She Speaks Stories

Have you ever wondered why you had to go through a hard time in your life? Today’s guest, Lisa Steven, wondered that as a child when a tragic situation hit her family. And again, when she was a teen and found out she was pregnant. But God put incredible people in her life who did not judge her, like they could have, but came alongside her and pointed her towards good. Lisa learned about community,...

Becky Harling joins us in our series of Stories of Loneliness with great perspective and practical advice on how to walk out of a season of being lonely. She’s full of wisdom on the topic because after “clarifying” season of cancer, God walked her through moving beyond elements causing her loneliness by dealing with the past. In this time of emotional and narrative healing she began to see that be...

As we continue to share Stories of Loneliness, we are delighted to have Jen Brooks as our guest. Jen has coped with loneliness starting from childhood, that grew to insecurity and her attempt to numb and deal with it on her own. That is, until she met Jesus and literally “shut the door” on her old self and walked onto a new path of healing. Through the healing she was shown 4 transformational step...

Today we had the pleasure of chatting with Jennifer Wing, who has been through some back to back seasons of loneliness mostly due to chronic fatigue and other unknown illnesses. Everyone has different reactions to hard times, and one of Jennifer’s was being angry at God. But instead of pretending to be fine, or not upset at God, Jennifer learned to be angry WITH God, not in His general direction,...

We’re so excited to share this Bonus Episode about the upcoming NorthStar Women’s Conference and give you a chance to hear a little from our featured speaker, Kelly Minter, herself! Kelly is deeply passionate about teaching the Bible and believes it permeates all of life. AND she's coming to Northern Virginia to share about Cultivating Our Stories - the blessed life we have through our encount...

Life is full of seasons, and in today’s episode we hear from Jess Ronne, who uses the four seasons to walk us through caregiving. Winter hits with the hard truth of a diagnosis, Spring shows up when we find our new normal, Summer blasts with a wave of intensity and change, but then Fall walks over with acceptance and sweet surrender. And in this surrender we can find the peace that God has called...

Here we are with another great episode in our series: Stories of Loneliness, with a fantastic guest: Brenda Yoder. Brenda is part of the 3rd largest Amish community in Shipshewana, Indiana, which has also been voted the number one midwest tourist destination in 2025. Why do so many people flock to this little pocket in northern indiana? Brenda shares in her book, Uncomplicated, what the draw reall...

This episode’s guest is our friend from this past summer’s bookclub! Last June we were chatting with Amy about the Mr. Roger’s book that we’d read and we just knew we had to get Amy on the podcast. Amy is full of fun energy and authentic truth. She spent years wrestling removing a deeply impacted UNtruth from her life; so truth really matters to her. The idea of emptying ourselves, embracing silen...

In this new episode Katie and Julia continue to chat with guests, aka their new best friends, about times of loneliness. Kristina Kotlus joins them today to talk about her story when she discovered she had brain cancer and her journey of finding an, as she calls it “ an ‘Even If’ faith”. During this time filled with challenges (and so many blessings) she learned that “God is in the business of red...

Katie and Julia are excited to begin a theme of loneliness in this new season. Well, excited to be together chatting with new friends, not really excited that so many of us have had such hard and lonely times in our lives. It’s no coincidence that Katie and Julia are continuing to learn so much from one of their favorite podcasters/authors/teachers, John Mark Comer. And Katie opens up this episode...

Katie sits down with a new GUEST host and previous guest, the lovely Jennifer Stovall to chat with their friend, Jessica. Jessica felt lost until she encountered Dana at a Rappahannock Regional Jail event where Dana shared her testimony. For the first time, Jessica heard that freedom was not just a possibility, but a reality she could embrace. Witnessing Dana's journey sparked a newfound hope...

Poetry Book Review with Lynn Wyvill In this episode we hear from Lynn as she walks us through her experience of finding God. She says, “God was present even when I wasn’t aware of it.” And when she looks back and all the steps, she can clearly see him guiding her closer and closer to him.  She reminds us that in this speedy world of so much, it’s so important to wait on God; “to take the time to b...

