If you’re a fan of TBN’s “Better Together” or “The 700 Club,” you’ve probably watched Faith Eury Cho talk about the joy of God’s presence (one of her favorite topics). Faith has spent her life serving Jesus and his people. By age 19, she was preaching the gospel, and at 22, she had enrolled in seminary. Life has been non-stop ever since, with getting married and having four kids; founding The Honor Summit, a nonprofit that equips Asian American women in ministry; and founding and pastoring Mosaic Covenant Church with her husband. In between each of those roles, she’s also found time to speak at various events and write “Experiencing Friendship With God” and its companion devotional, “Deepen Your Friendship With God: A 52-Week Devotional Journey.”

Today, she’s giving us a glimpse at what life is like as a busy pastor and mom who’s also had to deal with medical issues — and how the presence of God has carried her through every tough moment. She also shares the habits that refresh her soul, give her new perspectives of the culture and help her connect more deeply with God.

The following is a transcript of a live interview. Responses have been edited and condensed for brevity and clarity.

QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT

The meals we enjoy are about so much more than the food we eat. So how does a “go-to” meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind your web bio?

I moved around a lot, so I don’t really have a hometown. I was born in South Korea. I grew up in America. I got saved by Jesus in Mexico. I was a very transient being. My family was a transient family as well. But I think the through line for wherever I went was Korean food because I am Korean and you can find Korean food almost anywhere.

My go-to is Sundubu — it’s basically a tofu soup with spicy raw marinated crab. I don’t really like the non-spicy one. This is not the typical Korean food a lot of Americans would eat, but it’s getting a little more popular now. Growing up, I had a propensity to hide how Korean I was because, as an immigrant in America, we needed to acclimate in order to survive, so we would push down our Korean-ness a lot of the time. I love eating Sundubu and Jjigae (which is spicy raw marinated crab), but I know it doesn’t seem appealing to the typical Western palate, which is actually another reason I embrace it — plus it’s just really good.

Every time I come home now from traveling and my husband picks me up, we usually go to the local tofu soup restaurant and grab that dish. I love it because it’s hot and spicy and cuts through all the oily food I ate while I was traveling. I love it.

a vintage television — Ajeet Mestry; Unsplash

QUESTION #2: REVEAL

We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activity do you love engaging in that also helps you find essential spiritual renewal?

Call me basic, but I love some good old TV — and I watch a bunch of it. I love shows. I love movies. I love film. Many of my friends love hiking, and it’s amazing for them, but I don’t want to move. Because I have such an intense lifestyle, I want to stay in a corner and rest. For me, it’s not just an escape; it also helps me understand people and how they think. It keeps me in touch with the culture too, giving me a perspective of where our generation currently is, where they’re headed and what they’re crying out for.

The arts, in a lot of ways, can be prophetic in and of itself. I’m not talking about Christian biblical prophecy. Rather, they speak for themselves. They have a message for the generation. If you want to understand the ethos of the generation, you look at the arts, music and film — you look at what they create. The last show I watched was “Severance,” and man, that just blew my mind. It said a lot about what people are feeling, the pain points people are experiencing, the dehumanization of our workplaces and so on. I love stuff like that. I’m a people watcher, but I do it through television.

QUESTION #3: CONFESS

Every superhero has a weakness; every human too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re all broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite and how do you confront its power head-on?

My body is more prone to be depressed and anxious, and it’s a highly genetic thing. When I did blood panels, they revealed genetic mutations that cause me to be more prone to that disposition.

When doctors tell you that you are probably going to be depressed and anxious all your life and to deal with it, it’s easy to think, Well, that’s just who I am, and I’m going to accept it. Every day, I have to be mindful not to just accept it — yet at the same time to be gracious to myself. There’s a dance of faith where you have to believe what’s yours in Christ yet give yourself grace and even forgiveness for being human and being weak.

For somebody who preaches constantly on the joy, the hope and all the rewards of Christianity, waking up each day with this dark overcast is a daily fight. There are some great seasons when it’s not as challenging, and there are tougher seasons when I need a lot of help, when I need the community around me and doctors to help me. It’s a deeply physical thing as well, so it’s important to be mindful of how I wake up and what I eat and just be responsible. But I’m also balancing that with the faith journey of it all, believing that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy. I think it’s just the nuanced dance of faith that I’m always participating in.

