Loved Called Gifted

Loved Called Gifted Podcast: Toni Blaze on Treat Boxes and Chocolates to Cherish Catherine Cowell chats with Toni Blaze at her shop in Trentham Gardens about her journey from a 23-year career in veterinary marketing to running her own fudge and treat business, Treat Boxes and Chocolates to Cherish. Toni traces her creative streak back to childhood, and how that instinct for presentation and creati...

For the 90th episode of the podcast, Loved Called Gifted is joining with the Raise podcast in a joint venture, with, rather excitingly, two podcast episodes. To get the second one, which will be released the following day, you will need to hop across to the Raise podcast to hear Carol interviewing Catherine about the creative possibilities of doubt.  In this episode, Catherine talks with Carol Bar...

What does it really mean to grieve? Tom Attig, philosopher and author of Seeking Wisdom in Death's Shadows, joins Catherine Cowell to challenge some of the most widely held assumptions about grief and loss. Drawing on four decades of teaching, writing, and listening, Tom argues that the famous "five stages of grief" simply don't reflect how people actually experience bereavement. Instead, he offer...

St. Ignatius of Loyola had a revolutionary effect on the spiritual lives of millions of people. As well as founding the Jesuits, he developed a philosophy and practice of prayer that continues to be helpful to people 500 years later. We look at how he was both similar to and different from his contemporary Martin Luther. And take a look at some of his ideas and methods, such as finding God in all...

Catherine Cowell sits down with Maria Manuela Silva—a spiritual director whose life journey spans cultures, crises, and a profound rediscovery of faith. Maria shares her story of growing up in Portugal under the fear and restriction of a dictatorship, living through a revolution, discovering faith, and then building a life of ministry and service in the UK. When a series of personal losses brought...

Catherine Cowell and Katy Bowser Hutson talk about play as a spiritual practice. Katy shares how her lifelong creativity—and even her experience with cancer—led her to see play not as something trivial, but as something deeply meaningful, even sacred. Together, they explore how play is rooted in curiosity, imagination, joy, and relationship—and how it can shape the way we connect with God, ourselv...

Catherine is joined again by Maria Garvey who is navigating life with ongoing physical fragility and chronic pain. She reflects on surrender, vulnerability, and the slow undoing of an identity built on strength, resilience, and responsibility. What emerges is not a neat lesson, but a lived experience of being “broken open” — and discovering love not as something earned or managed, but something re...

Catherine Cowell chats with Andrea Clarke about surrender, rest, and rediscovering who we really are beneath all the roles and expectations. Andrea reflects on a sailing trip that became a powerful spiritual reset, where she sensed an invitation to join Jesus’ “crack surrender squad” — not about doing more, but about letting go. Through stories, poetry, and deep honesty, they explore surrender as...

This episode is a deep, honest conversation with Addison Torrance and Caidyn Bearfield about their experiences in the foster care and youth institutional system in Ohio, and how those experiences led them into advocacy. They both share painful stories of being placed in congregate care and residential treatment facilities, where trauma, over-medication, lack of education, and loss of trust were co...

As we start the New Year, Catherine is joined by Olga Malarkey for a rich, down-to-earth conversation about faith, identity, and noticing God in everyday life. Olga shares a bit of her story and together they reflect on Ireland, creativity, and the deep hunger for freedom and healing woven into Irish culture, before moving into Olga’s personal journey of faith — including walking through years of...

Sophie Killingley is a freelance artist who is passionate about the intersection of faith and creativity and breaking down the sacred/secular divide to explore the world as it is. Her work and cartooning are quirky offerings of humour and heart from her perspectives on mental health, Christian culture, and the daily realities of having a neurodivergent family. I discovered Sophie's work having bee...

Catherine talks with Anni Ponder and Kim Eckhart, who host a regular online meeting called “Finding Mama God”.   Both Anni and Kim describe how, independently, they have grown up in Christian churches which focused on the masculine aspects of the divine, and yet were drawn into a journey of discovering the transformative power of perceiving God as feminine, particularly through the lens of our mot...

