Help & Hope

Chuck interviews Ana Stevenson, the founder of Path2Freedom, where Chuck and his wife Melanie are currently serving as House Parents at the Magnolia House. Ana felt a calling to start a ministry for girls rescued from human trafficking in 2015. Ana shares that "millions of children are being exploited annually in the global commercial sex trade. That number became real for me when I met the &...

Fawn Volkert's journey from sexual abuse as an infant to trying anything and everything to survive to a place of joyful thriving will stay with you for a long time. Just when you think her story could not get any worse or even more compelling, Fawn takes us deeper into her journey to a place of healing and strength. In this conversation with Chuck L. Betters, Fawn shares how her story of trau...

Have you ever been away from home and all you wanted was to go home, to your familiar surroundings, you family – your bed? You feel homesick. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Elyse Fitzpatrick describes how a difficult time in her life resulted in her longing for something more. She concluded she was homesick for heaven. Elyse helps us better understand how a biblical view of heaven can b...

Did you know that every year about 100,000 men are widowed? Though a widow’s grief is just as deep as a widower, men often respond differently to the loss of their wives. In this moving conversation Dr. Chuck Betters talks with Dr. Jim Meyer, who lost his first wife. Jim shares the story of his family’s sorrow and cautions listeners that though someone who is broken might look whole on the outside...

You start your day thinking it will be like any other. And then a text with four words, “Eva not breathing. Pray.” Within hours, the unexpected death of your daughter propels you and your family down into the deepest sorrow you have ever experienced. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Mel Lawrenz introduces us to his beloved daughter Eva and how her unexpected death led his family into the...

Is it ever ok to question God’s love or wisdom, especially when you love and serve Him but experience tremendous loss? Dr. Frank A. James, President and Professor of Historical Theology at Missio Seminary in Pennsylvania joins Dr. Chuck F. Betters to talk about this very question. Frank’s story of loss started when his younger brother, Kelly, was trapped in a snow cave on Mt. Hood and an unyieldin...

“Christmas. What will we do about Christmas?” This was one of the first grief-stricken questions Sharon asked her husband, Chuck, hours after learning of the death of their sixteen-year-old son, Mark. In this poignant interview, Chuck and Sharon Betters speak candidly about how they approached their first Christmas without their youngest child. If you are struggling with grief in this season that...

Having a long-term or chronic illness can disrupt your life in many ways. Managing your illness can be overwhelming as you try to understand what's happening in your body and how you can best use the energy you have each day. Chronic illnesses can be frightening, because you may not understand why this is happening to you. In this transparent interview, Sharon Betters leads the conversation w...

Twenty-nine-year-old Erin Kauffman was enjoying the fruit of years of education and working. She loved her newly purchased home and bought a new car that she could load up with equipment when traveling to school sponsored music events. Erin filled her time with work, music, friends and ministry. Then the unthinkable happened. A driver fell asleep at the wheel and at sixty miles per hour slammed he...

The title of Nate Brooks’ book, Disrupted Journey: Walking with Your Loved One Through Chronic Pain and Illness , describes the transparent conversation he had with hosts Sharon Betters and Heidi Nequist.  Caregivers are one of the most forgotten communities. They often find themselves in this position quite suddenly and must navigate a whole new way of life, often alone, as they quietly persevere...

Rosann has experienced disappointment, pain and loss – but her scars and wounds are not obvious – very much like many of you. Today Rosann lives with the kinds of chronic illness that many of you contend with – often alone in your struggles because they are not visible wounds or scars. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Roseann offers encouragement to fellow travelers, that though the pathw...

Preparation for retirement requires more than just financial planning. For most people, and especially for Christians, it comes with a host of other considerations—when to retire, where to live, and how to spend one’s time. Many find themselves asking, "Is there a right way to retire?" And what about the cultural perspective, “I’ve worked hard all my life, this time it’s all about me!” I...

In the book co-authored by Susan Hunt and Sharon Betters, Aging with Grace: Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture , each chapter ends with a storyteller who is at least seventy years old. Each woman gives the readers a glimpse into what aging with grace looks like for her. One of those storytellers is Carol Arnold. Carol was eighty-three years old at the time of the interview. She travels the world...

Elyse Fitzpatrick, author of over twenty books, a frequent conference speaker, and counselor, joins hosts Sharon Betters and Heidi Nequist to discuss aging and the second half of life. Rather than a question-and-answer format, listeners will feel like they are sitting around a table with three friends who are sharing their thoughts, concerns, and questions about what it means to age in this cultur...

There are many blessings that come with age: retirement, grandchildren, travel, and life experience. Today’s culture, however, marginalizes old age, often portraying it as burdensome and hopeless. Many older women can feel like an encumbrance rather than a blessing to their friends and family members. In this conversation with Chuck L. Betters, while acknowledging aging can be hard and challenging...

Many people have experienced betrayal, someone violating your trust perhaps by lying, cheating, some kind of abuse, putting their own interests ahead of yours when they promised otherwise. Betrayal affects every part of our hearts, often in ways we don’t understand at first. Some hurts we carry with us to the day we die because they are so deep and seem impossible to resolve. In this conversation...

This conversation is for pastors and ministry wives and those who love them. While there are occupational hazards in all lines of work, ministry families experience conflicts that sometimes not only result in broken relationships but the loss of their beloved church family. In most jobs, wives are not expected to be unpaid laborers, stand by their husband’s side every Sunday, remembering every nam...

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...

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. This doesn’t take...

From age 12 through the age of 18, Doug began to experiment with any and all drugs, from ecstasy to crystal meth, 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. Doug shares his journey into drug addiction including how being raised “in the church” left him so...

With the explosion of the technology age we are currently in, easily-accessed porn invades younger and younger hearts, often unbeknownst to parents. 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 for their welfare. Their relationship to their child is so secure, that their child...

Depression affects more than 15 million American adults – 6.7% of the population 18 or older. Twenty percent of teens experience depression before adulthood and 70% will have more than one episode of depression before adulthood. 8.3% of these teens suffer depression for at least a year. Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression. Untreated suicide is the leading cause of suicide, and suic...

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 whi...

Stephanie Hubach is no stranger to the challenges of raising a child with special needs as a researcher in disability ministry and the mother of a son with Down Syndrome. Stephanie has spoken to thousands of parents about the struggles and the blessings of children who might be seen by our culture as dispensable but in God’s world are indispensable. We lose many gifts and blessings when we do not...

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 Virtual.co, an online biblical counseling service), talk with counselors Deepak Reju and Jonathan Holmes, who provide biblical strategies for guidin...