Mess it Up Show 137 - GibletsMess it Up Show 137 - Giblets
Mess It Up Podcast
It's Thanksgiving so we wanted to tell why we are…
47:18•24 Nov 2020
Giblets, Gratitude and Getting Through a Crazy Year
Episode Overview
- Gratitude can start with obvious things like family, health and work, even in a chaotic year.
- Harder forms of thankfulness can grow from grief, illness and painful experiences that later shape purpose and service.
- Setting boundaries with loved ones and choosing obedience to faith over comfort can strengthen emotional and spiritual resilience.
- Worship and reflective music, such as the song “Gratitude” by Brandon Lake, can help process trials and refocus on what doesn’t change.
- Holidays can be especially tough in recovery, so it helps to identify supportive people in advance and reach out rather than staying isolated.
“The end of the rope is not the end of the rope. It’s the beginning of the rope when you turn around and start going the other direction.”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? This Thanksgiving-themed episode of Mess It Up brings a light-hearted but honest chat about gratitude in the middle of a chaotic year. Host Paul (aka the bowtie guy) sits around one shared microphone with returning guests Andrew and Giselle Kadula and “listener Bev from California”.
Together they swap stories about turkey giblets, strict mums, screaming toddlers in craft shops, and the “year of what the heck” that 2020 became – all as a backdrop to talking about gratitude in recovery and in faith. You’ll hear simple “easy thanks” like family, jobs that can be done from home, and good health, alongside harder stuff: grief, illness, and unmet dreams.
Bev shares about losing her mum and being “thankful” even in that pain because of her mum’s faith. Paul talks about being grateful for past incarceration because it led him into prison ministry. Andrew reflects on being thankful for a diabetes diagnosis and a rejected music-school audition that pushed him towards worship leading instead. The team also brings in Celebrate Recovery material on gratitude and ties it to trials, quoting James 1 about joy in hardship.
They talk honestly about boundaries with family, choosing “obedience over comfort”, and how that kind of hard choice can grow “spiritual muscles”. A musical highlight is the song “Gratitude” by Brandon Lake. Lines like “every song must end, and you never do” and “I have nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah” spark a chat about worship being the one thing people can offer God that he doesn’t do for himself.
The episode finishes with practical encouragement for anyone struggling through the holidays: identify someone you can call, reach out before things feel desperate, and remember, as Paul puts it, “the end of the rope is not the end of the rope.” How might your own “easy thanks” and “deep dive thanks” look this year?
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