With You in the Weeds: Where Faith Meets Mental Health

What happens when the life you thought you were building suddenly stops making sense? A career takes an unexpected turn. A job disappears. A diagnosis changes the way you understand yourself. And the carefully constructed picture of work, family, and the future begins to unravel, exposing that work-life balance doesn’t actually exist.

In this episode of Performing Under Pressure, hosts John Tinnin, MFT, and Lynn Roush, LPC, sit down with David and Molly Cover, a couple who found themselves navigating multiple job losses, major career transitions, the discovery of ADHD, and the anxiety and grief that came with all of it.

Listen in as David and Molly share honestly about what happened when their plans collided with a reality they couldn’t control, and how the pressure affected their marriage, their parenting, their identities, and their faith. As they turned to God, counseling, and their community for support, they learned to navigate their anxieties rather than be controlled by them. 

But this isn’t a story about having everything figured out. It’s a story about being disoriented, surrendering the illusion of control, and learning to reorient around what matters most. If you find yourself losing balance and going in a direction you didn’t expect, God may be redirecting your destination and giving you the gift of learning to rely on him.

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Do you remember the teacher who believed in you before you believed in yourself?

What you might not remember is everything happening behind the scenes for that teacher: the stress of classroom management, difficult decisions, competing demands, and quiet sacrifices that made learning seem effortless.

In this eye-opening episode of our Performing Under Pressure series, Austin Conner, PLPC, sits down with elementary school teacher Lexie Darrough to talk about what it’s really like to stand at the front of a classroom. Their conversation explores teacher burnout, the challenge of caring for both the hearts and minds of students, the partnership between parents and educators, and the surprising freedom that comes from remembering that God loves every child even more than we do.

Today’s teachers are educators, counselors, mediators, encouragers, detectives, performers, and safe people for children whose lives outside the classroom may be anything but stable. They carry the pressure of helping every student succeed while navigating changing expectations, endless assessments, and the reality that no two children walk through the classroom door with the same needs.

Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, or simply someone who wants to better understand the people shaping the next generation, Lexie’s wisdom offers encouragement for anyone trying to faithfully serve others under pressure.

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Most of us will never have to tell someone they have months to live. We won’t have to sit across from a patient and tell them that we have exhausted even the most advanced treatments modern medicine can provide. But there are doctors who face the realities of life and death every day.

In this profound episode of our new series, Performing Under Pressure, Austin Conner, PLPC, sits down with his longtime friend, Dr. Brandon Huffman, a gastrointestinal oncologist and clinical researcher, to explore what it's like to live at the intersection of extraordinary scientific progress and profound human suffering. 

Together they look beyond the white coat and into the unseen pressures physicians carry: the expectations they place on themselves, the limits of medicine, and the emotional cost of walking with patients through the hardest moments of their lives. Throughout the conversation, Brandon shares how his Christian faith enables him to face suffering honestly without losing hope, even when healing doesn't come in the way he or his patients desperately want.

Whether you work in medicine, care for people in another high-pressure profession, or simply wonder how to remain faithful when you're confronted with problems you can't fix, this conversation offers a thoughtful and deeply human perspective on calling, compassion, and the hope that endures even in the face of death.

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What keeps someone steady when every decision could mean the difference between life and death?

Most of us will never command soldiers through a war zone or spend our days searching for hidden roadside bombs. But we all know what it feels like to carry responsibilities that seem heavier than we can bear. Whether you’re leading a family through a crisis, making difficult decisions at work, or simply trying to stay faithful in a stressful season, pressure has a way of revealing where you place your trust.

In this gripping episode of our new series, Performing Under Pressure, Shay Roush, M.Div., sits down with Vince Bentinganan, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former Commander of Bravo Company, 110th Engineer Battalion, to talk about the realities of searching for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during Operation Iraqi Freedom, a hostile environment with brutal physical, mental, and spiritual conditions.

As they reflect on their 20-year friendship, Vince shares openly about the stress of combat, the weight of leadership, and the spiritual disciplines that kept him grounded during deployment. It turns out that things like prayer, godly friendships, connection, and encouragement are helpful even in one of the most dangerous environments imaginable.

Whether you’re navigating a season of overwhelming responsibility or simply wondering how to remain steady when life feels scary or uncertain, Vince’s story of faith under fire offers timeless wisdom and abundant hope.

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What does it take to stay calm when someone else’s life is on the line? That's something the first guest for our new series, 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲, knows about firsthand.

In this enlightening interview, Austin Conner, PLPC, sits down with Caroline Vandervoort, an emergency room nurse at University Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, to find out what it’s like to work in the trauma bay.

Caroline will explain the pressure of caring for patients on the hardest day of their lives, receiving criticism without becoming cynical, battling compassion fatigue, and seeking to serve Jesus in every aspect of her job - big and small.

Whether you work in healthcare or not, we think you’ll find yourself in Caroline’s story. Because ultimately, this episode isn’t just about emergency medicine. It’s about remaining compassionate under pressure, pursuing excellence without losing your soul, and discovering that Jesus is present even in trauma and chaos.

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What if the biggest obstacle to financial peace isn’t how much money you make, but the story you believe about money?

Most of us spend our lives chasing “just a little more”, assuming that the next raise, investment, or financial milestone will finally bring contentment. Yet some people with modest incomes build lasting wealth, while others who earn millions end up anxious and always wanting more. Maybe the problem isn’t our finances at all. Maybe it’s our hearts.

