What happens when two ordinary moms say yes to an extraordinary call? We open our lives to you—our blended family, our co-grandmother bond, the garage sale that turned into a launchpad, and the fragile moments in hospital hallways that redefined our courage. Shannon’s journey through Cushing’s disease and a grim brain diagnosis pushed us to pray when answers ran dry. Doctors set limits. We learned to ask for a sound mind, steady hearts, and the strength to keep loving people in front of us.

That yes led to Thailand and beyond—into villages marked by poverty, idol altars, and surprising hospitality. We talk about sharing faith without pretending life is tidy, and how honesty about illness made room for real connection. Donnie’s transformation from stunned spouse to cross-border rescuer shows what trust can do when fear is loud. Along the way, we discovered that mission is both a passport and a posture: cry out for direction, show up for people, and let God use small daily choices to create outsized impact.

Back home, the mission matured into training teams, nurturing community, and building a spiritual legacy that stretches across children, grandchildren, and new sons and daughters by marriage. We dig into the hard work of releasing offense, breaking unhealthy patterns, and choosing forgiveness that actually frees families. If you’ve ever wondered whether your yes matters, this story is for you: a reminder that God uses ordinary people, that comfort can make us sleepwalk, and that dependence can wake us up to purpose. If this speaks to you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review to help others find the show. What’s your next brave yes?

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A broken heart, a midnight prayer, and a phone call that changed everything—this conversation with singer-songwriter Janie Balderas is a map through the valley and back into the light. We open with her roots as a preacher’s daughter in Austin and Georgetown, where faith was real, messy, and often miraculous. Then the ground gives way: a sudden divorce, graveyard shifts, and the brutal whisper that she was unlovable. Janie takes us inside those nights on the floor, the anxiety that mimicked a heart attack, and the stubborn hope that wouldn’t leave, even when a rogue house rat became an unwanted roommate.

What happens next feels ordinary and sacred all at once. After a raw re-surrender to God, relief arrived like a breath of clean air. A modest temp job appeared, and the trainee she was asked to onboard turned around—her eighth-grade sweetheart, now the man she’s been married to for three decades. We talk about seasons: why choosing your kids doesn’t cancel your calling, how creative gifts can wait without withering, and how music returns with deeper truth when you’ve lived the lyrics. Janie’s catalog reflects that journey, from the wink of Whiskey and Jesus to the cinematic grit of Baptize, the new spaghetti-western-tinged single she performs live on the show.

Along the way, we explore grief, purpose, and the imperfect daily work of faith. Janie shares how prayer steadied her, how community lifted her when she had no pulse of hope left, and why age is just a number when the message is urgent. Expect laughter, a few tears, and a performance that feels like stepping into cool water after a long, hot road. If you’ve ever wondered whether you waited too long, fell too far, or missed your shot, this story says otherwise.

Listen now, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and if the conversation moved you, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find their way back to hope.

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A quiet fire, a gray sky, and a heart full of gratitude, Denise opens up about a year that stretched faith and sparked a movement of stories. What began as a dream became a growing podcast rooted in Scripture and real-life testimony, designed to help women trade anxiety for a sound mind and cultivate courage for the road ahead. You’ll hear why a simple “book of remembrance” can be a lifeline: when you record what God has done, you build a library of evidence to revisit when storms hit and doubts rise.

We walk through the rhythms that have sustained Denise across decades of marriage, parenting, grandparenting, and ministry: honest reflection, Scripture meditation, and spoken praise. She shares how verses moved from the page into her heart and then out of her mouth, becoming a practiced response that dismantles fear and restores peace. Along the way, we celebrate the unexpected team that formed around the Greenhouse, the more than twenty-five conversations already live, and the bold goal to record one hundred stories from women who have seen God’s faithfulness up close.

Looking ahead, Denise offers a hopeful vision for 2026: courses to know God more deeply, workshops to build businesses on kingdom principles, and future adventures that awaken wonder. The throughline is simple and strong. God is for you, not against you; gratitude changes the atmosphere; and praise is freedom, not foolishness. If you need a nudge to start your own remembrance journal, to lift your hands without fear of judgment, or to believe that hope can mature into faith that does not disappoint, this conversation is your invitation.

Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help more women find these stories. Then tell us: what will you write in your book of remembrance today?

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The year stretched long with chemo chairs, late-night worries, and decisions that felt impossible—and yet something shifted when we stopped trying to earn our worth and started living from it. We open up about caregiving through a husband’s lymphoma, losing two fathers days apart, and later facing the wrenching calls that come with an aging, angry parent. What changed us most wasn’t a perfect plan. It was praying in the moment, speaking Scripture out loud, and letting community do what community does best: steady our hands when the weight gets heavy.

You’ll hear the unvarnished parts: fear whispering the worst, guilt chasing every misstep, and the second-guessing that shows up when you take away the keys or move a parent to assisted living. You’ll also hear the practices that held—cooking for healing, resting without shame, and texting a friend the instant their name comes to mind. We talk about grief with hope, why we stopped blaming God for a broken world, and how believing you’re loved first makes you brave enough to love others well.

If you’ve ever thought “I’m not a good caregiver,” this conversation is for you. Come for honest stories about cancer, dementia, family dynamics, and hard boundaries; stay for the gentle reminder that you can choose trust over striving and receive help as provision, not failure. Listen, share it with someone who needs strength for the next step, and if this resonated, subscribe and leave a review so more caregivers can find a lighter yoke.

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What if prayer isn’t a to-do list but an act of love you step into right where you stand? We pick up a heartfelt question on petitionary prayer and follow Tracy’s journey from atheism to a living relationship with God, where asking felt illogical until one grocery-store moment changed everything. A spontaneous prayer over a stranger’s dream revealed a simple, transformative truth: prayer is love. That lens reshaped motivation, turning petitions from outcome anxiety into compassion in motion.

