Date: September 1, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Amber Johns

Story Highlights:

In this heart-stirring episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek reunites with longtime friend Amber Johns, founder of BRAVE Ministries and New York State Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), for a conversation about discipleship, identity, and raising a generation of bold, courageous women of faith. Debbie and Amber first met at Bethlehem Community in 2011, when Amber's sons were six and three years old. Fifteen years later, those boys are grown and Amber is leading a ministry the Lord has spent years preparing her to carry.

Amber shares the story behind BRAVE, an acronym for Bold, Redeemed, Anointed, Victorious, and Eternal, and how it grew out of her work mentoring female athletes through FCA into its own nonprofit ministry serving girls and women of every age. She and Debbie dig into what she calls the discipleship deficit, the growing number of Christian women who cannot name who is discipling them or who they are discipling in return, and why that gap leaves so many believers stalled in their spiritual growth.

The conversation turns to The Great Rescue, the framework Amber built by drawing a deliberate parallel between the language of human trafficking and the way the enemy grooms and entangles women and girls spiritually. Rather than playing defense, Amber calls the church to go on the offense for the next generation. She and Debbie also talk through the real difference between attending a Bible study and walking in true discipleship, the idea of spiritual orphans (believers, often in their thirties, forties, and beyond, who have never had someone pour into them), and why Amber believes small groups and mentoring relationships should be multigenerational rather than divided by life stage.

Listeners will hear the biblical stories of Jael and the daughters of Zelophehad (including Noah) as pictures of bold, decisive obedience, plus the moving story of how God gave Amber the name Watchman through the teaching of Jamie Winship and the book of Ezekiel, and what it cost her to accept it. Amber and Debbie close with a challenge every listener can act on this week: pray for one person God wants you to disciple, then obey when He brings that person across your path.

Topics covered in this episode include:

About Our Guest:

Amber Johns is the founder of BRAVE Ministries, a discipleship movement dedicated to equipping girls and women to live courageously in their God-given identity and mission. Known for her honest, relatable, and hope-filled teaching style, Amber creates space for hard conversations that lead to healing, freedom, and spiritual growth. She currently serves as the New York State Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and has spent years mentoring and discipling women, athletes, leaders, and students, whether speaking at conferences, retreats, churches, leadership gatherings, or student events. Amber's heart is to see women rise up as courageous followers of Christ: women who are decisive in their faith, obedient to God's voice, and committed to making disciples who make disciples.

Amber and her husband, Greg, live in New York and are raising two sons, now 23 and 20. BRAVE Ministries operated under the covering of FCA for several years before becoming its own independent nonprofit about a year and a half ago, with support from Amber's home church.

Ministry & Conference Spotlight - BRAVE Ministries:

BRAVE stands for Bold, Redeemed, Anointed, Victorious, and Eternal, the identity Amber believes God has given every woman to walk out in her calling. What started as informal conversations among a small group of female FCA staff, asking what girls in sports and in life were really facing, has grown into a discipleship ministry that serves girls and women of all ages, athletes and non-athletes alike, through mentoring, conferences, and resources built around real, unfiltered conversations.

BRAVE's fourth annual conference is coming up, and this year's gathering is built around one of the harder conversations Christian women and parents are facing today: how to walk alongside those navigating sexuality and gender identity with both biblical conviction and genuine love. Friday night is a workshop led by Lex Rennick, who lived for fourteen years as a man before coming to a place of surrender and detransitioning back to life as a woman. Lex now shares her story alongside practical, Spirit-led guidance for ministering to the LGBTQ community, walking with prodigal children, and having these conversations without compromise or contempt. Saturday brings a recorded message from author and speaker Mo Isom, along with a second teaching session from Lex.

Amber recommends the conference for ages 13 and up, at parental discretion, and encourages parents to preview the material on the BRAVE Ministries website ahead of time and to use the drive home as a chance to keep the conversation going with their daughters.

Learn more, watch past teaching, or register for the conference at BRAVE Ministries and read more about Amber's role with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Upstate New York.

If you want to go deeper on a few of the ideas from this episode, Amber recommends Pray for One by Bo Chancey, a short, practical guide to praying for and pursuing one person at a time, and the teaching ministry of Jamie Winship and Identity Exchange, which shapes Amber's understanding of identity in Christ. Mo Isom's book, Sex, Jesus, and the Conversations the Church Forgot, is a helpful resource for the same conversations the BRAVE Conference will address.

Connect with Amber:

Website: amberjjohns.com

Facebook: BRAVE Ministry

FCA New York: nyfca.org

Email: [email protected]

Closing Thought:

Amber's story is a reminder that discipleship was never meant to be complicated, only costly. It starts with one honest question between you and God (what do You call me, and who do You want me to see), and it moves forward one obedient step, one relationship, one girl at a time. As Debbie says every week, when we're willing to share what the Lord has done in our lives, He uses those stories to change the course of history and the outcome of eternity, one heart at a time. This week, that might simply look like praying for one.

