You may have heard Susie Larson speak at a Women of Joy event or listened to her interview a well-known guest on her daily national talk show, Susie Larson Live, broadcast on the Faith Radio Network, which has more than 7 million downloads. Or it’s quite possible you’ve read one of her 22 (and counting) books that share how to tap into the power of God’s word to overcome life’s obstacles. Her latest, Closer Than Your Next Breath, was a finalist for the 2024 ECPA book of the year. She also has been voted a top 10 finalist for the John C. Maxwell Transformational Leadership Award twice. Almost half a million followers and friends find encouragement regularly on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), as well as her daily email blessings and monthly newsletter.

The bulk of Susie’s writing and speaking invites women to grow in relationship with Jesus, break free from shackles of fear and bitterness and enjoy abundant life in Christ. She shares lessons hard learned through childhood trauma, serious health challenges, financial crises, and overcommitment to work and volunteer duties. Despite those experiences, Susie’s been able to fall deeper in love with Christ and her husband of almost 40 years. Her example shines like a beacon of hope to the exhausted and hurting women who are searching for a more fulfilling and joyous life.

Although she was raised in a home where she regularly sensed God’s presence, Susie’s particular denomination was not one that emphasized a personal relationship with Christ, she said, so she did not come to a saving knowledge of Jesus until she was a teen. That was after she suffered sexual and physical harm at the hands of unsupervised adolescent boys – twice.

“Terrified of bringing scandal to the family,” Susie’s suppressed shame “opened a canyon of trauma, pain and fear. The devil sees your potential long before you do,” she said. “The enemy starts getting us to believe his lies when we are children so he can steal from us.”

Although she understood she had a savior in Jesus, “I knew I was saved, but I didn’t know I was loved,” she said. “That changes how you show up in parenting, marriage and ministry. When you don’t know you are loved, you try to prove something Jesus has already proven. I used all the things I could do to try to perform.”

She met her husband, Kevin, at Christian camp. The young couple married the following year and was surprised when Susie became pregnant on their honeymoon. During the pregnancy her doctor discovered endometriosis and recommended the Larsons complete their family quickly. Susie’s physical difficulties exponentiated during her subsequent two pregnancies, as she required months of bedrest and contracted difficult-to-diagnose Lyme disease that left her debilitated. If that weren’t enough, the youngest of their three sons caught a serious respiratory illness and needed hospitalization.

At one point, Susie looked at her husband and, speaking out of her terror and trauma, told him he needed to divorce her and marry someone who was healthy and could be a mom to their boys. “I couldn’t bear to inconvenience him a minute longer,” she said. I told him, “This is not what you signed up for,” even though looking back, “I realized this is exactly what we sign up for when we vow to God and one another, ‘in sickness and in health.’”

She’ll forever treasure Kevin’s reply. “You listen to me,” she heard him say. “You are my bride, and you always will be. If I have to kneel down and kiss you because you are in a wheelchair, that’s what I’ll do.” Susie said, “that was a supernatural moment for me. I encountered God through the love of my husband, right in the middle of the darkest hour of my life. I was not contributing anything and costing everything. I’ll never forget how that moment impacted my view of God.”

Unfortunately, as the family’s health issues compounded, so did a mountain of medical debt.  Struggling to pay the bills, Kevin worked long hours at multiple jobs. The Larsons also dove in at church, serving as volunteer youth pastors to 40 kids. Long after the financial burden was lifted, Kevin’s habit of overwork kept him striving. “Workaholism has muscle memory,” Susie said. The final straw was when he volunteered to oversee their church’s building campaign, a role for which he was gifted, but sapped their marriage’s last remaining reserves. Life was way out of balance, and the couple was headed toward burnout.

“Since there were little to no emotional deposits being made into our marriage for months at a time, our relationship was steadily going bankrupt. Slowly but surely, my disappointment turned to anger that eventually turned to cold love,” Susie wrote in the first chapter of her book, Alone in Marriage: Encouragement for the Times When it’s all up to You.

“I could feel my love growing cold. I hated how I felt inside, and yet everything in me wanted to build a wall around my heart so there would be no more hopes or expectations to fall dead at my feet. … Yet, how could I reconcile loving God but not my husband?”

She wrote the book for the married woman who is experiencing a season when her husband becomes unavailable. He might be extremely busy at work, or deployed, ill, depressed, or not present emotionally and/or physically for another reason – worthwhile or not – but whatever the circumstance, the wife feels she is bearing the burden of the family’s well-being.

“Life happens, the weight shifts, and suddenly you’re carrying more than you bargained for. Anger, fear, worry, and disappointment are common byproducts of a one-sided season in marriage. Yet, it’s possible not only to survive these seasons, but to thrive in them,” Susie wrote. 