Across this conversation, we share stories that make faith tangible. A childhood spent singing to God from the top of a tree becomes a picture of quiet intimacy. A mentor’s wisdom—be willing to be willing—opens a path to ask, learn, and grow without pretending certainty. Scripture moves from distant pages to a present voice, guiding conviction without condemnation. We explore how to discern voices, how to pray Scripture with confidence, and why praying now beats promising later.

We don’t skip the hard parts. Fierce prayers for healing that didn’t arrive. Grief that demanded honest words with God. The kind of trust that learns to hold both hope and surrender without letting go of either. Along the way, we get practical: ask to pray in the moment, breathe and listen before speaking, aim petitions at the true need beneath the surface, and write down mercies so memory strengthens hope. Faith can be contagious—borrow it from a friend, ask God to fill your cup, and watch courage return.

If you’re wrestling with whether your prayers matter, or if you’ve stopped asking for the big things, this conversation invites you back. Subscribe for more grounded, story-rich talks on faith and practice, share this episode with someone who needs fresh courage, and leave a review with the one bold prayer you’re ready to pray again.

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What if the cross actually worked—and shame is no longer your script? That audacious claim sits at the center of our talk with author and speaker Tracy Levinson as we unpack love, dating, sexuality, and the kind of grace that doesn’t just forgive but changes you from the inside out.

Tracy shares her path from atheism to a deep trust in the finished work of Jesus, explaining why she says she has “one sermon.” We explore how many Christians confuse purity with sexual behavior when purity is ultimately a person—Christ. That shift reframes sin as self‑harm rather than a scoreboard and moves us from fear of punishment to the tree of life, where love motivates wise choices. Along the way, we talk candidly about teenage pregnancy, boundaries in relationships, and what healing looks like when old wounds echo in new friendships.

We also press into worship and joy. Can praise be honest when you feel empty? Yes—when it’s in spirit and in truth, not just noise or duty. One host describes carrying a stubborn, contagious joy into a hard corporate culture and how that joy held only when rooted in God’s purpose. Tracy offers a nuanced take on the “new heart” promise, arguing that believers aren’t stuck with stony hearts; instead, our minds need renewal and our defenses need surrender. We discuss guarding your heart without closing it, loving people you disagree with, and recognizing the image of God in every person.

If you’ve wrestled with purity culture, wondered whether grace is real enough for your story, or needed language to set kind but firm boundaries, this conversation will meet you there. Listen now, share it with a friend who needs hope, and if it resonates, subscribe, rate, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show.

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What does it actually take to love a child who has learned not to trust? We open up about the earliest days of a foster placement, where trauma shows up as testing, escalation, and a search for safety in all the wrong places. Instead of quick fixes, we talk through the slow, steady work of trauma‑informed parenting: leading with safety, using calm scripts and brief cooldowns, and rebuilding connection before correction. The goal isn’t perfect behavior; it’s nervous‑system calm, attachment over time, and a home where a child can finally exhale.

We also walk through adoption pathways—straight adoption and foster‑to‑adopt—and how “levels of care” change the day‑to‑day. A moderate classification can mean a ten‑year‑old functioning like a five‑year‑old, and it calls for developmentally accurate expectations, structure, and rhythms that heal. Faith is part of our toolkit, not a shortcut. Teaching kids to pray for themselves, anchoring anxious moments with simple scriptures about power, love, and a sound mind, and blessing them at bedtime creates rituals that travel with them if life shifts again.

Community makes the difference. Weekly conversations with a trusted friend keep us from burning out, and school partnerships turn chaos into a coordinated plan. You’ll hear practical advocacy tips—how to write a letter to initiate services, how to organize support in unstructured settings like the bus line, and how to align teachers around consistent responses. We close with gratitude practices that work when you’re tired: progress lists, thankfulness rituals kids enjoy, and the courage to write the hard things now so you can spot the change later. If fostering or adopting has been on your heart, take a small step today—volunteer, talk to an experienced parent, or start the application—and let the next door open.

If this conversation encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who cares about vulnerable kids, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories. Your support helps build the village every child deserves.

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A single sentence from a kid—“He’s not really your brother”—can echo for years. That’s where our story begins: with a bright, adopted little girl who suddenly felt other, learned to hide, and tried on borrowed identities to blend in. Then, decades later, a mission trip to Panama cracked the facade wide open as Kristen shared her testimony with orphans and discovered the courage to own her story. What once felt like a flaw became a calling.

We talk through the whole arc with Kristen and her mom, Karen: the early joy of finding out, the sting of a careless comment, and the long season of secrecy. Kristen explains how faith reframed everything—how God turned insecurity into strength and used her words to comfort kids who knew abandonment firsthand. Karen offers a mother’s perspective on letting a grown child follow a risky nudge, holding a posture of gratitude toward the unknown biological mother, and trusting that love doesn’t shrink when questions appear. Along the way, we explore how scripture elevates adoption, from Moses to Joseph’s role in Jesus’ life, and why belonging is more than biology.

You’ll hear practical encouragement for parents teaching compassion, for adoptees wrestling with identity, and for anyone considering fostering or adoption. If you’ve ever buried part of your story just to fit in, this conversation will nudge you toward honesty and remind you that confidence anchored in God outlasts opinion.

Thank you for joining us for part two of Kristen and Karen's story. If you missed part one, go check out last week's episode! Listen, share it with someone who needs hope, and leave a review to help others find these stories. Subscribe for more conversations that turn pain into purpose.

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