Friends Along The Way
Friends Along The Way
Transforming Trials into Spiritual Triumphs / Weston Gustafson
Can a single moment of faith turn your life around? Let's find out as we sit down with Weston Gustafson, a young member of our community who has recently rekindled his spiritual journey. Raised in a preacher's family, Weston's story takes us through the emotional turbulence of his parents' divorce and the isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. He opens up about his struggles with faith and how he found strength and purpose through prayer and scripture. This episode is a testament to the power of faith in overcoming life's toughest challenges and the importance of developing a personal relationship with God.
In this heartfelt conversation, we also explore the broader themes of spiritual growth and the discovery of spiritual gifts. Reflecting on a personal project that involved sharing daily Proverbs on Instagram, we discuss the profound wisdom gleaned from these teachings and their relevance to everyday life. The episode goes further to examine the impact of creating meaningful content on platforms like YouTube and the dedication it takes to foster new faith journeys. You'll hear strategies for content creation, the encouragement from audience interactions, and our plans for future projects aimed at spreading the message of faith. Don't miss this inspiring episode that underscores the transformative power of faith and the importance of meaningful connections in our spiritual lives.
Welcome to Friends Along the Way, a podcast exploring the faith journey of my friends and I. This is your host, jesse Walker, and we're live. Welcome everybody to another episode of Friends Along the Way. Today is episode 110. It's also now been two full years since I've done this podcast, so that's pretty cool and exciting. And so for today's podcast, I have weston gustafson here with me. Oh, that's good. So weston is, uh, one of my youth kids and I met you. You didn't start showing up until like a year ago, or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd met you before, but that was like a while ago at the church.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, it's been really cool getting to know you more this year because you've actually been showing up to youth like regularly and then to church too, so we've gotten to know each other a lot more, um, but, yeah, he's, he's a cool guy, uh loves sports, uh loves jesus and he's been doing some cool stuff uh, recently and we're gonna get into that. But, um, you know, he, uh, he approached me I guess it was two weeks ago, yeah, and you're like, hey, I'd like to share some stuff at youth and I was like, yeah, cool, um, but we should get you to share it, like in more depth, uh, on the podcast. So that's what we're doing today. So, uh, just to kind of get some feelers for for weston and for the audience listening for you guys. Uh, weston, why don't you share your story with us?
Speaker 2:um, and yeah, we can kind of follow along your life's journey yeah, so my I was raised christian, my dad was a preacher and my grandpa was a preacher. I didn't know your dad was yeah, he doesn't do anymore, but for a while, for like most of my younger life oh, wow he was till.
Speaker 2:I was like um, I'd say till a couple years ago. So I I grew up in the church, went to like Bible study, all that, and then COVID hit and so I didn't go to church for like a year and a half, and during that time I feel like like as a kid I always enjoyed like learning about the Bible. I didn't really like church much, though, because I got bored a lot.
Speaker 1:but what kind of church was it that your dad was at a?
Speaker 2:church of christ. Okay, yeah, so was it in town or where was it um?
Speaker 2:it was in slow okay, cool so you drive there and then, yeah, so during covid didn't go to church at all and I feel like I kind of just went away from god, kind of like not in the sense of my actions, but more just like I didn't really think about god much. I didn't really think about church, yeah, um, and so that that wasn't the best. But then around like 2021, when like stuff was getting open, I started to go back to church with my mom and then it's kind of the same as before. I kind of paid attention. The rest of the time I was like drawing or something.
Speaker 2:Then, um, what happened was my mom moved away to Alabama, so my parents are divorced, and so now I was living mostly with my dad and my mom was very big in my life and I have a close relationship with her. So that was very hard for me and I remember this was about when I started to grow closer with God and Jesus. This was about when I started to grow closer with God and Jesus. So I remember just like being really upset about what had happened. And then I just felt this thing like why am I going to be upset? Because I can't fix it, and I feel like that was maybe God talking to me. I didn't recognize that at the time, but he was just telling me to you know, move on and accept that. This is like the new thing in my life.
