The GraceForge Podcast

Karen Dittman
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

When life brings the impossible, God doesn't just show up — he forges exactly what you need to get through it. The GraceForge Podcast is a collection of intimate conversations with people who've faced seasons of struggle that had no human solution — and discovered that God was already crafting the grace they needed. Each guest brings a story of provision that was personal, precise, and powerful. Come hear what he made for them. And be reminded of what he can make for you. Want to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  1. 4d ago

    He'll Be Dead by Then: A Daughter's Race Against Time — and God's Timing

    A year before her husband lost his job, Caroline Crocker felt the Lord tell her to resign from her own position as a tech startup CEO. What followed was a season that looked, from the outside, like everything falling apart: her husband's sudden dismissal from his church position, their house gone along with his salary, their car breaking down, even having to give away their dog. But it was also the season that put Caroline exactly where she needed to be — in her parents' home in Dallas, using her doctorate to fight for her dying, atheist father's medical care and, ultimately, his soul. In this conversation, Caroline shares the word she heard from God on the drive to Dallas — that her father would die, and she would be with him when he did — and how she used her scientific background to push back against doctors, buy her father precious extra months, and plant small, repeated seeds of faith in a man who spent his life believing God couldn't forgive him. She also talks about the moment-by-moment grace she needed just to keep going during that season, and about the books she's since written uncovering her family's remarkable, and at times harrowing, history — including a grandfather who survived Auschwitz. Links mentioned: Website (all of Caroline's books and writing): ramblingruminations.comBook: Unforgivable (her father's story)Book: Brave Face (her mother's WWII childhood in the Netherlands)Book: The Truth Was Different (releasing November — about her grandmother)Timestamps [00:00] Introduction [00:54] A Sabbatical, a Resignation, and "Something New Is Coming" [03:51] Losing the Job and the House [06:58] Called to Dallas to Help Her Parents [07:42] "Your Father Is Going to Die — and You'll Be With Him" [10:41] Using Her Doctorate to Advocate for Her Father's Care [13:13] He'll Be Dead by Then: Racing the Diagnosis [16:02] Praying for an Atheist Father [18:01] Everything Stripped Away — and Moment-by-Moment Grace [20:23] Small Steps of Faith: "When You See Jesus, Say Yes" [22:48] Her Father's Final Days — and Going Home [26:23] Writing Unforgivable and Uncovering Her Grandmother's Story [29:56] Forgive After Auschwitz [31:28] Where to Find Caroline's Books [32:11] Caroline's Takeaway: God Loves More Than You Can Imagine [32:50] Closing ReflectionWant to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  2. Sep 28

    From Rocket Man to New Man: Rebuilding an Identity After Loss

    For eight years, Dan Schlund was "Rocket Man" — one of the only professionally trained rocket-belt (jetpack) pilots on earth, flying stunt shows and live-action sequences across 35 countries and all seven continents. It was a childhood prayer answered almost too literally: as a boy, Dan asked God for an exciting, world-traveling life he could dedicate back to Him — and got exactly that, jetpack included. But the identity came at a cost. A near-fatal training crash left him hospitalized for two months and cost him 185 square inches of skin. A second crash, live on a Guinness World Records TV special in 2013, ended his flying career for good. In the fallout, Dan lost his marriage, his income, and the identity he'd built his whole adult life around — and had to ask God what was next. In this conversation, Dan talks about praying face-down on the floor after both the crash and the divorce, the years of "living the rock star life" instead of the Christian life, and how God used a season of nothing to build something new: National Set Medics, a company providing paramedics for film and TV productions that has grossed roughly $10 million over a decade. He also shares the moment — buying back a jetpack from a friend's widow — that led him to fly again, write his book, and make a documentary about the whole story, this time pointing straight at where his strength actually came from. Links mentioned: Documentary info: rocketman.tvBook: The Last Rocket Man (Dan's memoir)Timestamps [00:00] Introduction [01:01] Becoming the Rocket Man [02:50] A Childhood Prayer That Changed Everything [04:07] The Crash That Nearly Killed Him [08:02] Living the Rock Star Life on the Road [11:44] The Guinness World Records Crash [13:16] Losing His Identity — and His Marriage [15:15] Building National Set Medics [16:38] Buying Back a Jetpack — and Making a Documentary [21:57] God Is Like a GPS [23:14] The Last Rocket Man: Book and Documentary [27:17] We're All Servants [31:36] Dan's Final Takeaway: Live Without Regrets [33:23] Closing ReflectionWant to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  3. Sep 24

    Do You Feel Unseen? Desiree Taylor on Walking Away From God — and Being Found Again