Date: August 26, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Debbie Dufek interviewed by Nancy Haack, Part Two

Story Highlights:

The conversation Debbie Dufek and her friend Nancy Haack began last week deepens in this second half, moving from the daily rhythm of trusting God into the tender, lifelong work of surrendering the things we love most. On The Women Behind the Words, Debbie is usually the one asking the questions, and it is a gift to hear her answer them, tracing what a life of following God's lead has actually cost, taught, and given her over the years.

Debbie opens by challenging a fear many of us carry, that handing our dreams to God means losing them. If a godly hope first came from Him, she says, then giving it back is not surrender to loss but an open door for Him to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think. She describes a practice she returns to nearly every day, lifting up open, empty hands full of the very things that could crush her, her children who are not yet walking with the Lord, her husband's brain injury, the hopes she has not yet seen answered, and praying simply, "Lord, take this. I don't want what You don't want for me."

That trust opens into one of the episode's richest threads, the difference between controlling the people we love and stewarding them. Debbie speaks honestly as a self described fiery mother who once repeated her convictions to her children three times in a single hour, until a teaching convicted her that God asks us to share our stand once, maybe twice, and then step back. She and Nancy talk about what it means to steward God's love, kindness, and hope in a home instead of leading with worry and fear, and Debbie models a humility many parents wrestle with, returning to her grown children and her little ones alike to ask forgiveness when she has spoken in haste. To ask forgiveness and to offer it freely, they agree, may be one of the most lasting inheritances a mother can leave.

With the perspective of a long life of faith, the two women name what matters less as the years pass and what matters more. For Nancy, what has fallen away is the weight of what people think. For Debbie, what remains is a longing to live for an audience of One. She reflects on keeping short accounts, refusing to let the sun go down on anger, and slowly learning to see herself through God's eyes rather than measuring her worth against the noise of Instagram and Facebook. When the Lord takes the lead, she says, His voice grows louder than the static of the world, and that changes the way we walk.

Some of the most moving moments come as Debbie speaks about two of the hardest disciplines of faith, waiting and silence. Leaning on the promise that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and rise up on wings like eagles, she shares a picture a pastor once gave her during a season when God felt quiet: in the silence, our roots are going down deep. Nancy points to Joseph, whose long wait held pruning, preparation, and a prospering hand even inside a prison. Debbie recalls her own thirty year wait between God's call to write and the release of her first book, years spent homeschooling five of her seven children and caring for aging parents in her home, and she says now she is grateful she was made to wait, certain she was not ready any sooner.

She also shares how ordinary seasons quietly prepared her for what God had ahead. She remembers kneeling at a window at Shiloh Christian Retreat Center four years before her family moved there, sensing God whisper that she was home, and the deep character work He did in her heart in the waiting. Most unforgettable is her account of a difficult man at the retreat center she simply could not bring herself to love, until a Keith Green song broke something open and filled her with a compassion that was not her own, for a man God went on to heal, deliver, and restore to his wife. Only God, she says, does that kind of work.

The episode draws to a close on the passion that drives everything Debbie does, helping women believe their own stories matter. Tracing the fracture in her own foundation back to the death of her father when she was fifteen, and the hope she found watching Jesus transform her brother's life, she insists that no one is too broken and no one too ordinary for God to use their story. She encourages a daily practice of gratitude, telling the Lord over and over how thankful she is simply to belong to Him. And to everyone who feels overlooked, tired, or afraid, she offers a promise she has staked her life on: you are not neglected, you are not marginal in God's eyes, you are dearly loved, and He sees you exactly where you are. Her closing invitation is quiet and freeing, to stop laboring for God and begin living with Him, working side by side with the One who has never once looked away.

About Our Guest:

Debbie Dufek is an inspirational storyteller at heart, along with being an author, conference and retreat speaker, certified writing and speaking coach, and the creator and host of The Women Behind the Words podcast. Everything she does grows from a single conviction, that every person's story matters to God and can carry His hope to someone else. She has spent decades encouraging women to live deliberately for what matters to Jesus, whether from a stage, in a Bible study, or across a kitchen table. Debbie is the author of Holy Interruptions: When God Taps You on the Shoulder, published by Bold Vision Books in 2022, and her newest release, Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose, published by Shepherd's Pen Press in 2026. She makes her home in upstate New York with her husband Bob, still her sweetheart after fifty years, at the center of a lively, ever growing family of seven children, twenty-two grandchildren, and a rising number of great-grandchildren, some of them as far away as Switzerland.

Book Spotlight:

Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose

So much of the conversation in this episode, the open hands, the waiting, the letting go of control, is the beating heart of Debbie's newest book. Lord, Take the Lead is her invitation to trade striving for surrender, to stop working anxiously for God and learn instead to walk with Him through every ordinary and extraordinary season. Drawing on the My Business Meeting with God practice that first reshaped her own days, Debbie weaves together honest stories, Scripture, and gentle, livable wisdom for the woman who feels she is carrying too much alone. Here you will find encouragement for holding your dreams loosely, stewarding the people you love without controlling them, and trusting God's timing even when He seems silent. It is not a call to do more. It is a hope filled path toward peace, clarity, and the quiet freedom of following where God leads. Lord, Take the Lead is available now on Amazon.

