Help & Hope

Send us a textTwenty-nine year old Erin Kauffman was enjoying the fruit of years of education and working. She loved her newly purchased home and bought a new car that she could load up with equipment when traveling to school sponsored music events. Erin filled her time with work, music, friends and ministry. Then the unthinkable happened. A driver fell asleep at the wheel and at sixty miles per hour slammed head first into Erin’s car. In this moving conversation with Sharon Betters, Erin describes the devastation of realizing the bottom half of her body was crushed, the long rehab, and how this accident changed the direction of her life. Though Erin continues to struggle with long term pain and acknowledges that her medical care is like a part time job, she offers hope to anyone in similar circumstances. Erin’s story also will inspire listeners to trust that when everything feels impossible, that’s when we can see the Lord’s grace and strength in ways we never imagined possible.Support the show

Send us a text“I end every day feeling defeated because I lost my temper with my kids, vowing tomorrow will be better, but it usually isn’t.”“I don’t want my kids to be “less than” their friends. I also want them to stand out as college applicants. But I don’t think I can keep up with this schedule of activities. They are ages 5 & 9.”“Whenever my child fails at something, I’m the one who feels guilty and judged.”“When is it my turn? I look forward to an hour of quiet time after the kids are in bed and no matter how hard I try, something robs me of my time”Christina Fox addresses these parenting concerns and much more in this conversation with Sharon Betters and Melissa Weisenfels. How can good parenting motives turn into idols? What should we do when we discover that our motives for doing good things for our kids just might be wrong? Christina is the author of Idols of a Mother’s Heart and numerous other books and articles. Connect with Christina at christinafox.comSupport the show

Send us a textRachel’s Craddock’s mother died after a long battle with breast cancer. Rachel was fourteen years old. Sharon Betters and Melissa Weisenfels ask Rachel some hard questions not just about her mother’s death but also her own decision to have a double radical mastectomy after she learned she had a high chance of getting the same kind of cancer as her mother. Rachel holds nothing back as she talks about how unraveling deep issues in her heart, though painful at the time, ended up as good. Rachel is the author of Slowly Unraveled, Changed from the Inside Out, and in this conversation she explains how the Gospel not only unraveled her grief but slowly unraveled communication and conflict in her marriage, her view of parenting and much more.Support the show

Send us a textCori Salchert, fosters and adopts “hospice babies” whose own families find it too hard to cope with their child’s terminal diagnosis.She is the mother of over fifteen children, some of whom died in her care. Cori traveled a very painful pathway before she arrived at her calling to caring for and loving terminally ill children so that they will not die alone. Cori shares her journey into this calling in her book, I Will Love You Forever, A True Story about Finding Life, Hope & Healing While Caring for Hospice Babies. She calls her home a “house of hope” where she and her family dedicate their lives to providing dying children with loving hospice care until the end of their lives. In this moving conversation, Cori shares with Sharon Betters how God used her years of undiagnosed pain and illness to help equip her to recognize the value of every human being, no matter how “unproductive” others might view them. Her first hospice baby was Emmalynn, a baby born missing part of her brain. Instead

Send us a textThe fear of miscarriage is one of the biggest fears of a pregnant woman. Jessalyn Hutto, author of Inheritance of Tears, When Death Enters the Womb knows not only this fear but the reality of miscarriage and the accompanying grief. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Jessalyn brings hope to women who grieve the loss of their children through miscarriage. She offers a priceless gift to those women coming behind her who have experienced such deep loss. Jessalyn reminds listeners that Jesus cares very deeply about every child who is lost to miscarriage and He cares very deeply about every mother who is deprived of that life.Support the show

Send us a textBryan and his wife Sharon say the diagnosis of severe autism for his son Matthew confronted them with the reality that the future they had planned would never come. In this transparent conversation Bryan touches on how he and his wife went into survival mode, how he initially thought the could “fix” his son, the spiritual struggles they experienced and the impact of Matthew on their other children and their marriage. Though their journey has been challenging, Bryan offers help and hope to anyone experiencing upheaval through circumstances beyond their control.Support the show

