Holy Ghosted: Trusting God Through Silence, Suffering, and Seasons of Unanswered Prayer
About this episode
Autumn Miles — teacher, preacher, author, and founder of Autumn Miles Ministry — joins Philip Cameron to unpack her powerful new book, "Holy Ghosted," a deep dive into what it means to trust God when He seems completely silent. Drawing from her own harrowing experience watching her teenage son nearly die multiple times from severe asthma and a spreading skin infection, Autumn shares the raw moment her son asked her, "Why is God not healing me?" — a question that mirrored her own desperate prayers. The conversation centers on the Book of Job, which Autumn calls a book the enemy keeps believers away from precisely because it is "so pregnant with wisdom." She walks through how God says nothing for 38 chapters while Job suffers, and why that silence is not abandonment but invitation — calling Job to a new revelation of God. As Job himself declares, "I've heard of you by the hearing of the ears, but now my eye sees you." Autumn and Philip explore the distinction between faith and trust, concluding that trust is mature faith — the fruit grown only in seasons of unanswered prayer. If you or someone you love is in a Job season right now, "Holy Ghosted" is the resource you need. Find it anywhere books are sold and explore more at autumnmiles.com.
Part of our Trust collection of conversations.
Quotes worth sharing
“Right in the middle of all these kids, a wee boy was looking at me. And the Holy Spirit spoke and he says, 'That's your son,' clear as I'm talking to you. And I went down and I picked him up. He was covered in his own waste. And I said, 'I don't know who you are, but God sent me here today and I'm not going to quit until I come back for you.'”
“Job went through this horrendous litany of disaster to the point that his wife says, 'For God's sake, man, just curse God and get this thing over with.' When your wife is telling you, 'Die,' that's about as low as you can get. But he said, 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.' And in the silence, a golden truth emerges, and that is, trust is mature faith.”
“It was when Job quieted himself and was intent on hearing from God alone that God broke the silence. And sometimes that's exactly what God is waiting for us to do.”
What's Discussed
Autumn Miles, founder of Autumn Miles Ministry and author of "Holy Ghosted," shares how watching her son nearly die from severe asthma multiple times — and his pointed question, "Why is God not healing me?" — drove her into a deep study of the Book of Job. She explains that God is silent for 38 chapters in Job not out of indifference but as a purifying invitation to a deeper revelation of Himself. The conversation distinguishes between faith and trust, arguing that trust is mature faith forged in silence. Autumn notes that Job's breakthrough came only when he stopped complaining and became still — mirroring Jesus's surrender in Gethsemane. "Holy Ghosted" is available anywhere books are sold; visit autumnmiles.com.
- Autumn Miles and the Book "Holy Ghosted"
- Son's Near-Fatal Asthma Crisis
- Why God Is Silent for 38 Chapters in Job
- Silence as a Crisis Unto Itself
- Waiting on God and Spiritual Maturity
- Trust as Mature Faith Beyond Belief
- Silence as Purification and New Revelation
- Job's Stillness Breaks God's Silence
Scripture in this episode
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:Hello, my name is Philip Cameron, and I am delighted to have you with us today on "Daily Faith." We've got a really interesting topic, and an anointed woman of God. Autumn Miles is with us today, and she's written a book called "Holy Ghosted."
Philip:And whenever I saw the information, I thought, "Oh my goodness, I should've written this book." Because I know sometimes a title doesn't represent the whole, what it's about. Sometimes you get it in one glance, and I got this thing, and I thought, "If ever a book and ever a subject needs to be spoken about, it's this subject in the days we're living in." And I can't wait for you to meet her, and I believe that she's going to bring hope and a word from the Lord into your life.
Philip:As you well know, many of the friends that watch us regularly, we have a mission work. Thirty-five years ago, I adopted a wee boy in Romania, and I had no idea. My dad made me go with him to this thing, and I didn't want to go. I was busy. One of my books had just sold 300,000 copies. I was in all the major TV shows. And I thought I was set. And he called me up and says that our baby's dying. And I said, "What on earth are you talking about?" And he bugged me for a week. He was recovering from cancer surgery. He was sick. And one day, he called me up and he said, "Well, if you won't go with me to see these orphans that I'm watching on the BBC, I am going by myself, and if I die, it's your fault." And that's how he got me to go, kicking and screaming.
