People Finding God Podcast

What happens when the life you thought you were building suddenly feels fragile? In this episode, I sit down with Autumn McAlpin, a longtime San Clemente resident, writer, and mother of four, to talk about the moments that changed the course of her life. Raised in the LDS faith, married at 19, and a stay-at-home mom by 21, Autumn spent years pouring herself into her family while quietly carrying d...

Sometimes people don’t reject God. They reject the version of God they were handed. In this episode of People Finding God , Carolyn shares what it was like to walk away from the noise, expectations, and labels surrounding God...only to discover that maybe He was never the one she was leaving. We talk about the difference between religion and relationship, why healing often begins within, and how r...

Sometimes the trials that shape us don’t come with answers. For Ellie Anderson, what started as a few unusual symptoms during high school turned into years of uncertainty. Blisters in her mouth and throat were only the beginning. As the symptoms multiplied, doctors struggled to explain what was happening, and Ellie found herself facing not only physical challenges, but anxiety, isolation, and depr...

From a young age, Matt learned how to survive. Growing up in difficult circumstances, fighting became his way of protecting himself and navigating life. As a young adult, he moved to Hawaii, where he felt called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While serving in Australia, Matt received devastating news: his father—his mentor and greatest influence—had been di...

Autumn Willinger grew up surrounded by faith, service, and religious community. Raised Baptist and immersed in spiritual life from a young age, she eventually faced a defining choice: stay within the life she had always known or step out on her own. After choosing independence, marriage, motherhood, and eventually divorce, Autumn found herself living life on her own terms—only to realize something...

Tracy Lloyd’s story isn’t about a sudden, life-changing moment, it’s about something quieter, and maybe more relatable. Raised in a loving Lutheran community, Tracy always knew of God, but her life took a different shape than she expected. She was intentional about her path—dating her husband for years, wanting to take her time with marriage, and feeling certain she didn’t want children. When her...

In Part 2 of my conversation with Whitney, she shares how some of life’s hardest seasons became the place where faith grew deeper. Through personal health challenges, family trials, and watching loved ones suffer, Whittney reflects on what it means to keep going when life feels heavy. She opens up about her niece’s devastating accident that led to paralysis, and how her own experience navigating s...

Whitney shares a deeply moving story about finding God not after the hard moments, but right in the middle of them. She opens up about the terrifying day her young daughter fell from a second-story window and the fear that rushed in as everything changed in an instant. In the middle of the panic and uncertainty, Whitney felt God speak peace directly to her heart—assuring her that her daughter woul...

Gwen’s story begins at 13 years old with a simple but life-changing truth: she was already seen, known, and loved by God—exactly as she was. But knowing that and believing it are two very different things. For years, Gwen felt like she needed to earn that love—to be good enough, to prove herself, to do everything right. And just as she was preparing to serve a mission and step fully into who she t...

Ella was a typical teenager—full of life, movement, and dreams—until one moment changed everything. After passing out in the shower, hitting her head and sustaining a serious brain injury, she began a long and uncertain journey through doctors, setbacks, and isolation. At one point, she had to leave school completely and found herself in a wheelchair, unsure of who she was becoming. But in the mid...

Erin grew up in Southern California in a strong, loving family rooted in faith. Life was full of the kinds of memories many people dream about...camping trips, skiing, boating, and parents whose example made it easy to follow the path they taught. Her faith felt natural and steady, and when she later married the boy she had known in high school after reconnecting at BYU, life seemed to continue un...

James Perry grew up in a lively family in Seattle, right in the middle of ten siblings—five older and five younger. His parents were Catholic, and his father, a convert, carried a deep love for Jesus Christ that shaped their home and influenced James in ways he would only fully understand later. When James was young, his father left on a business trip and suddenly passed away from an aneurysm at j...

Rachel grew up in a loving home with devoted parents.  Religion wasn’t a central part of her upbringing, she didn’t regularly attend church or follow a structured faith practice, but she always knew Jesus Christ was real.  A steady knowing from a young age. As she grew, married her husband, and built a life surrounded by family, her faith remained personal and simple. But when she moved to the Eas...

