Fighting For Joy

Welcome back to the Fighting for Joy Podcast. Season 2 is here!! I’m grateful that my husband Eric was willing to be on the podcast again and record this first episode with me. Today we officially wrap up and reflect on Season 1, we address some of the most frequently asked questions about grief and our fight for joy, and of course, we introduce this second season and give you an idea of what is t...

Today my friend Paige Peterson joins me. I’ve known Paige for almost 20 years but it really was Jackson’s death that brought our friendship to a deeper level, and I share a little bit about this at the beginning of our conversation. Paige has been a huge help to me in grief. Sadly, that’s because she is well acquainted with grief herself. She has dealt with many losses over the years, including he...

Today you get to meet our sweet friend, Addie Schiemann. At 16 years old, she is the youngest guest I’ve had on the podcast so far, but it won’t take long for you to pick up on her maturity, poise, and steady strength. In 2017, Addie was involved in a UTV accident and had to have her right arm amputated. Every day presents Addie with challenges, but her fight for joy is an inspiring picture of hop...

I am so excited about this episode because I have the special privilege of introducing you to my youngest brother, Dwight Nelson! When I first starting thinking about creating a podcast, he was one of the guests that I knew I wanted to, and needed to, have on. Dwight has a hard, but really important story to share, and I'm deeply grateful for his willingness to record this episode with me. Listen...

In this episode I am excited to introduce you to a local friend of mine, Laura Ruwe. Laura and her husband Andrew are the adoptive parents of two young boys. Eric and I have been friends with the Ruwes for many years, but as Laura and I have watched one another walk through difficult days these past 5 years, our hearts have been uniquely connected. Laura is in a tougher season right now, but I'm s...

Here is the second part of my conversation with my friend and mentor, Nancy Guthrie. I introduced her in Part 1, so if you haven't had a chance to listen to that yet, I encourage you to go back and do that first as it will be easier to jump in to the second half of our time together. In this episode, we talk about some practical aspects of grief, like fighting bitterness instead of tears, and lear...

I am honored to have my friend and mentor, Nancy Guthrie, on the podcast today! Nancy is a writer, Bible teacher, conference speaker, a contributor for The Gospel Coalition, and host of the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast. Nancy and her husband, David, live in Nashville, Tennessee, with their son, Matt, living close by. They have two other children, a daughter, Hope, and a son, Gabriel, who were b...

This past week I have been reflecting on Leanne’s sweet reminder that God loves to fill empty spaces (Episode 4). I found it especially helpful during this time of year when many of us can more deeply feel the emptiness in our lives. Did you feel some emptiness this Christmas? Maybe you haven’t lost a loved one, but your heart feels empty. Or you’re experiencing some sort of brokenness in your fam...

It is such a privilege to introduce you to my special friend, Leanne Ballinger. Eric and I met Mike and Leanne in 2014 when we attended David and Nancy Guthrie’s grief retreat in Nashville together. My friendship with Leanne began with a long hug and tears, and God immediately began knitting our hearts together in powerful ways. Mike and Leanne's second son, Andrew, was born with complications and...

Today you will hear from my friend, Melissa Sasse. In 2007, her life changed forever when she suffered an aneurysm in her neck that caused three strokes. Because of the limitations that this left her with, she was in need of someone to drive her and her children to run errands and get groceries once a week when they moved back to Nebraska a number of years ago. I volunteered...and it was the begin...

Today I’m going to introduce you to one of my oldest and dearest friends, Cathy Brown. We were roommates in college and our almost 30 year friendship is one of the biggest blessings in my life. I’m excited for you to get to know her just because she’s a phenomenal woman and friend, but she’s also an ideal guest for this podcast because Cathy fights for joy in beautiful and inspiring ways. Shortly...

Today my husband, Eric Blick, joins me on the podcast as we share a little bit about why this fight for joy is personal for us. As I mentioned in the preview episode, this podcast will be full of stories, and I thought it was appropriate to “go first” with our story. Eric and I met at Wheaton College and have been married for 24 years. We have four children and live in Nebraska. Our firstborn son,...

Welcome to my new podcast, Fighting for Joy. Life in this broken world is hard, but there IS joy and hope to be found. In this preview episode, I will share my vision for this podcast and begin to share why this flight for joy is personal to me.