Connect with Debbie:

Debbie would love to walk alongside you. You can find her ministry, her writing, and her heart for storytelling at debbiedufek.com, or reach out to her personally at [email protected]. She shares everyday encouragement and glimpses of family life on Instagram at @deb.dufek and on Facebook at Debbie Cone Dufek, and a new episode of The Women Behind the Words arrives every week on Podbean.

Closing Thought:

If you take one thing from Debbie's story, let it be this: you are not overlooked. In a world that measures worth by noise and applause and the passing opinions of others, she points steadily to the only voice that lasts, the God who calls us His own, sees us in our waiting, and keeps working long after the platform grows quiet. Whatever season you are in, He is not finished with you. He is still shaping, still leading, and still inviting you to lay down the striving and simply walk the rest of the way with Him.

Date: August 18, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Debbie Dufek interviewed by Nancy Haack, Part One

Story Highlights:

In this special episode of The Women Behind the Words, the tables are turned. Host Debbie Dufek steps to the other side of the microphone as her dear friend Nancy Haack takes over as interviewer, and what unfolds is a warm, unhurried conversation about faith, transformation, and learning to walk through daily life with God rather than simply working for Him.

Debbie rarely accepts the guest seat, so this hour is a genuine gift for longtime listeners. She opens by reflecting on who she is when no one is watching, tracing the distance between the woman she was before meeting Jesus in April of 1974 and the woman the Holy Spirit is still shaping today. She shares, with real tenderness, how her grandchildren describe her as kind, gentle, patient, and trusting of God, and she is quick to give the credit where she believes it belongs. These are not qualities she manufactured through effort, she explains, but the fruit of a lifelong walk with the Lord. Anchoring the whole conversation is Philippians one, verse six, and the hope she draws from it: that God will faithfully continue the good work He has begun in each of us.

From there, Debbie tells the story that changed how she moves through her days. Years ago, gluing the last of the hair onto a handmade doll for a retreat secret sister and already running late, she found herself gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white on the short drive to Shiloh Retreat Center. In that small, ordinary moment she sensed God gently telling her she was not meant to live in a constant rush. That day marked the end of a frantic season and the beginning of a practice she still keeps: giving God her minutes and her moments, her clock time and her sacred time, every single day.

Debbie and Nancy explore what it looks like to trust God with an overwhelming to-do list rather than carrying it alone. Debbie recalls the morning she had to fit a third of her home into the other two thirds to make room for her daughter's family, and how God met her in her quiet time with Proverbs sixteen, verse three, the reminder to commit our work to the Lord so that our plans will succeed. She talks honestly about being a recovering overplanner, about the difference between striving and stewardship, and about the freedom of letting God decide what truly belongs on her plate. Nancy adds her own gentle wisdom, describing how simply surrendering the first five minutes of the morning to God reshaped the rest of her day.

The conversation then turns to the heart behind Debbie's newest book, Lord, Take the Lead. She describes the marketing struggle that followed the release of her first book, Holy Interruptions, and how a single quiet prayer led her to an eighteen minute video on the idea of holding a business meeting with God. That concept cracked something open. She realized God did not want to lead only her business, He wanted to be, in her words, the Chief Organizing Engineer of her entire life. What began as a marketing question became an invitation to live the whole of her days with God, deliberately and unhurried, for what matters most to Him.

This is only the beginning of the conversation. Part Two continues next week.

About Our Guest:

Debbie Dufek is an author, conference and retreat speaker, inspirational storyteller, certified writing and speaking coach, and the creator and host of The Women Behind the Words podcast. Her passion is encouraging women to live deliberately for what matters to Jesus, and she believes every person's story is significant and worth sharing for the glory of God. She is the author of Holy Interruptions: When God Taps You on the Shoulder, released by Bold Vision Books in 2022, and Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose, released by Shepherd's Pen Press in 2026. Debbie lives in upstate New York with her husband Bob, still her sweetheart after fifty years, surrounded by a lively family that includes seven children, twenty-two grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren, with a few loved ones as far away as Switzerland.

Book Spotlight:

Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose

Grown from Debbie's own My Business Meeting with God practice, Lord, Take the Lead is an invitation into a daily rhythm of meeting with God so that every decision, every dream, and every season is shaped by His guidance instead of our striving. Through heartfelt stories, biblical encouragement, and practical wisdom, Debbie shows what it looks like to hand God the lead not only in business and ministry but at the kitchen table, in the homeschool planner, in the marketplace, and in the quiet, unseen places of faithfulness. This is not a book about doing more for God. It is a gentle, hope filled guide to walking the with-God life, learning to stop striving, and starting instead to follow where He leads. It is available now on Amazon.

Connect with Debbie:

You can learn more about Debbie and her ministry at her website, debbiedufek.com, or reach her directly by email at [email protected]. She shares encouragement and glimpses of daily life on Instagram at @deb.dufek, and new episodes of The Women Behind the Words are available each week on Podbean.