Speaker 2:So then about a year passed and this is when, like, I really started to develop a relationship with God. One night I was just like why don't I pray before bed? And so I kept that habit till now. I pray every night before bed, unless I'm like super tired and fall asleep. And from there I just kept kind of growing more and more. Then now I go to church more. Then also a year ago-ish, maybe like August last year, I started reading my Bible and I do that most days, and I'm actually in Romans now. So I started in Genesis, so I'm almost done.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's just kept growing.
Speaker 1:And now I'm here, yeah, no, that's just kept growing. And now I'm here. Yeah, now that's really cool, so yeah. So how long ago did your parents like separate then?
Speaker 2:2017, like towards the. It was more towards the end of 2016,.
Speaker 1:Think that's kind of yeah, how old were you then? Uh like eight or nine yeah yeah, was that like pretty confusing for you at the time too, or?
Speaker 2:yeah, like at the start it was kind of like, oh, like I was a kid, I didn't like as long as I saw, yeah yeah, as long as I saw most of my both of my parents, you know, I was fine. All I really cared about was playing video games back then. So yeah um then yeah, towards uh, 2018 and mostly 2018, like that's when it really started to hit me and I struggled a lot then yeah I remember I would like tell god like I hate you man, stuff like that, because I I just hated like my life at that time.
Speaker 2:I I wanted to like to be with both my parents together again and like I, just I didn't fully accept that that isn't going to be the reality anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's kind of interesting and like I was just talking with someone how, when, like bad things happen, people are so quick to be like God, what the heck, why did you do this? Yeah, meanwhile it's like oh, that was not him, like he's not the one that kills, steals and destroys, right, and I think we always forget to, you know, be more like what the heck Satan versus like you know, he's the one that does this, right, he's out there to get us, but then we're like God why'd you do this?
Speaker 1:right, he's out there to get us and but then we're like god. Why'd you do this? And he's like I didn't do it, but, um, yeah, I can understand the frustration and I think that, like you said, yeah, it's like it's out of your hands as part of whatever's was happening, so you had no control in it. But, yeah, um, what was like the moment that like really caught you to be like, oh, I gotta start reading again or like getting like or building that relationship?
Speaker 2:it was probably like with the prayer thing. Um, at that time I was starting to feel a little bit like upset with the world, like, uh, I was starting to you know, as I by then I was about to turn 14, I would say like a month before that so I was starting to like fully understand, like what it means to be in the world, what's going on in the world yeah and some of those things were kind of just making me upset, like why is this happening or why are these people doing that?
Speaker 2:like that's not godly and like it made me upset. So I was like why don't I just pray for those people? Like the war in ukraine, that like that kind of made me sad just seeing like people, all the refugees and stuff, and so I started to pray. For that's really kind of what started. It is I would pray for them. And then eventually I just got to praying for you know, everyday things like what was on my mind people. I love. Did you?
Speaker 1:have like a prayer journal or prayer board or something that you'd write down these people, or you just started praying for things like randomly during the day, or uh, just like randomly, like sometimes during the day.
Speaker 2:I would pray, especially more towards now, like as my relationship grew, I pray like randomly at times during the day, if I get the thought. But then it was, I just kind of had a habit like what I pray for each night do the same. I'll try to switch it up now, because I was reading the gospel and Jesus said something about don't pray for the same thing every day or something like that. So I was like, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, that's an interesting take because it's like you know, yeah, the bible says to pray as if, like, the lord has already answered you, right, yeah, so like, if he's already answered me, then I don't need to pray again.
Speaker 1:But that's it um, so that that part you're like, oh, that's interesting, so, uh, yeah, so then. So then your prayer, so it was really like the lord kind of opened your eyes to the things that was going on, the brokenness in the world, and it stirred your heart. So you went from being broken and mad at God to all right, god, I got to pray for these people.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So was there like a conclusion or like a talk that you had with God prior to this, where you guys became like cool again?
