The Living Story: Healing from Heartbreak, Finding Purpose, and Learning to Live Again

Tennille Martinez
  • 5.0 (20)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

You have done the work. Read the books. Sat in the therapy chair. Said the prayers or maybe stopped saying them altogether. And something still is not landing. You are not broken. You are not behind. You are in the middle of a chapter that is longer and harder than anyone told you it would be. You feel stuck between who you were and who you are still becoming. And you are looking for someone who has been exactly where you are. Welcome to The Living Story. Hosted by Tennille Martinez, a teacher, storyteller, and woman of faith, this is a podcast for women in their 30s and 40s navigating healing, identity, heartbreak, and the long journey of finding themselves again after loss, divorce, depression, and the kind of pain that changes everything. Each episode weaves together personal testimony, scripture, and honest spiritual conversation for women who are done performing and ready to go deeper. Whether you are healing after divorce, recovering from heartbreak, rebuilding your sense of worth and purpose after loss, walking through depression and faith at the same time, or simply trying to find yourself again after a season that left you unrecognizable, there is a chapter here for you. This is not a podcast for women who have it together. This is a podcast for women who are still in the middle of it and need to know the middle is survivable. Faith will meet you here exactly where you are. Even if you are not sure you believe anymore. Even if you are angry. Even if the last thing you expected was for God to show up in a chapter that looked like this. If you have been searching for a podcast about healing, starting over, self-worth, identity, purpose, and becoming the woman you were created to be, you just found it. The chapters you least understand are often the ones that change everything. You don't just read stories. You are one.

  1. 14h ago

    E22 | You Are Not Behind | Why Comparing Your Life to Others Is Keeping You Stuck

    Send us Fan Mail Before you compare your life to someone else’s, remember this: You joined their story in the middle. In this episode of The Living Story, we’re talking about comparison, social media, waiting seasons, and the quiet belief so many women carry that they are somehow “behind” in life. Maybe you thought you’d be married by now. Maybe you thought you’d have children, clarity, healing, purpose, or peace by now. Maybe you scroll through someone else’s life and wonder why their story seems to be moving while yours feels stuck. But what if you’re not behind at all? What if you’ve simply been comparing your page one to someone else’s page three hundred? In this episode, Tennille Martinez explores:  why comparison is emotionally destructive  how social media distorts our timelines  the hidden middle chapters people never show  what the stories of Joseph and Hannah reveal about waiting  why God’s timing is not punishment  and how your “middle chapter” may actually be the place where transformation is happening most deeply This episode is for the woman who feels overlooked, delayed, discouraged, or exhausted from measuring her life against everyone else’s. You are not behind. You are being formed. Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    21 min

  2. 1d ago

    E21 | The Stories I Told Myself Before I Met God | Healing Lies About Worth, Love & Purpose

    Send us Fan Mail Before I met God, I had a whole library of stories I believed about myself. Stories about rejection. Worth. Being overlooked. Being too much and somehow not enough at the same time. Stories about love, purpose, identity, and whether I was chosen at all. In this episode of The Living Story, we’re talking about the quiet lies women carry for years — the ones repeated so often they stop feeling like stories and start feeling like truth. If you’ve ever struggled with:  low self-worth  overthinking relationships  feeling unseen  people pleasing  fear of rejection  comparison  identity confusion  heartbreak  or believing you missed your purpose… this conversation is for you. We explore:  how false narratives are formed  why emotional wounds become internal beliefs  the stories women silently rehearse  what happens when God interrupts those narratives  and how healing begins through truth, surrender, and renewal of the mindFree Resource: Download “The Story She Keeps Telling Herself,”  a truth-and-lie reflection guide designed to help you identify the narratives shaping your life. My gift to you! Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    21 min

  3. 3d ago

    E20 | When Self-Help Is Not Enough: What I Found When I Finally Opened the Bible

    Send us Fan Mail You read the books. You went to therapy. You journaled, processed, grew, and did everything the personal development world told you to do.  And something is still missing. Not because the work was wrong. Because there is a question underneath all of it that none of it could answer.  Am I actually known by something larger than all of this?  This episode is for the woman who has tried everything available and still feels like one piece is not quite in place.  What changed when the Bible stopped being something she circled from a distance and became something she actually opened.  And what it says about who she is that nothing else could tell her. Here is the free guide mentioned on today's episode: The Story She Keeps Telling Herself. It is a truth-and-lie finder for the woman who is ready to stop believing everything the middle has told her about who she is and who she will become. My gift to you! Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    19 min

  4. May 20

    E19 | The Gold Thread: How God Fills the Broken Places and Why Nothing in Your Story Was Wasted

    Send us Fan Mail There is a Japanese art form called kintsugi. When pottery breaks, the artist repairs it with gold. The cracks do not get hidden. They become the most luminous part of the whole piece.  What if God works the same way in your story? What if the chapters you have been trying to get past are actually the chapters He has been filling with something that makes them the most beautiful part of what He is building?  This episode is a slow and honest look at the gold thread running through your life. Even the chapters that felt like detours. Even the ones you would rewrite if you could. Nothing was wasted. And the story He is telling through your life is more beautiful than you can see from where you are standing right now. Here is the free guide mentioned on today's episode: The Story She Keeps Telling Herself.   A truth and Lie Finder for the woman who is ready to stop believing everything the middle has told her about who she is. My gift to you. Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    22 min