Philip:And I ended up going to this orphanage in a town called Timișoara, and it was filthy, and I wanted to leave, and he says, "Oh, there's upstairs." I says, "Dad, upstairs is the same as downstairs. Let's just go home." I went 2,500 miles to drive back to Scotland. "Let's leave this alone." And he ignored me.
Philip:Thank God he did. And we went up the stairs, into this dormitory. There's 30 babies all rocking in their cribs because they rock because they never had a mum to hold them and hug them. And right in the middle of all these kids, a wee boy was looking at me. And the Holy Spirit spoke and he says, "That's your son," clear as I'm talking to you. And I went down and I picked him up. He was covered in his own waste. And I said, "I don't know who you are, but God sent me here today and I'm not going to quit until I come back for you."
Philip:And it took me a year to adopt him. They had no toilets, so I bought toilets in Great Britain and sent them over. Flew plumbers over. Repaired the roof. All the cribs were painted with lead paint, so we changed all those out. And in the year before I adopted this little boy, I was completely, totally lost in the wonder that I could change someone's life with just a wee bit of effort. And since then, we have gone into the country of Moldova and Ukraine. We've had a home in Odesa, Ukraine, five years before the war broke out. We were there long before there was an invasion by Russia.
Philip:And we've got the most amazing place in Moldova called Vatra Village. It's a village of houses on the largest lake. It was built for rich people, and they poisoned the lake with chlorine to kill algae. And that building's right there, they didn't finish them. And I bought them unfinished, and we finished them off. And young people, every girl you will see in this video, if a trafficker gets her, she is worth $300,000 a year to the trafficker.
Philip:And we take them to Vatra Village and put them back in school. Most have never been inside a home to live a normal life. And we bring them to the foot of the cross, and they find Jesus. And the crazy thing is that these kids are turning from orphans into sons and daughters, and into missionaries, and they have continual outreach. And recently, a young girl was brought to us underage for what we're permitted to take in. We're allowed 16-year-old and older. And this wee girl called Maria was brought to us by the mayor of her village from a horrendous background. And the government found out and we had to put her back to this village and back to this hell that she'd come from. And within a week, she was found by 10 men, and they gang-raped her.
Philip:And it so broke us, and the young woman in charge of that aspect of the ministry called me, and she says, "I will never drive a girl back to hell again. No matter what you ask me, I'll never do it." And we've been looking, and we found two homes on over 15 acres of land, and we are fixing them right now for little kids between the age of four and 16. And they just sent me a video of them working at Promise House in Ungheni, and I want you to see what they're doing. Watch this.
Andrew Davis:Hey, it's Andrew from The Orphan's Hands. I'm here on a cold day in Moldova. We're at Ungheni at Promise House, and I wanted to take a few minutes and share with you the update on what's going on here. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to spend time at Vatra Village with all the young folk that we help on a daily basis. It was family day, where once a month, everyone at Vatra gathers to spend the afternoon together, eating, talking, and playing volleyball. Even I played volleyball, this old man. And I spoke to them about how important it is to be part of this family, and told them how someone just like you is praying for them and supporting them on a daily basis. It was a great time of laughter and fun. On behalf of everyone at Orphan's Hands, I just want to say thank you.
Andrew Davis:Your gift to help purchase Promise House is more than a donation. It is a declaration of hope for the children of Ungheni and the 73 villages that are connected to this main city that have no social assistance. Because of your giving, we've been able to secure this property, Promise House. That alone is a huge milestone. You've helped lay the foundation for a place where vulnerable children will not only have shelter, but safety, stability, and the opportunity to understand Jesus's love.
