Episode 35: Tova Sido – From ‘fear’ to ‘forgiveness’

We’re wrapping up the season with a guest who is near and dear to my heart, my friend, Tova Sido. Tova is someone God used to re-open my heart to the dream of adoption in a season where I felt carrying that dream was too costly. A truth speaker, a dream defender and an encourager by nature, being in her presence you can’t help but feel love. Her story is one riddled with grief, loss and rejection…but her life is one that overflows with FORGIVENESS, JOY and LOVE. In witnessing the ways Tova has grown through her pain, I am encouraged to continually lean into mine, hoping one day maybe I will be just a little bit like her!  She lives in Dallas, Texas with her three precious kids Carter, Anna-Prin & Georg and you’ll find her walking every morning with her pups before heading to record for her podcast “The Remedy.” Her book “Borrowed Courage” is the only book I ever finished in less than a day, and every time I have the privilege of hearing her speak, I walk away with a clearer understanding of who I am and more importantly, who God is. 

Raised in the Mormon church, faith has always played a major role in Tova’s life and today she walks us through her evolution of faith navigating a “works based” faith as a child to embracing the freedom she has come to know in embracing God’s LOVE.

Tova shares how she and her siblings endured physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their parents throughout their childhood. Her resiliency is something to be admired as she walks us through forgiving her parents and the restoration they all experienced as a result. I love listening to the freedom she discovered along the way and witnessing how she parents her children with grace and love. She says the bond she and her siblings shared through it all has empowered them to change the narrative of their lives forever.

Tova was determined to write a different story over her life. She had a plan: go to college, work in the corporate world, marry her high school sweetheart, have babies and live the ‘American Dream.’ She thought she could write her own script. But, her story didn’t go as planned. Tova talks about the loss of her four babies, through miscarriage, still-birth and a rare terminal illness. She also shares with us the many losses that followed and talks about how they reshaped her heart and made her realize that although she can’t control the outcome of what may happen, she can ALWAYS control the state of her heart and mind.  

There are many things I admire about my friend, but one thing that I continually learn from watching her live life, is the power of forgiveness and love. Tova is someone who has taught me to embrace my pain, to own my story, and to embark on every journey with a heart focused on God’s will over mine.