How Jesus Meets Anxiety podcast transcript
Cross-Cultural Voices, Oct 2025
Maisee Vang: I remember as a kid peeking through the door and just seeing my mom weeping and sobbing in her room alone. And it was often like, I don't know how to explain it, but it was such a deep cry of pain and heartache. And it was as if my mom, no matter how hard my mom tried. My dad was just never faithful to her, and it broke my heart, and it was as if I felt her pain as my own.
I started developing that fear and anxiety that I too would never be worthy of love, and that I too would always be rejected with love, the same way that my mom was rejected.
John Yoder: Hello everybody. Welcome back to Cross-Cultural Voices. I'm John.
Robin Karkafi: And I'm Robin.
John Yoder: It is fall here in Minnesota, and our colors are in full bloom. So how about you there in Ontario? Are you past peak? In peak? What does it look like today?
Robin Karkafi: It's still a lot of green, but some trees are far along way further than others. So a bit all over the place, but things are looking orange.
John Yoder: What kinds of things do you do to celebrate fall in Ontario?
Robin Karkafi: Oh boy. I'd like to say pumpkin pie, but my doctor's been saying I can't have more pumpkin pie. Pumpkin carving and maybe apple picking, some outdoors activity, time with the family, Thanksgiving coming up too. So lots and lots of things to, to look forward to and enjoy. What about you, John?
John Yoder: I know for us here, we like to do the leaf peeping thing. We're certainly not Vermont or New Hampshire, but if you drive along the Minnesota River or the Mississippi River, it's absolutely gorgeous at this time of the year when the colors are turning.
And one of the features we have at the Minnesota State Fair is an annual competition for the state's largest pumpkin of the year, and the prize winner usually weighs between 700 and 1,000 pounds.
Robin Karkafi: Wow. Wow. That's insane. That is a lot of pumpkin.
John Yoder: We wish all of you listening in a good fall, and we have a new friend to introduce to you today. Actually, she is a new co-host joining us for the first time. Her name is Maisie Vang. And Maisie, welcome to Cross-Cultural Voices.
Maisee Vang: Thank you, John. I'm super excited to be joining all of you here.
John Yoder: You and I have known each other for a couple of months now, and it has been an absolute delight to get to know you, to hear your story, and to begin to work together.
You are part of the Hmong People group, and the two largest places in the US that have Hmong populations are Southern California and here in the Minneapolis area. But a lot of people aren't familiar with the Hmong people. Where do your people come from and how did you come to the US?
Maisee Vang: So unless you live in Minnesota, in California, you probably haven't heard a lot about who the Hmong people are. But the Hmong people, we are a group of people who actually originated from China. And, but we migrated to Laos early on in years due to a power struggle with the Chinese empire.
And while in Laos, that's when the Vietnam War happened. And so some of you might know this story, but it was during the Vietnam War that the Hmong people who several people like my own father had to fight in the Vietnam War.
And due to that the Hmong people had to migrate to Thailand into refugee camps. And so while all the Hmong people made it into Thailand, that is when several of the US missionaries and church organizations who were convicted. They had the love and compassion for the Hmong people, and it was through their sponsorship and monetary funds that has helped the Hmong people to come over to the US to settle down and start a new life.
And so I'd like to say that because of this it is because of this, that a lot of the early Hmong people were first introduced to Christianity.
John Yoder: So as your parents came to the US they were not wealthy or well-educated people?
Maisee Vang: No, they weren't. So my parents came here to the US in 1980. They had very little to no money at all. They did have some family who lived here for a few years prior to them coming, but honestly, they were they were struggling themselves as well. And they really had to start from the bottom up.
John Yoder: What was it like for you going to school?
Maisee Vang: It was definitely hard. I see a lot of my friends who are privileged to have their parents who are able, who speaks the language, right? This is their home country. Like they, they speak the language, they understand the culture, but seeing my parents and they didn't understand the culture. They didn't understand the language.
And so going to school, like if I wanted to join like school activities or anything like and if I, in my younger days and I didn't know how to fill out the paperwork, my parents would have to wait until they can get an aunt or uncle who understood the language to be able to fill out the paperwork so that I can join those extracurricular activities, or even going to the doctors, right? It was hard getting me all the kids in my siblings to the doctor's office because they didn't understand the language. They didn't know how to fill out the paperwork and the forms.
John Yoder: So that’s amazing. You must be a very self-started learner for you to finish high school, going to college, and do well on your own.
Maisee Vang: Yeah, I, I'd like to receive the credit, but honestly, I can say I had it hard, but I would like to say that my older siblings had a lot harder than me, and so while I struggled, I know that my older siblings had a lot harder because my siblings, because they were a little bit older than me, they were able to help me a little bit because I was the youngest child out of the five.
John Yoder: What was the spiritual nature of your home?
