Good Hard Story Podcast Katherine Wolf

Before the GoodHard Story Podcast takes a short summer break, Katherine is recapping her favorite moments from Season 3. She’s distilling over 30 hours of conversations and reflections into a potent 20-minute dose of hope!

What you’ll take away from this conversation…


Start a community from scratch


Reframing our emotions as a strength instead of a weakness


Becoming better—instead of bitter—because of our losses



As we prepare for the next season of the podcast, we need to hear what YOU want to hear! Let us know what hurt you’re holding today so that we can start some helpful, healing conversations between Katherine and her most trusted teachers.

If you want to help us create future episodes, email us at resources@hopeheals.com or DM us on Instagram (@hopeheals) with questions you’d like answered or topics you want covered.

Show Notes:

Donate to Hope Heals: hopeheals.com/give

Favorite Season 3 Moments:

Episode 37: Ask Amy Julia

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-37-ask-amy-julia

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ueGdkR3BPASl10PY319Gx?si=e1356478bdc240f7

“Experiencing disability or being in proximity to disability is a way to embrace our own humanity. It can also call us into love, care, and mutual receiving.”

———

Episode 39: Putting It Into Practice with Caroline Young

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-39-putting-it-into-practice-with-caroline-young

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/39AXj8Bk71LjcUbHAHQpnH?si=0625bc43b2a74d63

“Find the people without the people and make them your people.”

———

Episode 46: “Strong Like Water”: Designed for Emotional Agility with Aundi Kolber

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-46-strong-like-water-designed-for-emotional

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0EN8lXrxbRjGXNY7WyFWqg?si=d3474bb03cf94a3c

“When Jesus promised to give us ‘life to the full,’ he was giving us permission to embrace the full spectrum of human emotion. We are being invited into experiencing deep feeling and emotional flexibility as a strength, not a liability.”

———

Episode 55: Hard-Fought Contentment: Integrating Our Losses into Wholeness with Jerry Sittser

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epiode-55-hard-fought-contentment-integrating-our-losses

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fzhl7BoYlQ0S2K4IKvEEe?si=1bcf5b1d507c4a12

“Grief does not have to diminish us. Grief can become integrated into healthier, more whole versions of ourselves.”

“Our responses to loss can define us, rather than the loss itself defining us.”

“God, spare me from a perfect life.”

———

Episode 60: My Prayer for YOU: Borrow This Benediction for the Good/Hard Life

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-60-my-prayer-for-you-borrow-this-benediction

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4vJvuFKDPa2a765SojnlQS?si=77c38e6cd34c4320

“I’m not responsible for what has happened to me, but I am responsible for what I do with it.”

———

Episode 63: Wonderful/Terrible: Cultivating a Gritty Faith Instead of a Pretty Faith with Kay Warren

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-63-wonderful-terrible-cultivating-a-gritty

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Iq8Y3prH2QQMfIoezsRIX?si=62242adb5e3b4a0d

“We are never more like Christ than when we are sitting with people in their suffering.”

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

Romans 8:32

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Romans 15:13

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⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, our twice-a-month digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from Katherine and a curated digest of the Internet’s most redemptive content: https://hopeheals.com/hopenote

Get to know us:

⁠⁠Hope Heals⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/

⁠⁠Hope Heals Camp⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/camp

⁠⁠Mend Cof

Have you ever spent a thousand hours studying something? Other than the back of your own eyelids, that is.

Today, Katherine is joined by her friend Dr. Joel Muddamalle, who recently spent one thousand hours studying everything the Bible has to say about humility. He’s sharing everything he learned with us! What he has to say might surprise you, and it’s certain to convict you.

If you sense you might be harboring hidden pride and finally feel ready to recover your God-designed humility, this episode is for you.

