The GoodHard Story Podcast

I’m so excited to share the trailer for something new with you—Take the Next Step! Hope Heals is partnering with Amy Julia Becker on a podcast especially for families experiencing disability. This new show is filled with real talk, real tools, and real hope. Tune in over at Take the Next Step each week for conversations with parents, therapists, and advocates about how we can cultivate belonging a...

There will be moments in our lives that change us forever—terrible moments, epic moments, and maybe even ordinary moments. My second-chance story and my life’s calling spun out of the worst moment of my life. And, somehow, God made it into something really, really good. My guest today is Zach Meerkreebs. He was at the center of the Asbury outpouring, an historical spiritual movement that changed l...

In our debut episode of an all-new season, I sat down with my spiritual hero and dear friend Beth Moore to talk about all the creative ways we can walk—or roll!—with God. Beth and I dug into how she’s kept a tender heart when life got tough, loving her husband through the valleys of mental illness, and navigating closed doors when pursuing her calling. I will remember this conversation forever. I’...

This season of The GoodHard Story Podcast has been rich beyond belief. Every episode was inspired by a question or suggestion YOU sent to me, so thank you! Because of your thoughtful contributions and vulnerability, we’ve had dozens of life-giving and heart-changing conversations with people who are living their good/hard lives with clarity, intention, courage, faith, and (of course) transcendent...

What story do you believe you’re living in? Friend, your answer to that question could not be more important. Learning to tell the truest version of my story to empathetic listeners has healed my heart after so much breaking. A decade and a half of this work has helped me integrate the hurt with the hope, and God’s goodness with his mystery. Today I’m sitting down with the person who taught me how...

Seasons of suffering can take so much from us—our health, a loved one, our sense of security. There’s a more expansive loss that runs through all those other kinds of loss: we lose our ability to imagine a good future. We only remember pain and hurt, which means we anticipate a future filled with more pain and hurt.  I don’t think it has to be this way. Even when the worst things happen, it’s poss...

Blessed are those who mourn. Most of us have heard it over and over…but I know I’m not the only one wondering how this could be true in God’s kingdom. Megan Fate Marshman will give you imagination for how the mourning and meek and poor in spirit might be called blessed…and might actually believe they’re blessed. This friend of mine has navigated the deepest kind of loss after her husband’s death i...

From the early days of my stroke recovery, home—and all the rituals of home—have been a major part of my healing. Home has looked a lot of ways over the years, but my family and I have always tried to make it a place of comfort, rest, and connection. If you’re on a journey to finding a “new normal,” I cannot overstate the importance of making your home into a place of healing. So how do we do that...

At some point, you’ve probably felt like you were living in some strange alternate version of your life. Maybe it was after a tragedy as dramatic as a stroke. Perhaps it was something as mundane as realizing you’re middle aged. We desperately want to find our way back to the way life used to be, but it turns out that version of life is beyond our reach.  So what are our options here? We can keep l...

“Hope is believing in advance what can only be understood in reverse.” These words have been the rally cry of my soul for over a decade now, but I didn’t come up with them myself. Philip Yancey did. This gentle, thoughtful writer has spent his career exploring the topic of suffering which, as you can imagine, has meant so much to me. Today I have the honor of sitting down with Philip to talk about...

Some of you will want to turn this episode off about three minutes in because we’re talking about deconstruction. I say this with love: skipping this episode would be a mistake! Whether you’ve never doubted your faith for a moment or you’re ready to burn it all down, today’s conversation has something so good for you. I guarantee it. Having an out-of-the-blue stroke as a healthy 26 year-old and lo...

Aging is a privilege and we should treat it like the gift it is. But the gift of aging comes with complex challenges and unavoidable sadnesses, like memory loss. If you’re caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s or dementia—or if you’re facing a memory loss diagnosis yourself—I want to offer some encouragement and practical wisdom for you to navigate this tender experience as well as you can. This...

I’ve processed and shared countless insights from my second-chance life, but no idea has resonated more deeply and widely with you all than the idea of “invisible wheelchairs.” You know what I’m talking about—those unseen parts of our stories that feel like they’re holding us back from the most abundant versions of our lives. Maybe your invisible wheelchair is shame, doubt, worry, loneliness, or i...

