About this episode

Autumn Darden shares her personal journey of hope amidst pain and loss, emphasizing the importance of aligning hope with God's will.

In this episode, Autumn shares a deeply personal and powerfully hope-filled message on what it means to live as people of hope in the middle of real pain, loss, and delay. Tracing her story from childhood trauma and teen pregnancy to suicidal depression, radical encounter with God's presence, and years of heartbreaking miscarriages and infant loss, she shows that biblical hope is not naïve optimism—it's a "confident expectation of good" rooted in the character of God. Along the way, she unpacks why hope is not optional for believers (it's one of the three things that "last forever" in 1 Corinthians 13), and why so many of us feel "heart sick" when our hope has been attached to our own plans instead of God's will. Autumn invites us into her testimony of "restitution"—how God spoke, "I'm making restitution," and over time restored what the enemy had stolen: reconnecting her with the son she placed for adoption, blessing her with more children after devastating losses, and eventually calling her family into foster care and adoption again. Through it all, she highlights the difference between adding Jesus to our agenda and truly surrendering to His, and how real hope flourishes when…

People in this episode

Host: HopeUC Nashville

Guest: Autumn Darden

Topics covered

• hope
• faith
• personal testimony
• loss
• redemption
• surrender

Keywords

• hope
• faith
• loss
• redemption
• testimony
• surrender
• God's presence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: HopeUC Nashville

Books & works: Beatitudes

More episodes of HopeUC Nashville Word of the Week

• June 7th - Keys to the Kingdom | Endurance As Worship by Rick White · June 7, 2026 · 53 min
• May 24th - Beatitudes | Blessed In Dependence by Pastor Dustin Smith · May 26, 2026 · 31 min
• May 17th - Beatitudes | Trusting His Presence by Brad Bichsel · May 19, 2026 · 22 min

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