Good Hard Story Podcast

If there is such a thing as icons of caregiving, Joni Eareckson Tada and her husband Ken are those icons. After a diving accident at 17, Joni became a quadriplegic. Ken and Joni met and joined lives years later. As Ken put it, he “married into disability.” 

These two saints have cared for one another faithfully for over 40 years, but it’s not always perfect. Joni and Ken were generous to share about the hard conversations they’ve had to have about overwhelm and burnout. Even through all the hard, this couple affirms again and again how the experiences of caregiving and care-receiving have shown them the heart of Christ. 

From healthy communication tips to practical ideas for self care to receiving care well—WOW, do we have a lot to learn from these two?! Join us at the table to receive loads of wisdom from two of my heroes, including…

If you are craving some real talk about all things caregiving and care-getting, this episode is for you.

Joni and Friends website

Hope Heals by Katherine and Jay Wolf

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

1 Samuel 16:7

John 15:13

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Matt and Ginny Mooney gave round-the-clock care to their first son, a baby boy who lived for just 99 days. All parents are caregivers, of course, but the Mooneys became caregivers in ways they never could have imagined.

Now, 18 years later, the Mooneys have opted into a lifetime of complex caregiving as they raise an adopted daughter living with autism and cerebral palsy. I am fascinated and challenged by their choice to take on more responsibility, more heartache, and more grief.

My two gracious friends were kind enough to answer every one of my probing questions with humor and vulnerability. And if you join us for this conversation, I bet they’ll feel like your kind, funny friends by the end, too!

Here’s what you can expect to hear on this week’s episode of The GoodHard Story Podcast:

Show Notes:

99 Balloons

A Story Unfinished: 99 Days with Eliot

rEcess

bEfriend

Mend Coffee & Goods

Hope Heals Camp

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Can I have 27 minutes of your day? That’s all I need to convince you of something you’ve probably never allowed yourself to believe: you are worthy of care.

I’m highly qualified—and highly persuasive—in making this pitch to you because, after becoming significantly disabled as a 26-year old, I can truly say that I am at peace with my place as a care-receiver. All thanks to 5 mindset shifts. (And a lot of help from Jesus.)

If you haven’t reached that place of bone-deep peace, I’m going to change your mind. Or if you’re a caregiver for a person who needs a lot of extra help, I’m going to invite you into a new way of seeing your situation.

Here’s a preview of what I’ll share on tomorrow’s episode of The Good/Hard Story Podcast. Subscribe on your fave podcast platform to make sure you get the episode tomorrow.

I am so passionate about this conversation, and I want you to join me in it. If you need a radical mindset shift when it comes to being a caregiver or a care-getter, this episode is for you.

You asked, we answered. And you know we never shy away from the messy, complex, and possibly even invasive questions because we want to be your living survival guides through it all. Bring it on, people!

This week’s episode of The GoodHard Story Podcast is a special “ask us anything” sesh with me and Jay all about how we’re navigating suffering alongside our nearest and dearest—kids, families of origins, friends that feel like family, and even each other. Sit down with us to hear some deeply personal (yet somehow universal) experiences, opinions, and bits of advice.

We’re sharing all kinds of thoughts about…

If you need help believing your hardships could be a gift to the people you love most, this episode is for you.

Hope Heals Camp

Find the full story of deciding to have another baby in Treasures in the Dark Entry 66: Carpe Diem

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Grief, then gratitude. The longer I live and the more pain I encounter, I’m further convinced that this is the healthy cycle of suffering: grief then gratitude. Mourn the life you thought you’d have, then give thanks for the one right in front of you.

Because if we’re honest, most of us have some deep-down assumptions about what our lives should look like. For me, that assumption didn’t include a massive stroke or disabilities. And for my friend Sho Baraka, his perfect life plan didn’t involve raising sons with autism.

Sho is living out his good/hard story in that grief-and-gratitude rhythm, and he shared all about how he got to that place. Today, Sho is receiving his family—and his life—as an “abstract masterpiece of what the Master did.”

Whew, how good is that?

