The Performing Heart: When Looking Whole Becomes Its Own Kind of Hiding

Welcome Home - A Heart Fully Alive: A Journey from Brokenness to Whole Hearted Living

What if the very thing you've been hiding is the thing that sets someone else free? This is Episode 1 of a brand new season — and a brand new beginning. If you've been here before, welcome back. If you're finding this podcast for the first time, I believe you found it for a reason. This episode is an invitation. Into a heart room — a safe, judgment-free, pretending-free space where your story matters, your pain is welcome, and healing is not just possible. It's the whole reason we're here. I'm Kris Rey, founder of Heart 2 Heart Ministry, and in this episode I'm doing something I should have done from the very beginning. I'm stepping out from behind the curtain and telling you the truth about how I got here. At 22 years old I was in a hospital. Not because I wanted to die — but because the pain had become louder than any hope I could find. I grew up in a home that wasn't safe. I learned early that love was something you earned, that keeping secrets kept people close, and that performing okayness was how you survived. And I performed it so well that even I forgot what was underneath. If you have ever whispered — even just to yourself — I don't want to die, I just want the pain to stop — this episode is for you. You are not alone. You are not beyond repair. And God is closer to you right now than you may realize. This season, A Heart Fully Alive: A Journey from Brokenness to Whole Hearted Living, walks chapter by chapter through my book and my story — from the darkest places of brokenness, through decades of searching, all the way to the healing and wholeness only Jesus could bring. Bring your journal. Bring your honest heart. And know that whatever you carried in today — you are welcome here, exactly as you are. ✨ New episodes every week. 💛 Share this with a woman who needs to know she is not alone. 🌿 Learn more at heart2heartministry.com About the Podcast The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast with Kristen Rey is a faith-based podcast for women who love God — or want to — but know there are parts of their heart that still need healing. Through Scripture, emotional insight, and Spirit-led reflection, each episode helps women move from surviving to living from a whole heart. If this episode spoke to your heart, follow or subscribe so you can continue the journey.

The System That Formed You — Why We Become Who We Become

What if the patterns you struggle with didn’t begin with behavior… but with formation? In this deeply honest and eye-opening episode of The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast, Kristen Rey explores the hidden systems, wounds, beliefs, and survival patterns that quietly shape the way we think, respond, relate, and live. Many women love God deeply… yet still feel stuck in cycles they can’t fully explain. Why do we minimize ourselves? Why do we abandon our own needs? Why do we stay in what hurts us? Why does survival sometimes feel more familiar than freedom? This episode goes beneath surface behavior and into the deeper formation of the heart. You’ll learn: • Why patterns don’t begin with behavior • How pain shapes beliefs and identity • The hidden agreements we make in survival • Why awareness alone doesn’t transform us • How surrender allows God to heal at the root If you’ve ever found yourself asking: “Why do I keep responding this way?” or “Why does this feel so normal to me?” — this episode will help put language to what your heart may have carried silently for years. Healing begins when we stop only asking, “What’s wrong with me?” and begin asking, “What formed me?” This is a gentle invitation into deeper awareness, deeper healing, and deeper wholeness in Christ. ✨ Download the free 5-Day Heart Healing Starter Guide and learn more at Heart 2 Heart Ministry.com [https://www.heart2heartministry.com] #WholeHeartedWoman #HeartHealing #ChristianWomen #FaithAndHealing #IdentityInChrist #EmotionalHealing #HealingAtTheRoot #HeartFormation #ChristianPodcast #TraumaInformedFaith About the Podcast The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast with Kristen Rey is a faith-based podcast for women who love God — or want to — but know there are parts of their heart that still need healing. Through Scripture, emotional insight, and Spirit-led reflection, each episode helps women move from surviving to living from a whole heart. If this episode spoke to your heart, follow or subscribe so you can continue the journey.

Before Anything Formed: Returning to the Heart God Knew

Before the fear. Before the performance. Before the version of you that learned how to survive. There was a you that God already knew. In Episode 18 of The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast, we go back to the beginning — not to a theological concept, but to a deeply personal truth that may change the way you understand yourself. Because the version of you that formed in pain, in survival, in performance — that version is real. But it is not original. And God is not asking you to become someone new. He is inviting you to return to who He knew before anything in your life required you to become someone else. In this episode: What Jeremiah 1:5 actually reveals about how God knows you — and why the Hebrew word yada changes everything. What Genesis 1 and 2 show us about the original design of the human heart — before anything distorted it. The tender moment in the garden where a woman was named, recognized and known — and what God did when she failed. Why "you are fearfully and wonderfully made" is present tense — not past. Why awareness alone is not enough — and what the gap between who you were created to be and who you feel like on a Tuesday morning actually means. "You haven't lost yourself. You just don't know how to get back yet. And that is exactly what restoration is for." The Heart Healing Starter Guide is available in the show notes — a gentle first step into the five movements of the Whole Hearted Woman journey, beginning with identity. 👉 Download the free Heart Healing Starter Guide: heart2heartministry.com 🌿 Learn more: heart2heartministry.com [https://www.heart2heartministry.com] 📩 Connect with Kristen: kristen@heart2heartministry.com [kristen@heart2heartministry.com] 🎧 Enjoying the podcast? Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode — and share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear that the need for healing is not a failure of faith. The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast is produced by Heart 2 Heart Ministry — a Christ-centered space where faith meets emotional healing and the quiet work of heart restoration. About the Podcast The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast with Kristen Rey is a faith-based podcast for women who love God — or want to — but know there are parts of their heart that still need healing. Through Scripture, emotional insight, and Spirit-led reflection, each episode helps women move from surviving to living from a whole heart. If this episode spoke to your heart, follow or subscribe so you can continue the journey.