Andrew Davis:I'm thrilled to share with you that we have officially begun renovating the first house. Since these homes were originally built as summer residences, they weren't designed for year-round living. To prepare them for the children who will call this place home, we've had to remove the existing flooring and install underfloor heating to ensure they are warm and comfortable during the cold winter months. It's a cold day today. It is a more efficient way of heating a home rather than using radiators. It's exciting to see the transformation begin as we create a safe, welcoming space for these kids at Promise House.
Andrew Davis:Please pray for the construction process and for the children who will soon fill these homes. We are believing to raise the remaining funds to complete construction, fully furnish each house, and purchase the vehicles needed to serve this community well. Because of the war in Ukraine, what has cost us $50,000 to complete one home at Vatra Village six years ago is now costing us $100,000 a home in Ungheni. If you have connection to companies who can help with furnishings and everything needed to make this house complete, please get in contact with us.
Andrew Davis:Our plan is to set up a registry at Walmart, Target, and possibly Amazon to allow those who around the country are partnered with Orphan's Hands to purchase items, but the big furniture items like dressers and beds will need to be purchased and sent from our offices in Tennessee to Moldova when we have the funds to purchase those. There are so many exciting opportunities to be involved in what I've just talked about, but I just want to take a few minutes and give you an update on what is going on here in Moldova. Thank you for standing with us. Thank you for helping us build more than just houses. You're helping us build hope for so many precious lives. God bless you.
Philip:I never thought in a million years when I picked that wee boy up in Romania 35 years ago that he'd be talking to you just now, and you just saw Andrew. That was the wee boy that I adopted all those years ago. And now he is part... In fact, both of my sons were in that video. And as a father, the greatest gift you can ever give and the greatest gift you can ever receive is to watch your family buy into the vision God has given you and then take it forward, and that's exactly what's happening.
Philip:We need a miracle of God to help us finish these two homes so that little kids come in. As Andrew said, there are 73 villages around the area of Ungheni that have no help of any kind, no social help of any kind. And we're just believing God. It's going to cost us $100,000 per house to finish it. I got a video in the wee hours of the morning this morning of them pouring the concrete over the heating elements on the ground on the floor of the homes. So we're on our way. If you could help us with a gift today to make this miracle happen, you could literally reach out and be God's hand extended into a wee boy or wee girl's life that has no hope other than us.
Philip:No hope. They go to bed hungry every night. They live with an alcoholic father, if he's still there, that beats them mercilessly. They are abused in ways I can't tell you on television. And we are trying our best to finish these homes as fast as we can, to open up our arms and say, "Come unto us. Come unto Jesus, all you that are weary and heavy laden and we will give you rest." And they'll go through Ungheni Promise House, and then at 16, we'll take them to Vatra Village, and there they'll go to university and become something in the Kingdom of God.
Philip:There's two ways you can help us. You can give a one-time gift. But the greatest blessing to us is if you could give a dollar a day. You could change a life for a dollar a day. Your dollar gift will make no difference to your economy. But for the wee boys and girls that are waiting to come into Vatra Village, it will change their world. Every home we open costs 300 people giving a dollar a day. If I were to say to you, "We can get those homes open for a dollar a day," surely there's no one that can say, "Well, no, I'm not going to do that." That's what I'm asking.
Philip:You can contact me. It's really simple. Our phone number is 833-DAILYFAITH. 833-DAILYFAITH. Dial that number. A live person will come on the phone. Just say, "I want to help Philip. I want to give a dollar a day to help finish Ungheni," or a gift of $100 or $1,000, whatever you feel led. You can also write us, The Orphan's Hands, P.O. Box 25 in Clinton, Tennessee 37716. You can also go to dailyfaith.tv. Very easy. Dailyfaith.tv. There's a giving page there. Be God's hand extended, and by doing so, you will open up the blessing of God in your family. He's the father of the fatherless, and when you care for his kids, I can promise you this, he will take care of yours, and that's a promise.
Philip:So do it if you would. I'm delighted to have Autumn Miles with me today. She is a teacher, preacher, author, podcaster, speaker, a busy woman, and also founder and CEO of Autumn Miles Ministry. She's a woman who is desperate for Jesus and dedicated to teaching the word of God. And Autumn hosts a weekly podcast and has already authored three books, but this fourth book is a doozy and I am excited to have her with us. It's called "Holy Ghosted" and I want you to welcome Autumn to "Daily Faith." Autumn, thank you so much for taking the time to come and be with us.