She positions herself as “an encouraging friend” who will walk beside and help women realize “anxiety and anger will slow you down; and how loneliness and disappointment can actually refine and bless you.”

She addresses how to:

Navigate a one-sided season in marriage without bitterness

Sense God’s peace during an alone period in marriage

Refresh your mind with God’s Word

Experience freedom from attitudes that weigh you down

Feel God’s presence in the midst of your husband’s absence

In her own alone season, Susie felt God telling her He considered her cold heart a greater problem than her husband’s misdirected priorities. God called her to humble herself, apologize to her husband and pledge to move forward in love whether he changed his ways or not. That one act of obedience opened Kevin’s eyes and helped set them on the path of deep healing. From that day forward, she kept her promise and made the effort to love Kevin while he earnestly worked to overcome his workaholic tendencies.

“Little by little we made (emotional) deposits in an account that had been empty. …Years have passed, and I can honestly say that when I look at my husband, I find love in my heart that almost overwhelms me,” she wrote.

As Kevin responded to Susie’s honesty and humility, the two sought ways to restore trust and love. One thing that made a huge difference was developing a practice of praying together every morning.

“That ONE thing radically changed our marriage,” Susie said. “Clearing the table and schedule to lay our first fruits of the day before the Lord. We have not let up on that, and God used it to rebuild our marriage.” Every spring on their anniversary they pray the impossible prayer together, asking God, “What impossible thing do you want to do in and through us?”

The Larsons realize dependence on God is their superpower. While Susie still deals daily with repercussions from her illnesses, they realize, “There’s no limit to what God can do when we come together. We are managing five times more together than when we ran parallel paths in marriage; and that’s with margin for rest,” she said.

“When we as married couples see ourselves on a mission bigger than ourselves, you can’t believe what it does for marriage.” Susie references a passage from 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 about how a farmer who sows generously will reap in abundance. “What you sow is what you grow. If you sow kindness, courage, and perspective, your supply will be made rich in every way. She noted the principle applies to treasure as well as time.

“Give to a cause greater than yourself. People are watching. Your story is bigger than you. Get your toes in the water and start sowing some seeds,” she encouraged. “If you trust God with your salvation – trust him with your finances.”

The Larsons model these practices not only for their three grown sons, but also young couples they mentor. “A strong marriage is a strong fortress. Many people find shelter in that fortress,” she said. When asked about topics they cover when pouring into young people, Susie mentioned several things like, learning how to forgive and dying to self. They also address family of origin issues, conflict resolution skills, how to build a stable foundation, and how attachments with people in the past can affect present relationships.

Susie noted that finances are often a number one stress in marriage. She encourages couples to take a good test to learn their money personalities so they can appreciate the way God created their spouse rather than resent their differences.

Helpful titles for couples among her books and devotionals include, Closer than Your Next Breath, and Waking up to the Goodness of God. A redesigned version of her devotional Prevail was released for teens in 2024.

Those involved in ministry will benefit from content in Your Sacred Yes: Trading Life-Draining Obligation for Freedom, Passion, and Joy, forwarded by Gary Thomas. Each chapter includes reflection questions. A DVD study companion is also available.

“Every year, countless Christians burn out and fall out of the race due to exhaustion and soul weariness,” Susie wrote. “When we run too hard, too fast, for too long, we lose our perspective, our joy, and our sense of being sacredly present in the moment – not to mention the impact to our health and our relationships.”

 

“With all of the life-demands begging for our attention, we often feel as though we cannot and must not slow down. …What do we miss out on when we move too fast? We miss the best, most sacred parts of life….

 

“Make the distinction between doing life at a sprint pace and tapping into the power that God has made available to us in this life,” she wrote.

These lessons were learned during her and Kevin’s season of overcommitment that left them drained. She also warns leaders that when they are running on empty, they are more vulnerable to the schemes of the devil, who wants to ruin their witness and ministry effectiveness. Time and again she’s seen solid Christian leaders doing more than God asked them to and subsequently cutting corners and making bad decisions due to fatigue.

“Where are you vulnerable?” Susie asked. “A great chasm exists between an abundantly full, fruitful life and a strained, drained, busy life.” She exhorts people to take steps to guard their hearts.

“Our human nature and our culture are powerful forces that compel us to commit to more than God asks of us. … Overcommitment puts a strain on our relationships, our physical health, and our ability to make sound decisions. We give away our times of refreshment, our sense of well-being, our perspective …. We take costly short-cuts that we pay for later.”

“Number your days. Your no is as sacred as your yes.” Although they accomplish much together, the Larsons have drawn a line in the sand to make sure their lives include room for refreshment and relationship with each other and Christ.

“I refuse to throw my yes around like it doesn’t matter. Life is a gift, and my time is a gift. … I refuse the rat race because God has called me to the sacred race,” Susie wrote.

Wise words to live by.