  5. May 13

    E18 | Her Story Begins: What 20 Years in the Classroom Taught Me About the Stories Girls Tell Themselves

    Send us Fan Mail Twenty years. Thousands of girls. And one thing that has never changed: the moment a girl decides she doesn't matter is the moment the world loses something it cannot afford to lose.  This episode is for every woman who remembers being that girl. And for every parent, mentor, or educator who has one in front of them right now.  Tennille Martinez opens up about what she has watched happen to girls in classrooms during her career, what she wished someone had said to her at twelve, and why she built Her Story Begins — a literary and identity experience that gives girls what the curriculum never could.  If you have a daughter, a niece, a student, or a girl in your community who is disappearing quietly into someone else's idea of who she should be, this episode is for you both. Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    30 min

  6. Apr 28

    E17 | When Healing Keeps Restarting: What I Learned About Letting Go & Reaching Back

    Send us Fan Mail I deleted messages on WhatsApp. More than once. And every time I did, I restarted the clock on my own healing without realizing it.  If you have ever reached back for something God already moved, if you have ever stood in a room with tears running down your face while worship music played and wondered why it was not getting easier, this episode is for you.  This is what real healing actually looked like for me. Messy and circular and full of grace I did not earn. And what I found in Isaiah 30 on the night I finally stopped running from the truth. Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    20 min

  7. Apr 23

    E16 | You Don't Know the Full Story: Why Secondhand Faith Always Leads to Doubt

    Send us Fan Mail I was angry at God for years. And the honest truth is that most of my anger was built on a version of Him I had never actually taken the time to know. I had heard about Him. I had sat in rooms where people talked about Him. I had consumed the content, the books, the sermons. But I had never done the work of sitting with His word myself, letting the Holy Spirit correct me, letting the full story of who He is get past my arms-crossed, already-decided heart. This episode is for the woman who is tired, skeptical, or quietly furious and does not fully understand why. We are talking about secondhand faith, why it always produces doubt, what the enemy does with our unanswered questions, and what transformation actually looked like when I finally stopped managing my pain and handed it over. You don't have the full story yet. Neither did I. But it changed everything when I finally started reading it. Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    15 min

  8. Apr 20

    E15 | What Watching The Testaments Taught Me About the Character of God

    Send us Fan Mail I was sitting on the couch with my mom, three episodes deep into The Testaments on Hulu, when something came out of me before I knew I was going to say it. That is not the God I know. And I have not been able to stop thinking about it since. In this episode, I am getting into all of it. Margaret Atwood and why her storytelling stopped me cold in The Handmaid's Tale and pulled me straight into The Testaments.  I watched The Handmaid's Tale the first time as a woman who knew of God. I am watching The Testaments as a woman who has actually met Him.  And the difference between those two watches is the difference between recognizing a counterfeit and not knowing what was missing. If you believe in God but are still figuring out what He is actually like, this one is for you. If you have watched The Testaments and felt something you could not name, this one is for you.  If you have ever been in a room where someone used the Bible to keep a woman in her place, and something in you said that is not right, this one is especially for you. Support the show Bible Study: Join me every Wednesday, starting June 17th, at 7 PM EST for "Why Did This Happen," a free six-session live Bible Study for the woman who believes and still has questions. Register here to save your seat.   Her Story Begins. A six-week literary enrichment program for girls 13 to 17. Four cohorts. Summer 2026. Founding rate closes June 8. Registration is open now. Register here! Enjoyed this episode? There's more waiting for you on Substack. Longer thoughts, quieter moments, and a community of women who get it. Come find us. If this episode stirred something in you, grab the free guide: I Thought I Would Be Further By Now: 5 Signs You Are Trying to Finish a Story God Is Still Writing. It is a gentle mirror for the woman who is still in the middle. My gift to you! Follow and connect with us on Instagram!

    24 min
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About

You have done the work. Read the books. Sat in the therapy chair. Said the prayers or maybe stopped saying them altogether. And something still is not landing. You are not broken. You are not behind. You are in the middle of a chapter that is longer and harder than anyone told you it would be. You feel stuck between who you were and who you are still becoming. And you are looking for someone who has been exactly where you are. Welcome to The Living Story. Hosted by Tennille Martinez, a teacher, storyteller, and woman of faith, this is a podcast for women in their 30s and 40s navigating healing, identity, heartbreak, and the long journey of finding themselves again after loss, divorce, depression, and the kind of pain that changes everything. Each episode weaves together personal testimony, scripture, and honest spiritual conversation for women who are done performing and ready to go deeper. Whether you are healing after divorce, recovering from heartbreak, rebuilding your sense of worth and purpose after loss, walking through depression and faith at the same time, or simply trying to find yourself again after a season that left you unrecognizable, there is a chapter here for you. This is not a podcast for women who have it together. This is a podcast for women who are still in the middle of it and need to know the middle is survivable. Faith will meet you here exactly where you are. Even if you are not sure you believe anymore. Even if you are angry. Even if the last thing you expected was for God to show up in a chapter that looked like this. If you have been searching for a podcast about healing, starting over, self-worth, identity, purpose, and becoming the woman you were created to be, you just found it. The chapters you least understand are often the ones that change everything. You don't just read stories. You are one.

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