How I Found God After Losing My Dad at 18 | Tecia Janes’ Story

Featuring: Tecia Janes of Choosing Him Ministries
Host: Shawn Whitson — The ActsSocial Podcast

When Pain Becomes the Path to Purpose

Every once in a while, a conversation reminds you just how personal God’s hand is in our stories.
In this moving episode of The ActsSocial Podcast, host Shawn Whitson sits down with Tecia Janes, the founder and director of Choosing Him Ministries, for a deeply emotional and faith-filled journey through tragedy, healing, and ultimate surrender.

What begins as a simple conversation about ministry quickly unfolds into an extraordinary testimony of God’s redemption — one that will move you to tears and leave you with renewed faith in His goodness.

A Pastor’s Daughter and a Devastating Loss

Tecia grew up the oldest of three girls, the daughter of a beloved pastor in a small, close-knit church. Her childhood, as she describes it, was wholesome and grounded in faith — “kind of like a Leave It to Beaver home.” Life was simple, secure, and full of the joy of ministry.

But that sense of security was shattered when tragedy struck.
At just 18 years old, while away at Auburn University, Tecia received the call no one ever wants to get: there had been an accident. Her family — her parents and two younger sisters — were on their way home from vacation when the unthinkable happened.

Her mother and sisters survived, though badly injured. Her father did not.

That moment — that single, shattering day — would become the beginning of a lifelong journey of faith, doubt, healing, and ultimately, choosing God in every circumstance.

“You Can Choose to Go With Me, or Do It Yourself”

As Tecia sat on her front porch days after the accident, her high-school friend Billy stopped by. A man wrestling with addiction and doubt, he asked the question so many have asked in the face of tragedy:
“How can you trust a God who would allow this to happen?”

In that moment of pain and confusion, Tecia says she heard God speak — not audibly, but clearly in her spirit:

“Tecia, you have a choice. You can either choose to go with Me on this, or you can choose to do it yourself. It’s your choice. But I want your answer now.”

That moment became a defining line in the sand — a moment that would later inspire the name Choosing Him Ministries.

“I had to decide right then,” she recalls. “Was I going to do it my way, or was I going to choose Him?”

That decision didn’t make the grief disappear. But it became the foundation of a lifelong pattern of choosing God again and again — through heartbreak, confusion, and even anger.

Twenty Years Later: Returning to the Place of Pain

Two decades after the accident, God would bring Tecia face-to-face with her past again.

Working in education, she was assigned to train teachers at a new campus opening in Columbus, Georgia — the very city where her father’s fatal accident had occurred. For years, she and her family had avoided Columbus completely.

But as she pulled up to her hotel, she was stunned: the new building had been constructed in the exact parking lot of the hotel where her family had stayed during that traumatic month 20 years earlier.

“I was furious,” she admits. “Of all the things I had prayed for, this was an easy one. God could have kept me from coming here. I was angry — so angry.”

Standing at the window, she could see the hospital in the distance, the same restaurants they had eaten in, the same streets filled with memories of pain. But then something miraculous happened.

“As I looked out, the anger began to fade,” she says. “In every place of pain, I began to see God’s hand — His names written over each scene. At the hospital, He was my Healer. At the restaurants, He was my Provider. Everywhere I looked, He was there. And that’s when I heard Him again:

‘Tecia, I brought you back to the place of your greatest pain to encounter the One who brought you through it.’”

It was, she says, her “Moses moment.” The mountain she dreaded had become a sacred meeting place.

From Personal Healing to Public Ministry

That encounter led to the birth of Choosing Him Ministries.

Tecia began writing and teaching Bible studies, starting with her first series, Choices, in 2014. The study explored the ways God calls us to choose — love, forgiveness, surrender, sacrifice, and trust — even when it’s hard.

By 2017, Choosing Him Ministries had become a nonprofit, growing from a single Bible study into a full ministry that empowers women to share their own stories of faith.

But the heart of it all remained the same: discipleship and authenticity.

“We don’t do the ‘Jesus is my best friend, everybody go home’ version of Christianity,” Tecia says. “We talk about real things — abortion, divorce, brokenness, addiction. Because people need to know they’re not alone, and that God’s love is big enough for every kind of pain.”

Building a Ministry That Heals

Before long, Choosing Him Ministries grew to include:

• A Writing Ministry: Over 20 writers contribute to the ministry’s blog, sharing real stories of faith and transformation.
  
  

• Speaking and Events: Free women’s nights and conferences that help attendees see God in their own stories.
  
  

• Biblical Counseling: Launched in 2024, this new vertical was born after Tecia realized many churches no longer have trained counselors on staff.
  
  

“I wanted to hand women off to counselors after our events,” Tecia explains. “But I realized — those counselors didn’t exist anymore. So God said, ‘Then start it.’”

Now, Choosing Him Ministries operates a biblical counseling center in Newnan, Georgia, with four trained counselors specializing in addiction recovery, grief and loss, family dynamics, and teen support. The team partners with nonprofits like Bridging the Gap, offering counseling at community food and medical clinics.

Unlike state-licensed counseling, their approach is fully biblically based, using God’s Word as the foundation for emotional and spiritual healing.

The Beautiful Intersection of Faith and Science

One of Tecia’s favorite subjects is the way modern science keeps confirming biblical truth.

She talks passionately about neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to rewire itself — and how it mirrors biblical teaching about renewing the mind.

“Psychology calls it retraining your brain,” she says. “But the Bible said it first. ‘Take every thought captive.’ ‘Think on what is pure and holy.’ God created our brains to heal when we align our thoughts with His truth.”

Living With Open Hands

Perhaps the most profound takeaway from Tecia’s story is the posture of openness she’s learned to live in.

“My husband once told me, ‘You’ve been holding so tightly to the blessing God gave you, there’s no room for Him to pour in more.’ That changed me. Now I wake up every day with open hands, asking God, ‘What do You want to do today?’”

It’s that same spirit that defines Choosing Him Ministries — a willingness to surrender the plan and let God write the story.

The Ripple Effect of One Choice

Before the accident, Tecia’s friend Billy had wrestled with addiction and doubt. Years later, he reached out to her, sharing how her prayers had kept him alive through some of his darkest moments. Though he later passed away, Tecia says she has peace knowing he came to know Christ.

“Our stories are never just about us,” she says. “God uses them to reach others in ways we may never see.”

A Message for Listeners

Host Shawn Whitson closes the episode with an encouragement that ties everything together:

“If you feel the slightest nudge that God is calling you into something — ministry, writing, speaking, serving — don’t ignore it. Start the conversation. Take that step. Choosing Him Ministries is a great place to start exploring what that calling could look like.”

Because sometimes, all God needs is your willingness to choose Him — again and again — no matter the circumstance.

🌿 Connect with Choosing Him Ministries

• Website: www.choosinghimministries.org
  
  

• Facebook: @ChoosingHimMinistries
  
  

• Podcasts: Act Two and Anchored Truth
  
  

• Location: Newnan, Georgia (Virtual sessions available nationwide)
  

✨ Final Thought

“God brought me back to the place of my greatest pain to encounter the One who brought me through it.”

This episode is a reminder that no pain is wasted, no season is meaningless, and no story is too broken for God to redeem.