Help & Hope

Some stats state that 50% of married couples in churches have experienced sexual betrayal in their marriage. When a wife learns about her husband’s sexual betrayal, in the blink of an eye, a bomb detonates and blows up her marriage. The very foundations on which she built her home shatter, and she can barely breathe, let alone find her way out from under the rubble. Ellen Dykas has walked with hun...

"In August 1999 I sat by myself on my living room couch. Alone. Scared. I tried to piece together what 13 years of sexual addiction had just torn apart. My life was unraveling and I couldn’t harness my out of control behaviors. I remember thinking I might be better off dead than alive. As I sat there I had a lot to consider. I was a sex addict." (From 2.bebroken.com) Exposure to pornogra...

Pastor Bob Allums, husband and father, learned at thirty-two years of age that he faced the battle of his life against throat and mouth cancer. The possibility that the disease and treatment would destroy his ability to speak, to preach and teach was real. Before the diagnosis, Bob struggled with overwhelming depression, a darkness whose roots he could not identify. In this rich conversation with...

How do you pursue your dreams when congenital muscular dystrophy threatens your independence? When you are born with muscular dystrophy, you face a life of muscles breaking down, and therefore being unable to keep up with growth spurts. During a normal growth spurt, Tim’s spine curved so rapidly, that without a full spinal fusion, he would die. At fourteen years of age, Tim had a fourteen-hour sur...

Almost 40% of young adults live with their parents or grandparents. This is the highest percentage in 70 years. The last time young adults did life in such proximity to their parents or grandparents was just before the Depression. Then it was out of financial need. Today it seems there is a whole different perspective on the part of the young adults. Dr. Chuck Betters talks to Jim Burns, author of...

When Lovette told her mother she was pregnant, her mother took her to an abortion clinic despite protests and tears. A few months later, Lovette was again pregnant, and though she cried, she followed the routine and returned to the abortion clinic. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Lovette shares her story with hope that her journey to healing will help other women avoid the pain and grief...

It's tougher than ever to be both a kid and a parent today. The world's culture is continually pushing an anything goes sexuality on our children. What’s a parent to do in order to help their children navigate their sexuality, social media, the ever-present temptation of pornography, the continuous bombardment of our sexually explicit culture. In this Help and Hope resource, Dr. Betters...

Barbara Juliani and Jane Anne Wilson join Sharon Betters to talk about those feelings every mother experiences at one time or another. This conversation follows an interview with Barbara about prodigal children. Barbara and her father Jack Miller co-authored Come Back, Barbara, a raw and transparent story of Barbara’s rebellion against her parents and their faith and her journey “back home”. Whene...

If you’re a parent, it’s likely you have had more than one sleepless night reviewing the mistakes and perceived failures of that day. We resign ourselves to carry the emotions of fear, guilt, shame, and regret for the rest of our lives. But do we have to just let these emotions hang around and take over our thinking? The answer is no! Co-hosts Sharon Betters and Heidi Nequist talk to Lauren Whitma...

Days, months, and years after the loss of her sister, Natasha Smith tried to hide the grief she carried. But the pandemic took away her ability to hide her sorrow and her five-year-old’s response to her unexpected tears gave her permission to grieve – not in a room by herself but with her daughter. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Natasha shares how culture insists we “move on” from loss...

How are you feeling today? Stressed, overwhelmed, drowning in too much to do, anxiety, the rubble of broken relationships – just life? Are these feelings seasonal or do you struggle with persistent gnawing anxiety? Sometimes, something happens that feels like the straw that breaks the camel’s back and we cry out, “I didn’t sign up for this!” Ann Swindell, author of The Path to Peace, Comfort When...

It doesn’t take much research to realize anxiety is a primary emotion experienced not just by teens but also by adults. Our guest, Liz Edrington, is no stranger to anxiety. As a teenager, she felt overwhelmed by anxiety. Now, she is a mental health counselor and wants to pass on what she’s learned. She has written a 31 day devotional for teenagers called Anxiety, Finding the Better Story. In this...

