Prayers from the Middle

In this episode, Brianna steps into the MRI machine—literally and spiritually. She talks about the moment she woke up to the reality of hypocrisy felt like it entered her world. It started with a pair of tiny metal feet. She was twelve. They were the size of a ten-week-old fetus, pinned to a brochure that told her what righteousness looked like. She believed it. She debated it. Because Christians love babies with teeny tiny feet.

B...

It's Episode 3, and Bria dips her toe into the tricky waters of Christian Nationalism. She talks about the line between love and idolatry and what happens when we try to make America the Kingdom of God.

She's been reading through Genesis and keeps seeing this thing we do where we try to keep God’s promises for Him. Where we step in, take over, and try to control what only He can.

And lately, she's been wondering if that’s what we’v...

What if God keeps His promises and makes His name known even when sinful people do crappy things? Today, Bria struggles openly with the idea that maybe God was truly glorified and made Himself known at Charlie Kirk's funeral even though hatred and discord were also spoken from the same stage. She talks about God's pattern of faithfulness to always keep His promises even though the brokenness of sinful people seems like it should sc...

We used to trust certain pastors and Christian leaders of institutions to tell us what we should believe. Now we trust our feeds. In this episode, Bria Wasson explores how curated truth, tribal loyalty, and algorithm-driven discipleship have distorted the voice of Jesus in the American church. From Paul’s warning to Timothy about itching ears to Joseph’s unjust silence in Genesis 39, we trace the cost of listening to the loudest vo...

What does God’s voice actually sound like—and why have so many of us stopped listening for it? In this episode, Brianna shares raw stories of longing, silence, and quiet nudges that just might be divine. She traces how the American Church traded intimacy for formulas and created a culture of its own, turning discipleship into a checklist and revelation into a rulebook. If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing all the “right” things bu...

This one’s short. No deep dive, no theological takedown, no poetic lament. Just a pause—and a question.

I’ve been naming hard truths, inviting Jesus into the mess, and watching this little podcast grow into something tender and bold. But before I go further, I want to listen. To you.

So today, I’m asking for your help. I made a weird, honest, slightly mischievous survey to find out why you listen, what you long for, and who you wis...

What happens when the roles you were handed—pastor’s kid, missionary kid, “good Christian woman”—start to feel like a costume? In this episode, Sarah Bucy Klingler shares her story of spiritual formation, inherited faith, and the slow, painful realization that her gifts didn’t fit the box she was told to live in.

We talk about protective suits, people-pleasing, and the ache of shrinking yourself to survive. We explore the moment wh...

In this continuation of Bria’s conversation with Sarah Bucy Klingler, they dive deep into the ache and awe of spiritual reformation. They name the loneliness of questioning and talk about the courage it takes to pull theological threads. And they discuss the longing for spaces where doubt isn’t dangerous.

Sarah shares how seminary became her sanctuary—a place where she could be her full, questioning self without fear. They explore ...

Brianna is taking a little breather this week.

Even though this is technically Episode 9, it marks 10 weeks in a row of Prayers from the Middle which feels like something worth celebrating! So Bria is stepping back to rest her brain and do a little behind-the-scenes dreaming.

She's planning the next 10 episodes where we'll focus on the idea of safe spaces. Like what happened to make so many of us stop feeling safe in the evangelica...

What really happens to the image of God in us when sin enters the story? In this episode of Prayers from the Middle, Bria wrestles with a teaching many of us grew up hearing—that sin renders humanity worthless. Through Scripture, reflection, and a vivid metaphor of a corrupted photo file, Bria explores whether “worthless” is the right word, or if “corrupted” better captures the truth.

You’ll hear how this shift reframes the way we ...

In this second installment of our four-part series on the image of God, Bria explores the profound connection between Genesis and the Declaration of Independence. If every human being is created in God’s likeness, then the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are not privileges—they are woven into our very being.

This episode wrestles with the ways we’ve forgotten that truth: in how immigrants are treated, in the e...

This week left my heart in knots — a week of mass shootings, public cruelty, and grief that felt too heavy to hold. I found myself angry, tangled, and unable to find the right words, until I returned again to the prayer that I have found shaping me to my core:“Search me, God… and lead me in the way everlasting.”

In this episode, I talk honestly about righteous anger, the kind that rises when leaders dehumanize others — and the othe...

In this final episode of our four‑part series on the image of God, we’re taking a hard, honest look at how the American church has shaped our understanding of evangelism—and how that shaping has quietly distorted the way we see people, ourselves, and even God.

For many of us, evangelism has always felt like a strategic, spiritual sales pitch we were supposed to perfect. But what if that weight was never ours to carry in the first p...

If you’ve felt overwhelmed by the nonstop news cycle, unsure what you believe anymore, or lonely in your questions about church, faith, or Jesus, this episode is for you. In Episode 14, Bria names the exhaustion so many of us are carrying — the nervous‑system overload, the spiritual confusion, feeling like we're watching the world unravel while trying to hold onto what’s true.

Through a week of relentless headlines and a moment of ...

This episode is a tender, honest, and deeply grounding conversation with Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Ruth Friend. She brings more than two decades of clinical experience—and her own lived story—to the topic of spiritual deconstruction.

We talk about what actually happens emotionally when your faith begins to shift, crack, or unravel. Ruth names the stages many...

This one is for those who grew up learning that following Jesus meant performing for God.

If the world feels unsafe right now, you’re not imagining it. And if this is somehow bringing up old fear around God, you’re not the only one trying to make sense of that. This conversation is for the ones who are trying to untangle all of that and still believe that Jesus steps into the middle of real life.

In this second part of my conversat...

Most of us were taught to tell our testimony as a tidy before-and-after story. Before Jesus I was a mess. Then I met Jesus. Now everything is better.

But what happens when that's not your story?

In this two-part conversation, author and mental health advocate Chris Morris joins Bria to tell the truth about a life that stayed messy even after he met Jesus. Chris shares his long-term struggle with depression and suicidality and the m...

In this episode, I sit down with author, speaker and mental‑health advocate Chris Morris to talk about a moment that changed everything for him. In 2020, during one of the darkest seasons of his life, Chris attempted to end his life. What came next were two conversations - in the psych ward, in the middle of shame, anger, and despair.

Chris heard God speak the words he least expected: “I still love you.”

Not after he got better or...