Speaker 2:I think just time, especially like when I had said previously that I was just like I just got to deal with this, like there's no use just being upset about it all the time uh-huh that from that point on I started and definitely like my mom, my mom's like a pretty big Christian, so she's definitely helped me a lot, like letting me know scripture and stuff yeah, and.
Speaker 2:And just I think, over time I was like what I realized I think was that God was testing me in that moment and like in the moment I hated it and like it was the worst thing. But now that I come back from both like when my parents first split and then when my mom moved away that was like what I realized was like those were both tests. I needed to grow in those situations. And both of those situations like I had to adapt to my environment and I grew, and both of those situations like I had to adapt to my environment and I grew.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, my life's definitely better now. Mm-hmm, no, that's really cool. And then what's it been like coming to youth in like the last year?
Speaker 2:It's been fun. You know, met people and like became closer with people I'd already known. Um, also, just like the lessons, I've learned a lot over time. I learned a lot about how to worship. Definitely, yeah, from um, your worships services here yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like, what is something? What is something here that you you wish there was like more of like spiritual wise, I mean? I mean I don't really know If there's like one subject or something. Like you were at church Sunday and I was talking about spiritual gifts, yeah, I think you got there early enough that you didn't miss too much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got there like right when you started speaking. Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, was there certain gifts that you saw, or whatever, and you're like, oh, I'd actually like to learn more about the gifts, or? A specific thing.
Speaker 2:Actually I did the gifttestcom thing. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:What was your thing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I took a photo. Oh yeah, yeah, what was your thing? I took a photo, oh cool, my first one was evangelism, I think.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Okay, wait.
Speaker 1:He's just looking for the photo. Yeah, relax, is that it Okay there?
Speaker 2:He's just looking for the photo. Yeah, relax, is that it? Okay? There we go. So first was evangelism teaching, exhortation, faith and helps.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so evangelism teaching.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Evangelism teaching, exhortation faith and helps. Okay, that's pretty teaching. Yeah, Evangelism teaching exhortation Faith, faith and helps. Okay, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you're going to be a pastor, then Maybe I mean, I'm trying to do that right now, so get into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think this is a great segue to what are you doing now.
Speaker 2:Then, yeah, I think this is a great segue to what are you doing now then. So during May, like I previously mentioned, I've been reading the Bible from cover to cover. So what's the day before May, april 30th, yeah, I had finished reading Psalms. So May 1st, I was in class, I had a spare time, so I was going to read my Bible. And I had seen before this one guy on Instagram during March since there's 31 days in March too doing a proverb for every day on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I just saw Proverbs 1, the date was May 1st and I was like I just felt God was like, hey, you should do that, and I was like I think I'm going to do that. I felt like God had been leading me to something like this. I felt like he'd been trying to get me to share more of what I've learned and more of my faith with others. And then the perfect opportunity came. So, for all of May, every day, since there's 31 days, 31 Proverbs I did one proverb every day of May.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:On Instagram.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's cool Couple. One or two verses about about I shared.
Speaker 1:Like what I interpreted them, yeah yeah and um, like, did you have the because, yeah, you'll record it. And then you have like a actual um auxiliary mic like uh, did you have that prior to? Or, um, or did you know this was something was going to happen with this one day and you purchased it, or yeah, a couple years back I I had one.
Speaker 2:I got second place in this one sa thing. My school put on, the rotary club put on actually, and um, so I had some money from that and I was like, what am I gonna do with this money? I don't need to buy food. So I was just watching youtube or something and someone had a mic and I was like I'll get that mic. It was like 20 bucks, so yeah, and so I just had it for like two years and it was just collecting dust and then have a mic.
Speaker 1:So no, that's cool. That was like my stuff. Like I had all this stuff like way before I was going to do the podcast because I was like I'm gonna record music or something with it and then never recorded any music with it. And then when I finally decided to do the podcast, like I, I had the all the equipment to do it. So, um, it was kind of funny how the Lord prepares us for certain stuff like that before. Yeah, Um, so what are some things that you learned from from like your readings then?