Well here we are in 2025! And we are so excited to share with you a little bit of where we’ve been and where we are heading as a podcast! We’re wrapping up two themes from 2024: a season focusing on breaking free from addiction, and a mini Christmas season focusing on epic books to read and share.  But what do we have in store for our listeners for 2025… well listen in to this new episode where Ka...

You've waited long enough! Join us in the PART 2 of one of the most fun episodes Katie and Julia have recorded this year! If you missed Part 1, go enjoy that first, and then come back for this episode, where Katie and Julia continue chatting with Katie's two nieces and her nephew about their poetry book and other fantastic books they or their family members have written. There is a lot of joy in t...

We see a lot of “joy” written and sung about during the holidays, and if there’s an episode filled with joy, it’s this one! What a JOYous time Katie and Julia had chatting it up with the Flaherty fam! (So much laughing!)  Normally we have one guest, and occasionally we’ve had two guests, but never ever have we had three guest… until today! And what a fun gathering of guests! Katie’s nieces and nep...

Today’s episode is so fun! Join in on Katie and Julia, sipping their morning coffees and chatting about what some of their favorite books are, not only ones they’ve enjoyed but books they truly think would make fantastic Christmas presents for you and your loved ones! We also give you all a little sneak peak at what our next two Christmas Episodes will be… and they are full of another one of our f...

There’s nothing wrong with adoring your family and wanting everyone to stay close and be happy. In fact, most mothers would agree that’s our hearts greatest desire. Jennifer shares with us what happens when you hold on that a little too tightly and how God brought her back to Him through lots of layers of hard, in a season of empty-nesting (Or “Extreme Empty-Nesting” as she calls it) during COVID....

Four years ago, in 2020, Dana chatted with us on our podcast and we were thrilled to have her back on to share more about her story and the incredible things God has done in her life. Dana is full of wisdom and reminds us that “shame and guilt have no control anymore because God created us and HE gets to say what happens in our lives.” Nothing we do is a surprise. He uses the mess we make to use f...

We love a good redemption story, and Melissa Huray’s story is a great one! As we wade through this season’s theme of addiction it’s important to us that we are chatting with authentic storytellers who want to share the truth of the hard and when and how they overcome it! Melissa shares her story, step by step, as she grew up and began to recognize the addiction in her life and what it took for her...

Join us this week as Katie and Julia chat about their summers! This summer She Speaks Stories had a NEW theme, where we dropped the "S" and had a summer filled with HEs! The He Speaks Stories Summer not only extended into our episodes but also our summer book club. The books we read over the summer were fantastic, so Julia and Katie share favorite parts and encourage all our listeners to...

Today we have the pleasure of hearing from Lou Minichini! He was chatting with the lovely Katie Hawkins at their Sunday School get-together and shared his conversion story. Katie's response was “you HAVE to be on our podcast!” and we are SO thankful Lou agreed!  His story walks us through how a New Jersey Italian Catholic found Jesus. How his upbringing grew from a traditional awareness of God...

Our host Julia Sifers is head over heels in love with today’s guest, and that’s a good thing because he’s her husband!  Yup, Nik Sifers’, Julia’s other-half, joins us today to share some perspective of the trust that develops for those of us “stuck on hard-mode.” Nik in his own sarcastic and thoughtful way walks us through a few examples of God’s specific care and direction in ways he was not expe...

Are you tired? Just worn out? In this episode Tom breaks down the simple beauty of intimacy with God. It seems like a big feat, but it starts with desire and grows into something wonderful.  Tom, Katie’s brother, has been on our podcast a few times before because he’s a great teacher, one of Katie’s best favorite brothers and he genuinely enjoys our podcast! So that works out nicely! In this episo...

SUSAN IS BACK for today’s episode!! And it’s so good! God has blown Susan away with all that he has shown her over this year! He has rekindled her love for the local church when it’s partnered with the gospel and shown her the power of community. In her new role in her church, God has showered her with goodness and perspective and this space has fueled the finishing touches on her new book (get ex...

Those of you who have been long-time listeners know Portia and the goodness she brings, and though God called her to step down as host of She Speaks Stories, he called her towards some other great changes. And in this episode, Portia shares with us what she’s been up to this past year.  Jesus has held her, through changes, in her identity and quieted her fast pace with deep renewal. Her organizati...