Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
The Austin Gardner Story: Hallucinations, Healing, and Hope
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"Why in the world is this happening?"
That was the question Austin Gardner was asking from a hospital bed after waking up from a three-week coma. Having lost 70 pounds and his sense of reality, Austin found himself in a battle not just for his physical health, but for his faith.
In this episode, Austin shares the raw details of his recovery from COVID and cancer. From the "funny" therapists who had to teach him how to think again to the surreal dreams of floating under continents, Austin describes the mental and spiritual fog of a drug-induced stupor. Most importantly, he recounts a life-changing encounter with a mysterious woman who challenged him to trade his anger for a testimony of grace.
Whether you are seeking restoration or just need to know you aren’t alone in your pain, this episode is a reminder that God’s love finds us even in our most desperate moments.
Followed By Mercy Podcast
Listen as we explore themes of real grace and honest hope.
Website: https://waustingardner.com
Books: https://waustingardner.com/book-page/
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I'm here with the story, the officer Gardner story of COVID. Well, and cancer and all the other things that I've gone through. In the last video and the last podcast, we discussed, you know, how I woke up and felt fearful, scared. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know where to turn. No one could talk to me. I had no family members there, and no one could share with me what was happening.
Waking In Fear And Confusion
Austin GardnerSo I literally had no idea what was going on. I woke up and I was angry with them. And I told them I want to go home. I kept saying I want to exercise my medical bill of rights. I don't know where I got that, but I kept saying that. And they had to be the most patient, wonderful people in the world. So I'm laying in the bed. I got a catheter in. I've lost uh 60 or 70 pounds in the three weeks or four weeks since I've lost memory of everything. And am really in trouble. And as I'm laying there in the bed, they began sending in all the different therapists that are going to help me. They've got occupational therapy. They have a person who's going to teach me how to go to the bathroom
Therapy Begins And Time Lost
Austin Gardneragain, how to brush my teeth again, how to walk again, how to think again. She was maybe the funniest one of all. She came in and I was angry because it felt like I was trapped. I didn't know why I was there. And so all of a sudden I'm locked into this situation. And I said, So she said, Well, how long do you think you've been here? And I said, Well, I think 60 or 70 days, I don't know, three months. I don't know. I've been here forever. Y'all won't let me go. And so she came back the next time with a calendar. She held up the calendar and she says, All right, you were checked in on this date. I said, Okay, I don't know. I have no idea. And then she goes, All right, and you you were here, and she counts them. And she says, now we're in the fourth week since you got checked in. And I said, Okay. She said, How long do you think you were here? I said, Well, I don't know. She said, Well, that's seven days. I said, Okay, that's seven, that's 14. And I mean, I'm being treated like a child. Finally, she looked at me and she said, Let's just be honest. You have only been in the hospital for about 23 days. And I said, Okay, well, if that's the way it is, I have no idea. I don't want to eat. I don't want to eat. I don't want to talk to anybody. Then they got a person coming in and they're helping me learn how to put my shirt back on. Then they got a guy who's I tried to get away. When I came to in my dreams, I'm in a Chinese torture camp. So I decided I would run for my life. I would get out of Dodge as quickly as I could. And so I got out of the bed and started walking, and I crashed before, busted man. I saw stars. They picked me up and they did some scans on me to make sure I didn't kill myself. I'm just telling you, it was the weirdest thing I've ever had happen to
Hunger Strike And A Mysterious Visitor
Austin Gardnerme. And so now I am every day getting treated by all these different people. I don't know. I don't know how to do anything. And I don't want to eat. The food stinks. It doesn't taste good. I don't have to, you know, it's COVID, you remember. And I was at the point of desperation. What I'm telling you now is weird, but it's true. I told him I don't want to eat. Food tastes like trash. I traveled a lot around the world and I said it's tasted like something I'd eaten in Kenya, and I didn't like it. I said I'm not eating his food. And you're not going to believe this. Uh, you can take this story any way you want to take it. You know, people now come to me on the Facebook on uh YouTube and they'll say stuff like, uh, not true, ghost man, making that up, make a lot of money. I don't get paid for anything. But anyway. I uh was laying in a bed and this African lady came in now. I don't really know if anybody came in. So I'm just telling I'm telling you the truth. I don't know. And I'd really told her about I wasn't gonna eat and I didn't care and I just wanted to die and get it over with. And this lady stands at him and she says, Are you doing right? Is this what God wants from you? And I was like, She said, Do you really think this is the attitude that you ought to have as a Christian? You ought to trust God. You ought to believe God. You ought to be having a good testimony here. Man, I didn't know what to think. I'll be honest with you, I had no idea what to think. I didn't know what was going on. It was like the weirdest thing in the world, but it was I honestly believed that maybe she didn't really exist and she was just an angel, maybe a figment of my imagination, who knows? But that day I decided I am going to try to eat. Though I don't want to, it doesn't taste good. I don't want to eat it, I don't want to be here, but I'm gonna try to eat. And that day I started. Now, because I had tried to run away, I have a guy who sits in my doorway watching me all the time, trying to make sure I don't get out of bed. And they've got alarms on my bed. So if I try, if I shift, if I set up, if I move too much, the alarm goes off. That's so
Alarms, Hallucinations, And Peru
Austin Gardnerthey can keep me from running away and falling down. I don't know. To me, it's more like we're still in the prison camp. I don't know what's going on. Why in the world is this happening? And that guy, I don't know. I I didn't like him. You know, he was watching me all the time, and things were crazy. You know, I'm seeing the script on the on the ceiling, I've told you that. And uh I'm seeing things and hearing things. I keep thinking the doctors are talking crazy things. It's a weird thing, and I just want out. Well, then one of the nights in the cruise ship, we went down under the uh continents and we floated under the continents, and we arrived in Peru up in Arequipa, which is not near the coast at all. And I told that guy, I said, Look, I can get us out of here. I have friends in Atiquipa Peru, and I'll get them to help us. And uh he just looked at me like I was crazy. And somehow, in my mind, not true, I got out of the bed, I walked around, I looked out the window, I could see the window, I knew I was in Atequipa. Of course, none of this is true. I'm just telling you that when you're on drugs in a stupor, in a you're paralyzed and you're in a drug-induced cobalt for three weeks, it really messes with you. Now, I need before we close today, just to say, I don't think I've been through anything any different than you have. We all go through trying times, we all go through things that are difficult and hard to deal with, and it makes life rough, interesting to say the least. But this much I know. Our God loves us, and he does not desire us to go through all these hard times. We rebelled against him as a race
Turning To Faith And Encouragement
Austin Gardnerin the Garden of Eden, in the human race. We choose to be God ourselves. We want to be God. We want to tell people what to do. We want to tell people what we think. And so that's the way we're working it. And so God doesn't want me hurting. God loves me. I'm his son. I belong to him. He died on the cross to save me and rescue me and to bring me home. I was once lost. And he found me, and he found you. And I just want you to know that in the middle of what the world and sin may mean to harm you, God loves you. He's there to help you. And I just want to challenge you to be very careful to believe God and to look to God and to watch for him. Now, some of you, you know, you don't believe in God, and I understand that's your privilege. You know, God wants you to have that privilege. He wants you to believe him if you want to believe him. So I just challenge you to know that we love you and we're praying for you. And if I can ever help you, y'all feel free. If you like any of this, if it's doing anything for you, put a click, a like, a subscribe. I'd appreciate it.
