Help & Hope

Melanoma, the word strikes fear into the hearer, especially when it is a diagnosis for a loved one. Al Groves, a beloved professor at Westminster Seminary and his wife, Libbie, heard these words and knew life would never be the same. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Libbie shares the journey that her family experienced in the year after her husband Al’s diagnosis of terminal cancer. She offers her family’s story as a means of coming alongside of others who are struggling with cancer, God and grief, answering such questions asHow did you tell your children?Did you ever hit a wall where you felt you just couldn’t handle all the daily responsibilities of raising your children and caring for your husband?Al was a gifted author, beloved professor at Westminster Seminary. Did you ever question why such a gifted man who had so much more to offer had to die? What about lament? How important was and is your faith? How did it make a difference in the way you viewed this diagnosis?How did people help you?

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We live in a culture that idolizes youth but no matter how hard we might try, we cannot escape the fact that unless we die young, each of us will experience aging. Is it possible to be “ever growing ever green” as we age? Is sixty really the new fifty? What does it mean to flourish in old age? What if we don’t have energy to do all those wonderful things we did when we were younger? When should we start preparing for old age? Is there anything glorious about growing old?In this free-flowing conversation Sharon Betters, age 70, asks Ruth Auffarth, age 88, these questions and more. So grab a cup of coffee, a glass of iced tea, sit back and listen in as two old friends share thoughts about what it means to grow old with grace and dignity.

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Mental Illness. The very words chill our souls. Yet, millions of people struggle with mental illness every minute of every day. In this powerful, transparent interview, one family describes their extraordinary battle to find stability when their family life revolves around the insecurity of a wife and mother diagnosed with Bipolar illness. The purpose of these resources is to offer help and hope to those who struggle with “secret” pain, those difficult life crises that are hard to understand or discuss, harder still to experience. Mental illness is perhaps one of the loneliest and most isolating of life crises. This family shares their own story with hopes their lives will offer help and hope to others who fight every day to find purpose. This interview is also for those who love someone broken by mental illness. It is our prayer that many will find help and hope in this powerful interview.

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Lindsay’s story includes a painful childhood, drug addiction, and how getting caught while robbing a house landed her in prison. Yet all of these broken places led her to a life of freedom. Lindsay’s story helps listeners to understand that sometimes those most awful hurts are pathways to experiencing the very things for which we desperately long.

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Pastor Bob Allums, husband and father, learned at thirty-two years of age that he faced the battle of his life against throat and mouth cancer. The possibility that the disease and treatment would destroy his ability to speak, to preach and teach was real. Before the diagnosis, Bob struggled with overwhelming depression, a darkness whose roots he could not identify. In this rich conversation with Chuck Betters, Bob steps back into those frightening days and describes how that period transformed him and helped make him into the joyful man he is today. This far reaching conversation touches on the heart of suffering and will touch your heart with the help and hope of Jesus.

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From age 12 through the age of 18, Doug began to experiment with any and all drugs, from ecstasy to crystal meth, that he could get his hands on. Over the course of the next few years, oxycodone became the dominant Idol that consumed him and eventually transitioned into a full blown heroin addiction. Doug shares his journey into drug addiction including how being raised “in the church” left him so empty that he searched and found acceptance in the fans of a band called Insane Clown Posse. Their message of sex, drugs and violence filled the empty hole in his heart. In this far reaching conversation, Doug touches on how parents should respond to the manipulation of the drug addict, whether coming off of drugs cold turkey as he did is always the best way, why addicts are willing to destroy their lives and loved ones for that fix, and why addicts often go back to drugs after rehab. Doug offers hope, not only to the person addicted to drugs but to the people who love them.Doug Clarke is a husband and father and works for Jublilee Ministries where he is the Aftercare/New Path Manager.

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In this free flowing conversation Stephanie Hubach’s joy in parenting son, twenty-five year old Tim, who has Down Syndrome shines through. Steph talks about how Tim’s birth affected and strengthened her marriage, recognizing the need for consistent discipline, intentionally teaching Tim practical social skills to prepare him for the workplace, giving herself permission to take care of herself so that she could be strong and able to relentlessly pour into Tim’s life, and the priceless gift of Tim to their family. Steph admits to a chronic grief that can pop up even in the middle of joyful fun with Tim. Steph speaks directly to those parents struggling to see any joy in their own parenting of a child with special needs and encourages them to freely determine the best way for them to function as a family.

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Sexual Abuse of Children – You’ve heard the news stories and read the headlines. Each word drives a sword deeper into the hearts of those who love and protect their children. Tom Stewart experienced a decade of sexual abuse throughout his childhood by his Scout leader. His story is not easy to hear but he pulls back the shades on decades of the cover up of horrific sexual abuse in a highly respected organization: The Boy Scouts of America. In this transparent interview, Tom not only shares his story, but helps equip listeners to see the signs of abuse, the pathway to healing from abuse and the enormous battle that sexual abuse causes in the heart of a child and into his adulthood. Through Tom’s sometimes excruciating words, other victims of abuse will hear a resounding declaration of help and hope, no matter how shattered by the actions of another.Learn more about Tom and the way God is creating beauty from the broken places in his life: Histruthtransforms.com or Secretknots.net

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On October 2, 2006, Marie Monville’s husband entered an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and shot ten young girls, killing five of them, before turning the gun on himself. The event shocked the nation and left many staggering under the weight of such tragedy and evil. How does a person find hope in such darkness? How does the wife of the man who perpetrated such horror rebuild her life and the lives of her children? How could she ever forgive her husband? How did the Amish community react to Marie and her family? Listen as Marie’s story reveals what she learned about forgiveness and that one Light can still shine in the midnights of life.

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In August 1999 I sat by myself on my living room couch. Alone. Scared. I tried to piece together what 13 years of sexual addiction had just torn apart. My life was unraveling and I couldn’t harness my out of control behaviors. I remember thinking I might be better off dead than alive. As I sat there I had a lot to consider. I was a sex addict. (From 2.bebroken.com) Exposure to pornography at the age of 12 was Jonathan’s first step downward into the abyss of sexual addiction. Listen as Jonathan describes that downward spiral and what turned his heart toward healing and a redeemed marriage.

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