Autumn Miles and the Book "Holy Ghosted"
Autumn Miles:Thank you so much. I'm excited about our conversation. We have a lot to talk about and I'm ready to go.
Philip:Let's go. Well, whenever I see titles, and when you do a TV show, you see lots of books given to you to look at and possibly promote on the program, and sometimes I'll look at the cover and I'll think, "That is the dumbest title for a book I've ever seen in my life." You need an explanation to tell you what the title's all about. The second I picked up the paper and saw "Holy Ghosted," I thought, "This is genius," because ghosted is one of the new words that everyone's using, "He ghosted me." And of course, it ties directly to the Holy Ghost, and I am fascinated to find out what were you going through to write this book and come up with this title that is so inspired. I know it came from an experience that you must have lived through.
Autumn Miles:Well, actually it came from several experiences, not just one. I wish there were just one, but several experiences. A couple of years ago, my son, he's now almost 18 years old. He's about to go to college, and a couple of years ago, we found ourselves in a terrible situation. I think it was a crisis of faith, but also with his health. He was diagnosed when he was one. I have four children. He's my first son. I have two sons, two daughters. But he was diagnosed with asthma and allergies when he was one year old.
Son's Near-Fatal Asthma Crisis
Philip:Oh, my goodness.
Autumn Miles:And it was one of those things where we thought, "We'll just give him the medicine and it'll be fine." But 14 years later, we had almost lost him. He almost died multiple times. And my husband and I, when an asthma attack strikes, time matters. And so he would come and stand by our bed in the middle of the night or whenever it was, and you can just imagine the sound of him not being able to breathe. You can hear just all of his airways closing up, and we'd rush him to the hospital, and they would give him an epinephrine breathing treatment, which would open up all of his airways.
Autumn Miles:And a couple of years ago, he was struggling with that, and he also had some sort of terrible skin infection that was spreading all over his body. And he looked at me one day and he said, "Mom, my body, it's giving up. I can feel my body giving up."
Philip:Oh, boy.
Autumn Miles:And he looked at me and he said, "Why? Why is God allowing me to suffer?" He said, "Mom, you've been faithful. Dad has been faithful to the Lord. You guys have served Him your whole life. Why is God not healing me? I have asked Him to heal me a million times." And here my teenage son is asking me this, but what he's saying is basically replicating my own prayer life with the Lord. "Why aren't you healing my son? Why is he almost dying?" This has been 14 years of him suffering.
Why God Is Silent for 38 Chapters in Job
Autumn Miles:And I realized in that moment that sometimes God is silent on certain things, and we don't understand why. And so I wrote the book, "Holy Ghosted," which is all about the life of Job. And I wrote it because, first of all, people are scared of the Book of Job. And I'm one of those rebels that I'm like, "If no one's talking about it, I'm going to go in there, and I'm going to excavate, and I'm going to study it, and I'm going to write a book about it." Because a lot of times, the enemy will keep us from books like Job, just because they're so pregnant with wisdom.
Philip:The scariest thing I find in the Book of Job is, "As they yet spoke." And I'm thinking, "Oh, here comes the next..." "As he yet spoke. As he yet spoke, his world fell apart." One right after another. He lost everything.
Autumn Miles:And so one of the crazy things about the Book of Job is in Job 1 and 2, Satan is allowed to attack Job, and he loses everything. But for 38 chapters, God says nothing. He doesn't give Job a hug. He doesn't say, "It's going to be okay." He doesn't intervene like our feelings would want Him to. He is just silent.