Maisee Vang: Yeah, so I grew up in an animistic and shamanistic household. That was the religion or belief that I grew up with, and, I didn't, to be honest, know a lot about this religion or belief. It was just something that I grew up hearing my parents say, this is what we follow and believe in.
But in my heart, I feel like I've always believed that there was a God out there and that there was something deeper out there. Honestly, the only thing that I remember growing up in this household believing in animistic and shamanism religion, like me as a Hmong woman, right? My identity was that I had to wake up early to help cook and prepare food for these rituals and events.
In the shamanism religion when people got sick or, we were doing some sort of blessing. We'd often k kill an animal as a sacrifice and then a shaman would come over and do a ritual for a healing or a blessing.
And so me now coming to Christ, like I now realize that Jesus. He’s the ultimate sacrifice. And all I need to do is just pray to my Father, God in heaven, and ask for healing. And he hears my prayers and that comes at no cost. And I like just seeing that difference. I just praise God that God was able to give me a deeper meaning in my faith now.
But yeah, going back to me growing up in that culture, right? And so like me as a one Hmong woman, all I knew was just that I had to wake up and cook early and serve the men on the table. And I honestly hated that. I hated that my identity as a Hmong woman, that I just was like that. It's not fair. It's not fair that during these rituals and events, like my only duty was to serve food to the men, to cook for them. Like I saw no point in it.
But if you were to ask me one thing that I enjoyed out of my experience growing up in this sort of spiritual household in the animistic shamanistic household, it was that the Hmong people are really rooted in family and support. And it was during these rituals and events that the whole family came together. And if I haven't seen an uncle, an aunt or cousins who I haven't seen for a long time, it was during this time that we were able to connect with each other again. And so while I did not like the religion things that I had to do during those events, I valued the family aspect to the culture.
John Yoder: So what was your parents' marriage like?
Maisee Vang: Yeah, so my parents' marriage, growing up my dad he often traveled overseas and during these trips he'd have multiple affairs with women over there. And so you could only imagine this caused a lot of arguments and disagreements between my parents.
And even my dad going over there even marrying these women culturally overseas, it created a polygamous dynamic into my parents' relationship. And what I saw growing up was just my parents arguing, not knowing how to love each other, not knowing how to respect one another. And, it was through this that I also felt I could never be loved.
John Yoder: Maisie, that is a lot. You went through so much at that time. What kind of anxiety and stress did you experience then as a teenager growing up?
Maisee Vang: Growing up. There's this memory that I remember so vividly, right? And I remember as a kid peeking through the door and just seeing my mom weeping and sobbing in her room alone. And it was often like, I don't know how to explain it, but it was such a deep cry of pain and heartache and. It was as if like my mom, no matter how hard my mom tried, my dad was just never faithful to her.
And it broke my heart and it was as if I felt her pain as my own. And so that's why I mentioned earlier, like I didn't see or know this right away, but it is that very lie that like what you said earlier, the lie that the enemy instilled. And to me when I was a child through my parents' relationship, that I started developing that fear and anxiety that I too would never be worthy of love, and that I too would always be rejected with love, the same way that my mom was rejected.
And, I'd often wake full of anxiety even into marriage. That my husband was being unfaithful to me. And, but I know that my husband is a man of God. Like he honors me, he loves me, and he's very loyal to me. But what you said, it was that lie that the enemy instilled in me saying that I would never be enough to be loved. And because of this, no matter what my husband did to show me that he loved me, I was never able to fully receive his love.
Robin Karkafi: Maisee, I just want to thank God first to see that how he's been protecting you along through all that. I'm sure it wasn't easy. Do you look back ever and just see God's provision. And even in the darkest moments, like you've seen certain things that God's put in your life where it's okay, that kept me going.
Maisee Vang: Where I am in my life and my walk with God now, I can now finally understand that God was with me all along. And even through my struggles at a young age, like he was protecting me all along. And the Holy Spirit has confirmed that with me. And so one particular moment is I would remember at a young age when I saw my mom, remember that memory that I shared of hearing my mom cry? And such a deep cry, right? Even though I didn't know who God was at that time, like I trusted and believed that there was a God.
And I just remember watching videos, right? As a kid and just seeing people pray sometimes in movies. And so during the hardest times of my life, like through my parents' divorce, I would remember that as a kid, even though I didn't know who God was at that time, I did pray like even though I didn't know how to pray, I prayed and I prayed, to the best of my ability of how I knew to. And I believe that, I didn't know at that time, but I believe that God was there with me all along and that is why I am where I am today.
John Yoder: Amen. We want to hear the rest of that story, Maisie in a few minutes, the story of how you came to faith in Christ.
