Lifted to Hope

Marilyn Johnson returns this week to continue sharing the story of God's healing work in her life. Today she serves alongside her husband in church leadership in England and is the founder of At the Well Ministries, where she encourages others with the hope she has found in Christ. Out of her own journey of restoration, Marilyn wrote Divine Revelation: The Ten Ways God Heals , offering practical a...

My guest for this and next week's podcast episodes is author, speaker, and ministry founder Marilyn Johnson , who joins me from England to share her remarkable story of healing and faith. Marilyn's book, Divine Revelation: The Ten Ways God Heals , was born out of her own journey of restoration. In this first episode, she recounts the difficult experience of becoming pregnant at age eighteen by a m...

When my friend Mags Ohmes became part of a grace-based church community, her healing journey took a significant turn. Through support groups and authentic relationships, she encountered the safety, love, and acceptance she had long needed. For the first time, she was able to bring painful struggles into the light without fear of rejection. As she joined ministry teams and developed close friendshi...

My guest for this and next week's podcast episodes is my sweet friend, Mags Ohmes , who joins me to share the first part of her story. Mags grew up in a beautiful setting in Wisconsin and treasures many happy memories from her early childhood, especially those spent with her siblings. Yet beneath those good memories, her parents carried their own unresolved brokenness into family life. While they...

When a son or daughter is caught in addiction, parents often discover that the loving responses that worked in earlier years are no longer effective. In this week's episode, Kim and Michelle Humphrey return to share what happened after they found support through PAL (Parents of Addicted Loved Ones). As they connected with other parents facing similar struggles, they began to realize they were not...

Many parents faithfully love, guide, and invest in their children, yet still find themselves facing challenges they never imagined. My guests for this and next week's podcast episodes, Kim and Michelle Humphrey , were devoted Christian parents who taught their two sons about Jesus, stayed actively involved in church, and warned them about the dangers of drugs. Kim served as a police officer, Miche...

When I scheduled these two podcast episodes with my husband, Chuck Sedgwick , I didn't realize the second episode would release during the week of our 44th wedding anniversary. Looking back, we have so much to celebrate because of God's faithfulness to His promises. Philippians 1:6 reminds us that He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion, and our marriage stands as a testimony...

I have been deeply blessed by the many guests who have courageously shared their stories on this podcast, but these next two episodes are especially meaningful to me. My husband of 44 years, Chuck Sedgwick , joins me to share part of his own healing journey as we continue this series on God's Tools for Healing Shame. Though I did not witness the struggles of his childhood firsthand, I experienced...

Tina Slaughter returns this week to share how God led her out of the exhausting cycle of perfectionism and performance and into the beauty of living in His presence. After years of striving to earn approval and value through achievement, Tina longed for something deeper. She wanted true intimacy with God. Through slow and intentional steps of spending time with Him, her relationship with the Lord...

Performance and perfectionism can look admirable on the outside, but they often hide a deep longing for approval, belonging, and worth. My guest for this and next week's episodes is author, teacher, and Christian life coach Tina Slaughter , who shares how this pattern shaped her life from a young age. As a high achiever, Tina believed that if she could just get everything right, she would finally...

Terrie Tollerson returns this week to continue sharing her powerful story of healing after escaping an abusive marriage to a pastor. She describes her experience as living through an "unnatural disaster," one that brought deep destruction to her life and the lives of her children. After fleeing to safety, recovery did not happen overnight. It was a long and difficult journey marked by survival, gr...

My guest for this and next week's podcast episodes is author, teacher, and soon-to-be podcaster Terrie Tollerson . Terrie came to faith in Jesus at a young age and later met the man she believed she would serve alongside in ministry. After marrying a pastor, she looked forward to building a life centered on Christ. But soon after the wedding, the reality of his sexual addiction surfaced. What she...

Healing from shame is not something we can accomplish on our own. It is a slow, daily journey that requires the supernatural work of God in our hearts. In this episode, I begin a new series on God's Tools for Healing Shame by sharing part of my own story. Learning to live in the power of the cross and resurrection moved me forward in profound ways, but God did not stop there. He continued to use p...