Autumn Miles:And it ministered to me in a great way because God in Job 1 tells Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? He is the most righteous man in all the East." So we know what God thought about Job. And so it begged the question in my mind, if that's what God thought about Job, then why wouldn't God speak to Job and comfort Job earlier? And so the book, "Holy Ghosted," came from my own personal... That is one of the examples I can give you from my life. It came from my own personal struggle with the silence of God, and then our biblical hero in my mind, Job, also went through a season of silence, and I felt like we needed to have a resource. What do you do when God is silent? And you have been faithful. You do have faith. You have fasted. You've done everything. You have prayed. You have anointed your home with oil, your children with oil. You've prayed for your marriage. You've gone to counseling, and yet there's no breakthrough. What do you do? So "Holy Ghosted" is a resource for that.
Philip:It is an amazing title. And I've gone through those silent seasons and the agony of the silence sometimes can almost break you by itself. I can handle all kinds of stuff but let me know you're with me. Let me know you're roaring your staff to comfort me. I'll go through the valley of the shadow but my God, please let me know you're there. And yet, God allows us to go through these seasons. I've gone through seasons where His voice became the biggest crisis. Not your son's asthma, that's horrendous, and the things, whatever it is, physical things or financial things, but the silence becomes a crisis unto itself, because then the devil comes along, who's the accuser of the brethren, and begins to say, "He's not real. This isn't going to happen. Never going to happen. All the other stuff was just a freak, it was emotion." And he can begin a litany of attacks on your mind that can cause you to doubt your salvation, doubt everything you possess, and he uses that.
Silence as a Crisis Unto Itself
Philip:And that is when the Bible says, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Waiting is a sign of maturity. At Christmas morning, if your kids are like my kids, the biggest fight you have is, "Don't you open your gifts until Christmas. Don't you touch those packages." And they'll go up and they'll shake the packages, and you'll be saying, "Don't." And they'll tear the packaging just a wee bit, and you're saying, "Eh, eh. Don't, not till Christmas time." And we have that tendency of we want it now. We want the answer, give it to me now.
Philip:And the truth of the matter is that in the waiting, in the silence, is where the maturity is developed inside. So that Job went through this horrendous litany of disaster to the point that his wife says, "For God's sake, man, just curse God and get this thing over with, and let me find somebody else that doesn't have..." When your wife is telling you, "Die", that's about as low as you can get. But he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." And in the silence, a golden truth emerges, and that is, trust is mature faith.
Waiting on God and Spiritual Maturity
Philip:Faith, I can work up faith. We've been taught to pump it up like air pressure in a tire. A bigger and stronger power than faith is trust. I trust him. He'll be there when I need him. And I'm sure in your story and in the sagas of your life that made you write this incredible book, trust has been the fruit of what's happened.
Autumn Miles:Mm-hmm. Yeah. There's a couple of things that I just want to piggyback on what you said. There's a couple things that are so profound about the Book of Job. I think this silence purified the true desire in Job's heart. It's a purification. Silence is not for no reason. But I do believe that God was calling, and we see that from the text, God was calling Job to a new version of God, a new level of God revealing Himself to Job that Job hadn't experienced yet, and the text supports that when he says, "I've heard of you by the hearing of the ears, but now my eye sees you."
Autumn Miles:But it's interesting in the Book of Job that Job questions, which we are free to do. We are free to be raw before the Lord. As a matter of fact, I think one of the biggest lies that Satan has told the Church is that you cannot be honest with God, and Job completely just kills that lie from the enemy. You can be raw, transparent, and tell the truth. Even an ugly truth is truth. It's still truth. And God desires truth in the inward part.
Trust as Mature Faith Beyond Belief
Autumn Miles:But one of the beautiful things about Job that I realized as I was excavating the word and just asking the Holy Spirit, "God, what truth in this book of wisdom do you want to share with your people?" It was when Job stopped talking, he ran out of things to say. He had no more complaint. He had no more question. He had no more assumption about God, because we can have questions, and then assumption is a whole other thing. It's when he quieted himself and was intent on hearing from God alone that God broke the silence. And sometimes that's exactly what God is waiting for us to do.
Autumn Miles:In that situation with my son, I was not silent. I was complaining. I was very frustrated. Watching your child almost die multiple times, no one understands that unless a mom or parent who has watched their child literally almost die. I wasn't silent. But when I got silent, and just like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, "You know what? Not my will, Lord, but your will be done." God began to speak because when he speaks after a season of silence, it is so pregnant with wisdom.