In this stirring episode, the conclusion to our Beach Reads for Real Life series, Shay Roush, M.Div., takes a close look at The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. Despite its title, it’s not really a book about budgeting, investing, or financial formulas. It’s about human behavior.

As Shay explains three important principles from Housel’s book, you’ll discover that your relationship with money is rarely just about dollars and cents. It’s about contentment instead of comparison, freedom instead of appearance, and faithfulness instead of instant results. Ultimately, money is not only a reflection of what you believe about God, but an invitation to trust him to provide.

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One conversation can either strengthen a relationship or start to unravel it. Most of us don't wake up intending to say the wrong thing, yet we've all replayed conversations in our heads, wishing we'd responded with more wisdom, more clarity, or fewer words. Healthy communication isn't just something we wish we could do; it's a skill we all have to learn.

That's why Austin Conner, PLPC, chose The Next Conversation: Argue Less and Talk More by Jefferson Fisher as his Beach Read for Real Life. Rather than offering vague advice to "communicate better," Fisher gives practical tools you can start using immediately. Drawing from his experience as a trial lawyer, he shows how communication skills can dramatically change the outcome of our conversations and improve our relationships.

Listen in as Austin explores the timeless wisdom behind Fisher’s ideas through the lens of Scripture. You’ll discover that for Christians, communication isn’t just a personality trait or a professional skill; it’s part of being a disciple. Every conversation becomes an opportunity to practice humility, pursue peace, and reflect the character of Christ to the people around you.

Recommended Resource: The Next Conversation: Argue Less and Talk More by Jefferson Fisher

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Have you ever wondered if your body knows something that your mind hasn't caught up to yet? 

Maybe you’ve always thought of stress as an emotional experience; something that affects your mood, your thoughts, or your relationships. But what if stress has a profound effect on your body? And what if that stress started when you felt like you couldn’t say no?

In this next episode of our summer series, Beach Reads for Real Life, Lynn Roush, LPC, explores a fascinating and sometimes controversial question posed by the book When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Maté: What happens when the need to be loved, accepted, or needed becomes so important that we lose touch with our own limits?

You’ll be challenged to consider the ways your life experiences, coping strategies, and emotional patterns may have shaped your physical health or recent diagnosis. At the same time, Christians need a framework that goes beyond psychology alone. Scripture reminds us that not all suffering is a problem to solve. Some suffering comes from faithfulness, sacrifice, and obedience to Christ.

Listen in as Lynn examines where Maté’s insights are helpful, where they may fall short, and how the gospel speaks to our deepest need for love, connection, and healing. You’ll discover that when your life is in God’s hands, you are free to be honest about your wounds because your worth is already secure in Christ.

Recommended Resource: When the Body Says No: The Hidden Cost of Stress by Gabor Maté

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What if the problem isn’t that God has left you—but that he’s leading you somewhere you never expected to go?

Few experiences are more unsettling for a Christian than the feeling that God has become distant. You pray, read Scripture, attend church, and try to stay faithful, yet the warmth and certainty you once felt seem to disappear. When that happens, many of us immediately assume we’ve done something wrong. We begin searching for the mistake, wondering why God feels absent and how we can get back to where we used to be.

In the first episode of our short summer series, Beach Reads for Real Life, listen in as John Tinnin talks about the book When God Seems Distant: Surprising Ways God Deepens Our Faith and Draws Us Near by Kyle Strobel & John Coe. The authors challenge the assumption that the Christian life should be a steady climb from one spiritual high to the next. Instead, they show how God often does some of his deepest work in seasons of uncertainty, silence, and longing—times when we can’t rely on feelings and are invited to trust him in new ways.

What makes this book so refreshing is its honesty. Rather than offering quick fixes or formulas for getting God back, it gives language to feelings many believers experience but rarely discuss. The authors invite us to stop treating the spiritual life like a self-improvement project and begin seeing it as a relationship that often grows through vulnerability, dependence, and surrender. For anyone who has ever wondered why God feels far away, this book offers both comfort and a different way of understanding the journey. 

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It often seems like the Ten Commandments are about outward behavior: Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Don’t cheat. Don’t kill. But “You shall not covet” reaches into the hidden places of the heart where comparison and dissatisfaction grow. Even when our lives look fine on the outside, our hearts can still be restless, angry, and convinced that everyone else has been given something better.

In this introspective last episode of our 10 Keys to the Universe series, John Tinnin, MFT, and Shay Roush, M.Div., explore why coveting is more than simply wanting nice things. Envy has the power to shape our entire lives, turning good desires into controlling desires. Coveting affects the way we see our homes, relationships, success, possessions, and our sense of worth. Along the way, they look at why this commandment leaves even the Apostle Paul feeling exposed, and why comparison never actually satisfies.

They also talk about the difference between healthy desire and destructive craving, and why contentment must be learned over time. Coveting is actually connected to the first commandment about idolatry: whatever we believe will finally make us happy can slowly take God’s place in our hearts. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus meets the ache underneath all our desires.

If you’ve ever struggled with comparison, disappointment, envy, or the feeling that everyone else’s life is better than yours, this conversation is for you. Listen to the full episode as we wrap up our series on the Ten Commandments and discover how true contentment is found not in getting everything we want, but in belonging to the God who already loves us completely.

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