Why We Believe

Filmmaker Paralyzed for Life at 15. Then God Answered His Prayer (with Garrett Batty)

Garrett Batty has spent his career turning faith-based stories into cinema, but the story that shaped him most started in a hospital bed when he was 15. A routine scoliosis surgery had dropped bone chips into his spinal cord and left him paralyzed. The doctors began training him for life in a wheelchair. Lying alone, Garrett whispered a question to his Father in Heaven and asked if a wheelchair was really the plan. Then he felt his paralyzed foot move. Forty days later, he walked out of the hospital. In this episode of Why We Believe, Garrett shares the open heart surgery he survived at six, the prayer that began his deepest faith in Christ, and why he chose faith-based filmmaking over a more lucrative path. He talks about a mission president in New York who taught him the spirit of the law, the Russian father who returned a missionary's snow cap years after the real Saratov kidnapping took place, the South African film crew who asked for 120 copies of the Book of Mormon by the final week of production, and how the Help Them See Foundation now connects mission-driven donors to faith-based stories. His witness is that Christ is in relentless pursuit of His children, leaving fingerprints in every life He has touched. Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to know that God answers prayer in the moments we feel most alone. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Garrett Batty: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettbatty/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garrettbatty/ Help Them See Foundation: https://www.helpthemseefoundation.org/

US Senator John Curtis' Story of Faith & Forgiveness

What does a United States Senator say when asked why he believes? For John Curtis, it starts on a mountaintop in Galilee, where at 19 he went 48 hours without food or water and climbed alone to ask if God would forgive him. He walked down certain the answer was yes, and the first to say he would not recommend the method. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with Senator John Curtis of Utah, a direct descendant of Brigham Young and former mayor of Provo. Curtis shares the story of a great-great-grandmother who chose the gospel over her oldest son, a family legacy where all eight sons served as mission presidents, and how a 30-year-old bishop in Richmond, Virginia learned that constant inspiration is the only way to lead beyond your experience. He talks about serving a mission in Taiwan, returning decades later to sit with Taiwan's president as a senator, and why a pattern from those early mission days has guided every chapter since. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who has wondered if their road back to faith is still open. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Senator John Curtis: Website: https://curtis.senate.gov YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SenatorJohnCurtis Twitter/X: https://x.com/SenJohnCurtis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senjohncurtis/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenJohnCurtis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-r-curtis/

Brett Sampson Carried Rocks in His Pockets Until the Savior Helped Him Let Go

Brett Sampson moved 14 times before he ever left home, served a mission in Rochester, New York where the Sacred Grove was part of his assignment, and grew up to help lead one of the most dramatic transformations in Latter-day Saint education. He has served as a stake president, taught public speaking on campus for over two decades, and led University Relations at BYU-Idaho for 26 years. In this episode of Why We Believe, Brett Sampson shares how the Church became the one constant through 14 childhood moves and how the atonement of Jesus Christ became real to him in a basement bathroom on his mission. He talks about why an unfamiliar scripture came to him during the call to be a stake president, how he kept his footing on the day a beloved prophet died, and what it really means to put down the rocks of unforgiveness we carry in our pockets. Along the way, Brett teaches what it means to surrender what we cannot fix, why following the prophet steadies us in every storm, and how Christ heals more than sin. He heals the actual hurt we carry. Loved this episode? Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to know that Christ meets us in our hardest seasons. Leave a review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Brett Sampson: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-sampson-1288149 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brett.sampson.10/ BYU-Idaho: https://www.byui.edu/directories/brett-sampson

Because of Jesus Christ Everything Is Going to Be Okay (With Sarah Norton)

Sarah Norton grew up in a faithful home, served in her community, and believed in Jesus Christ her whole life. But belief became something far deeper the night a stranger walked up to her outside a doctor's office, wrapped her arms around her, and said, "Everything is going to be okay." That was the first of three separate angel moments, each with an identical message sent by God at three of the darkest hours of her life. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with his former neighbor and longtime friend to hear how Sarah survived losing her sister, her brother, and two nieces to suicide, healed from years of abuse and an eating disorder, and found her way to a life she once could not have imagined. Sarah is the founder of Your Beautiful Soul, a certified art healer and trauma integration coach who has hosted seven healing retreats and reached more than 16 million people through social media. Her story is not about perfect circumstances. It is about a God who keeps showing up, no matter how dark it gets, and a woman who learned to trust that He always will. Loved this episode? If this episode reminded you that God sees you in your hardest season, please help share it. Leave a rating and review for Why We Believe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, add a comment with the moment from Sarah's story that meant the most to you, and don't forget to download your free guide, 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, at WhyWeBelieve.com to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ. Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow Sarah Norton: Website: https://www.yourbeautifulsoul.net/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahjeannorton/

David Checketts: From the Utah Jazz to the NY Knicks, a Life Guided by Faith

What happens when the youngest CEO in NBA history finds himself kneeling by his bed in London, begging heaven to save his bleeding grandson? David W. Checketts ran some of the most recognizable sports organizations in the world. He took over the Utah Jazz at 28, led the Knicks to two NBA finals, owned the St. Louis Blues the year they won the Stanley Cup, and built Real Salt Lake from scratch. Through all of it, he served as a bishop, a stake president, and eventually walked away to spend three years leading missionaries in London for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sits down with David to hear how studying Jesus the Christ on his mission cast out a lifetime of fear, how his brother's tragic death taught him that Christ carries us through grief, and why a business card with three words reshaped everything he believed about prayer. His testimony is no longer belief alone. It is sure knowledge. Loved this episode?Hit Follow and share it with someone who needs to hear that expecting miracles is not optimism but a decision to trust the Lord! Leave a review forWhy We BelieveonApple Podcasts,Spotify, orYouTube. Your support helps us bring more inspiring conversations like this to listeners everywhere! Follow the Why We Believe Show: Website: https://www.whywebelieve.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhyWeBelieveShow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/why-we-believe-show/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whywebelievepodcast/ Follow Nathan Gwilliam: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangwilliam/ Follow David W. Checketts: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Checketts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dwchecketts Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwcheck44/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/davechecketts