“Edith, we urge you to learn Braille, train with a white cane, and learn to cook blindfolded...” These warnings from Doctors and a Rehab team along with major eye surgery and regular vision-loss monitoring by top specialists at Johns Hopkins University Hospital struck fear in Edith Yoder’s heart.. As a single Christian woman living alone in the mountains of Western Maryland she had already dealt w...

According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder. These numbers have been rising steadily; between 2007 and 2012, anxiety disorders in children and teens went up 20%.  These stats, combined with the rate of hospital admissions for suicidal teenagers also doubling over the past decade, leaves us with many concerning q...

Cori Salchert, fosters and adopts “hospice babies” whose own families find it too hard to cope with their child’s terminal diagnosis. She is the mother of over fifteen children, some of whom died in her care. Cori traveled a very painful pathway before she arrived at her calling to caring for and loving terminally ill children so that they will not die alone. Cori shares her journey into this call...

Darby Strickland’s children’s books, Something Sad Happened and Something Scary Happened are designed to not only help children deal with trauma but also equip their parents. In this conversation with Sharon Betters and Heidi Nequist, Darby answers multiple questions about how to help a hurting child such as:  A child suffers a deep loss or experiences a scary, traumatic event. How do you help tha...

“I end every day feeling defeated because I lost my temper with my kids, vowing tomorrow will be better, but it usually isn’t...I don’t want my kids to be 'less than' their friends. I also want them to stand out as college applicants. But I don’t think I can keep up with this schedule of activities. They are ages 5 & 9...Whenever my child fails at something, I’m the one who feels gui...

Have you ever thought about what your family will remember about you when you are gone? Have you considered intentionally leaving a legacy of faith? In this conversation, co-hosts Sharon Betters and Heidi Nequist talk with Elizabeth Turnage, life and legacy coach, author, and speaker, about questions such as: What is a "spiritual legacy"? What types of legacies can we leave? What about s...

The fear of miscarriage is one of the biggest fears of a pregnant woman. Jessalyn Hutto, author of Inheritance of Tears, When Death Enters the Womb knows not only this fear but the reality of miscarriage and the accompanying grief. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Jessalyn brings hope to women who grieve the loss of their children through miscarriage. She offers a priceless gift to those...

As a baby is growing in the womb, we often hear the words, “I don’t care if it’s a boy or girl, as long as the baby is healthy.” Sadly, sometimes, frightened parents hear the words from their doctor, “I’m sorry, but your baby….” You fill in the blank. In this conversation with Jessika Sanders and Erik Schumacher, co-authors of In His Hands: Prayer for Your Child or Baby in a Medical Crisis, we tal...

Relationships can be so hard and sometimes painful. Are they worth it? What are some of the pitfalls of relationships? How can our expectations of others sabotage our relationships? When someone we care about disappoints us, and they will, what questions should we be willing to ask ourselves to determine how to proceed? How can God use disappointments and broken relationships for our good? Is ther...

Lucy Malmberg’s grand adventures in life began when her parents hid her in a blanket-covered box as waited in line to board a plane to America from Ukraine after World War II. Her parents passed on to her a legacy of not only love for America but a passionate love for Jesus. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Lucy freely shares how her faith guided her beloved husband George and her in the...

On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a young white man, attended the Wednesday evening Bible study at the predominantly black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. An hour later, Roof pulled a concealed weapon and killed nine African-Americans as they prayed, including Myra Thompson, the wife of Reverend Anthony Thompson. Myra's murder devastated Anthony, yet he chose to privately and p...

As stewards of the resources bestowed upon us by God, we have a responsibility to invest in His kingdom. By aligning our investments with the values and teachings of Scripture, we fulfill our role as faithful stewards. Chuck Betters talks with Doug MacGray, founder of Stonecrop Wealth Management, about the importance of stewarding our resources in a way that helps equip the next generation to walk...

On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a young white man, attended the Wednesday evening Bible study at the predominantly black Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. An hour later, Roof pulled a concealed weapon and killed nine African-Americans as they prayed, including Myra Thompson, the wife of Reverend Anthony Thompson. Myra's murder devastated Anthony, yet he chose to privately and p...