Catherine is joined once again by the wonderful Heidi Steele from Live Play Learn. Heidi’s an unschooling parent of four and a former teacher, and she shares what life looks like when learning happens naturally — no classrooms, no curriculums, just curiosity. They dive into how unschooling has supported Heidi’s neurodivergent family, what it means to unschool ourselves as adults, and how questioni...

Maria Skoyles, founder of Dorcas Dresses, shares her journey inspired by the biblical figure Dorcas, a dressmaker known for her acts of charity. Maria’s business supports women in financial hardship, providing them with sewing machines and training to establish their own businesses. Through her work, Maria witnesses the transformative power of empowering women, enabling them to bless others and cr...

Margret and Catherine take a look at the parables that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 15. The parable of the running Father is a beautiful case study of therapeutic parenting, helpful to all parents, particularly those with children with additional needs. You can find a transcript of this episode at lovedcalledgifted.com   To find out more about the And Breathe parenting course: andbreathe.org.uk  

What does God's mothering of us look like? What are the different ways that we experience the maternal embrace of the divine? This is the question that Joan Wright Howie explores with Catherine in this episode.  Joan is a minister in the Uniting Church in Australia. She is also a Spiritual Director and a professional supervisor.  Here is   Joan's Golden Thread website . The conversation she refers...

In this wide ranging conversation, Catherine talks with Dr Laura Beres, who is Professor of Social Work, at King's University College at the University of Western Ontario. They talk about spirituality in the context of social work, narrative therapy, research into spirituality and resilience and COVID 19. What can we learn from the Celtic inspired practices of community of Iona? And from the Bened...

Sue Saunders is a PhD student, living in Dublin. She is exploring how spiritual practices could sustain climate change activists. In this conversation, she talks about Inner Development Goals, psychotherapy, quakerism, and finding the Divine in nature. She has developed a simple spiritual practice, she calls Natura Divina, which gives some structure and support to being in nature as a way of conne...

**Catherine's new book, Finding God's Feminine Side is now available on Audible ** In this episode of the Loved Called Gifted podcast, Catherine chats with Steve Kenyon—a dad, nurse manager, musician and former DJ—about his journey through faith, work, and identity. Steve shares stories from his childhood in Lancashire, his early experiences in nursing, and how his desire to make a difference led...

Catherine remembers meeting God in a gift shop and muses about the fact that God is here now.  If you would like to get in touch, you can email: lovedcalledgifted@gmail.com .  Episode transcript  You can connect with us on Facebook. Have a meander through the Loved Called Gifted website. 

Catherine and Stephen have been working on creating an audio-version of Catherine's book, Finding God's Feminine Side, and we thought this might be a good opportunity to give you a sneak preview! So this episode is a little different. It is a sample of the (hopefully) soon to be released audio book. With thoughts about the feminine nature of the Holy Spirit, God's maternal care, and the surprising...

Stories, ice, fire, poetry and the countenance of God upon the sea.  Paul Byrne is a full time children's worker at a church in Suffolk. He became fascinated and enthralled by the literature, the landscape and the stories of Iceland, when he was studying for his degree in history and literature. Now, several years later, having become a Christian, he is rediscovering his passion for Icelandic cult...

Host Catherine Cowell is joined by Maria Garvey for a conversation about retirement, rootedness, and rediscovering the transformative power of community and presence. Maria shares her personal journey from a life of professional busyness to a slower, more intentional rhythm grounded in her local village. She explores themes of loneliness, the quiet revolution of love, vulnerability as strength, an...

Heather and Ben Cope have a lovely little studio in their home where they share their passion for music with lots of children with different special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In this episode, they talk passionately about their love of music, about life as a blended SEND family and how they came to set up their CIC, Coping Together. They talk about the unique needs and abilities of...

Lucie Labadie is a dance artist. A few years ago, she began to learn about the menstrual cycle and the way that women's bodies travel through different phases, different seasons each month. In this episode she talks to Catherine about what she has discovered and how understanding her body helps her to live more in tune with it. There are times in the month when she chooses to prioritise rest and t...