We're in a series of how Jesus meets brokenness, and it's this episode specifically, we're talking about how Jesus meets anxiety. And as you've heard, Maisie had a lot of anxiety as a child and as a teenager. In every one of these episodes, we're going to have a short Bible lesson in which Jesus encounters somebody who was experiencing anxiety and stress as well. And so right now from the gospel of Mark, we're going to see how Jesus encountered anxiety in the life of his disciples.
Anxiety is one of the most common issues that young people face today. If you're like a lot of people, it could look like scrolling on your phone at two o'clock in the morning. Your mind is racing. Your thoughts just won't slow down. You might feel exhausted and wired at the same time.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety affects nearly 40% of young adults between 18 and 25, making it the most common mental health challenge for that age group. 91% of Gen Z adults report at least one physical or emotional symptom due to stress.
So what's driving all of this? Topping the list: financial pressure. Young people can be burdened with student loans, wondering if they'll ever be able to afford a house, being afraid they'll never have the kind of financial stability that their parents had.
Add to that, the comparison trap. Social media feeds us an endless stream of everybody else's highlight reels, promotions, engagements, vacations, seemingly perfect lives. We know it's fake. It's all curated. But it still stings. We feel behind, inadequate, like we're failing at a race that we never bothered to sign up for.
Then we have relationship anxieties. Those can include meeting complete strangers on dating apps, healing from past hurts, wondering if you'll ever find a genuine connection. Not to mention all the political tensions that feel like they'll never go away. All of this adds up to a pervasive sense that everything's out of control and we're struggling just to hold it all together.
Jesus knows exactly what it's like to encounter that kind of anxiety. Here's how he found it in the lives of his disciples. Mark chapter 4, verse 35 to 41.
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him with him in the boat just as he was, and other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was filling, but he was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.
They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing”? And he awoke, and he rebuked the wind, and he said to the sea, “Peace! be still”. The wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith”? And they were filled with great fear, and they said to one another, “Who is this, that even the wind in the sea obey him?”
This was not a pleasure cruise. These men were professional fishermen. They'd been through storms before, but this one, this was a perfect storm, and their years of experience said to them that they were about to die. Jesus, he's asleep, just resting deeply asleep in the back on a cushion, and they were in a total panic. So they wake him, and they say to him, “Don't you care that we are perishing?”
Have you ever felt that way? Like God's asleep at the wheel while your world is falling apart? Like if God really cared, he'd show up and do something?
Here's what Jesus does. He stands up and he speaks three words to the storm: “Peace! be still.” And immediately the wind stops. The waves flatten out. The sea calms. Problem solved.
But it only solved one problem, and that was the external problem of the storm. The harder problem to fix is the storm inside the hearts of the disciples. We all tend to be like that. We believe if Jesus would just show up and fix the problem, calm the storm, give us the job, give us a girlfriend, resolve the conflict, send the money, then we'd have peace.
That is not Jesus’ ultimate goal for us. His final purpose for every one of us isn't to make our lives comfortable. Jesus wants to make us holy, righteous, dependent on him, and in a close loving relationship with him.
Jesus may or may not calm the storm that's blowing around you, but you can be guaranteed that he loves you. He's going to walk alongside you through that storm, and he is going to use it to develop the kind of faith in you that results in inner peace no matter what you're going through.
So let me ask both of you, what kinds of anxiety, what kind of storms blowing, do you see in the lives of your friends
Robin Karkafi: When it comes to anxiety, I feel like marital anxieties are always happening, always on the surface. As for my friends specifically, they're always surfacing in different ways. One of my friends is having issues with his wife, where they're trying to figure some issues out, communication issues, and she's not being responsive at all. She's not listening, and they both understand it's because of childhood traumas and the anxiety is that these communication issues will never end.
Maisee Vang: As I think about this question more, I believe that everyone goes through the stress and anxiety of the typical ones that even myself, you know, like marriage, finances, kids. But if I truly think about what is the root of the issue, and what is the anxiety and fear behind that? I feel like it goes back to not knowing our identity, like not knowing our identity in Christ. And we may know it, but that we're not holding on fast to the truth in our identity in Christ.
I feel like what can help us really have peace in the storm? It's really just holding on to the Word of God, holding on to the truth in the midst of the lie of the enemies over and over again. We have these fears and these anxieties because even though we know the truth, we're not able to hold onto it. And so every fear and anxiety that we have, we need to be able to combat it with a truth of the word of God.
Robin Karkafi: Yeah, and I totally agree with that. Prayer is also just super, super crucial. Combining prayer and the Word is very important. But also having the right community. 'cause I believe God works through his Word. He works, he listens to our prayers, but he also provides the right people around us to support us.
It's if we think of it as a storm and we're on a ship, then having the right equipment and being properly equipped for a storm is very important. And having a life raft or people who watch over us to help us out to help steer our ship and I think God provides what we need to live it every day.
