Unsung Stories

To celebrate a successful Season 1, this last episode is an Ask Anything, where we opened it up to our listeners to ask...anything! Covering parenting, marriage and living as a Christian, Rosie interviews Laura and asks the most popular questions sent in.

Hear snippets of her parenting journey so far, why she started this podcast and more.

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“Are they going to be copying someone who’s trying to be like Jesus, or are they being raised by a mum who’s trying to perfect the formula of raising a Christian kid?”

"They are watching us and modelling how we live until they choose their own way.  A book might use the words repentance, but I tell you, hearing mummy say, “honey I’m really sorry. I did not choose to talk how God wants me to talk then. I chose to do what I wanted to do and talk rudely to you then. I did not do what Jesus asked me to do. I’ve asked him to forgive me, will you forgive me too?” Is going to be far more powerful in shaping their character".

"You can have a great marriage and not have Date Night".

Learning to truly trust God and submit to his will is a common experience for most mothers. For Bronwyn, the journey to motherhood caused her to really evaluate her relationship with God and trust what He says to be true. After being diagnosed with unexplained infertility, she turned to God and trusted her with her extreme longing and desire for motherhood - and continues to do so with the lives of her two beautiful boys. Bronwyn helpfully reminds us that God is always with us. Through the ups and downs of life, he is inviting us to turn to Him. He is always with us through the joys and heartache of life.

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“He uses the hard times to show us Him, his love and draw us closer to him.”

“You can be surrounded by people and children, but motherhood can be awfully lonely. But God sees you. He knows you. And he knows how you’re feeling. Just because you feel distant from him, doesn’t mean he’s distant from you. He’s right beside us.”

“It’s so easy to feel distant and distracted with the business of life. Just ask him to help you to have those opportunities to be close to him again.”

“You don’t have to do anything or say anything special. In the ordinary and the mundane, he’s right there with us. Just go to him.”

Marriage and children comes with a whole new set of conflict and arguments. Both are tired, she's nagging, he's not listening and its easy to wonder if you'll ever agree with your spouse again. Kim Parry-Jones is an advocate for marriage and helping couples communicate better. In this episode, she helpfully chats through conflict, communication and navigating the parenting stage of life. She shares her advice and reflections of 42 years of marriage to Scott, mother of 4 and grandma of 7.

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"in the moment take things very personally and we don't go, "There's something else going on here that we could address together. And so a lot of couples will end up blaming each other or thinking badly of each other as the problem. Rather than saying, "We have a problem.""

"it's just important to realize that you can't bury everything, and some things need to be brought up, definitely. But it's sort of trying to work out the hill to die on, is a hard one. And it'll never work well if you start to throw character assassinations at each other rather than, as you said, sitting down and going, "What's really going on? Let's sit on the couch and let's find a bit of time to talk about this.""

"this is the time of the most pressure, the most lack of time, sleep, busyness and all the rest of it. But it goes so quickly, and you need to be still a couple at the end of it. You want to still remember the man you fell in love with, the woman you fell in love with. And it won't be as heady as it was, but it'll be solid and deep and then you will get your convertible and drive off into the sunset."

"God's given us a great gift in marriage, a great gift. But we are sinful people who need help with it. So get the help you need."

Becoming a mum comes with a new set of challenges as you seek to know God more. Hear Hannah's wrestle with suddenly feeling like she has no time, seeing her sin clearly and what she finds helpful in turning her heart to Jesus - even if it doesn't feel grand or amazing.

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"I found you don't have a lot of time, so I find prayer a big part of my relationship with God."

"I think having a baby and going through pregnancy and birth, you appreciate God's creation, design and in awe of His design."

"The biggest thing for me is reading the bible with other people and that really helps me to dig in."

"Prayer, I think it's one of those things that any time of day, anywhere you are, it is so helpful in reminding you that you're not on your own and God is there with you."

CW: This episode mentions Bec's struggles with conceiving, miscarriage and having a heart kid. Please skip if these experiences would trigger you.

