01:34 Val introduces Season 3. In this season she will share about her spiritual journey, spiritual mentors she’s had along the way, and about her spiritual growth by attending spiritual retreats. In the final episode of this season, she will share her personal, spiritual experiences with loved ones who have passed that bring her joy and hope.

Val has always had a strong intuition about God and was raised in a Christian home. As a child she loved exploring the large King James family Bible. Her childhood was calm and loving and her faith was never challenged.

04:37 As an adult, her faith was tested and deepened when young family members developed cancer.  Bible study in community was key for her faith journey as well as buying a Bible that became her personal reference for learning about and understanding God. 

During this time, the Caring Bridge website https://www.caringbridge.org/ provided a connection to friends and family. She could feel the love from a distance, and this provided inspiration for the line in the Caregiver podcast theme song that says, “Friends and family are sending love to me, much more love than you or I could ever see.”

08:37. Seeds for this podcast were planted long ago when Val heard a message on a radio program about people sharing their stories and how important our stories are for providing support to one another. When the idea for a podcast came up as a way for her to share her story, she was reluctant because she had fears about being misunderstood and appearing foolish. 

As she was contemplating whether to do a podcast, a Bible story from her daily devotional highlighted how Jesus’ disciples were worried about appearing foolish when Jesus suggested to them that they drop their fishing nets in a place where they had been fishing all day and knew there were no fish. But they did it anyway and their nets came up bursting with fish. 

Val’s takeaway from the Bible story is that sometimes the thing we are avoiding is the thing we need to do most. She knows from experience the support and encouragement caregivers need to take care of themselves so they can take care of others and that is the reason or her creating this podcast, “Caregiver Tea Time”.

11:15 Things came together quickly after that. She met new friends who had the technology and skill to help her record a professional podcast.

12:36 Val summarizes that Jesus’ teachings are what makes sense to her, and she shares her gratitude for the gift of her intuition that tells her she is not facing her life challenges alone. She encourages others to be curious about the love from God that is available to all and ends the podcast with a prayer.

Additional information and links can be found at:

https://www.caregiverteatime.com/

Look for the full version of Val's theme song, Nothing But the Good Things on your favorite music streaming service now!