Speaker 2:A lot of things in different ways from the reading itself and then from doing the videos, and all that I've learned a lot, yeah, so let's start with just the spiritual aspect.
Speaker 1:So what are some?
Speaker 2:things. I think what I touched on in youth was relationships is probably the biggest thing in Proverbs yeah With ourselves, god, friendships and marriage. It touches on that a lot. So I learned a lot about that how to treat friends like what a godly relationship looks like. You know, building each other up, not breaking each other down. Supporting each other up, not breaking each other down. Supporting each other. How to have a relationship with God? To fear him and you know, talk with him.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And ask for wisdom. Then marriage, of course, like yeah, I don't know off the top of my head right now. And then, of course, just like how to treat yourself, how to be wise in the world, how to lead a godly life, and a wise godly life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's true life. Yeah, no, it's true. Oftentimes, like well, they talk about just how proverbs is like a book full of like wisdom, like I was just thinking. I was like man, it'd be tough because, like there's certain, when you read proverbs like they're, within that one chapter there could be like eight different things. Yeah. So it'd be like hey, do this with your money and you're like okay, and then the next line would be like don't kill your neighbor yeah, like oh wait, what where?
Speaker 1:how do we go from money to don't kill or whatever? Like you know what I mean. There's so much packed, it doesn't really have an order, but there's so many. It's like these thoughts that he just wrote down. He was like, oh, this is the thought of the day, and he writes it down and then just put it in a book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think another thing is one thing could have so many like one verse could have so many different interpretations, like I think, if I was gonna go back and because I read proverbs separately and then I read it for the videos- yeah but if I was like watching this and was like, oh, I want to go read proverbs now, what I would do is I would focus on like each proverb in each verse.
Speaker 2:Take your time with it. It's not like a novel, just read right through it. Yeah, like you actually have to think about it, because it's like life-changing advice.
Speaker 1:But sometimes it's hidden behind like parables and stuff yeah, yeah, and like one sentence could be like the lesson for the day. Yeah, so it's not like, oh, I gotta read this whole like chapter. It's like just the one sentence alone could be what you need for the day or what you're studying now for the week or something, so yeah, there's a lot um. What would you say you learned from making like the videos, from like your audience perspective?
Speaker 2:um, definitely, the quality just kept increasing, I would say, over the time, and and everything was troubleshooting. Because you know there were a lot of different problems, like one day I filmed it and I accidentally filmed it in like because my phone can do like 4K.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so it's a huge file.
Speaker 2:It was a huge file and it was taking two hours to upload and like it stopped uploading like three times while I was doing that, so I was like whatever, I'm gonna just go refilm this. That was one, um, definitely like trying to post at the right times of the day, I realized that mattered a lot more than I thought originally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, yeah, the analytics behind it. It is interesting how it works like that.
Speaker 2:Let's say, just trying to put your best effort in, because there were some days where I didn't put a lot of effort into the video and it kind of shows and I would definitely, if I was doing it again, I would try to put my best effort in Not try to rush through it because some days I was rushing through it.
Speaker 2:So I would try to put my best effort in, like, not try to rush through it, cause some days I was rushing through it so I could go do something else. Or if I had to do something else, I would just like, cause I didn't really devote a specific time to do it, I just did it when I had the chance.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I would like pick a time and just really try to focus on it.
Speaker 1:Make sure, like you know, you looking at the camera yeah, um, that's why sometimes a podcast is easier because, like you don't have to look at the cameras and you can do silly faces. Not that we do that, but I would never do that.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, just putting in like the effort. Because, yeah, just putting in like the effort, because, like you, for me I really felt like there's gonna be some, some person who watches it. You know, each video has like, uh, 50 to 100 likes. You don't know if one of those people their life just got changed, like their life just changed because of that one video you made. You know like, yeah, when you're making something like that, you need to like remember that it's god's word.