If you join us in this conversation, here’s what you’ll take away:

If you need to release your demands for a perfect life and open your hands to the gifts of the life you actually have, this episode is for you.

Show Notes:

Sho Baraka on Instagram

And Campaign

He Saw That It Was Good: Reimagining Your Creative Life to Repair a Broken World by Sho Baraka

The Big Tent Initiative from Christianity Today

A Prayer for Parenting a Child with Special Needs

 Every Moment Holy Volume 3

“Words, 2006”

Spectacular Bond: Reaching the Child with Autism by Miriam Blank

ASD Reading

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There's so much more to the story:⁠ Click here⁠⁠ for more messages of hope, free resources, and opportunities to connect with me!

Follow me in Instagram: ⁠⁠@hopeheals⁠⁠

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Get to know us:

⁠⁠Hope Heals⁠⁠

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My son was just six-months and five days old when I nearly died. Virtually 100% of my parenting career has been informed by the deepest kind of pain. I often find myself wondering, if I could, would I give my sons a different story? One that didn’t include my stroke and all the suffering it caused?

I didn’t have much help wrestling with that question as a new (and newly disabled) mom. So I want to encourage and equip you—the mom or dad struggling to shield their kids from the suffering—with practical advice for parenting through your pain.

Our kids are gonna survive the suffering. And, spoiler alert, I believe they might even be better because of it.

Join me and my unbelievably wise friend Susan to find out how to…

If you need a parenting pep talk from someone who’s processing her own pain, this episode is for you.

Show Notes:

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

Raising Girls and Boys Podcast with David Thomas and Sissy Goff

“True hospitality is when someone leaves your home feeling better about themselves, not better about you”. - Shauna Niequist

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

James 1:4

Romans 5:3  

Romans 8:28

Ephesians 4:1

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There's so much more to the story: Click here⁠⁠ for more messages of hope, free resources, and opportunities to connect with me!

Follow me in Instagram: ⁠⁠@hopeheals⁠⁠

Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

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⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, my monthly digest of only the good stuff, like short reflections from me and a curated roundup of the Internet’s most redemptive content. Subscribe here.

If you’re like me, you often hear from people reflecting back on how they made it through a hard time. We need those stories, and I value them deeply. But I really, really want to hear from the people who are in the thick of their pain, without a neat resolution or final closure in sight. My dear friends Brent and Ashley were kind enough to share their experience of present-tense pain, specifically in the form of a life-altering medical diagnosis.

As you and I know all too well, hurt refuses to be contained. It reverberates through families and communities. Brent and Ashley are no exception. Their suffering has had a profound effect on their marriage, their kids, and their friendships. But so has their hope.

Live from the center of the storm, Brent and Ashley are giving you and me a look into how they manage to make it through each day. And I am so eager for you to benefit from their generous, hard-won wisdom.

If you join me on this episode of the GoodHard Story Podcast, here’s what you’ll take away:

If you need some honest but hopeful company in your misery, this episode is for you.

Show Notes:

Ashley Monogue Photography

Integrus

Hope Heals Camp

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

Ecclesiastes 7:2

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Want a little hope in your inbox?

⁠⁠Sign up here for the Hope Note⁠⁠, our monthly digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from Katherine and a curated digest of the Internet’s most redemptive content,

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I’ve been healed in so many ways by learning to tell my story. But there’s some work that needs to happen before we can tell our stories. That work starts with our emotions.

The stories of your life and mine are hidden beneath our emotions. When we understand the emotions, we understand the story. And, as I said, understanding our own stories is totally crucial to healing and wholeness. (Why do you think I tell my story for a living?!)

This conversation with Adam Young is a bucket list item for me. Adam is a brilliant trauma therapist who specializes in supporting people in understanding the story of their lives. The harm, the heartache, and the miraculous joy to be found in the midst of all the hurt. His work has been transformative for me.

Friend, you cannot miss this conversation because God might just use Adam’s wisdom to transform you too.

