Episode 313 - Holding Onto Faith in Our Doubts with Laura Wifler
How do we navigate those questions we have in the middle of our struggles? How can we hold onto our faith when doubt seems to want to unravel what we know to be true?
For author and podcaster Laura Wifler, walking through a season of doubt in the middle of life's challenges wasn't something she anticipated. As someone who spent much of her time encouraging other women on her well-known podcast and through her book by the same name, Risen Motherhood, to cling to Jesus in their lives, she never imagined to find herself wrestling with uncertainty in her own faith. And yet through that season and through parenting a child with special needs, Laura found God reveal Himself to her more and more. Learning to cling to her faith when it felt impossible was a lesson that continues to carry her through the lingering questions and challenges she is experiencing. She also found that her vulnerability in sharing where she was in her journey with Jesus gave others permission to do the same.
In this episode, Eric talks with Laura about what the gospel offers in parenting a child with special needs, how to find hope in our pain, and what it looks like to cling to faith in our doubts.
If you or someone you know have found themselves in a season where there seems to be more questions than answers, this conversation is an invitation to ask God what is on your mind and know that there is no question or struggle with doubt that can keep you from His love.
Episode 312 - In His Hands with Jessika Sanders
What do we do when we find ourselves in the middle of a medical crisis with our kids? How do we learn to trust God with our most precious gifts, our children?
For author Jessika Sanders, learning to surrender and trust the Lord was a journey after she found herself in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It was through that experience that she began to not only pray for her own child, but the countless others that she met while attending to her son's medical condition. As she saw the need for support and care for those in the NICU and PICU, she felt led to begin a ministry for parents who find themselves in the stress and uncertainty of a medical crisis. Her ministry, Praying Through, offers practical support and encouragement for families journeying through the NICU, PICU, and child loss. Her upcoming book co-authored with Eric Schumacher, In His Hands: Prayers for your Child or Baby in a Medical Crisis, helps parents with specific prayers to pray when the words may be hard to find.
In this conversation with Eric, Jessika shares how God often will prepare us in advance for the valleys we will walk through, the importance of surrendering to the Lord in a crisis, and ways that anyone can help a family facing a difficult medical journey.
If you or someone you know is a parent in the midst of a life altering medical diagnosis of their child, this episode will be a balm of hope in helping you remember that when everything feels completely out of your control, the Lord is inviting you to just be still and trust Him in the unknown.
Episode 309 - Experiencing God's Strength in Your Weakness with Emily Jensen
How do we begin to experience the strength of God in the middle of our weaknesses? How can we allow the Creator of all to enter into our greatest place of need?
For author and podcaster Emily Jensen, walking through her son's medical challenges revealed weaknesses in her spirit that were unlike any she had faced before. The missed milestones, the extensive plans for intervention, and her own grief in the midst of it all revealed to her a need for God's strength where she felt the weakest. It was learning to navigate the waters of parenting a child with special needs that led her to a greater reliance on the Heavenly Father's power in her life. Through co-hosting the Risen Motherhood podcast and her recent book, He is Strong: Devotions for When You Feel Weak, Emily explores what it looks like to truly lean into the supernatural strength we all need when it comes to all the ways we experience brokenness this side of heaven.
In this honest conversation, Eric sits down with Emily to talk about the different kinds of weaknesses we can face, the challenges of parenting a child with special needs and how the gospel applies to all of our weaknesses.
If you've ever found yourself at the end of your own strength, this episode will serve as an encouragement that it is in that place that God's power is most magnified in your life.
Episode 214 - Happiness is Down Syndrome with Misty Snyder
What happens when the excitement of a pregnancy comes to a screeching halt with the words you never expected to hear: Down syndrome?
For many parents, it can feel like a life sentence of fear and unknowns. What started out as a grief over the life Misty Snyder was expecting to have with her second-born child, ended up to be one of her greatest gifts.
While she wrestled through the anxieties and mourned the expectations of what she thought motherhood of two would be like, Misty has found a richer, more fuller life than she could have ever imagined. She has taken her pain and turned it into a vibrant, encouraging community called Happiness is Down Syndrome to support other parents grappling with the challenges and joys that come with loving a child with Down syndrome.
Join Davey and Misty as they talk about what to do when life takes an unexpected turn and how to find happiness in the midst of it. Whether you are a parent of a child with special needs or just know one, this episode will help you see the good in the hardest moments of life.