Through struggling with infertility, miscarriage, a baby with a heart defect and marriage strains, Bec has learnt to truly depend on God. Hear how God has been refining Bec through motherhood and her shift from reading the bible to now understanding it, resting in the truths of God and trusting what He says in His Word is true. She has now shifted from seeking knowledge about God, to knowing God and having a relationship with him.

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"Hold Steady. You know the promises of God. He’s got you. He is going to guide you and carry you through this"

"It's gone less from a head knowledge or a Sunday School story, to personal relationship with God and trust in how he is in control"

"I feel like since having kids there's been event after event that is causing me to depend on Him so much more, and so much more deeply"

This weeks unsung story is Alicia's. Alicia has two little girls and over the last 4 years has experienced much pain and heartache as she walked through the journey of her mum being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease Disease and eventually going to be with the Lord. Alicia shares her grief and hope with much vulnerability and honesty. We hope that you may find solidarity in your own grief if you are facing a similar situation. For the rest of us, it is a helpful reminder on where our priorities lie and how we can love our grieving sisters and step into their pain.

For anyone who is experiencing grief or depression, there is always someone to help and hear you. Beyond Blue is a great resource for anyone with anxiety, depression or suicidal feelings. 1300 22 4636 or visit beyondblue.org.au



"I'm not really sure if it gets easier. And I'm okay with that because I love thinking about mum and I love talking about her."

"I felt God's presence in my life the most when I've just absolutely been like just brought to my knees."

"But our hearts are so sinful and corrupt and we're so easily distracted, when we have a beautiful life. Things are easy and we kind of just, you know, plod along. But when things are kind of pulled beneath you, it was like the first time I truly, earnestly prayed. Like, "Come Lord Jesus, come.""

"It was the first time I could so clearly see this huge fracture in the world that Jesus came to mend. And I just wanted things to be how he planned them to be, whether it is in death. And where our feet don't stumble, or our bodies don't fail us. We have a God that wants us to be gathered under him in the perfection of the new creation. And he made that possible through Jesus. You know, as Christians, we talk about longing to be in his presence. And we pray that his kingdom comes, but do we really like feel the brokenness and the sin of the world and the weight and the burden of that? And the reason that it needs restoring? "

"His plan will prevail. That he's faithful and trustworthy and good. Even though we don't always understand why."

"I have no doubt that my mum is with the Lord, that she's healed and she's whole with him. And it wasn't because she was the perfect mum, the perfect wife, and was faithful 100 percent of the time. That makes it about her. But it wasn't about her. It was about what Jesus did for her. And she knew that to just the core of her being, even in all her frailties and brokenness, he just wanted her to be in a relationship with him."

"It's not about what we do and don't do, but it's just completely what Jesus has done? I mean, reflecting on lots of the Bible, but in particular on Lazarus's death and his resurrection, the fact that even though Jesus knew he was about to raise Lazarus and he knew that one day will all be raised, he still wept for his friend."

"I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth."

"I find it hard to reconcile longing to be in his perfect presence, but also loving good things in the world that he's given us. But I think I've just come to realise that I don't think they're mutually exclusive, like God made this world. He called it good, but it was broken by the fall.
I love that this stuff is included in the Bible. It's not omitted because it's messy and uncomfortable and hard. It's so that we can see. Believers struggling and asking God for answers, and searching, and in pain because, yeah, we're still people."


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Hear Ally's unsung story and how she seeks to know and love God more in motherhood, how she models living out her faith to her kids and instilling christian values and habits into her kids life. She shares her struggles with digging into the Word, but how she changes the format to suit her learning style. She shares how she navigates the pressures of life, young kids, work and ministry. She shares her challenges to rely on God in her weakness and remembering God's faithfulness. She encourages us to trust God, to be surrounded by His people and His Word and soak Him in, however we can.

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"As a couple, we still come together and pray almost every night and just give our struggles, our life, our children to God and just plead with him to strengthen us."

"Since becoming a mum, my reliance on God has definitely changed. I feel like I see my weaknesses a lot more and I rely on him a lot more."

"I've actually had some postnatal anxiety and depression. And so that just means I can't rely on myself. I'm not going to get through this on my own. So, yeah, definitely drawing into God. And just remembering that he is that wonderful counsellor and that everlasting Father and that Prince of peace. Like he is the one thing that will get me through this."

