[MUSIC PLAYING]

Sure, Sheila Walsh is an international speaker,

plus a bestselling author and a popular recording artist.

But on the CBN campus, she's known as a former co-host

of "The 700 Club."

And now she's about to start a new phase of her life.

Take a look.

NARRATOR: For the past 20 years, bestselling author Sheila Walsh

has been part of the Women of Faith team,

speaking to audiences across America.

When this chapter of her life ended last year,

she wondered what was next.

I really began to pray and make,

I mean, a consistent, intentional prayer

of what do you want me to do with the rest of my life.

NARRATOR: She says the answer was very clear.

Sheila is now a part of LIFE Outreach

and "LIFE Today," and the "LIFE Today" family.

I have a real job.

Yes, you got a real job.

This new season in Sheila's life

also includes the release of her latest book, "The Longing

in Me," in which she shares that God

is the answer to our heartbreak, no matter how broken we may be.

Please welcome back to "The 700 Club" our friend, Sheila Walsh.

It's always great to have you here.

Hi, Terry.

It's great to see you.

You are such a prolific writer, girl.

I mean, I don't know--

Honestly, it's my hobby.

--how you fit that into the rest of your life.

It's what I love to do, though.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm always writing.

Fortunately, I don't publish everything I write.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: [LAUGHS]

You're welcome.

But I love that.

I love to study.

I love to dive deep.

And I love to write.

Well, diving deep is what you do in everything

that you write, helping us to get in touch with our feelings

and usually the struggles of our life.

This last book, which is so beautiful,

is called "The Longing in Me."

What are you looking for when you

talk about the longing in you?

I had this experience in an arena with Women of Faith.

15,000 women worshipping the Lord.

And my husband was there, and my son was there.

Really the best days of my life.

I felt this profound insight, like a real-- I

didn't know what it was.

And I said, well, what's wrong with me?

I mean, I'm in a beautiful place.

And I began to understand this is not

something to be despised.

I think it's actually a sacred ache.

I think it's something that tells us we're not home yet.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: Yeah.

And I think we try-- the trouble is that most of us

feel it and we try and fill it up

with another pair of shoes, or another drink,

or another relationship.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: Party.

Right.

But honestly, there's a place inside that only Christ can

fill.

And it's not a one-time filling.

You've known the Lord for years.

You've worked in all areas of Christian needs.

But that longing, that aching, is with us,

I think, until we go be with him, don't you?

I absolutely agree.

I absolutely agree.

The only time that that longing will go away

is when we finally see Jesus face to face,

and then it will be gone.

But the trouble is, because we feel it-- we're believers,

we shouldn't feel like this-- we try and fill it.

And we chase stuff, and we chase people.

And rather, I think now, no.

Acknowledge that place.

Honor that place.

And realize it's part of our ticket

that says we're going home soon.

Even and all the things that you mentioned

that we try to fill that ache with, part of what we're doing

is trying to control life, control

what it does to us, how we respond

to it, what it takes from us, what it requires of us.

Is there a longing for control that is in all of us

to some degree?

I think it might even be more in women than in men,

to be honest.

And I think part of it comes--

TERRY MEEUWSEN: I think most men would agree with that.

[LAUGHTER]

Part of it comes from a good place.

We want things to be well with our husbands

and well with our children.

But I think it can really cross a line.

And then when we can't control them,

we can't make people behave properly--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

--we either over spiritualize it or we punish, we withdraw.

One of the main things I wanted to say through this book

is that God is for you.

No matter what place you're at in life, God is for you.

And your history does not dictate your destiny.

That's one the biggest lessons I've learned,

because sometimes we start in really bad places.

And even up until recently, you could be in a bad place,

that does not determine where you're going.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: And the great thing

is, he'll even take the bad and work it to good for you

and for other people.

What are some of the other things

that we long for in our lives.

I mean, control is certainly one of them, but maybe intimacy?

Yeah.

I think we long to be loved.

I mean, I think it's the most primal desire

of every human being, to be fully known and fully loved.

And that is scary.

And I think one of the places it's most scary

is in the church.

That shouldn't be that.

One of the reasons, Terry, that I

tend to be very open about my life, part of it

comes from what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians.

He said, I'm determined among you

to share not only the gospel, but my very soul.

I think we need to be transparent

with each other out in our journeys,

because then shame comes in.

If you fail, you make a mistake, you

think I'm just a terrible person,

I'm a terrible Christian-- not knowing

that 53 other people around you are going

through exactly the same thing.

Yeah.

Well, and I think that that is sometimes

why the church is so difficult to be honest with,

because when God gave us boundaries

to keep us in safe pasture, we've

made it a judgemental issue.

