Where Grace Meets Truth | Honest Conversations

Jeanette shares a personal confession about longing to be deeply known and the pain of being misunderstood, especially in her advocacy for deaf and deafblind ministry. She uses a Sunday morning accessibility conflict to illustrate how assumptions can harm relationships, points to Jesus’ example of seeing people beneath the surface, and urges listeners to slow down, ask questions, and listen with l...

Jeannette shares her experience at the Bring Worship to Life workshop in Nashville, where she came to learn worship interpretation but left with a deeper spiritual breakthrough. Through music, prayer, and community, she learns to release perfectionism, receive God’s peace, and trust that the battles belong to Him—even while facing ongoing family challenges.

A hearing mother and long-time deaf ministry volunteer reflects on decades of personal experience, sharing why many deaf people feel excluded from church life despite surface-level access. She challenges churches to move beyond minimal accommodations—investing in qualified interpreters, respectful inclusion of Deaf culture, and platforming Deaf leaders—so deaf people can truly belong, participate,...

As a Deaf Ministry pastor nearing ten years of service, I reflect on the joys of ministry, the importance of creating access, and the power of raising Deaf and Deaf-blind leaders. I share the story of my daughter leading worship, the hidden work to make inclusion possible, and how one person saying 'yes' inspires others to serve. I also open up about burnout, guilt over missed Sundays, and learnin...

In this episode of Where Grace Meets Truth, I share the story behind why I resisted ministry for so many years. Growing up as a pastor's kid in a culture shaped by legalism, shame, performance, and rigid expectations, I witnessed both the beauty of faith and the wounds church culture can leave behind.  From public humiliation after becoming pregnant at nineteen, to watching my Deaf children strugg...

Jeannette shares her journey fighting for her deaf twins' education — from homeschooling in a rural town to confronting inadequate school programs, unqualified interpreters, and limited language access. She explains how language and fluent communication shaped their learning and why she refused to accept minimal support. Through frustration, criticism, and rare allies, she urges parents to keep pu...

Jeannette shares a deeply personal season of life—raising four young children, including two deaf preschoolers, while her husband worked long, traveling hours. She describes the exhaustion of managing home, learning sign language, advocating for her children, and feeling unseen and judged despite doing everything she could to build a bilingual family. Amid the struggle a teacher arrived who unders...

Jeannette shares her family's move to South Carolina while pregnant and caring for four young children, including Deaf twins. She describes choosing ASL over cochlear implants, the challenges of finding resources in 1999–2000, and her determination to learn sign language so her children could communicate at home. She recalls the daily routines of early mornings, bus pickups, and learning from limi...

Jeannette explores what to do when others form a false narrative about you—how misunderstandings happen, why they hurt, and why your identity ultimately comes from God, not public opinion. She offers practical guidance: pause before reacting, bring your hurt to God, distinguish conviction from accusation, ask for clarity, protect your heart, and choose wise, grace-filled responses.

After her twins are diagnosed profoundly deaf, Jeannette recounts the messy, faith-filled season of meeting her husband, discovering early intervention and a signing preschool, and learning ASL while raising three young children. Through small moments—children signing songs about Jesus, community support, and gradual progress—she finds hope and sees God at work, offering encouragement to anyone fe...

Welcome to Where Grace Meets Truth. I'm Jeanette. In this episode I share the moment my twins were diagnosed profoundly deaf, the months of missed signs, the gut-wrenching shock and guilt I felt, and how faith and family guided us toward sign language, the deaf community, and a new understanding of God’s grace. It's a personal story about listening to truth, learning a new language, and finding ho...

In this first episode of Where Grace Meets Truth, I share the story behind the microphone. I talk about becoming a young mom, raising four children, and how life took an unexpected turn when my twins were diagnosed as Deaf. What followed was a journey into learning sign language, discovering the Deaf community, and navigating life as a mother trying to meet the needs of all of her children at the...