Catholic Moms in the Middle

The Grief No One Talks About After Divorce Grief in divorce isn't always what we expect. For some women, it begins with betrayal or an unexpected separation. For others, the grieving began years before the marriage ended. And sometimes, alongside the sadness, there is even a sense of relief. In this deeply personal episode, I share my own journey through grief and the unexpected ways it showed up...

Healing: When God Meets You in the Middle Healing after betrayal, separation, or divorce is not about pretending you’re okay or rushing through the pain. In this episode of In the Middle: Divorce Healing for Catholic Women , I share how my healing began to shift when I stopped only asking: “Why is this happening?” and began asking: “Lord, how do You want me to respond?” We talk about giving yourse...

Healing doesn’t always look like putting the pieces of your old life back together. Sometimes, it’s allowing God to meet you right in the middle of the pain and begin creating something new. In this episode of In the Middle , Jennie explores the healing season that follows the shattering of betrayal, separation, and divorce. She shares how healing requires us to slow down, acknowledge what hurts,...

Shattered: When the Life You Knew Falls Apart In the Middle: Divorce Healing for Catholic Women ·  “Do you not understand that my whole life just broke apart?” That’s what Jennie wanted to say to the world while it kept moving: the emails, the groceries, the demands of ordinary life. If you’re a Catholic woman grieving a divorce, you know the feeling. Your marriage has ended for whatever reas...

When Life Doesn't Turn Out the Way You Expected: Welcome to In the Middle The person you imagined beside you on the front porch has changed. The family, the holidays, even the way you see yourself may look nothing like you planned. If you're a Catholic woman walking through betrayal, separation or divorce, this episode is for you. After 35 years of marriage, Jennie's life changed in ways she never...

It Was There All Along: Learning to See Differently Have you ever searched everywhere for something, only to discover it had been right in front of you all along?  That’s exactly what happened when I “lost” my son’s college diploma.  I remembered bringing it in from the mailbox. I remembered thinking, I need to put this somewhere safe. But after that? Nothing. I searched everywhere. My f...

When Life Gives You Lemons, Jesus Makes Lemonade Sometimes God uses the most ordinary moments to teach us the deepest lessons. For me, it happened while driving in the car with my granddaughter, Penny, singing and dancing to Lemonade by Forrest Frank. Watching her simply enjoy the ride made me wonder: When did we stop living in the present and start trying so hard to control the destination? Life...

Have you ever looked around your life and quietly thought, "This isn't what I expected?" Whether you're navigating divorce, grief, betrayal, an empty nest, illness, retirement, or another unexpected transition, it's easy to long for the life that once felt familiar. In this episode, I share how a walk through my favorite state park after a devastating ice storm became a powerful metaphor for heali...

Do It Again, Daddy: Learning to Trust God Like a Child What if the greatest obstacle to peace isn't your circumstances, but your fear? This week I share a simple but powerful moment as I watched my son toss my granddaughter into the air. Again and again, she laughed and shouted, "Do it again, Daddy!" Never once worrying if he would drop her. Never questioning if she was safe. She simply...

  Have you ever felt like life suddenly went dark? Like you were walking through a tunnel you never expected and felt unsure how long it would last, wondering if you’d ever see light again? In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle, I share a powerful reflection inspired by traveling through the mountain tunnels of Italy and Switzerland. What began as an ordinary journey became a beautif...

In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle , I share a powerful lesson God taught me during a recent family pilgrimage through Switzerland and Italy. As we prepared for the trip during a season filled with uncertainty, fear, and chaos in the world, I found myself struggling with anxiety, overthinking, and the need to control the outcome. Then a friend shared a simple prayer with me that change...

Turning 55 has stirred something deep in my heart… and in this episode, I’m sharing a more personal reflection on birthdays, midlife, and what it truly means to be becoming . For many of us, birthdays aren’t just celebrations they can also bring up disappointment, unmet expectations, and questions about where life has taken us. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering, “Is this where I thought I’d...