Send us a textIn this conversation Chuck Betters sits down with Bill Tell, author of Lay it Down, Living in the Freedom of the Gospel. Bill, former Vice President of the Navigators, experienced severe burnout and depression without warning. Bill discovered he could not “pull himself up by his own bootstraps”. Depression was like the hand of a giant pushing him deeper and deeper into darkness he could not fight on his own. Bill’s calling required him to interact with people but the dark cloud of depression created the need for him to close the door of his life in order to find the pathway of healing. Bill’s honest account of this lonely and dark time encourages each of us to review the grid through which we live life. He encourages us to experience the freedom of living in the freedom of the Gospel rather than the unsatisfying prison of pursuing the praise of people.Support the show

Send us a textIn this conversation Sharon Betters talks with Sue Tell about her reaction to her husband Bill’s severe burnout and depression. After over forty years of serving on the staff of The Navigators, Bill suddenly slid into a dark pit of depression. He was incapable of “pulling himself up by his own bootstraps”. Sue describes how their lives dramatically changed from regularly pouring their lives out in ministry to closing the door of their home in order to give Bill time to heal. Along the way, Sue discovered treasures that not only strengthened her to walk with Bill in the darkness, but brought new depth to their marriage. You can hear more from Sue at her blog, Echoesofgrace.comSupport the show

Send us a textLisa Kowal heard the diagnosis of breast cancer and recognized she was about to begin a hard journey into the scary land of Cancer. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, also a breast cancer survivor, Lisa shares her journey in a way that will help equip those coming behind her to face this enemy with strength. Lisa and Sharon talk about some of the practical things they did to minimize the power of cancer in their lives as well as some tips for dealing with the after affects of treatment. Have you just heard those words, “You have breast cancer?” or do you know someone who is fighting cancer right now? This conversation is for you.Support the show

Send us a text“Christmas. What will we do about Christmas?”This was one of the first grief-stricken questions Sharon asked her husband, Chuck, hours after learning of the death of their sixteen-year-old son, Mark. In this poignant interview, Chuck and Sharon Betters speak candidly about how they approached their first Christmas without their youngest child. If you are struggling with grief in this season that is considered the happiest of all, listen, and be encouraged that there are treasures in the darkness designed to help turn your heart toward Jesus.Support the show

Send us a textIn this moving and sometimes emotional conversation, Sharon Betters talks to Susanna Musser and her friend and counselor, Heidi Scott, about the sudden, accidental death of Susanna’s adopted son, Tommy. Susanna and husband Joe and their entire family welcomed Tommy into their home even though he had severe disabilities. No strangers to raising a child with disabilities, Tommy quickly experienced unconditional love. Yet God often calls us to hard places that are much more difficult than we expected. Through circumstances no one could have imagined, Tommy died. Susanna, with the help of her counselor, Heidi, shares the story of her family, her passion for adoption of children with special needs and the enormous struggle she experienced in trying to reconcile Tommy’s death while carrying self-imposed guilt no parent should experience. This conversation will not only encourage others in similar places, but will give listeners a renewed understanding of the burdens some parents bear and how to help t

Send us a textMelanoma, the word strikes fear into the hearer, especially when it is a diagnosis for a loved one. Al Groves, a beloved professor at Westminster Seminary and his wife, Libbie, heard these words and knew life would never be the same. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Libbie shares the journey that her family experienced in the year after her husband Al’s diagnosis of terminal cancer. She offers her family’s story as a means of coming alongside of others who are struggling with cancer, God and grief, answering such questions asHow did you tell your children?Did you ever hit a wall where you felt you just couldn’t handle all the daily responsibilities of raising your children and caring for your husband?Al was a gifted author, beloved professor at Westminster Seminary. Did you ever question why such a gifted man who had so much more to offer had to die? What about lament? How important was and is your faith? How did it make a difference in the way you viewed this diagnosis?How did people

Send us a textWe 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

Send us a textMental 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

Send us a textCorie 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 sh

Send us a textLindsay’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

Send us a textPastor 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

Send us a textFrom 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 a

Send us a textIn 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

Send us a textWhen 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