Silence as Purification and New Revelation
Autumn Miles:And consequently, when God spoke, it was the longest recording that we see of God speaking to any human in scripture. So that silence gave an invitation for Job to learn something about God that God desperately wanted to tell him, but he could not tell him without all the noise that was happening inside of Job's mind and inside of Job's heart.
Philip:What truth. Oh my goodness, you are speaking to me so profoundly today, more than you understand. I need you to get this book. If you're watching just now, you can get it on Amazon. Tell us how we can get the book, Autumn.
Autumn Miles:Anywhere books are sold. Anywhere. You can get it anywhere. "Holy Ghosted."
Philip:I want you to go and get that. You know someone that's going through a Job experience right now, and you don't even know what to say anymore. They're scraping their skin with a broken piece of pottery and they're thinking, "My God." This may be the answer to their situation. "Holy Ghosted," you will never forget that title. You can get in contact with Autumn by going to autumnmiles.com. Now, she's got other books and other resources available for you to avail yourself of. And just in the few moments I've spent with her, I know that this is a woman that knows the voice of God.
Job's Stillness Breaks God's Silence
Philip:We're almost out of time, Autumn. I want to thank you so much for coming on "Daily Faith," and please come back again. You have three other books I want to find out that you've written because I have a feeling that this is just scratching the surface. Please come back again.
Autumn Miles:Thank you.
Philip:And thank you for watching "Daily Faith." Be praying for us as we continue our ministry in Eastern Europe, and we'll see you again. Bye-bye.
For over 25 years, the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova. From providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells, to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They champion the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries. Many of Moldova's orphans are saved from the horrors of trafficking through homes founded by the Camerons. And in the process, orphans become daughters and sons. They come to know their Heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus. God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness.
Now, no longer orphans, they want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. The Orphan's Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking. Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in The Orphan's Hands homes in Moldova and the Ukraine. If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 833-DAILYFAITH. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv, or by writing to Post Office Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving the lost.
Common questions
What is Autumn Miles's book 'Holy Ghosted' actually about?
The book is a deep dive into the life of Job, using his story as a framework for understanding what to do when God feels silent — even when you've been faithful, prayed, fasted, and done everything right. Autumn wrote it because she felt people needed a practical resource for those seasons when there's no breakthrough despite genuine faith.
What personal experience inspired Autumn Miles to write 'Holy Ghosted'?
One major catalyst was watching her son — who was diagnosed with asthma and severe allergies at age one — nearly die multiple times over 14 years. When her teenage son looked at her and asked why God wasn't healing him despite her family's faithfulness, she recognized that his question mirrored her own desperate prayers, and it forced her to wrestle seriously with God's silence.
Why does Autumn Miles think God stays silent for so long, like He did with Job?
Autumn believes the silence is a purification process — God was calling Job to a deeper, newer revelation of Himself that Job hadn't experienced yet. She points to Job's own words, 'I've heard of you by the hearing of the ears, but now my eye sees you,' as proof that the silence ultimately led to a level of knowing God that wouldn't have been possible any other way.
According to Autumn, what finally caused God to break His silence with Job?
Autumn says it was when Job stopped talking — when he ran out of complaints, questions, and assumptions — and got truly quiet before God. She draws a parallel to Jesus in Gethsemane surrendering with 'not my will, but yours,' and notes that God's response to Job was actually the longest recorded speech from God to any human in all of Scripture.
Does Autumn Miles think it's okay to be angry or honest with God during suffering?
Absolutely — she says one of the biggest lies Satan has told the Church is that you can't be honest with God. She points to Job as proof that raw, transparent, even ugly honesty is acceptable before God, since 'God desires truth in the inward part.' The key distinction she makes is between honest questioning and assumption, which she sees as a different and more dangerous thing.
Topics
autumn milesholy ghostedbook of jobunanswered prayersuffering and faithsilence of godchristian author