“It's not so much our story that makes us who we are. It’s God’s story who makes us who we are.”  Identity, for so many of us, is the sum of our memories, our personality, and the ability to tell the story of who we are. So what’s left when we lose all the things that make us who we are?  John Swinton is a disability theologian who is helping people find God in the experiences of mental illnes...

Today I’m offering you a masterclass in grieving well. One day—maybe even today—you will look at your story and see the very thing you prayed you'd never see. You could numb out and absolutely no one would blame you. But you have another option. It's harder, but so much better. Today, in my most tender conversation ever on The GoodHard Story Podcast, my strong-yet-soft sister-in-law Mary A...

You’ll reckon with depression at some point in your life, if you haven’t already. Whether it’s seasonal, circumstantial, or a lifelong reality, it’s possible to “partner with God” as we navigate depression.  I had the privilege of taking notes from the winsome and wise Hannah Brencher about the disciplines she’s putting into place to live faithfully with depression. Whether you’re dealing with dar...

Chronic pain is an (often) invisible form of suffering that can swallow someone whole—body, mind, and soul. Persistent pain is a daily reality for so many of us. It’s vitally important that we learn to cope and hope in healthy ways. Today I'm speaking with Olivia Feller-Gerber. She’s an  author, entrepreneur, and advocate who has lived with the “invisible wheelchair” of chronic pain since she was...

I’m not gonna lie to you. Yes, my stroke set me free from cultural beauty standards in so many ways. But I do NOT have it all figured out. Strongholds and struggles remain. (Like the fact I obsessively highlight my hair every 8 weeks...) So I was a little intimated by this “Ask Me Anything” episode about beauty and body image. I feel like a fraud sometimes! You showed up with honest questions, so...

Most of us have been told a lot of lies about beauty. We’ve been given the wrong story about what beauty is, why it matters, and who it belongs to. Today I want to replace at least a few of those lies with five truths I uncovered when my outer appearance changed completely. These truths aren’t popular and they might even make you uncomfortable. (In fact, I kinda hope they do!) Facing these realiti...

The first time I looked in a mirror after my stroke, I didn’t know who was staring back at me. My face was unrecognizable, and my body might as well have been a stranger’s. It took me years to accept the reality of my new appearance. Feeling anything close to "positivity" was not in the realm of possibility. We’re living in the era of body positivity and I am HERE for it! But as a woman...

“I am the embodiment of the worst case scenario. I am what every athlete fears and what pregnant parents dread. I am the catalyst for losing faith and questioning God.” Those stunning words were written by today’s guest Dr. Amy Kenny, a brilliant author and scholar who lives with disabilities. That phrase— “worst case scenario”—resonates so deeply with me since I was born with a congenital brain d...

Today I’m sharing one of my favorite chapters of a book I’ve ever written. Several years ago, my husband Jay and I released a book called Suffer Strong . It’s all about how we were able to survive anything because we were willing to redefine everything—from failure to trauma to commitment. Even beauty. That’s the chapter you’re about to hear. Before my stroke, I had never put too much focus on the...

I’m going to make a big claim: This will probably be the most sweeping, inspiring conversation on beauty you’ll hear in your life. I say this with such confidence because Brook Hensley changed the way I understand beauty. And she’s about to do the same for you.  Over the next several weeks, we’re going to focus deeply on the story of our beauty and our bodies—what the story is, who is telling it t...

Recently I received emails from two people in very different circumstances who were grappling with (essentially) the same question: Who is telling me the story of who I should be? Their messages struck me so deeply because, for the first half of my life, I asked other people to tell me that story. I desperately wanted to please people by giving them the power over who I was and what I should do. T...

If you think your calling is collateral damage in the hurt and hardship you’ve experienced, I understand how you’re feeling. The work I’m doing now looks nothing like the dreams I had for my life. But now, I can’t imagine dreaming up anything better. Today on The GoodHard Story Podcast we’re covering one of my all-time favorite topics: how our limitations—rather than our strengths—invite us to lea...