What you’ll take away from this conversation…

Why humility is the key to developing resilience against humiliation

How to invite God to re-order your ambitions

Making the switch from resenting your limitations to resting in them instead



All things Joel Muddamalle: https://linktr.ee/muddamalle

The Hidden Peace: Finding True Security, Strength, and Confidence Through Humility by Joel Muddamalle: https://a.co/d/bYj1ypQ

Hope Heals Camp: https://hopeheals.com/camp

Proverbs 31 Ministries: https://proverbs31.org/

“These Are The Days” by Cory Asbury: https://g.co/kgs/fRaQBGz

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

Genesis 1, 2, and 3

Matthew 11:28-29

Philippians 2:8-9

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Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-hard-story-podcast/id1496882479

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0OYz6G9Q2tNNVOX9YSdmFb?si=043bd6b10a664beb

Want a little hope in your inbox?

⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, our twice-a-month digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from Katherine and a curated digest of the Internet’s most redemptive content: https://hopeheals.com/hopenote

Get to know us:

⁠⁠Hope Heals⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/

⁠⁠Hope Heals Camp⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/camp

⁠⁠Mend Coffee⁠⁠: https://www.mendcoffee.org/

Instagram⁠: https://www.instagram.com/hopeheals/

Katherine spent her first Mother’s Day unconscious in an intensive care unit, a fact that has brought a flavor of bittersweetness to every Mother’s Day since. Today she’s reflecting on the experiences of parenthood that were eventually restored to her, as well as the ones she will simply never get back. 

If your life is feeling more like a famine than a feast and you’re hungry to hear from someone who has found her way back to a full life, this episode is for you.

Today’s episode is an excerpt from the Treasures in the Dark audiobook! If you’re listening on Spotify Premium, you can stream Treasures in the Dark for free as a part of your subscription.

Grab your own copy of the book today in print, ebook, or audiobook formats at treasuresinthedark.com or wherever books are sold.



Show Notes:

Treasures in the Dark: 90 Reflections on Finding Bright Hope Hidden in the Hurting by Katherine Wolf: https://hopeheals.com/treasures



Scriptures referenced in this episode:

Joel 1:16

Joel 2:25-27



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Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-hard-story-podcast/id1496882479

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0OYz6G9Q2tNNVOX9YSdmFb?si=043bd6b10a664beb

Want a little hope in your inbox?

⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, our twice-a-month digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from Katherine and a curated digest of the Internet’s most redemptive content: https://hopeheals.com/hopenote

Get to know us:

⁠⁠Hope Heals⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/

⁠⁠Hope Heals Camp⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/camp

⁠⁠Mend Coffee⁠⁠: https://www.mendcoffee.org/

Instagram⁠: https://www.instagram.com/hopeheals/

In this episode of the GoodHard Story Podcast, Katherine discovers a kindred spirit in Kay Warren, who founded the beloved Saddleback Church with her husband Rick. Kay and Rick have endured the earth-shattering loss of one of their sons, who died by suicide in 2013.

Both Katherine and Kay were in tears by the end of the conversation, which spans from the complexities of mental illness to the life-saving power of respite to the privilege of sitting with suffering people. Kay could not have been more generous in sharing her hard-won insights into the most terrible kind of grief.

What you’ll take away from this conversation…


What to do when God stops making sense
The single experience that can make us more Christlike
The one question you should never ask someone who is suffering
How a marriage can withstand unimaginable loss

If you need to hear a story of deep hurt and even deeper hope, this episode is for you.

