From the time you’re little, your experience with friendships can make or break your day – whether it’s a five-year-old who is left out of the game on the playground, or a thirty-year-old who sees pictures on social media of her friend group having fun without her, or facing the most hurtful season of your life completely alone –  friends or the lack of friends have power to help or hurt.  Sharon Betters and co-host Heidi Nequist discuss the topic of…

1 in 8 couples have trouble getting pregnant. That's about 6.7 million people each year who have trouble conceiving. - 10—15% of women who know they are pregnant will experience a miscarriage. Some studies say it’s higher. - About 1 pregnancy in 100 at 20 weeks of pregnancy and later is affected by stillbirth, and each year about 24,000 babies are stillborn in the United States.1 - This doesn’t take into account the number of babies diagnosed in the womb with a terminal condition – meaning if they survive their birth, they will not live very long. Kathe Wunnenberg knows the sorrow of such losses. In this transparent conversation with Sharon Betters Kathe shares her own journey of grieving infertility, miscarriages and the loss of her

From age 12 to 18, Doug began to experiment with any and all drugs 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. In this far reaching conversation, Doug touches on how parents should respond to the manipulation of the drug addict, why addicts are willing to destroy their lives and loved ones for that fix, and why addicts often go back to drugs after rehab.

When encouraged to protect their children from tech invasions, many parents vehemently declare that their child is so innocent and so protected, they are not concerned. Sadly, these parents are often in the dark when it comes to what their young children have already seen and experienced through innocent interaction in video games, research for reports, etc. In this interview, parents learn about additional layers of protection and how to talk to their children about the dangers of porn and how to respond when exposed.

In this interview, Danielle demonstrates that depression in young adults is often rooted in childhood. It’s easy to hide depression and to slowly withdraw rather than fight the dark feelings of sadness, loneliness, and worthlessness. Danielle offers help and hope as she describes the steps she took to find her way back to a life of purpose.

Thin. Fat. Thin again. Dieting. Binging. Starvation diets. Grapefruit Diets. Low Carb. Thin. Fat. Thin again. Constance Rhodes understands the obsession with body image. In this conversation, she shares her own roller coaster struggle with weight. Young people and adults alike will find a friend in Constance as she transparently tells her story of weight loss, weight gain and the thin cage in which she found herself trapped.

In this conversation, Sharon Betters and Steph speak as two friends, as they talk about the fact that a child with disabilities might be different but is not “less than”. Sharon and Steph discuss how hurtful comments from others might be a reflection of their own hearts and the need for each of us to learn more about the lives of those parenting children with disabilities. Listen in as Steph challenges us to consider how we respond when around a child with disabilities. Do we recognize them as deserving of the same love and care as a child without disabilities? Does your church enfold such families into the body of Christ? Steph shares how a biblical worldview of disabilities, that is, God’s view, will transform your heart.

In this one hour long interview two sets of parents share how they learned their children had a form of autism. The vulnerability of these families will help equip other parents as they navigate the foreign land of autism. They discuss how having an autistic child affected their marriage, other siblings and much more.

Bryan and his wife say the diagnosis of severe autism for their son Matthew confronted them with the reality that the future they had planned would never come. In this conversation, Bryan touches on how he and his wife went into survival mode, how he initially thought they could “fix” his son, the spiritual struggles they experienced, and the impact their son Matthew had on their other children and their marriage. 

Nearly aborted, graciously adopted and later abandoned, Lori Sealy has traveled the road of atheism and lived a life of autism. Lori was diagnosed with Autism as an adult and not long after that diagnosis learned her son had autism as well. In this interview, parents of a young man who has autism ask Lori the questions burning in the hearts of other parents with high functioning children that struggle every day with the "thorn of autism."

Paul and Jill Miller welcomed their sixth child, daughter Kim, into their home in 1982. It became apparent at a young age that Kim was behind in her developmental milestones. Kim was diagnosed as having autism, a disorder that was just beginning to be recognized by doctors. Kim’s diagnosis not only created enormous stress on their family, but also isolated Jill as she learned how to parent their precious child. In this remarkable conversation Paul and Jill take us back to those early days and how Kim’s life has taught them life-changing spiritual truths and led them to fall deeper in love with Jesus.

Pornography – do you know someone who is struggling with this particular sin? Unfortunately, it’s likely that you do, but you may not know how to help. In these two conversations host Dr. Chuck Betters, along with Rebekah Hannah (Director of Anchored Hope.co, an online biblical counseling service), talk with counselors Deepak Reju and Jonathan Holmes who provide biblical strategies for guiding a fellow believer toward recovery. This worldwide pornography crisis is destroying families, marriages and individuals read more…

Be sure to listen to both, Part 1 & Part 2.

Some stats state that 50% of married couples in churches have experienced sexual betrayal in their marriage. When a wife learns about her husband’s sexual betrayal, in the blink of an eye, a bomb detonates and blows up her marriage. The very foundations on which she built her home shatter, and she can barely breathe, let alone find her way out from under the rubble. Ellen Dykas has walked read more…

“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,” said Johnathan Daugherty. Listen as Jonathan describes that downward spiral and what turned his heart toward healing and a redeemed marriage.

In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Simonetta Carr shares the story of her beloved son, Jonathan, and her experience of caring for him as he struggled with schizophrenia. Simonetta doesn’t sugarcoat the enormous challenges and emotions that were non-stop. She talks about how she fervently prayed for Jonathan, the fears she had to confront, and how the church came alongside Jonathan and her in this battle. You may not have a loved one with schizophrenia but Simonetta and Jonathan’s story will give you insight into the enormous battle facing families with such a diagnosis.

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.

Andrea Herzer, a woman well acquainted with long term debilitating health issues, having spent the last twenty years with multiple illnesses, including regional pain syndrome and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, joins read more…

How do you pursue your dreams when congenital muscular dystrophy threatens your independence? 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. In this transparent interview, Tim shares some of the ways he intentionally interacted with other students and school staff, as well as his own understanding of God’s purposes for his life.

Dr. Chuck Betters talks to Jim Burns, author of Doing Life with Your Adult Children about some of the challenges for parents as they transition from parenting children to parenting young adults. Jim gives practical advice and hopeful encouragement for this tough yet rewarding transition.

When Lovette told her mother she was pregnant, her mother took her to an abortion clinic despite protests and tears. A few months later, Lovette was again pregnant, and though she cried, she followed the routine and returned to the abortion clinic. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Lovette Vasser shares her story with hope that her journey to healing will help other women.