Closing Thought:

Debbie's story is a quiet, steady reminder that God is never finished with us. Whatever season we find ourselves in, rushed, weary, or unsure of our next step, He is still writing, still shaping, and still inviting us to give Him our minutes and our moments and simply let Him lead.

Date: August 11, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Amy Loflin

Story Highlights:

In this deeply moving episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek welcomes author, coach, and speaker Amy Loflin for a tender and honest conversation about forgiveness, healing from trauma, and the freedom Jesus offers when we let Him meet us in our darkest places. Amy is the co-founder of Echo Joy Collective, a ministry that guides Christian women into a deeper, more intimate walk with God, and that heart is present in every moment of this exchange.

Amy opens by sharing the pilgrimage that gave birth to her book. After years of doing all the right things, serving on church staff, tithing, praying, and studying Scripture, she still felt a holy hunger she could not satisfy. Sensing the Holy Spirit inviting her to go deeper, she set aside six to seven months to immerse herself in seven New Testament stories of people who encountered Jesus and were transformed. Each month she paired one story with a fast, releasing something in her life to stay tender to what God was revealing. She describes fasting from food, from comfort, even sleeping on the floor, and fasting from vanity during the month she sat with the woman with the issue of blood, identifying with that woman's sense of betrayal by her own body.

Debbie and Amy linger on that woman's story, tracing it in three movements: who she was before, isolated and living from shame and rejection, who she became when she reached out and touched the hem of His garment, and who she was after Jesus called her out of the crowd. They reflect on the beauty of Jesus stopping, asking who touched Him, and drawing her voice into the open so her story could be told rather than hidden. Most tender of all is the moment He calls her daughter, claiming her, pronouncing her clean, and welcoming her back into community.

From there the conversation moves into Amy's own long journey of forgiveness. With gentleness and courage she shares the childhood sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of someone her parents trusted, and the layers of healing God walked her through over decades. She recounts the first assurance she needed, that God was present with her in that room, and the later season when her abuser reappeared in her life and God asked her a question that changed everything: what made her so sure it was the enemy, and not His grace, placing that man in her path. In one unforgettable moment, God reminded her that she was not the only one in that room He was there for, turning her healing from a story about one man's sin into a story about the magnitude of God's mercy.

Debbie shares from her own life as well, including the sudden loss of her father when she was fifteen and the wall of self protection she did not know she had built until God broke it open years later. Together they name anticipatory grief, the quiet habit of grieving loved ones before they are gone in an attempt to guard against future pain, and how that self protection can shut out the very love we long for. Their conversation is a reminder that forgiveness and healing come in seasons and layers, that God is patient with the process, and that there is always more of Him to discover.

About Our Guest:

Amy Loflin is an author, coach, and seasoned speaker known for connecting deeply with women through authentic, heartfelt storytelling grounded in biblical truth. She is the co-founder and CEO of Echo Joy Collective, a ministry created to help women encounter God more intimately and step into the extraordinary story He is writing with their lives. With a background in counseling and more than a decade of church leadership, Amy equips women to move out of striving and self-doubt and into wholeness, clarity, and freedom. Warm, compassionate, and quick to laughter, she brings practical insight to the questions women carry about faith, identity, and purpose.

Book Spotlight:

A Story Worth Living: Reclaim Your Confidence, Purpose, and Peace is Amy Loflin's invitation to move past a surface-level faith and into a genuine encounter with Jesus. Written out of her own pilgrimage, the book weaves familiar Scripture with the raw and personal stories of her life, showing that the same God who met men and women in the Gospels is still pursuing each of us today. Readers walk alongside characters like the woman with the issue of blood and discover fresh depth in stories they thought they knew, learning to slow down, immerse themselves fully, and imagine their way into the scene until Scripture becomes personal. More than a study, it is a gentle guide toward healing, forgiveness, and identity, helping women trade shame and self-doubt for the confidence, peace, and purpose of a beloved daughter of God. Whether read on your own or with a group of friends, it offers small, faithful steps toward a vibrant and enduring faith. You can learn more or begin your own journey through the book at echojoycollective.com.

Connect with Amy:

Website: www.echojoycollective.com

Closing Thought:

Amy's story reminds us that healing is rarely a single event and forgiveness is rarely finished in one season. God meets us in the dark rooms of our lives, reminds us we were never alone, and then, when we are ready, invites us to peel back one more layer. His grace is big enough to hold both our pain and our healing, and He is patient enough to keep working until we see Him face to face. If you have ever believed your story was too broken to matter, Amy's life is proof that the same God who pursued a suffering woman two thousand years ago is still pursuing you.

Date: August 4, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Esther Camealy

Story Highlights:

In this deeply moving episode of The Women Behind the Words, host Debbie Dufek welcomes author, speaker, and bereaved mother Esther Camealy for an honest conversation about faith, grief, and finding God in the darkest valleys of loss. Esther shares the story at the heart of her award-winning debut memoir, My Song in the Night: Worshiping When the World Goes Dark, walking listeners through the journey that began at a routine twelve-week ultrasound when she and her husband, Clint, learned their fourth baby had trisomy 13, a genetic condition the medical community considers incompatible with life.