This week’s episode is a personal one. My uncle recently passed away, and being close to that experience has had me thinking a lot about death… and how we, as Catholics, are meant to approach it. We don’t talk about death very often. It’s something we tend to avoid or push aside. But walking through these final days with my uncle reminded me just how sacred that time really is. In this episode, I’...

Have you ever found yourself in the story of the prodigal son… but not quite sure where you fit? In this deeply personal and reflective episode, we step into one of the most beloved parables from the Gospel of Luke and begin to see it through the lens of midlife. Because the truth is… we are not just one son in the story. We are the one who ran. We are the one who stayed… but slowly hardened. And...

In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle , Jennie shares powerful insights from her experience at the John Paul II Healing Center’s Healing the Whole Person retreat. She explores the reality that we all carry wounds and that healing is an ongoing part of our journey to holiness. Jennie invites you to consider a transformative question: What is pouring out of your wounds? Through honest...

A Sacred Circle is a prayerfully boundary around your life that protects your peace, nurtures your healing, and honors the woman God is shaping you to become. For years, I believed that being a “good Catholic woman” meant being endlessly available, self-sacrificing at all costs, and saying yes to every need and expectation. But what if holiness also includes stewardship? What if guarding your hear...

What if changing the world didn’t require doing big, heroic things—but simply showing up with love? In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle , I sit down with my friend, Lisa Link, for a beautiful, hope-filled conversation about serving others through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Lisa opens up about how simple acts of service such as listening to someone’s story, offering a...

In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle , I’m reflecting on what it means to enter 2026 feeling stretched—but not broken . So many of us have walked through a year that stretched us mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually in ways we never would have chosen. And when you’re in it, that stretching often feels like breaking. In this episode, I invite you to pause before rushing into...

As we approach the end of the year, you may feel an internal pressure to rush ahead—to set goals, make changes, and focus on what still feels unfinished. In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle , I invite you to resist that urge and instead embrace a holy pause. Before stepping into what’s next, I encourage you to gently look back and notice God’s goodness in the past ye...

Roses in Winter: Trusting God Through Burdens, Waiting & Hope In this special Advent mini-retreat, I invite you to slow down, breathe deeply, and enter a sacred space of reflection in the midst of a busy season. Through the story of St. Juan Diego and the tender guidance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we journey into the heart of Advent, a place where longing meets love, where burdens are held...

Can I be honest? Midlife has not looked the way I imagined it would. I thought these years would be about traveling with my husband, enjoying our grown kids, and spoiling grandbabies together. Instead, this season has been marked by grief, heartbreak, and rediscovering who I am after walking through an unwanted divorce. But through the pain, I’ve found something beautiful...a sacred invitation to...

If you’ve ever ended your day feeling like you didn’t do enough, or wondered why everyone else seems to have it all together while you’re just trying to keep up, you’re in the right place. Midlife can be messy and full of changes, comparisons, and that constant feeling that we’re falling short. But what if there’s another way to see yourself and your life? In this episode, I’m diving into a concep...

Have you ever noticed how some of the most sacred words of our faith love, hope, and joy have been hijacked by our culture? They show up on coffee mugs, t-shirts, and Instagram captions, but somewhere along the way, their true, life-changing meaning got watered down. In this episode, we dive deeper into these three words, peeling back layers of cultural noise to rediscover their biblical and Catho...

This week on Catholic Moms in the Middle, I’m diving into a topic that every single one of us faces, change. Have you ever felt like the rug was pulled out from under you? Maybe your kids are grown and suddenly the house that was once noisy and chaotic is now painfully quiet. Or maybe your marriage looks completely different than you ever imagined. Midlife seems to come with one change after anoth...

My dear friend Debbie Smith is joining me on the podcast! Debbie and I met about 10 years ago here in Nashville, and from the start, I’ve admired her boldness when it comes to sharing her faith. Seriously, she can strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere. We lovingly call her our “bar stool evangelist” because she can sit down at a bar, order a craft beer, and before you know it, she’s talki...