"Just, soak in the Word however you can."

Join our conversation with Claudia about her experience with juggling kids, maternity leave, work, church, charity and how she evaluates her heart and priorities in her decision making process. She helpfully reflects on God's perspective of work, how it's complicated to navigate priorities and offers encouragement to mothers in a variety of working situations.

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"Sometimes we're so much better at putting this together to explain to our children, and it makes so much more sense to me!"

"Our relationship with work, church and home life will always be complex, and it will always be tainted by sin. But we can bring these things to God, we can be prayerful women, assessing our heart, and dwelling in God's Word. True satisfaction is in God's Word and not in our work or church or family. 


"I think this is God working in my sinful heart as well. And I think people will experience this in different ways. But it's taken me a long time of failing myself, and disappointing myself, and God, and my bosses, and my husband, and my family, my friends. And through all of that, I've learnt I really can't be great at everything. There's no way."

"So it's right for us to work, but also realising that we were given that work before the fall, before our sin.

And I think that's really helpful because that shows that our complex relationship that we have to have with work because of that. Sin touches everything that we do. And so we shouldn't be surprised that we feel a discomfort or a tension when it comes to work. And whether that's a desire to be working more or not working at all. I think that that's a reality of this side of creation."

"How are you using the skills, the gifts, the things that God has given you? Whether that's because of your work or because of your family situation. How are you using all of those things to God's glory?"

Living as a christian can often feel weird.  How do you incorporate it into the everyday moments, not just on Sunday? Hear from Jani and how she's seeking to live out her faith organically in every part of her life and in doing so, point her boys to Jesus. She helpfully shares the three simple questions she asks when reading the bible and how she fits it into her week.

"I try and prioritise my relationship with God by the way I go about my conversations with my boys. I just try and incorporate it into my language and try and model patience, grace, forgiveness and instruction."

"We want our kids seeing us gather with God's people as a priority, so that they see this is what we do. We meet with other people who love the Lord."

"I want to live out my faith organically - following Jesus is who we are and how we go about our days. I want to model how the gospel applies to everyday moments, in everyday situations."

"Aside from my little people, my struggle is with my lack of self discipline and being organised enough. Not prioritising other things like mindlessly scrolling social media. Reading the bible is harder as it's a conscious effort to stop, sit down, comprehend and think it through. "

"Mama, you're redeemed, you're adopted, you're His child and you're saved. Your sin has been washed away. Though you feel distant, you're not. Nothing can separate you from Him. Whether you've had a good day or a bad day, whether you've been self-controlled or you've snapped, what you do or don't do doesn't change your standing before the Lord. You're His. He’s holding onto you and you're His to keep."

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Motherhood is hard. Every time Rachel cried out to God for help and relief, she was met with radio silence. Did God hear her? Did God care? Does God even exist?  Hear Rachel's Unsung Story, where she dealt with unmet expectations in motherhood, being humbled and wrestling with big doubts as to God's existence and care for her in a difficult season of life.

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"Every breath that we are given is a gift from the Lord, and that it's not something thats owed to you, but  your chest is rising and falling because God is allowing it to, and he can take that away at any time. Every breath you have is an opportunity to repent and turn to him."

"I feel like there is not a single part of my identity that has not been affected by becoming a mother. Sometimes I can't even remember who I was before. I miss her a bit".

"A lot of my hopes in how parenting would go was tied up in how I was perceived by others."

"I don't think it was on my heart to please God. Like those things, to be calm and patient and all those things. I don't think that was from a Godly place. I do think it was really concerned with making others think I was good."

"I'd felt so much shame about having doubt and that I'd need to sort it out intellectually, on my own, because what would God think of me if He knew I was doubting he existed?"

"I thought if I was a better christian, I'd believe harder, I wouldn't be doubting - what kind of christian doubts? And then here's this Psalmist talking about being in a really vulnerable state of doubt... and I was amazed. I should have come to God with my doubts, and processed them in his presence and prayed through them. "

"Our feelings without the appeal of "remember who God is, remember what He's done" can lead us to believe that God doesn't care or that He's forgotten us. They can be misleading. "


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