Rather than asking why this was happening to her, Esther chose a posture of why not me, trusting that God's strength is made perfect in weakness. She and Clint carried their son Isaac to full term, welcomed him into a family that had already learned to love him, and cherished the forty-three precious hours of his life. At his graveside they released forty-three butterflies, one for every hour he lived, the tender image that gives Esther's ministry its name.

Throughout the conversation, Esther and Debbie explore what it means to grieve well as an act of love, to encounter Jesus as the man of sorrows, and to wrestle honestly with God without letting go of Him. Esther speaks candidly about journaling her rawest prayers, leaning on her study of Job and Revelation, and discovering that God draws uniquely near to the brokenhearted. She and Debbie, who has walked her own road of pregnancy loss, reflect on how grief can become a sacred resource God uses to bring comfort, connection, and unexpected beauty from ashes.

This episode also offers gentle wisdom for families in the thick of loss. Esther shares how she and Clint modeled faith for their children in the hardest season, why grieving fathers are so often overlooked, and how a husband and wife can give one another the grace and space to mourn differently. Whether you have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss yourself, or you love someone who has, Esther's story is a companion for the journey and a reminder that God can be trusted with our very lives, even when the world goes dark.

About Our Guest:

Esther Camealy is an author, speaker, and bereaved mother devoted to walking alongside families navigating loss and helping others find honest faith through suffering. She is the author of the award-winning debut memoir My Song in the Night: Worshiping When the World Goes Dark, in which she offers vulnerable, hard-won spiritual insights on surrender and the discovery of God's sustaining presence in the deepest valleys.

Esther lives with her family in Huntsville, Alabama, where she writes at the dining table her husband, Clint, lovingly built, balancing daily life with school drop-offs and a relentless mountain of laundry. Through her website at 43butterflies.com she offers curated resources for families experiencing prenatal diagnosis, pregnancy, or infant loss, including bereavement support for the often overlooked siblings, fathers, grandparents, and medical professionals who serve them.

Book Spotlight:

My Song in the Night: Worshiping When the World Goes Dark

When Esther and Clint Camealy learned that their unborn son would not survive, they faced a choice no expectant parent imagines: how to love, welcome, and release a child in the same breath. My Song in the Night is Esther's unflinching account of that journey, from the diagnosis of trisomy 13 through Isaac's birth, his forty-three hours of life, and the long, uneven road toward healing that followed.

What sets this memoir apart is its refusal to offer easy answers. Esther does not tie grief up with a bow or rush past the sorrow to reach the redemption. Instead she invites readers into the questions themselves, the wrestling, the doubt, and the honesty of praying when God feels silent, and she shows how worship in the middle of that darkness became the most costly and genuine gift she could give. Drawing on Scripture, the support of her community, and her daily practice of prayer journaling, she traces how sorrow and faith can be held together rather than forced apart.

For any parent walking through pregnancy or infant loss, for anyone caring for a grieving friend, or for readers longing to believe that beauty can rise from ashes, My Song in the Night is a steady and compassionate companion. It is a testament to the nearness of God to the brokenhearted and to the quiet truth that a song of praise can still be sung, even when the night feels endless.

Connect with Esther:

Website: 43butterflies.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: facebook.com/esther.neal.7

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/esther-neal-camealy-89607911

On her website you will also find her Resource Center for families facing prenatal diagnosis, pregnancy, or infant loss, a free first chapter of My Song in the Night, and a Spotify playlist of the songs that carried her through her darkest nights.

Closing Thought:

Esther's story reminds us that God never promises a pain-free life, but He does promise never to leave us. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. Whatever dark night you may be walking through, He is near to the brokenhearted, He can be trusted with your deepest grief, and He is still writing beauty from the ashes.

Date: July 28, 2026

Story Highlights:

In this heartfelt episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek sits down with her own granddaughter, Noa Razen, a worship leader and ministry servant with a deep passion for helping the next generation know and walk with Jesus. What happens when a young person discovers that God isn't simply asking them to do something for Him, but inviting them to walk with Him?

With honesty and humility, Noa shares her journey from an ordinary high school student to serving with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). She opens up about hearing God's gentle call, wrestling with uncertainty, and ultimately saying yes to an adventure that changed her life. From her training at YWAM's base in Kona, Hawaii, to outreach in Fiji and recent mission experiences mentoring hundreds of students, Noa takes us behind the scenes of what it truly means to step into God's calling as a young person.

This conversation is especially close to Debbie's heart, a rare and beautiful glimpse into two generations sharing the same love for Jesus. Together, they offer practical wisdom for parents, grandparents, church leaders, and anyone longing to see young people build an authentic, life-giving relationship with God.

In this episode, Debbie and Noa explore:

Whether you're a parent praying for your children, a young adult wondering what God has for your future, or someone who simply wants to encourage the next generation, this conversation is a reminder that God still calls ordinary people to extraordinary purposes.

