Ep. 3: Give Your Suffering an Assignment | Soul Retreat Reflections

Ep. 3: Give Your Suffering an Assignment | Soul Retreat Reflections

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? In this raw and honest conversation, host Yuri Huntington opens up her 2023 journal and lets you sit beside her on what she calls a "soul retreat" – intentional time set aside to work on her psychological and spiritual health.

Across youth camps, grief, and leadership pressures, she keeps circling back to one theme: "We gave that pain an assignment." After losing her nephew to suicide and preaching a full suicide-prevention message to over 300 teenagers, she describes how unbearable sorrow slowly shifted into purpose, including the creation of Arturo’s Heart Foundation. You’ll hear her talk about emotional "doom loops" and "hope loops" in the brain, and her belief that "your brain can heal" even when the pain feels overwhelming.

The episode is especially relevant if you're in recovery or rebuilding life after trauma, wrestling with church hurt, or simply exhausted by a too-busy schedule. Yuri shares how she learned to give herself permission to protect her mental health (like going to work later), and she doesn’t shy away from calling out unhelpful habits either: she challenges chronic complainers to "stop the pity party" and start showing up like the future leader they say they want to be.

There’s also plenty here for faith-based listeners wondering how ministry, mental health, and ambition fit together. Yuri talks about her dream of blending deliverance ministry with practical mental health tools, her love of 21‑day devotional journals, and the idea that your current situation might simply be your "training ground" for what’s next.

If your heart is heavy, your schedule is packed, or your faith feels complicated, this reflection might be the nudge you need to ask: what assignment could you give your suffering today?