And to serve him as best as we can, and he equips us properly. I would say he gives us what we need to go. That's one thing that our pastor keeps repeating. God will give us what we need to make it through the day. And in a lot of times, help isn't too far out. God will send help. Or God will give you the opportunity to sit with yourself and realize that you don't have anyone else but him to rely on, or you can't rely on anybody that's but him because everybody has their faults, their weaknesses and there's only one person who will always provide and encourage you, and that's God through his means. Yeah, prayer has been a lifesaver for me in some of those seasons.
John Yoder: Well, Maisie, I can't wait to hear the rest of your story. Share with us, how did you begin to connect with Christ and with the church?
Maisee Vang: Yeah, so when I was 19, my dad actually made the decision that he wanted to start attending church. And that is when he invited me and some of my siblings to see who would want to follow him and start going to church. And so realizing how big the Hmong community is into the shamanism and animistic religion, this was a very big move and decision for my family, especially my dad.
But I was at a point in my life where I was very broken. Like I was still healing from my parents' divorce. Having been in a relationship that just wasn't working out. Not feeling like I had a purpose in my life, and just living very deep into the lies of the enemy that I was not worthy to be loved. And I told myself, I was gonna try something new.
Even when I was in high school and my parents had just gotten divorced, there's always been this deep desire to seek and find God, because I truly believe that there was one. But I just didn't have the boldness and confidence to really seek out a church to go on my own. When my dad finally asked me to see if I would want to go to church with him, I just found that this was the perfect opportunity for me to start going to church.
John Yoder: And what did you experience there? How did the people of that church come around you?
Maisee Vang: Yeah, so when I first went to church with my dad, we landed at a local Hmong church called St. Paul Hmong Alliance Church. And I would just have to say that the people who were there when I walked into those doors of the church in the chapel.
Although these people barely knew who I was, they just accepted me for who I was, and it was like a love that I've never experienced before. I saw that they loved unconditionally without expectations of receiving anything back. One thing that you know really caught me off guard was they started calling me a sister in Christ, and I didn't know what that meant at that time, but they truly treated me like a sister.
And so I started to answer your question like, how did I start coming around these people? And how did I come to faith? Like I believe that it really started with the people. Because of their willingness to just accept me with open arms to love me, to minister to me.
My sister-in-law, who I didn't know would be my sister-in-law at the time, she actually, without even knowing me, she just came up to me and say, “Hey, I see that you're new. I want to get to know you better, and if you want to learn how to read the read the Bible, I'm willing to meet with you once a week”.
And so just people who were so willing to help me get started, willing to disciple me such as my husband's family and my sister-in-law at that time.
John Yoder: And so the two of you now have five children, and if I'm correct, they're between the ages of 10 and three, is that right?
Maisee Vang: That is correct. We have five beautiful children. My oldest is 10. I have a 9-year-old, a 7-year-old, 5, and our youngest is 3.
John Yoder: So you have a noisy, and a busy, and a happy household.
Maisee Vang: Yeah you summed it up perfectly.
John Yoder: What kind of ministries is your family involved in?
Maisee Vang: Yeah, so for the longest time my husband and I were involved in the worship ministry. And so he was leading worship, and he was a worship leader for over 10 plus years. But he's been playing ever since youth age. And he did that for several years.
At our old church that we were at, we both served in the English Ministry. Throughout the years, when the Hmong Church decided to start a English service and English ministry for the second generation, m husband and I had the privilege and honor to be a part of that, to serve in that ministry to the English speaking people in the second generation.
And so now that we are at our new church that we've been for a little over a year, my husband continues to serve on the worship ministry and I and helping with the connections ministry, which is just getting to know new members and, learning more about them and connecting them with resources at church.
John Yoder: Maisie, you have a wonderful testimony. We've begun to hear a bit of your life story, but we are going to hear more of it in time to come. Can you share with us the part of your life story that you'll be sharing next time?
Maisee Vang: Yeah, so next time that we speak I will be sharing my story on abuse. And so this is something that I am very passionate about, a part of my story that is very vulnerable. But I truly believe that this is the right time that God wants me to share my story.
John Yoder: And I just appreciate your courage in being willing to talk about it. This is one of the most sensitive, but one of the most common, issues we see today. And I believe that others will be blessed simply by your courage in addressing this issue.
We just want to let everybody know about a new ministry we launched in the last month. It's interactive texting. If you or somebody you know is not ready to attend church, not ready to explore church or God in person, but you would be willing to chat with a Christian by text, You can text the word JESUS to 833-621-6172.
About every third day you'll get a text. About half of those are Bible verses, just the words of Jesus. But at least once a month, you'll be asked to share any burden on your heart, and somebody will pray over you personally within 24 hours by text. You can ask any question you want, no holds barred, anything is open, and one of our team would be glad to answer that question to dialogue with you over text.
So once again, just text the word JESUS to 833-621-6172. We look forward to continuing on with Maisie's story as we gather together again next time. We'll talk to you then.
