digital media for 12+ years. Perfecter of the art of great conversation over coffee, Minda lives and breathes all things social. In her spare time, you can find her FaceTiming with her twin nephews, making homemade pasta, working out at OrangeTheory, or looking for new ways to help people love Jesus just a little bit more. Follow Minda’s (somewhat) daily devotional on Instagram at @MindaCorso.
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TRADING BROKENNESS FOR WHOLENESS
Minda grew up in the Church and a relationship with Jesus was always a constant in her life. She shared, “There is something so settling about having Him as a constant through every single season.”
In friendships and relationships, you confide in a person, friend or partner and you bring your broken self to them. In return, they’re bringing their broken self to you. This is how all earthly relationships are formed. But with Jesus, He is the only person that you bring your broken self to and get wholeness in return.
No matter how broken and beyond repair you feel, you will always receive wholeness from The Lord. It’s a really good deal! God can heal your brokenness. Your situation might not change, but God can make you whole within it.
CHRIST AS THE CENTER
Minda is almost 40 and most of her adult life has been spent single. She is now in a relationship and is learning new things each day. One thing that stands out is the importance of always going to Christ with problems and frustrations first. It is tempting to want to always go to man first for comfort or advice, but Minda didn’t want to lose the beautiful intimate relationship she had with Christ through 20 years of singleness– when He was her all in all. She has learned that going to Christ first allows her to gain a heavenly perspective before sharing the situation with her partner.
She shares:
“I want to take my struggles to the right place first. I don't ever want to lose that relationship that I've had with Jesus that I've been building for the past 20 years of my singleness. It would be tempting to be like, ‘Well, I have a partner now, so that's who I go to.’ When in reality, I want to go to Jesus first, take him all of the mess, and then come back to my partner and say, ‘Man, this happened today. I've already kind of been processing and dealing with it, and I'm not necessarily looking for you to fix it, but I want you to be a part of my day-to-day. I've already dealt with it and I've already been challenged with it. I've already let The Lord kind of heal the pieces that He's needed to heal, or maybe correct the places he's needed to correct in me.”
Being in this relationship has been a sweet reminder to Minda that she will always need The Lord, no matter who else is in her life. The other people around us are a witness to our life. They witness our pain, grief, and joy, but they are not meant to carry the full weight of it. Only Christ can bear the full weight of our burdens and make us whole.
FACING THE FIRE
About 11 years ago, Minda was living in Florida but in DC for work. One night, around 4:30 in the morning, she received a call from the police saying that they were trying to locate her body. There had been a fire at her apartment and they were trying to make sure that everyone living there was accounted for.
The next day she was able to get more information and realized that it was her unit that burned down. She had lost everything… except for her journals! What an incredible story of God’s provision and protection. (Tune in to the podcast to hear the full story!)
Every single journal came through the fire unscathed! When Minda saw that, she knew she would be ok. She had seen the kindness of The Lord in every step of the struggle and the way that people rallied around her and showed up for her after the fire.
Even though this is one of the hardest things Minda has ever had to walk through, she is grateful that it is part of her story because it allowed her to experience the faithfulness of God like never before. She learned that even in the midst of a fire, He can protect the things that need to be protected.
Looking back now, she feels so much gratitude– not for the fire, but for the way The Lord cared for her and protected her in the midst of the fire.
She shares that after hearing about the fire, she sat down on her bed in the hotel and prayed over and over, “I know that you love me. I know that you love me. I know that you love me.”
If you have received news of your “fire”, whatever that may be for you, remind yourself that God loves you and His plans for you are good. It might not be easy, but lean into the truth of the Word of God. Lean into the truth that He is good, He is kind, and He is going to take care of you. It may not look how you imagined, but you can always count on God to be there for you.
DREAMING BIG DREAMS
Minda shared how she has been thinking about her 13-year-old self lately. Realizing that 13-year-old Minda would never have been able to imagine all that God would do in her future. We are often not able to dream big enough to even scratch the surface of what God can do!
When we are in the middle of the season, we cannot see the full picture so our dreams are so small in comparison to all that God is doing behind the scenes.
Minda’s life looks nothing like she imagined when she was younger… because it’s way more than she ever knew was possible. Even now, she can imagine some pretty big things for her future, but she knows that 80-year-old Minda will look back at the current 40-year-old Minda and know how limited her dreams still were.
Even when we don’t know what God is up to next, The Bible promises us that when we seek Him, we will find Him. So we must be intentional about seeking The Lord through every season.
SEEKING GOD
During a particularly difficult season at work, Minda began a rhythm of starting every morning with Scripture. It was a lifeline to get her through the day.
She started sending messages to friends with the things that stood out to her each day and the bits of truth that God was revealing to her. Before she knew it, she was sending a short morning message to over 100 people! She did this for many years before turning it into an Instagram account with daily devotions.
You never know what God will do when you seek Him and dive into His Word. If Scripture feels dry to you, just keep reading! Sometimes just hearing The Word might be the comfort you need for that day. His Word is living and active and there are always new things to learn … even from a passage you feel like you’ve read 100 times. God can make it fresh and reveal something new about His character.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Just the way that we desire for God to be faithful to us, He wants us to be faithful to Him. God desires for us to stick with it and not give up. Keep reading, keep praying, keep being faithful to Him.
You never know what God is doing behind the scenes, but He is always faithful to fulfill His promises. His plans and timing are perfect.
His faithfulness does not depend on our faithfulness, but still stick with Him because He is worth it.
Stick with Him, because He is worth it!
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