Help & Hope

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.Support the show

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.Support the show

Corie Weathers, author of Sacred Spaces, My Journey to the Heart of Military Marriage, transparently shares some of her own marriage struggles as a the wife of a military chaplain in this far reaching conversation. Corie was the 2015 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year. One of her responsibilities was to travel on a one-week overseas holiday trip with US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Corie’s personal goal for this trip was twofold: to better understand her husband’s deployment experiences and to bring other military spouses along through her daily video podcast and eventually her book. Sacred Spaces. Every military spouse will better understand their own challenges and struggles as Corie doesn’t hold back in taking listeners into the heart of her own marriage. She poignantly describes intimate, sacred moments where her understanding of how she realized that when she said goodbye to her husband when he was deployed to Afghanistan, she was actually saying goodbye to life as she knew it. Her

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.Support the show

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.Support the show

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

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.Support the show

When you first meet Sue, you sense she is a woman who lives life through a kind and steady grid. Yet still waters run deep and for over thirty plus years Sue and her husband have parented three sons, one of whom was born with Down Syndrome and a brain injury. Joseph will never care for himself in any way. He is totally dependent on his parents for his well being. In this conversation you will hear the story of a mother who has experienced a life crisis that is painful, sometimes hard to talk about, sometimes experienced in isolation, yet filled with the hope of a woman who leans into her Lord for wisdom and strength. Sue’s love for Joseph shines through as she reaches back into the early years of Joseph’s life and gives us a glimpse into the parenting of a child with special needs and a brain injury that will never get better. She describes how her pastor shepherded her and celebrated Joseph’s birth and life. She talks about preparing for that day when they are no longer physically able to care for Joseph or

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.netSupport the show

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.Support the show

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.Support the show

Remember playing in the sand, your back to the ocean, oblivious of the huge waves heading toward you? Suddenly, a mountain of raging water crashes over your body and not only slams you body into the sand but before you can catch a breath, another huge wave pulls you out to into a rip tide. Andrea Maher experienced tumultuous life events that threatened to pull her under a raging ocean of grief, shattered dreams and hopelessness. Her oldest son’s battle with drug addiction ended when drug induced hypothermia took his life. Several years later, her youngest son made a decision that would forever change his life and resulted in imprisonment. How does a mother not just survive but find hope and joy when a tsunami of grief repeatedly slams her deeper into an abyss of sorrow? In this transparent conversation Andrea shares her story as a means of offering help and hope to others slammed by life, who are holding on by theirSupport the show

Divorce. Some statisticians claim that 50% of marriages end in divorce. Yet the numbers do not reveal the anguish in every home broken by divorce. In this transparent interview, Patti shares her shock and pain when her husband divorced her. Listeners will hear how she told her children and helped them deal with their own broken hearts, found the right attorney, processed the deceit and betrayal and learned how to forgive. Her story will help those grappling with their own broken marriages as well as better equip family and friends who are walking with someone in the midst of divorce.Support the show

How do you pursue your dreams when congenital muscular dystrophy threatens your independence? When you are born with muscular dystrophy, you face a life of muscles breaking down and unable to keep up with growth spurts. During a normal growth spurt, Tim’s spine curved so rapidly that without a full spinal fusion he would die. At fourteen years of age, Tim had a fourteen-hour surgery to straighten his spine. Tim describes how the post surgical excruciating pain led him to question God’s wisdom and love. He had to relearn to walk and cannot walk without assistance to this day. But instead of turning inward into a bitter, young man, Tim persevered through a year of pain and rehabilitation that helped him learn to walk with assistance. The recovery period gave him time to think through his goals of pursuing a life of purpose. His dream to attend a university away from home seemed impossible, but Tim persevered and successfully learned how to navigate the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while attending Drex

Edie’s father died when she was four years old so when her mother brought a new man into her home, she welcomed him as her father. When she was nine years old, this man began regularly raping her in her home. By the time she was twelve, he was taking her to hotel rooms where he trafficked her to men and women for the purpose of sex until she was seventeen. How does a child recover from such monstrous treatment? Edie’s story offers help and hope to anyone who has been sexually abused and shines a light on the spreading horror of sex trafficking in the United States. She offers people who work with children suggestions on how to spot a child who is being abused and how to help them. This compelling story uncovers a devastating dark side of humanity but also is a message of help and hope for hurting people.You can contact Edie at:http://healingrootministry.com/Support the show

Jerry was born with Cerebral Palsy but Joan had worked with people who have disabilities throughout her life, so she thought she knew what she was signing up for when they were married over twenty years ago. In this transparent interview Joan and Jerry share the challenges of marriage and disability but you might be surprised at what they describe as some of the greatest challenges. Listen in as Joan and Jerry not only offer hope to people with disabilities, to parents of children with disabilities, but also remind us that the dreams of people with disabilities aren’t much different than anyone else. This conversation is not just for people with disabilities!Follow Joan on her blog, Raising My Ebeneezer at https://joanborton.com/ where you will find numerous posts about marriage: Marriage Monday.For more information about seeJesus, where Joan and Jerry joyfully help people with disabilities “see Jesus” visit https://www.seejesus.net/ - A Global Discipling Ministry.Support the show

A courageous woman shares her lifelong struggle in the grip of the lies of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Though typically thought of as someone who washes their hands repetitively, some people struggling with OCD have other rituals and some merely struggle secretly in their thoughts. OCD is a debilitating disease that affects millions of Americans and it is believed less than 10% seek treatment. Here is a look at the many different faces of OCD and how Gail’s increasing knowledge of the disorder and her faith have helped her begin to heal.Support the show

A little boy, abandoned by his mother, shifted from one abuse-filled foster home to another, bullied not only by kids but by some of his foster parents, beaten and sexually assaulted by numerous people tasked with being his protectors. How does this little boy find a way to grow into a man who trusts God and offers help and hope to others through his story?Bob Petterson opens up about the terrifying loneliness of abandonment, the pain of abuse and the memories of hateful abuse at the hands of foster parents. Is there any hope for such a child? Bob says there is and lives out that hope every day.This story is for anyone who has experienced childhood abandonment, abuse, hatred, and separation from siblings. Yet it is for anyone who longs to know that in this messy, broken world, there really is hope of redemption and purpose for those shattered by the abuse of others.Support the show

The high school girl innocently began her dangerous journey. Her body was too fat and limiting her calories seemed like the right way to lose a little weight. Slowly, the weight melted away, but one day, this beautiful young woman realized that she had starved herself into a medical crisis. Rebecca shares her painful journey and how she found the pathway to recovery.Rebecca invites listeners who are struggling with any eating disorder to change course and find that same pathway to recovery.Support the show

Post Abortion Stress Syndrome – though not recognized in the medical community as a real diagnosis, thousands of women and men live with guilt, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, depression and more in the aftermath of abortion. In this interview Jill, a woman who has had four abortions, offers her story as a means to encourage women and men to discover the healing that is possible. Marian, director of a crisis pregnancy center, describes alternatives available to those terrified by an unexpected pregnancy.For more help and hope visit: http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/ Rachel’s Vineyard is a safe place to renew, rebuild and redeem hearts broken by abortion. Weekend retreats offer you a supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release and reconcile painful post-abortive emotions to begin the process of restoration, renewal and healing.Facing an unexpected, crisis pregnancy? Find Help and Hope at a local Crisis Pregnancy Center:http://www.lifecall.org/cpc.htmlS