Help & Hope

There is so much we do not know about mental illness, including deep depression that results in the inability to even get out of bed, let alone function in daily life. Many more people than we realize struggle every day to do the next thing with their will because of sadness, a lack of joy and purpose reigning in their hearts. They have tried everything to get better, but nothing helps. Add to this equation the spouse who watches h...

How do you find purpose when you are excruciating pain 24/7, survived 7 surgeries, and most likely face more? Add to that your status as a double amputee. In this interview, you will meet Warrior Woman Gracie Rosenberger, who was 17 when she was in an almost fatal car accident. In our conversation, Gracie freely shares what life and marriage is like with such challenges. Gracie’s story reveals a woman of strength and determin...

Corie Weathers, author of Sacred Spaces: My Journey to the Heart of Military Marriage, transparently shares some of her own marriage struggles as the wife of a military chaplain in this far-reaching conversation. Corie was the 2015 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year. One of her responsibilities was to travel on a one-week overseas holiday trip with US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Corie’s personal goal f...

Andrea Herzer, a woman well acquainted with long term debilitating health issues, having spent the last twenty years with multiple illnesses, including regional pain syndrome and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, joins Sharon Betters for this Help & Hope podcast. Numerous times Andrea experienced moments of hope only to have it dashed by another diagnosis, another setback. Certainly, her heart was a fertile place for bitterness and...

Lucy Malmberg’s grand adventures in life began when her parents hid her in a blanket-covered box as waited in line to board a plane to America from Ukraine after World War II. Her parents passed on to her a legacy of not only love for America but a passionate love for Jesus. In this conversation with Sharon Betters, Lucy freely shares how her faith guided her beloved husband George and her in the co-founding of Wedgewood Phar...

Marriage can be difficult under any circumstances, but adding a child with special needs adds a whole new level of challenges. In this wide-ranging conversation, Steve Demme shares his passion for helping build strong marriages, but in particular wants to offer help and hope to fathers, and even more specifically to fathers of children with special needs. Steve’s special relationship to his son, Johnny (who has Down Syndrome)...

Bryan and his wife Sharon say the diagnosis of severe autism for his son Matthew confronted them with the reality that the future they had planned would never come. In this transparent conversation Bryan touches on how he and his wife went into survival mode, how he initially thought he could “fix” his son, the spiritual struggles they experienced, and the impact of Matthew on their other children and their marriage. Th...

Paul and Jill Miller welcomed their sixth child, daughter Kim, into their home in 1982. It became apparent at a young age that Kim was behind in her developmental milestones. She was also nonverbal. Kim was diagnosed as having autism, a diagnosis that was just beginning to be recognized by doctors. Kim’s diagnosis not only created enormous stress on their family, but also isolated Jill as she learned how to parent their preci...

In this interview, two sets of parents speak honestly about how their children with an autistic spectrum disorder impacted their dreams, challenged their marriages, and created chaos in their homes. They also describe their special joys in parenting their children. If you are parenting a child with special needs, you will relate to their transparent descriptions of parenting children with a form of autism. These interviews will als...

Nearly aborted, graciously adopted, and later abandoned, Lori Sealy has traveled the road of atheism and lived a life of autism. Lori was diagnosed with Autism as an adult, and not long after that diagnosis, learned her son had autism as well. Lori is a classical pianist and songwriter whose music gives a transparent view into the intimate struggles of faith and life that she experiences.

In this interview, parents of a youn...

Remember playing in the sand, your back to the ocean, oblivious of the huge waves heading toward you? Suddenly, a mountain of raging water crashes over your body, and not only are you slammed into the sand, but, before you can catch a breath, another huge wave pulls you out to into a rip tide. Andrea Maher experienced tumultuous life events that threatened to pull her under a raging ocean of grief, shattered dreams, and hopelessnes...

Julie Sanford is a Recovery Mentor for wives of alcoholics. She is a wife and a mom of three who found herself in a situation she never wanted to be in: the wife of an alcoholic. After several years of living in chaos, feeling alone, and unseen, she is now using her journey to help other wives of alcoholics navigate their husband's addiction. She came to realize that it was not only her husband that needed recovery, but that she al...

Due to generations of hurt in his family, country music singer Ben Fuller turned to cocaine and alcohol at a young age. He got involved in a devastating drug-fueled relationship which led him to understand better the other side of addiction. Then, he abruptly lost his best friend to a heroin overdose, and his entire outlook on life shifted. In this Help & Hope conversation with Sharon Betters and Danielle Cantler, Ben talks abo...

Is it possible to break free from drugs after a lifetime of addiction? Shelley Tribbitt says yes. After using drugs for over thirty years, Shelley broke free from them, but then had to face the obstacle of the collateral damage that she had done to her family and friends. In this poignant interview, Shelley describes the devastation drug use brought on her family, including the loss of the custody of her children. Her daughter, Bay...

No matter how “innocent” the television program or movie, it seems that the entertainment industry is determined to normalize same-sex attraction, starting with the youngest of children. How does a parent help a child navigate sexuality when so many forces come against a biblical worldview? In this interview, Cooper Pinson of Harvest USA offers practical help so that parents can respond with confidence and wisdom as the...

Do you have questions about same-sex attraction? Is it wrong? Is it ok? Are you struggling with same-sex attraction personally? Is your child?

Chuck and Sharon had the privilege of asking these questions and many more of Dr. Rosaria Butterfield, nationally known speaker and author of Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. Dr. Butterfield's down-to-earth, compassionate, common-sensical, and biblical approach to same-sex attraction r...

There are six key scriptures that specifically address homosexuality. Dr. Chuck F. Betters interviews three pastors about their understanding of how to interpret each one of these Scriptures, not as stand-alone words, but as part of the whole Bible. Listeners will be struck not only by the clear presentation of hard words, but by the Shepherd’s hearts of each of these pastors, Rev. Dan Betters, Rev. Jim Weaver and Dr. Chuck L...

What’s the Christian Church to do? Western Culture not only accepts but also celebrates same-sex attraction as an appropriate and normal lifestyle. Are people who do not accept homosexuality as right and appropriate hateful and small-minded? In this frank conversation, Dr. Chuck F. Betters leads a conversation with three pastors about how the historical response of the local church to homosexuality and those in a gay relation...

What happens when a four-year-old gets an unwanted education in the darker side of humanity and experiences sexual abuse at the hand of her father? In this powerful, sometimes difficult-to-hear interview, Dr. Terry Eccles takes the listener into the abyss of the sexual abuse she experienced beginning at the age of four. This interview gives hope to the abused but also gives a window into the soul of the abused in a way that will be...