About Our Guest:

Noa Razen is a worship leader and ministry servant with a heart for helping young people know and walk with Jesus. After completing her training with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Kona, Hawaii, and serving on outreach in Fiji, she returned home with a deep passion for investing in the next generation through worship, discipleship, and local church ministry. She was hired on staff for a year-long internship, where she served in youth ministry, led worship, and mentored students. Today she continues to encourage others to discover a genuine, with-God relationship. Noa is also Debbie's granddaughter, making this conversation a special glimpse into two generations united by their love for Jesus and His calling.

Connect with Noa:

Email: [email protected]

Looking Ahead:

Be sure to catch the teaser for Noa's next visit to the podcast, where she'll share practical, biblical encouragement on overcoming negative thoughts and unhealthy conversations. It's an episode you won't want to miss.

Closing Thought:

God isn't simply calling us to do something for Him. He's inviting us into a relationship where we learn to walk with Him every day. As Scripture reminds us: "Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity" (1 Timothy 4:12, NLT).

Date: July 21, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Myra Ingargiola

Story Highlights:

In this deeply moving episode of The Women Behind the Words, host Debbie Dufek welcomes author, speaker, and Bible study teacher Myra Ingargiola for a heartfelt conversation about discovering the purpose God has already placed within you. Drawing from Proverbs 20:5, which reminds us that the purposes of a person's heart are like deep waters waiting to be drawn out, Myra offers gentle, hard-won wisdom for every woman who has ever wondered whether her life still holds meaning after heartbreak, loss, or unexpected trials.

Myra shares one of the most powerful truths of the episode: that courage is not the absence of fear, but the choice to trust Christ in the middle of it. She encourages listeners to stop striving and start following, staying in step with God rather than running ahead of Him or lagging behind. Purpose, she explains, is not something we create with our own hands. It is something we discover as we wait on the Lord, press into His Word, and allow Him to transform our pain into purpose and our brokenness into a testimony of His faithfulness.

Along the way, Debbie and Myra name the three lies that keep so many women feeling unqualified for God's call: imposter syndrome, the credibility attack, and limiting belief. Myra reframes courage as a skill set rather than a personality trait, a muscle we build through prayer, trust, obedience, and time in Scripture. She speaks tenderly about the importance of seeking wise counsel and surrounding ourselves with praying women, sharing about the faithful prayer team who intercede for her and for whom she intercedes in return.

What makes this conversation unforgettable is Myra's willingness to share her own story. As a survivor of domestic violence, a mother who surrendered a child to adoption, and a parent who has walked through the recent, sudden loss of her youngest child, she speaks with the authority of someone who has found God faithful in the deepest valleys. Her testimony carries one resounding message: God does not rescue us to remain victims. He rescues us to become a voice. Like the woman at the well, we are invited to dip our ladle into the living water and drink deeply, trusting that the God who placed purpose within us will faithfully draw it out.

About Our Guest:

Myra Ingargiola is an author, speaker, and Bible study teacher, as well as a high school guidance secretary who treasures the quiet opportunities to speak life into the students around her. She is a wife of thirty-six years, a mom, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. Myra serves as Interim Women's Ministry Leader at her home church, sings on the worship team, and ministers alongside author Rachel Britton with reNEW, a spiritual retreat for writers and speakers.

Myra considers it a privilege to speak and write, proclaiming God's truth of forgiveness, healing, and redemption. Her deepest passion is to show others how Jesus weaves the threads of a life into a tapestry that displays His amazing love, redeeming grace, and unrelenting mercy. Psalm 116 holds her life Scriptures as a survivor of domestic violence and a mother who surrendered a child to adoption. Amid seasons of profound sadness and exceeding, abundant joy, Myra continues to be bold and courageous as she discovers her purposeful heart for God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Book Spotlight:

The Courage to Write: 62 Devotions to Encourage Your Writing Journey

Myra is a contributing author in The Courage to Write, a collection of sixty-two devotions curated by reNEW co-directors Rachel Britton and Lucinda Secrest McDowell. Gathered from a warm community of Christian writers and speakers, these short, encouraging reflections speak straight to the heart of anyone who has ever felt afraid to share their story or step into their calling. Each devotion is a reminder that God equips those He calls, making this a fitting companion to Myra's message that courage is something we build, one faithful step at a time. It is a beautiful encouragement for writers, speakers, and any woman learning to trust God with the purpose He has placed within her.

Available on Amazon at The Courage to Write and through reNEW at reNEW Writing.com.

Connect with Myra:

You can learn more about Myra and her ministry through her reNEW author profile at https://renewwriting.com/team.

Closing Thought:

Myra's life is living proof that God gives us enough courage to meet each day, even in the midst of pain. Courageous living does not come from anything we manufacture on our own. It comes from intentionally drawing out what God has already placed deep within us and faithfully walking in it, one trusting step at a time. He will not abandon us. He will be our guide, our compass, and the One who leads us through every ebb and flow of the purpose He has written on our hearts.

