All Posts

Show Notes: Summary Sometimes forgiveness is described as though it should make everything simple: forgive, reconcile, restore the relationship, and move on. Mark Winter's story is more complicated. Mark grew up with a father he loved but also feared. His father's unpredictable anger, verbal abuse, and physical abuse shaped the way Mark saw himself long after childhood ended. Even after becoming a pastor, criticism could return him emotionally to the little boy who believed t

Show Notes: Summary The surgery finally happened. After months of pain and waiting, Stephanie expected those words to feel like the end of the ordeal. Instead, the answer opened into another chapter: recovery. In this solo episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie tells the winding story of a surgery scheduled for July 21, an unexpected cancellation after a heart-monitor disclosure, additional appointments and testing, and the eventual August 28 procedure. The story carries frustrat

Show Notes: Summary Kim Hardy and her husband were one week away from selling one home and purchasing another. Their belongings were packed, and the next chapter seemed settled. Then her husband unexpectedly lost his job. The home purchase could no longer move forward, but the sale of their current home did. At the same time, their daughter was completing her senior year, Kim was navigating health concerns and perimenopause, and the family was facing questions without immedia

Show Notes: Summary The needs are real. The work matters. The people matter. So how do you admit that you still cannot do all of it? In this solo episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie begins with the moment her computer snitched on her: she had fallen asleep with her hands on the keyboard, leaving a row of J’s and D’s across the screen. Beneath the funny evidence was a serious pattern. She was treating limited capacity as though it contained unlimited energy, strength, attention

Show Notes: Summary Grief and faith are sometimes spoken about as though one must eventually replace the other - as though strong faith should make grief shorter, quieter, or easier to carry. But what happens when you trust God and your heart is still broken? Rachelle Boyd-Huff had spent years helping families face death as a hospice nurse. Then her own father was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic and liver cancer. Three weeks and one day later, he died. Her professional e

Show Notes: Summary Stephen Ongo on Loss, Trust, and Finding Joy Again After 25 years of marriage, family life, and ministry together, Stephen Ongo lost his wife, Susan, suddenly. At first, Steve describes feeling almost numb while the people around him grieved. But as the shock wore away, the weight of the loss became increasingly difficult to carry. Eight months later, after hearing his daughter ask when the pain would ever end, Steve reached a breaking point. He had questi

Show Notes: Summary You made the appointments. You followed the instructions. You rearranged your life around the next step—and then the plan stopped. What do you do when you are faithfully doing what you know to do, but the answer has not come and the outcome still looks painfully unfinished? In this solo episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie shares the ongoing story of a delayed surgery and the frustration of repeated stops, tests, and changed plans. The situation is not tied

Show Notes: Summary When You Don’t Know Who You Are Anymore Sometimes life changes more than our circumstances. It changes the way we see ourselves. We may identify ourselves as capable, dependable, independent, needed, or the person who always holds everything together. Then the job changes. The relationship changes. Health changes. A calling ends. And suddenly we realize that something we thought was simply a role had become part of the way we understood ourselves. In this

Show Notes: Summary Season 2 begins not after everything has been resolved, but right in the middle of the life we are actually living. In this episode, Stephanie reflects on health uncertainty, unfinished responsibilities, good intentions, and the pressure created by the complete picture we carry in our minds. An ordinary evening spent straightening her cluttered podcast studio becomes a reminder that progress does not have to mean completing the whole plan. Drawing from Luk

Show Notes: Summary For twelve years she carried more than a physical illness. She carried isolation. Shame. Loneliness. And the hope that maybe—just maybe—Jesus could change everything. In this final Summer Scripture Verse Mapping episode, we slow down and look beneath the surface of one of the most familiar miracles in the Gospels. Together we'll discover: Why the woman tried to remain hidden. What ceremonial uncleanness meant in everyday life. Why she reached for the fring

Show Notes: Summary When we think about Jesus washing His disciples' feet, we usually think about humility—and that's certainly part of the story. But what if John wants us to notice something even deeper? Before Jesus ever reaches for the towel, John tells us that Jesus knows exactly who He is. He knows where He came from. He knows where He is going. He knows the authority the Father has given Him. And then... He kneels. In this week's Summer Scripture Verse Mapping episode,

Show Notes: Summary In this summer Scripture Verse Mapping episode, we slow down with Matthew 5:13: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?” This verse comes right after the Beatitudes, so it does not stand alone. Jesus has just been describing the kind of people His disciples are becoming on the inside, and now He begins showing what that should look like in the world. Salt may seem simple, but in Jesus’ day it had v

Show Notes: Summary Psalm 23 may be familiar, but it is anything but shallow. In this episode of Glory & Grit, we begin the summer Scripture Verse Mapping series by slowing down with Psalm 23. Instead of only reading it from David’s perspective, we look at the passage from the perspective of the sheep — vulnerable, dependent, easily distracted, and deeply in need of a Shepherd who knows the terrain. This episode walks through Psalm 23 line by line, looking at the Shepherd’s c

Show Notes: Summary Season One of Glory & Grit has been about finding God when life doesn’t go as planned. In this recap episode, Stephanie looks back over the first season and reflects on the threads that kept showing up through solo episodes, guest stories, behind-the-scenes learning, and real-life faith. From nervous beginnings to waiting seasons, from small steps to rebuilding, from surrender to learning as a host, this episode is a full-circle reflection on what God has

Show Notes: Summary In this episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie sits down with Matt Melvin for a conversation about faith, surrender, accountability, and what it means to trust God when life strips away your sense of control. Matt shares about a near-death moment that became a spiritual turning point, a prison season he describes as “Bible Bootcamp,” and the difference between simply believing in God and truly trusting Him. Through his story, Matt reflects on repentance, disci

Show Notes: Summary Sometimes obedience does not look dramatic. It does not always look confident, polished, or full of energy. Sometimes obedience looks like sitting down and saying, “Okay, Lord, I’m here. I don’t know exactly what I have today, but I’m here.” In this solo episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie talks about the kind of faithfulness that often goes unnoticed — the quiet, tired, ordinary kind. The kind that keeps praying, keeps trying, keeps choosing God, and keeps

Show Notes: Summary In this episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie talks with Jenna Zanotto about learning to trust God one step at a time. Jenna shares about becoming a single mother, being diagnosed with lupus, facing financial hardship, and depending on God’s provision in a season where she could not see how everything would work out. Her story includes unexpected help, paid bills, gas money, protection during a storm, and a last-minute check that covered rent and paid off her

Show Notes: Summary What do you do when the life you built starts falling apart — and you cannot fix it? In this episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie talks with W. Bruce Cameron about a season that shook his marriage, work, identity, and sense of control all at once. After 25 years of marriage, Bruce’s wife wanted a different life, and not long after, he also lost his job. As someone who had always been a doer, provider, and problem-solver, Bruce found himself in a place where

Show Notes: Summary In this episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie welcomes Crystal Griffith for a conversation about fierce hope in the middle of medical chaos. Crystal shares how medical challenges have shaped her life from childhood into adulthood, including a traumatic brain injury after a car accident, years of pain and uncertainty, infertility, chronic illness, caregiving, and becoming a medical mom to a daughter with complex medical needs. Through humor, honesty, and deep

Show Notes: Summary What do we do when the plan changes? In this solo episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie talks about the disappointment, pressure, and scrambling that can come up when something shifts unexpectedly. Even small changes can stir up big feelings — making us wonder if we missed something, if we’re behind, or if we need to hurry up and fix everything. But a changed plan does not mean God has left the plan. Through Proverbs 16:9, this episode reminds us that plannin