QUESTION #4: FIRE UP

Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?

The reward of the gospel, and the treasure of the gospel, is the presence of God. My heart, my burden and my hope is that every Christian would know how to walk in friendship with the Holy Spirit’s presence. You know you’re doing it right when you enjoy it. That’s just the joy of the gospel. When people tell me that they don’t enjoy Christianity, I would say they’re probably doing it wrong. There’s something off either theologically or experientially. A lot of what I talk about and the work I create is reacquainting people with a friend called Jesus, the Holy Spirit, making sure that everything we do, we do it in this communion with him. Everything is meant to be an overflow of that communion.

My recent work, “Deepen Your Friendship with God: A 52-Week Devotional Journey,” was created from my own journey of discovering and rediscovering joy in spending time with God. I think people assume that just because I talk about it, that I was great at it from the start, but the only reason I’m able to teach it is that I was terrible at it from the start. I don’t have the attention span to sit through an in-depth prayer time that always leads me to tears and ecstasy.

I think we’re all different. We all have our own God language — and when I say God language, I don’t mean love languages. I’m not talking about another system, like the Enneagram. Rather, we all have our own way of connecting with God and feeling close to Jesus. I have four children, and the way each one connects with me is very different. If that’s how it is for my own children, how much more for all of humanity?

For example, consider the holiest, most spiritual person you know. You might think of the person who is always weeping when they’re talking about Jesus or the one who’s in their office or their room for four hours in the dark with the candle and then come out looking so fresh because they have encountered the living God. If we do not experience God like that, it’s easy for us to think, Well, I guess I’m just not spiritual enough. The thing is, if you look at how God created us from the Garden of Eden, our factory setting is to be in communion with God. The only reason we are in dysfunction is that the communion is broken.

No one can say they’re not spiritual enough, but sometimes we do need the freedom to discover our way of accessing God. I tried it everybody’s way until I realized I needed to do it my way. I’m not a rigid person. Every day looks different for me — because of my career but also because I’m a mom of four. Plus, that’s how my personality is. Every day is a little different, and I need the freedom not to feel like the worst Christian because I’m not meeting with Jesus at the same time every day, doing the same exact thing. Sometimes I meet with him outside while I’m walking. Sometimes I’m at a cafe. Sometimes I am in my bed at 1 a.m. just crying it out. It’s just different for me, and so I wanted to create a devotional that wasn’t so rigid, one that allows room for people’s differences and unique ways of approaching God. At the same time, though, I want to make sure there is consistency in having God’s Word present whenever we spend time with him.

My journey of trying to find my way of spending time with Jesus heavily influenced how I wrote “Deepen Your Friendship with God.” My goal was to create something that has not only the biblical content so we can reflect on Scripture well but also freedom to do it in unique ways. It’s also a journal that allows people to write, draw, cry on it or whatever they need to do. That’s what I needed. I needed something that wasn’t so rigid, allowed for who I am and who he is and also had solid biblical content that ensures I’m eating the bread of life every single day.

I’m really excited about what “Deepen Your Friendship with God” will bring to the table for a lot of people’s faith journeys.

QUESTION #5: BOOST

Cashiers, CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?

I would say everything I do requires God’s anointing. Last year, I started a manuscript about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and as soon as I did, I immediately got bombarded with medical issues. I had Lyme. I had mold intoxication. I had hypothyroidism. I suddenly had all these issues to the point where I literally had no strength, no creativity, no ideas — and this is somebody who needs all of those things to do what she does.

I remember asking the Holy Spirit, “Am I done? Should I pause everything until I can be capable again?” I prayed about it because I know the general rule of thumb is to honor your limitations, but I really felt like God was saying, “No, because in your weakness, you’re going to know my power.” That answer is very biblical in light of 2 Corinthians 12.

Even though my biggest medical challenges have been dealt with, I’m still in that place every day where I need medical assistance. It’s not easy for me to get out of bed. Everything I do requires God’s anointing. I need his power. I need his presence. I need his ideas. I need his thoughts. I need his joy. I need all of it, really. I’m very needy. So I would say being needy and knowing that God meets me in that need is what keeps me going and is what allows me to do everything I’m doing.

QUESTION #6: inspire

Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you in this season?