Date: July 13, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Angie Baughman

Story Highlights:

In this encouraging episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek welcomes Bible teacher Angie Baughman, founder of Steady On Ministries, for a conversation that helps women move from feeling overwhelmed by Scripture to feeling equipped to study it with confidence. Angie opens up about being a trauma and abuse survivor and shares how a young and developing faith carried her through public rejection and heartbreak, teaching her early on that God's Word is the place where real trust in Him takes root. Debbie and Angie talk honestly about the obstacles that keep women from turning to Scripture in hard seasons, from a lack of consistency to simply not knowing where to begin, and Angie points listeners toward the Psalms as a place of comfort where every emotion, from doubt to praise, is welcomed by God. The conversation moves into the heart of Angie's Step By Step Bible Study Method, a simple, five-step, transferable approach built around choosing one word in one verse of Scripture and walking through its definition, its investigation in the original language and in commentary, its revelation of God's character, its exposure of the enemy's lies, and a personal takeaway. Angie shares how the method has grown far beyond her own Bible study group, now used by homeschool families, Christian school classrooms, a bilingual homeschool teaching both Bible and Spanish, and even young women in a juvenile detention center. Debbie and Angie close with a tender reminder that full surrender to God is not a one time decision but a daily returning, and that no matter how small the starting point, God meets us there and multiplies it.

About the Guest:

Angie Baughman is a licensed pastor, Bible teacher, author, and podcaster, and the founder of Steady On Ministries. She holds an MBA from Southern Illinois University and is trained in inductive Bible study through Precept Ministries. Angie created the Step By Step Bible Study Method, a simple and transferable approach that helps women understand Scripture for themselves. Her own journey through trauma, including surviving abuse as a teenager and later a devastating car accident that impacted her entire family, shaped the redemptive, grounded voice she now brings to her teaching. Angie lives in southern Illinois with her husband and two sons, and she hosts the weekly Steady On podcast, where she and her guests unpack a single word and verse of Scripture each week to help listeners grow in clarity and truth.

Book Spotlight:

Cast Your Cares: Recognizing and Speaking to Anxiety is Angie's newest offering, a two part, twelve lesson Bible study that helps readers understand anxiety through the lens of Scripture and respond with God centered trust. In Part One, Conversations That Heal, readers explore how God meets us in the middle of fear through the stories of real women paired with biblical passages that reveal how He brings security when life feels shaky. In Part Two, Talk to Your Triggers, readers are guided through a five step plan for recognizing and addressing anxiety as it rises, drawing on biblical narratives including David's quick anger, Hannah's honest lament, Jacob's altars of remembrance, Esther's surrendered courage, and Peter's restored trust. You can find Cast Your Cares along with Angie's full library of Bible studies, including Be Still, Dress for Success, The Women, Hand in Hand, and more, at livesteadyon.com/books.

Connect with Angie:

Website: https://livesteadyon.com/

Books: https://livesteadyon.com/books/

Step By Step Family Kit (free resource): https://steadyon.myflodesk.com/familykit

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livesteadyon

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angiebaughman421/

Closing Thought:

Angie's story reminds us that God is not waiting for us to arrive at perfect understanding before He meets us in His Word. He is the God of small beginnings, and one word, one verse, and one honest step of trust is enough to begin a lifetime of deeper intimacy with Him.

Date: July 7, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Jennifer E. Tirrell

Story Highlights:

In this rich and reflective episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek welcomes award winning author Jennifer E. Tirrell for a conversation about faith, family, and the generational blessings that outlast us. Jennifer is a kinship adopted orphan who grew up to become a devoted stay at home mother, and her writing consistently points readers, both young and old, back to the Creator through the beauty of creation and the truth of God's Word.

Jennifer opens up about the trauma of losing both parents by age three and how her older sister took her and her sibling in, raised them in the church, and surrounded them with books that shaped their character as much as their imagination. She traces her lifelong love of reading back to that home, and how good literature, from Anne of Green Gables to the Elsie Dinsmore series, helped her heal and understand what makes a story worth telling.

Debbie and Jennifer dig into the idea of a generational blessing, from a great grandmother's handmade baptismal gown to Jennifer's discovery of her ninth great grandmother's grave in England, etched with a symbol of prayer from the Tudor period. That discovery became the seed for her novel Jane's Secret. Jennifer shares her conviction that prayer is the ultimate generational blessing, and that even those without a legacy of faith to draw from can be the first to start one for the generations that follow.

The conversation turns tender as Jennifer describes losing her name, her home, and her sense of identity as a young child, and how one quiet moment with her father, learning to say "we don't know why, but we trust," became a truth she carried through every season since. She and Debbie talk honestly about surrender as a continual act of worship rather than a one time decision, and about choosing virtuous living and marriages built on faithfulness and honor rather than culture's version of stability without intimacy.

Jennifer also shares the heart behind Jane's Secret, a novel inspired by real family history, and behind her children's book series, including Pets to the Rescue and a forthcoming project preserving her own mother's handwritten stories, recorded decades ago, for her grandchildren. Her hope throughout is simple and clear, that good stories can quietly plant character and faith in the next generation the same way they once did in her own.