The Performing Heart: When Looking Whole Becomes Its Own Kind of Hiding

She shows up every Sunday. She gives the right answers. She serves faithfully. She knows how to look okay. And she is quietly not okay. But nobody knows. Because she has been doing this for a very long time. If you recognized yourself just now — this episode is for you. In Episode 17 of The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast, we talk about the performing heart — the exhausting, isolating work of maintaining an outer life that doesn't match the inner one. We look honestly at why so many women who love God deeply have learned to show up faithfully while quietly carrying something nobody else can see. And why God is not asking you to keep performing for Him. In this episode: Why the performing heart is not a bad heart — and where it actually comes from. The three faces of the performing heart that are hardest to recognize because they look like virtues. The woman in Luke 13 who was bent over for eighteen years — present, faithful, and carrying something invisible — and what Jesus said to her. What Psalm 51:6 reveals about what God is actually after — and it's not your best performance. What it looks like to begin telling the truth in the hidden place. "God is not waiting for you to straighten up before He calls you forward. He is calling you forward so He can straighten you up." The Heart Healing Starter Guide is available in the show notes — a gentle first step into the five movements of the Whole Hearted Woman journey. 👉 Download the free Heart Healing Starter Guide: heart2heartministry.com 🌿 Learn more: heart2heartministry.com 📩 Connect with Kristen: kristen@heart2heartministry.com [kristen@heart2heartministry.com] 🎧 Enjoying the podcast? Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode — and share it with a woman in your life who needs to hear that the need for healing is not a failure of faith. The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast is produced by Heart 2 Heart Ministry — a Christ-centered space where faith meets emotional healing and the quiet work of heart restoration. About the Podcast The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast with Kristen Rey is a faith-based podcast for women who love God — or want to — but know there are parts of their heart that still need healing. Through Scripture, emotional insight, and Spirit-led reflection, each episode helps women move from surviving to living from a whole heart. If this episode spoke to your heart, follow or subscribe so you can continue the journey.

When Your Inner World Feels Loud: Learning to Listen Without Shame

Have you ever slowed down long enough to notice what’s happening inside of you… and instead of finding peace, you found noise? In this episode of The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast, Kristen Rey gently walks you through what it means when your inner world feels overwhelming—and how to begin listening without shame. If you’ve started noticing your thoughts, emotions, or reactions more deeply… but aren’t sure what to do with them, this conversation will help you understand what’s being revealed—and how God meets you there with compassion, not judgment. This is not about fixing yourself. It’s about learning to listen… and allowing God to transform what’s being formed in your heart. ✨ In This Episode, You’ll Learn: * Why your inner world can feel louder when you slow down * What your reactions may be trying to reveal * The difference between controlling your emotions and listening to them * How to respond to yourself with compassion instead of shame * What it means to tend your heart in a healthy, God-centered way * How God uses awareness to begin deeper transformation 📖 Scripture Referenced: Psalm 139:23–24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart… test me and know my anxious thoughts… and lead me in the way everlasting.” If you’re realizing there’s more happening inside of you than you knew how to name, I created something just for you. 👉 Download the 5-Day Heart Healing Starter Guide and begin learning how to: * slow down and listen to your inner world * identify what your heart is carrying * invite God into the healing process You can start here: 👉 https://heart2heartministry.com [https://heart2heartministry.com] 🌿 Want to Experience This More Deeply? If you’re ready to move beyond understanding and into experience, I invite you to join me for a live Whole Hearted Woman Workshop. This is not a lecture. It’s a guided, Spirit-led encounter where you’ll walk through the heart healing process in a safe and intentional space. You can find all the details at: 👉 https://heart2heartministry.com [https://heart2heartministry.com] If this episode spoke to you, would you share it with a friend or leave a review? It helps more women find this message of healing, wholeness, and restored identity. 🔗 Connect + Follow Make sure you’re following The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast so you don’t miss the next episode—where we’ll go deeper into what often lies underneath it all: fear. About the Podcast The Whole Hearted Woman Podcast with Kristen Rey is a faith-based podcast for women who love God — or want to — but know there are parts of their heart that still need healing. Through Scripture, emotional insight, and Spirit-led reflection, each episode helps women move from surviving to living from a whole heart. If this episode spoke to your heart, follow or subscribe so you can continue the journey.