Catholic Moms in the Middle

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...

I finally convinced my dear friend, Lisa Rippy, to join me and share her incredible story. Trust me—you don’t want to miss this one! Lisa has such a beautiful testimony of what happens when you hear God’s call and simply say yes. In 2014, during what seemed like an ordinary school presentation, Lisa felt the Lord tug on her heart to go to Sierra Leone and she didn’t hesitate. That one yes led to a...

In today’s episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle , I’m wrapping up my little series on the lessons God has been teaching me while working in my yard. What I thought would be one episode turned into three because—just like in our gardens—God never stops showing us new ways to grow. This time, I’m sharing three final reflections that connect the work of tending soil, pulling weeds, and pruning plan...

This week, I’m back in the garden—literally and spiritually. What started as a fun project to tidy up my yard and grow a few vegetables turned into a rich space for God to teach me deep truths about my heart, my faith, and the way I live. As I worked with my hands in the dirt, pulling weeds and planting seeds, I began to notice how God was using every little task—especially the frustrating ones—to...

Over the past six months, I’ve spent a lot of time working in my yard—not because it’s beautiful or easy to care for, but because it’s where God unexpectedly met me. Between the weeds, the rocky soil, and a hose that never cooperates, I began to experience God as a gardener. What started as a to-do list to improve my yard became a sacred space for healing and connection with the Lord. I realized t...

In this week's episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle , Jennie Guinn  invites you to see your current struggles through a new lens—the lens of fire. But not a fire that destroys—a fire that purifies, transforms, and reignites your God-given purpose. Whether you’re walking through grief, facing the ache of an empty nest, struggling in your marriage, or simply feeling lost in midlife, Jenn...

In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle, I sit down with my dear friend of 15 years, Mona Overstreet. Mona is a convert to the Catholic faith, and her story is one of incredible resilience, deep faith, and a heart fully surrendered to God. After caring for her adoptive mother for eight years and walking through tremendous personal loss and illness, Mona now lives in an assisted living facil...

I had the honor of talking with Fr. Wade Menezes from the Fathers of Mercy, and let me tell you—it was rich, deep, and so full of truth. Fr. Wade shared his journey from dairy farming to the priesthood (a path I totally relate to!), and we dove into what people today are truly hungry for: a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Trinity. We talked about how life gets messy—hurt, sin, unforgiv...