Speaker 2:Some people don't have the chance to hear god's word they've never heard it right and like this could be their first time hearing like a proverb and they've never heard that. Like wow, that's life-changing. Now I'm gonna try to read that. And now you've just sparked someone's whole like journey with god and now they're going to church, now they're praying every day and now they're sharing their faith with other people. Yeah, yeah, I remember that when you're doing something like this, yeah, you never know.
Speaker 1:So you felt like you're you had good response from people watching and listening. Yeah, did you ever get like any comments from people and you're like, hey, like this was like really great or whatever?
Speaker 2:yeah, I did multiple times that I had some random people um just comment and they kept sticking around, which was nice, you know yeah I see them liking like every post, commenting on some of them, and I also. I got this one guy who commented like I don't feel like God. I want to grow closer with God, but I don't feel like God's going to accept me, and I went and told him about how like we all don't deserve God's love, but God loves us all equally.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I told him about, like jesus and all that, how he died for our sins. He said like thanks, that helped a lot hey, that's cool man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just that's your evangelism. Yeah gift coming out right. So, yeah, yeah, that's really cool. Um, and then are you going to continue to make some more videos yeah, I just started doing a sermon on the mount little mini series oh cool this summer, since school is going to be out, I'll have more time. I'm gonna start a youtube channel.
Speaker 2:Heck, yeah, and so just post, like well you have all those videos from psalms.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, you can start posting those like um right now. You could, you know, start posting them. Yeah, you've got lots because you did like how many proverbs? 31 yeah yeah, so you've got 31 videos all ready to go. You can start releasing stuff and build that audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then like also Just little kids yelling outside the building, yeah, also, like what I'm going to do, it's also going to help with my own Instagram, too, the YouTube, because my strategy I think I'm going to go with, is to make like a couple long form videos every week, yeah, and split those into different reels that I can post every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:No, that's good. I've been thinking about doing a YouTube thing, because I've been recording some stuff for another podcast that I want to do, some stuff for another podcast that I want to do.
Speaker 1:um, so this time I'm like maybe I'll like film them and like actually like post them on youtube or whatever because originally, when I started with this, I did that, but they were so long they'd be like hour to hour, 20 minute long interviews, and then I had to go and edit all the video and I was like, man, this is taking forever, um, and so I, yeah, I just wasn't, uh, I didn't have the time or the energy to do that. So I've been thinking about doing some like youtube shorts type of things too yeah, those definitely popping.
Speaker 2:I would say like tiktok might get banned, so there's gonna be a lot of new people going on to those platforms okay, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um cool. So yeah, man, that's, that's really exciting stuff. So keep it up, because you know it makes a difference. Like with this. It's not like I'm famous with this, but I've reached like over 21 countries or something like that in this.
Speaker 2:That's pretty good.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's really cool, like different continents or sorry, yeah, it's just really really cool, like you never know who's going to listen in. You never know where it could reach. So, um, yeah, just keep it up, because it's encouraging people, it's building people up. You'll have more people like that guy that commented and say, hey, like, um, this really helped me. Thank you so much. So you got to keep it up, man, you're doing good, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, so I think that that's it. You have anything else you want to say? Um, not really so right on, okay. Um well, thank you guys for listening to another episode of friends along the way. Thank you, weston, for being on here and, uh, how do they find you on instagram?
Speaker 2:uh, weston gustafson. Yeah, how do you spell your last first name's with the o-n and then last name's, g-u-s-t-a-f-s-o-n?
Speaker 1:so yeah, so you find him on instagram. Give him a follow and support him in this uh evangelism, uh crusade. He's running through social media, so start the youtube channel this summer too, so heck yeah, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, thanks for being on the podcast, man. Thank you for having me, no problem. All right, guys, thanks for listening and we will catch you on the next one. All right, bye. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Friends Along the Way. Be sure to follow and we'll catch you on the next one. If you're enjoying this podcast and you're looking for a way to support, you can buy me a coffee. Go to buymeacoffeecom. Punch in my name, jesse Walker, and there you'll find friends along the way. You can just buy me a coffee. It's that simple. I appreciate all your support and all of your listening ears. Talk to you soon.