You went through a divorce a number of year ago,

and never really talked about it,

which is totally understandable and commendable.

But now you've come forward in the book

and shared some of that experience

from your perspective.

Why did you decide to do that?

Well, I waited a long time-- it's

been over 20 years, 25 years-- because I

thought one person can never represent

what was true for two people.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: Yeah.

Sure.

And the other thing I felt was as long as you're still

angry about something or desperately sad

about something, I don't think you have perspective enough

to be able to speak into it.

But I've come to the place in my own life

where I understood my part of the journey.

I think sometimes if you've had something broken

in your childhood, you almost want to recreate that scenario,

hoping for a different ending.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: Yeah.

We have such a desperate desire for closure.

And so I felt, without putting things

in that would be detrimental to my ex-husband or his family,

I wanted to explain to other women, listen, I understand.

It was like when my cousin, who had

been very abused by her dad, and watched her dad abuse her mom,

then went and married a guy who abused her.

And I'm like, why do you do that?

But I think I understand.

We think, again, it's control.

Maybe this time I can have a different ending.

Yeah.

You know, I think honesty is such a significant thing

in what you write-- and you do that in all of your books--

because when we're honest about who we are,

we give other people the freedom to be

honest about who they are.

You're going through a tough time now.

Someone could look at your life and say

she's got this all together.

But you and Barry are struggling right now.

Share a little bit about that.

You know, it's so interesting, Terry.

I don't think anybody would ever look at me

and think she's got it all together, because--

TERRY MEEUWSEN: Oh yes, they would.

SHEILA WALSH: --I've put it all out there.

Well, you know, we went through a time where we bought a home,

beautiful home.

And then we decided to sell, because we

felt it wasn't a neighborhood that was safe for our son, who

was little at the time.

And the housing market in Dallas was phenomenal.

So we found another house and we signed on that

before-- we had a contract on our other house.

But before--

TERRY MEEUWSEN: People do that all the time.

Well, don't do it, people.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: [LAUGHS] Yeah.

Before the ink was dry, the bottom

fell out the housing market and the contract fell away.

So we carried two mortgages for five years.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: Ouch.

And then made, also, some really poor

financial decisions.

So last year, we had to file for bankruptcy.

But you know what?

Here's what's great.

Honestly, Terry, you can discover the mercy of God

in the most unusual places.

I mean, I had to go as this Woman of Faith speaker.

And I'm standing in bankruptcy court.

And the judge is saying to me, so are you just hoping

to get out of all of this?

And I said, no, sir.

I'm looking for a plan to help me reorganize our life so we

can pay back every cent.

I found the mercy of God in the bankruptcy court.

There's a certain freedom in that too, isn't there?

Yes.

When nothing has its claws in you.

Right.

Not a house, not a mortgage, not a bankruptcy.

Yeah.

I mean, you're a child of God.

Absolutely.

And you're walking the journey day to day.

Yeah.

I mean, we lost our house.

Both houses, gone.

We live in a rental place.

And I'm happier than I've been in years.

The reason I wrote about it, it's

not because I think I'm the poster child for disaster.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: [LAUGHS]

Woo!

No.

I just wanted to say to people, you know what?

You're not alone.

We make bad choices, but God is faithful.

And speaking of faith, you were with the Women of Faith

for so many years, a wonderful team

of women that blessed thousands upon thousands of people.

But you got a new venture coming.

That door has closed, and a new one has opened.

What are you doing now?

SHEILA WALSH: I am so excited.

I joined the team with James and Betty Robison at "LIFE Today."

So I get to co-host that.

I also get to travel with them internationally.

I'm about to go off to Angola.

And also, we have this live amazing web

page called The Stream.

And then we get to talk about the news

as it really is, and talk about what's

not being talked about there.

I'm so glad that you're doing that,

because you are so gifted in what you do as a communicator.

SHEILA WALSH: Thank you.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: And what a wonderful opportunity

to share what God's laid on your heart and the things

that he's doing in your life, which

is something you do all the time.

And can I just say to you, you do a brilliant job.

You are just amazing.

Thank you.

We'll have coffee together.

[LAUGHTER]

Talk about our failings.

[LAUGHS]

It's always great to have you here.

I just want to talk about your book one more time.

Here it is.

Encourage you to pick up a copy.

It's called "The Longing in Me."

And you will be blessed by everything

that Sheila shares in this.

It's how everything you crave leads to the heart of God.

It's available in stores nationwide.

Thank you so much.

Thanks, Terry.

It's always a treat to see you.