About Our Guest:

Jennifer E. Tirrell is an award winning author, speaker, and encourager, and a kinship adopted orphan who grew up to become a devoted stay at home mother. Her writing is shaped by faith, confirmed by history, and centered on truth, and she invites readers to merge their roots, purpose, and blessings and live all in. She is the author of the novel Jane's Secret, the children's picture book Little Sprout Says Yes!, and co-author of The Pets to the Rescue chapter book series for young readers, including Apple Butter Adventure and America's Birthday Hero. Jennifer serves as President of Word Weavers Coastal Carolinas and lives at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, with her husband, Bobby, where she is blessed with six grandchildren.

Book Spotlight:

Jane's Secret by Jennifer E. Tirrell

Two women, separated by five centuries, are bound together by one golden key. Inspired by Jennifer's own discovery of her ninth great grandmother's grave in England, Jane's Secret follows Lady Jane Ingleton through Tudor England and Kaitlyn, a present day descendant who stumbles onto a mysterious letter and a key that fits no known lock. As Jane's story of faith found in hardship unfolds alongside Kaitlyn's search for answers, both women discover that the blessings and prayers of one generation can echo further than anyone could imagine. Part historical mystery, part contemporary discovery, Jane's Secret is a reminder that our roots and our faith are often more connected than we realize.

Connect with Jennifer:

Website: writingwithjet.com

Book: Jane's Secret on Amazon

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/writingwithjet

Closing Thought:

Jennifer's story reminds us that we do not need a perfect legacy to leave a lasting one. Whether it is a baptismal gown, a shelf of well loved books, or a single prayer whispered generations ago, the blessings we plant in faith have a way of reaching further than we will ever see this side of heaven.

Date: July 1, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Heather O'Brien

Story Highlights:

In this powerful and faith-filled episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek welcomes healing coach, Bible teacher, and podcast host Heather O'Brien for an honest conversation about emotional and spiritual healing, the kind that reaches the spirit, soul, and body. Heather helps Christians who have suffered injustice and battle anxiety, depression, and addiction get to the root of their pain so they can stop managing symptoms and start living an abundant, free life.

Heather shares how God healed her of anxiety, depression, and trauma in dramatic and deeply personal ways, and why He asked her to wait before stepping onto a public stage. As she puts it, God healed the woman before He expanded her words. That season of waiting taught her what forgiveness really means, deepened her understanding of Scripture, and gave her the words and authority to minister to others.

She opens up about growing up in a home marked by a sibling's addiction, and the feelings of rejection and abandonment that followed her into adulthood, sharing how God walked her through inner healing, forgiveness, and freedom, even delivering her from a long mental battle with addiction. Along the way she offers practical wisdom that listeners can hold onto: the difference between anxiety, which lives in a future that has not happened, and depression, which walks around in a painful past, the power of Philippians 4 to reshape our thoughts, and why being faithful with our words matters more than simply being careful with them.

Heather and Debbie also talk about calling, qualification, and courage, encouraging every woman who feels led to write or speak but wonders whether she is ready. Heather's reminder is simple and freeing: messy, faithful action is what qualifies us, and being just a step or two ahead of someone else is enough to help them. If you have ever felt stuck, unseen, or unqualified, this conversation will remind you that God heals deeply and uses the willing.

About Our Guest:

Heather O'Brien is a Spirit-led healing coach, Bible teacher, and host of the Heal with God Podcast, ranked in the top 2% of podcasts globally with more than 44,000 downloads. A licensed minister for over a decade, she helps Christians who love Jesus but still feel emotionally stuck learn how to hear God's voice clearly and heal with Him deeply. Through her Heal with God coaching program and monthly live workshops, she walks people through biblical inner healing from anxiety, depression, relational trauma, and emotional overwhelm. Heather is the author of Heal with God, No Fear Allowed, Supernatural Weight Loss, The Journey of Healing from Injustices, and But How? A Cookbook for Christian Solutions. She lives in South Georgia with her husband of 23 years and their three sons.

Book Spotlight:

Heal with God: Christian Spirit-Led Healing by Hearing God's Voice

Do you love God but still feel stuck, carrying shame, anxiety, or hurt you cannot seem to pray your way out of? Heather wrote Heal with God for you. More than a collection of ideas, it is a gentle, step-by-step framework for hearing God's voice clearly, finding emotional and spiritual healing, and walking in lasting freedom. Drawn from years of live workshops and one-on-one coaching, the book helps readers break cycles of shame and self-doubt, work through anxiety and depression, forgive the people who hurt them, and rebuild their confidence and identity in Christ. Each chapter pairs biblical insight with practical tools and personal reflection, so healing can begin right away, even for those who have felt stuck for years. Your healing does not have to wait. God is ready to meet you right where you are, one step, one prayer, and one truth at a time.

Connect with Heather:

Website: heatherobrien.net

Closing Thought:

Heather's story is a reminder that healing is rarely instant and never wasted. God often does His deepest work in the waiting, healing the heart before He widens the platform. Wherever you feel stuck today, He is still in the business of setting people free, one truth at a time.