Show Notes


Hope for Mental Health: https://hope4mentalhealth.com/

Breathe: https://saddleback.com/connect/ministry/outreach-retreats

The Wounder Healer by Henri Nouwen - https://henrinouwen.org/read/the-wounded-healer/

Lews Smedes - https://digitalcommons.calvin.edu/smedes_recordings/

Walter Brueggemann - https://www.walterbrueggemann.com/resources/

“Pay mind to your own life, your own health, and wholeness. A bleeding heart is of no help to anyone if it bleeds to death.” - Frederick Buechner

Scriptures referenced in this episode:
1 Corinthians 15:43-45

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Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-hard-story-podcast/id1496882479
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0OYz6G9Q2tNNVOX9YSdmFb?si=043bd6b10a664beb

Want a little hope in your inbox?
⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, our twice-a-month digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from Katherine and a curated digest of the Internet’s most redemptive content: https://hopeheals.com/hopenote

Get to know us:
⁠⁠Hope Heals⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/
⁠⁠Hope Heals Camp⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/camp
⁠⁠Mend Coffee⁠⁠: https://www.mendcoffee.org/
Instagram⁠: https://www.instagram.com/hopeheals/

As Katherine observes the sixteenth anniversary of her stroke this week, she’s reflecting on one of the most transformative treasures she’s discovered in the darkness of her pain: If the worst day of Jesus’ life was eventually called good, then maybe one day my worst day could be called good too.

But this is no ordinary podcast episode! We are so excited to be sharing a clip straight from the Treasures in the Dark AUDIOBOOK!

If you enjoy this little preview book, we sure hope you’ll pick up a copy of your own. And if you’re listening on Spotify Premium, you can stream Treasures in the Dark for free as a part of your subscription!

Grab your copy of the book today in print, ebook, or audiobook formats at treasuresinthedark.com or wherever books are sold.

Treasures in the Dark: 90 Reflections on Finding Bright Hope Hidden in the Hurting by Katherine Wolf: https://hopeheals.com/treasures



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Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-hard-story-podcast/id1496882479

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0OYz6G9Q2tNNVOX9YSdmFb?si=043bd6b10a664beb



Want a little hope in your inbox?

⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, our twice-a-month digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from Katherine and a curated digest of the Internet’s most redemptive content: https://hopeheals.com/hopenote



Get to know us:

⁠⁠Hope Heals⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/

⁠⁠Hope Heals Camp⁠⁠: https://hopeheals.com/camp

⁠⁠Mend Coffee⁠⁠: https://www.mendcoffee.org/

Instagram⁠: https://www.instagram.com/hopeheals/

Amy Julia was a high-achieving, religiously devout Princeton grad who lived with the nagging feeling that there must something *more* to life than what she had experienced so far. Then her first child was diagnosed with Down syndrome, and Amy Julia began her journey into a version of “the good life” that she never expected.

Amy Julia joins Katherine for a deeply vulnerable conversation about the theological reckoning that took place in her heart and mind when she became a parent to a child with intellectual disabilities. She emerged with a new understanding of God’s love and her own inherent value.

Today, eighteen years later, she's inviting us all to re-imagine what belonging and belovedness really looks like for people with AND without disabilities. 

What We’ll Cover:


How to determine if you’re settling for a lesser version of the good life


The one place in the Bible where we get an “equation” for God and what it means about how we see ourselves and other people


Why there are no such things as “special needs,” only human needs



https://amyjuliabecker.com/

https://www.instagram.com/amyjuliabecker/

Reimagining the Good Life Podcast: https://amyjuliabecker.com/podcast/

Hope Heals Camp: https://hopeheals.com/camp/

“The Blurring Is Part of the Beauty”: https://comment.org/the-blurring-is-part-of-the-beauty/

Andrew Leland: https://www.andrewleland.org/

Mend Coffee & Goods: https://www.mendcoffee.org/

“Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” - Philip Yancey 

Scriptures referenced in this episode:

 Luke 14:15-24

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Subscribe to The GoodHard Story Podcast!

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/good-hard-story-podcast/id1496882479

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/0OYz6G9Q2tNNVOX9YSdmFb?si=043bd6b10a664beb

Want a little hope in your inbox?

⁠⁠Sign up for the Hope Note⁠⁠, our twice-a-month digest of only the good stuff, like reflections from Katherine and a curated digest of the Internet’s most redemptive content: https://hopeheals.com/hopenote