We recently connected with Shawna Foster and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shawna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I was living through my worst nightmare. I experienced the devastating and unexpected loss of two of my children due to a form of psychological abuse known as Parental Alienation, or more specifically, Attachment-Based Parental Alienation. This occurs when one parent encourages a child to unjustly reject their other (targeted) parent through poisonous messaging, blocking contact, erasing good memories and replacing them with fear and falsehoods, encouraging secrecy and betrayal of trust, and undermining the authority of the targeted parent. It shattered me. I was fighting for my children, my relationship with them, my marriage, my business, my health, and my life as a whole.

There came a time when my long journey of healing began. I know full healing won’t come this side of heaven, but I rest in the truth that each day brings new opportunities to heal, to grow, and to become the vessel of love we are called to be. One day, while praying and pouring out my heart to God, I told Him I couldn’t believe all the pain and suffering I had endured, and was still enduring, could be for nothing. I confessed that I trusted His promise to use it all for good, and I asked what that might look like. As I knelt in full surrender, I felt a gentle but clear message rise in my spirit: “You can’t help anyone if you don’t tell your story.”

That moment became a turning point. Soon after, I began to hear the word “community” repeatedly in my spirit. I knew God was calling me out of isolation and into vulnerability with others who hadn’t walked through my nightmare, but still needed hope. I told Him, “Lead the way. Make a way. I’ll follow.” And He did. Over time, He brought me into new communities of women, places where I could laugh again, be vulnerable, and form real connections. These were women stepping out in bold faith, and I was able to walk alongside them, support them in their callings, and slowly begin sharing pieces of my own story.

In that sharing, I met women in their own suffering and was able to bless them with stories of God’s goodness, reminders of hope and the invitation to step out of isolation and into the light. I watched God begin to mend their broken pieces just as He had started to mend mine.

It was during this new season of community that I began to sense God asking me to write a book. I resisted. I was still tender, still healing, and I feared that writing would force me to re-live everything I had worked so hard to survive. I assumed He was asking me to share my full story. So, I sat in fear, and ran from the calling that wouldn’t leave me alone. Eventually, I stopped resisting and got curious. I asked God what this book was really meant to be. In prayer, I finally surrendered and said, “Okay, I’ll write it—but I’m not going to write my story.” And His beautiful, loving response was: “That’s okay. I want you to write My story.”

And that’s exactly what we did—together.

This journey has been a testimony of His faithfulness. His ways are not our ways, and His ways are always better. He knows us, understands our hearts, and honors our limits, even as He gently calls us out of our comfort zones to step into what He’s planned. Once I embraced that truth, I said yes in obedience. I took one step at a time, allowing Him to guide the process. And through that journey, He wrote His story through me. And this beautiful book is known today as Faith In The Flames: Transforming Trauma Into Hope and Healing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Shawna Foster; author, podcaster, speaker, and Realtor—but my favorite “I am’s” are wife, mom, and grandma. I have a deep passion for inspiring women to transform their trauma into hope and healing, drawing from my own journey through brokenness and grief. My heart beats for helping women move beyond survival, rediscover joy, and embrace a restored, purpose-filled life aligned with God’s love.

I’m especially called to reach those who feel broken, lost, unseen, or alone, and it’s my mission to help them step into their God-given healing and light and thrive in their new identity. I do this through my podcast, Faith in the Flames, as well as by speaking at women’s events, conferences, and faith-based gatherings, where I share powerful messages of healing, identity, and God’s redeeming love.

I’m honored to be the author of the best-selling book Faith in the Flames: Transforming Trauma into Hope and Healing, and I’m also a contributing writer for Christianity.com, where I explore a wide range of topics grounded in biblical truth.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Yes, absolutely. My creative journey is driven by a deep desire to help women know they’re not alone in their pain. After walking through the fire myself—through trauma, grief, persecution, rejection, and the ache of feeling unseen and unloved, I know what it’s like to wonder if healing is even possible. My mission is to reach the woman who feels broken, stuck in survival mode, or forgotten, and to remind her that there is still hope, purpose, and joy on the other side of pain.

Everything I create, whether it’s my book Faith in the Flames, my podcast, the words I write, or the messages I share when I speak, is rooted in that purpose. I want women to encounter God’s redeeming love, to understand that their identity is not in what they’ve lost but in who He says they are, and to help them step into a beautiful, restored life aligned with His truth. It’s not about rehashing trauma. It’s about transformation. My journey has taught me that God doesn’t waste our pain, and if I can use mine to help someone else rise, that’s the kind of healing that makes the ashes worth something.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being a creative is getting to meet women right where they are, in the raw, unfiltered places of their brokenness, and speak truth and hope into their lives. I love helping them see that God hasn’t forgotten them. That He’s still present in their story, even when it feels like all the pieces have shattered.

One of the greatest joys is when I receive messages from women who say they felt hope for the first time in a long time after reading Faith in the Flames or listening to my podcast. I save and treasure every photo of a reader holding my book, especially when I see it in different corners of the world. And my heart could burst when someone tells me they bought it as a gift for a friend who’s hurting. That kind of ripple effect where healing and hope are passed from one heart to another, is incredibly humbling and deeply rewarding.

This isn’t just about writing or creating content. It’s about reminding women that they are not alone, that they are still seen and so deeply loved, and that joy and purpose are still possible. That’s what makes the creative journey worth every moment for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shawnamariefoster.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shawnamariefoster
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnamariefoster
• Other: https://www.christianity.com/author/shawna-foster/

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