Thanksgiving is what’s keeping me alive right now. I used to think that thanksgiving was me groveling to God. I used to dislike it until I realized it was his love letter to me. So whenever I feel exhausted or disconnected from him or even just bitter about life, I always go back to thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving keeps me alive. It keeps me confident, knowing that God is up to something. He is working. When you list all the things he’s done and all the good in your life, it’s impossible to deny that God’s in it, he’s with you and he’s taking care of you.

Giving thanks also combats a lot of your fears. As somebody who is anxiety prone, thanksgiving is medicine to my soul because it shows me how much God has things covered, even the things that I did not ask for, even what I didn’t foresee that I needed. Thanksgiving is a hugely beneficial practice for me.

Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed reality and your heart?

The first one would be “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. I picked that up when I was in high school because it was so small. The simplicity of it really is what inspired me to write my first book, “Experiencing Friendship with God.” “Experiencing Friendship with God” is like the modern-day take of “The Practice of the Presence of God,” which shaped me quite deeply, especially the simplicity of it and the wholeness of Brother Lawrence. He really practiced a life of shalom, of peace. As somebody who is anxiety prone, that just sounds like the ultimate reward.

Christine Caine wrote a book called “How Did I Get Here?” I read that book at 10 p.m. and cried until 5 a.m. I didn’t even get past the first chapter. This was while I was planting a church in 2020, one of the darkest seasons of my life. I was touched by the way she described her experience of drifting away from Jesus without knowing it to the point where she found herself wondering, How did I even get here, to this place of wanting to just completely quit and throw it all away? That first chapter was healing for me and exactly what I needed at that time.

The third resource isn’t a book. Some of my most tender moments with the Holy Spirit have been while pulling up YouTube worship sets, especially live worship sets from prayer rooms — not necessarily worship concerts but the ones from prayer rooms that are extended. Listening to worship sets has really helped me in times when I needed to go deep with the Holy Spirit and be captured by God. It wasn’t so much the song, but being able to grab those spaces and digitally be present where people are corporately pressing into his presence has always been really helpful for me.

We all have things we cling to to survive or even thrive in our fast-paced, techno-driven world. How have you been successful in harnessing technology to aid in your spiritual growth?

GoodNotes has been fantastic. Because I use an iPad — and because I’m extremely forgetful and a little scattered in my brain — I need things compiled. I can’t just study the Word and move on, I need to save it somewhere. I use my iPad and GoodNotes to compile all my notes. I have a folder on the study of waiting, a folder on Colossians, a folder on the study of blessing. GoodNotes can be on all my other devices, so whatever revelation, like an article, I just throw it there so when I want to go back to really studying it again, it’s all there. GoodNotes lets me annotate my Scripture, copy-paste what I read and keep it all in one place.

QUESTION #8: dream

God’s continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?

Right now, I feel like God is allowing me to go through my own personal wilderness season, but not in a negative way — rather, to clarify who I am, what I care about and what I want to do. I feel like my life has accelerated so much in the past three years with my church and the ministries I’m involved with, and this is the first time in a while I’ve made it known that, during the summer, I want to slow down a little bit and have a powwow with Jesus. We can get so caught up in what we do and the demand, and every open door seems like the right door. But I want to be very mindful about this narrow path that we’re all supposed to be on. I believe a narrow path requires very intentional decisions.

So I’m in an incubation stage, where I’m very intentionally getting quieter and slower because I’m trying to figure out where this narrow path is taking me. What could I take out in order to stay on this narrow path with more grace? What exactly am I meant to do? Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be doing it.

Maybe it’s because I’m a breath away from 40, but I’m in this stage of life where I’m really questioning, “Should I be doing everything I’m doing? What is it that God has called me to do? What am I designed to do?” These are all questions I’ve never fully asked myself simply because, as a young minister, as a pastor and especially as a church planter, I just had to go go go until things were built. I think God has allowed me this grace period to consider these things and make sure that the next 40 years are very intentional and fully obedient to him.

Faith’s questions about what God designed her to do and what she can cut out of her life to live more intentionally are ones any believer can benefit from asking.

After all, we weren’t created to fill our lives with as many things as possible. We were made for communion with God.

So, reader, what stands in the way of that communion? When was the last time you took stock of your life and asked God what he might want to add or strip away? These can be tough questions to answer — but you can trust the Holy Spirit and his Word to guide you in the right direction. He will never fail you.

Faith Eury Cho