"Forgive, and you will be forgiven." In Luke 6:37, the word forgive can also mean "release." When we hold onto unforgiveness, waiting for a debt to be repaid, it binds us in ways we often don't realize. But when we release others, even without apology or acknowledgment, we ourselves are set free. This truth becomes deeply personal in this week's episode as Jason Ellis, LMFT , returns to share more...

This week, I'm joined by my dear friend Jason Ellis, LMFT , as we begin a meaningful conversation to close out this series on shame and abandonment. Jason and I spent many years serving together in ministry, walking through both joyful and difficult seasons side by side. I have had the privilege of witnessing his healing journey up close as he faced the deep wounds left by the very men who were me...

Author and New Zealander Carolyn Deck returns this week to share the rest of her story and how God brought purpose out of her painful past. After a turbulent childhood marked by neglect and abandonment, Carolyn could have remained stuck in the patterns and wounds of her early years. Instead, through coming to know and trust God, she began a journey of healing that included forgiveness and the cour...

This week I'm joined by New Zealander and author Carolyn Deck , who begins sharing her story of growing up in a home shaped by brokenness and neglect. With an alcoholic mother and an absent father, Carolyn learned early to fend for herself. Instead of being nurtured, she found herself caring for her mother while her own needs went unmet. The message she absorbed from her chaotic childhood was pain...

Cathy Taylor, founder of Hurting Moms, Mending Hearts , returns this week to share more about the healing journey for parents whose relationships with their children have been fractured by painful choices. When sin brings brokenness into a family, the sorrow can feel overwhelming and the path forward unclear. In this conversation, Cathy speaks honestly about the process of learning to trust God in...

When teens or adult children act out or choose estrangement, the pain can feel unbearable. The shame that follows often drives parents into isolation, whispering that no one else could possibly understand. Many fear others will assume the broken relationship is their fault. In this series on Shame and Abandonment, I invited Cathy Taylor , founder of Hurting Moms, Mending Hearts, to share her story...

In this week's episode, I'm joined again by Robin Taylor , who shares a powerful perspective that has shaped both her healing journey and her ministry: "If a flower doesn't bloom, don't blame the flower. Change the flower's environment." Growing up surrounded by domestic violence and rejection led her to believe she was unworthy of love and commitment. Those early wounds deeply impacted how she vi...

My guest for this and next week's podcast episodes is Robin Taylor, LCSW , who shares the painful beginnings of her story. Rejected by her father and merely tolerated by her mother, Robin grew up longing for love, attention, and acceptance. Without a clear sense of her worth, she moved from one unhealthy relationship to another, giving her heart to people who brought harm instead of care. Violence...

Casandra Morgan's high school sweetheart and the father of her son eventually walked away from her, leaving her to face life as a single mother struggling to survive emotionally, relationally, and financially. The loss was devastating, especially after dreaming of a happily ever after that never came. Yet in the midst of abandonment, God met Casandra with His grace and became her faithful provider...

My guest for this and next week's podcast episodes is Casandra Morgan, a self-professed military brat who shares the beginning of her deeply personal story. As a teenager, Casandra finally found a sense of belonging when she arrived at a new high school and made close friends, including a young man who quickly became her sweetheart. When his family received orders to move across the world, she ass...

Matthew Summit returns this week to share the powerful story of how God faithfully provided for him after his biological father abandoned him as a preschooler. Though that loss could have defined his life, God stepped in with remarkable relational provision. A man who adopted Matthew, along with a devoted youth pastor, invested deeply in him, modeling healthy manhood and committing to him for the...

What happens when expectations are placed on you before you even understand who you are? In this episode, Matthew shares how the weight of expectation followed him from preschool into his early years. Instead of processing his emotions, he learned to tuck them away into what he calls his "junk drawer," a place where unresolved feelings are stored when you do not know what to do with them. As a tee...