I’ve known Kit Westbrook for five years. He served as the bishop of my LDS ward, but this episode isn’t about leadership it’s about love. Kit was raised in a home where he knew, deeply and without question, that he was loved. Even as a mischievous boy and a rebellious teenager, that foundation never left him. More importantly, he knew God loved him. He received his mission call, entered the MTC… a...

Breanne was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints but her early life was marked by dysfunction and deep wounds. There was sexual abuse.  There was pain that wasn't handled well.  There was a mother-daughter relationship that left her feeling unseen. When trauma isn't processed, it looks for escape.  For Breanne, that escape was drinking, partying, and trying to outrun the ache...

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Katie Hadfield to talk about loss, grief, and what it means to truly anchor your life in God. Katie was raised in Holladay, Utah, in a strong LDS family. As a young girl, her world was shaken when her parents’ faith and marriage unraveled—marking her first experience with deep loss. Over the years, that loss compounded: the death of a boyfriend, and event...

Angie Canfield's story is one of courage and redemption. She was raised in a broken home, her parents divorced when she was five.  She lived with mistreatment from family members through her formative years.  Angie grew up feeling deeply disenchanted with the Church, associating God and religion with the people who hurt her most. As a teenager, she walked through very dark seasons, even reaching a...

In this episode, I sit down with Candice Hall, a functional medicine doctor whose life has bridged two very different worlds of healing. Raised by a mother immersed in New Age energy work, meditation, and alternative healing.  Candice grew up with a deep curiosity about the mind-body connection. That curiosity eventually led her to medical school, where she learned to integrate modern medicine wit...

Content Warning: This episode contains references to underage drinking, drug use, suicide, self-harm, and depression. These topics may be distressing for some listeners. Please listen with care.   In this episode, Sienna shares a season of her life marked by deep loss, isolation, and confusion. After losing her babysitter to cancer when she was young, she didn’t know what to do with the grief she...

On this episode my guest shares a life that began in unimaginable instability—betrayal where there should have been protection, abandonment where there should have been care, and survival where most would have given up.  From couch to couch as a teenager—working to survive—living moment to moment with no safety net, And yet—her story is not about what was done to her, but what could not be taken....

In this episode, I sit on the other side of the mic as Adrienne interviews me about my own journey of finding God. I share what it was like growing up in an emotionally disconnected family—and how that disconnection led to addiction, searching, and eventually finding myself in Los Angeles in my twenties, hungry for meaning and truth. What followed was not a perfect life, but a directed one. We tal...

On this week’s episode of People Finding God, I sit down with Jason Ewell—a man whose childhood felt like a battleground, growing up in some of the hardest pockets of California.  Jason was friendless until age 10 and faced daily fights, chaos, and family abuse. His body learned to stay in fight mode just to survive. But his story doesn’t end there. Somewhere along the way, God found him—and Jason...

In this heartfelt episode, I sit down with Jenny Flagler, who lost her husband—a dedicated firefighter—in the line of duty. Four years later, she shares what grief, rebuilding, and finding God in a deeper way really looked like. Jenny talks about raising her two boys through their loss, and how showing them who God is has helped them feel supported, grounded, and connected to their dad’s legacy. S...

In this episode, Kelly opens up about hitting rock bottom during the early years of child rearing and her marriage.  She talks about the toll it took on her emotional life.  That moment became the turning point that led her back to God. Through prayer, surrender and deep inner work, Kelly began to heal from the inside out. Today, she helps other people do the same through her work as a Craniosacra...

Adrienne grew up in a two-room trailer with a big family and the kind of childhood trauma that left her doubting Gods love for her.  Food became her comfort—until it all came crashing down to rock bottom. In this episode, Adrienne shares how she found her way back to God through Overeaters Anonymous and what she calls her “Sacred Time”—a daily practice of scripture, prayer, and writing down God’s...