If you join me on this episode of the GoodHard Story Podcast, here’s what you’ll take away:

If you’re searching for an empathetic guide to emotional health, this episode is for you.

Show Notes:

The Place We Find Ourselves Podcast

Bessel van der Kolk - https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/

Ep. 16 Why Lament (Surprisingly) Leads to Life and Freedom

Dan Allender

Curt Thompson

GoodHard Story Podcast Episode 68 with Debra Fileta

Confessional communities

Treasures in the Dark

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

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There's so much more to the story: Click here⁠⁠ for more messages of hope, free resources, and opportunities to connect with me!

Follow me in Instagram: ⁠⁠@hopeheals⁠⁠

Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

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⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, my monthly digest of only the good stuff, like short reflections from me and a curated roundup of the Internet’s most redemptive content. Subscribe here.

God is giving you and me permission to feel our feelings. But are we giving permission to ourselves?

I’m on a quest to engage my emotions with health and wholeheartedness, and Jennie Allen joined me on a leg of the journey. Jennie is a friend of mine who happens to have written the book on understanding and expressing our feelings as God intended us to.

My conversation with Jennie is as heartfelt as it is practically applicable to your life. Her generous wisdom will leave you equipped to understand what you’re feeling, put those emotions in their proper place, and then use those feelings as positive points of connection with God and other people.

If you join me on this episode of the GoodHard Story Podcast, here’s what you’ll take away:

If your emotions leave you feeling like too much or too little—or, somehow, BOTH—this episode is for you. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at hopeheals.com/podcast.

Show Notes:

@jennieallen on Instagram

Jennie's website

IF:Gathering

Gather25

Untangle Your Emotions

Hope Heals Camp

Confessional Communities

Get Out of Your Head

Dan Allender

Adam Young

GoodHard Story Podcast Episode 68 with Debra Fileta

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

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There's so much more to the story:⁠ ⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠ for more messages of hope, free resources, and opportunities to connect with me!

Follow me in Instagram:⁠ ⁠⁠@hopeheals⁠⁠⁠

Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠

⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠

Want a little hope in your inbox?

⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, my monthly digest of only the good stuff, like short reflections from me and a curated roundup of the Internet’s most redemptive content. ⁠Subscribe here.⁠

“I’m a Christian because of the shortest verse in the Bible: Jesus wept.”

Something I didn’t wake up to until after my stroke is the fact that joy and sadness can co-exist. In fact, they can do it pretty beautifully if we allow them to.

My friend Scott knows how to be sad. That may sound like a backhanded compliment, but hear me out. I think learning to fully engage our sorrow is one of the healthiest rhythms we can find, especially as followers of Jesus. He was, after all, called the “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” So how do we befriend our sadness in the way of Christ?

That’s what I’m covering on this week’s episode of The GoodHard Story Podcast, with the help of Scott Erickson. An artist, writer, and one of the most intriguing thinkers I’ve ever known, Scott has found deep camaraderie with Jesus through his sadness. And he’s inviting you and me to do the same.

If you join me on this episode of the GoodHard Story Podcast, here’s what you’ll take away:

Want to invite God into your sadness, but don’t know where to start? This episode is for you.

Show Notes:

@scottthepainter on Instagram

Scott’s Substack Image Pilgrimage

Scott’s story of meeting Sadness at Disneyland

Inside Out

Hope Heals Camp

Justin McRoberts

Honest Advent

Art Against Despair

The GoodHard Story Podcast Episode 76 with Andy Squyres

Backwards Kingdom

Treasures in the Dark Entry 65: A Library of Living Survival Guides

Telling Secrets by Frederick Buechner

Dan Allender

Curt Thompson

Say Yes

Future Dead Artist mug

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

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There's so much more to the story: ⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠ for more messages of hope, free resources, and opportunities to connect with me!

Follow me in Instagram: ⁠⁠@hopeheals⁠⁠

Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

⁠Apple Podcasts⁠

⁠Spotify⁠

Want a little hope in your inbox? Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, my monthly digest of only the good stuff, like short reflections from me and a curated roundup of the Internet’s most redemptive content. Subscribe here.