    Connect with Karen and Michael and learn more about GraceForge at thegraceforge.com Desiree Taylor started losing her hearing around age eight, and by her teens the isolation of that loss led her to walk away from God entirely. Pregnant and alone at 19, Desiree describes a vision that changed everything — God reaching into the pit she'd fallen into and promising to be both her husband and her child's father. In this episode, she talks about the difference between God healing her deafness and God being present inside it, how she's learned to replace years of legalistic, distorted beliefs with truth, and why she believes mentoring and honest community are some of the most powerful things we can offer each other. Links mentioned: Website (books, speaking, blog): arenewedcreation.comBook: Created to Relate: Living Beyond ReligionTimestamps [00:00] Introduction [00:51] Walking Away From God During Isolation [03:20] "Lift Me Out of This Pit" — A Vision That Changed Everything [05:18] Undoing a Legalistic Upbringing [06:26] How God Provided for Her and Her Son [09:12] Choosing the Cochlear Implants [11:22] Why His Presence Mattered More Than Healing [13:13] Crying Out to God — and Coming Full Circle [16:04] From Legalism to Loving Mentorship [20:02] Created to Relate and a New Book on Community [21:31] Where to Find Desiree [22:06] Write Down Where You've Seen His Grace [22:52] Closing ReflectionWant to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  4. Sep 21

    Are You Always the Safe Place for Everyone Else? Daniel Curtis on Community and Vulnerability

    Connect with Karen and Michael and learn more about GraceForge at thegraceforge.com Daniel Curtis has built a life around being the one others could lean on — the safe haven, the encourager, the one who shows up. But in this episode, he opens up about the fear underneath that role: the fear that if he ever let himself need someone the same way, he'd be let down. Daniel shares two remarkable stories of God's provision — a voice-destroying illness reversed after a desperate promise made before surgery, and a split-second decision behind the wheel that he can only call a miracle — and talks candidly about being bullied, his discernment process toward the priesthood, and why real community, not performance, is what actually heals us. Links mentioned: Website: danielcurtishq.comSocial media: @danielcurtishqMemoir releasing November 2026 (title not yet given on air — confirm before publishing)4. Timestamps [00:00] Introduction [00:42] The Voice That Was Destroyed — and Restored [03:23] The "James Bond" Handbrake Miracle [05:53] Where God Was in the Fear [10:04] Searching for Something Deeper Than Success [12:30] Being Everyone's Safe Haven — But Not His Own [15:16] Why It's Easier to Help Than to Be Vulnerable [17:39] It's Never Too Late to Come Back to Faith [22:18] Using His Voice: Worship, Community, and a Call to Ministry [27:03] Making Room for Neurodivergent Worshippers [28:32] Writing an Honest Memoir [36:35] Where to Find Daniel [37:21] Don't Let Anyone Rewrite Your Story [38:22] Closing ReflectionWant to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  5. Sep 17

    When Your Testimony Isn't What You Hoped For: Jason Johnson on Purity Culture, Shame, and God's Grace

    Connect with Karen and Michael and learn more about GraceForge at thegraceforge.com Jason Johnson grew up inside the purity culture of the early 2000s, believing his standing with God hinged on one rule above all others. When he broke that rule as a teenager, the shame nearly rewrote the rest of his story — through a self-righteous season, an unhealthy marriage he now recognizes he was never meant to enter, and a painful divorce. Jason opens up about how God met him not with condemnation but with real conviction, and how that shift led him to start Fathers That Pray and a new podcast, The Miseducation of God's People, helping others discern truth from teaching that only sounds biblical. He also shares a hard lesson in discernment from a relationship where a woman claimed to be hearing directly from God — and wasn't. Content note: this conversation includes open discussion of sex and sexual temptation. Links mentioned: Website (free e-book, The Four-Step Biblical Discernment Framework): discerntheword.comYouTube/social platforms: Fathers That PrayPodcast: The Miseducation of God's People (available wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple and Spotify)4. Timestamps [00:00] Introduction [01:13] Jason's Path to Faith at 16 [04:57] When Christian Life Didn't Go as Expected [07:28] Growing Up in Purity Culture [09:13] The Weight of Shame After "Ruining" His Testimony [12:37] Bible College's Strict Rules [14:52] Ignoring the Warning Signs Before Marriage [17:51] Counseling and Discovering He Was "Tender-Hearted" [21:53] True Conviction vs. Condemnation [24:48] "My Walk With God 2.0" [27:04] Starting Fathers That Pray [29:44] The Miseducation of God's People Podcast [31:29] A Warning About False Prophecy [38:09] Where to Find Jason [40:14] God Will Never Reject You [42:23] Closing ReflectionWant to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  6. Sep 14

    Do You Feel Like God Asked the Wrong Person? Michael Dittman on Writing In the Wake of Jesus

    Connect with Karen & Michael and learn more about GraceForge at thegraceforge.com Michael Dittman opens this launch-night conversation by describing his new book, In the Wake of Jesus: Grace That Changes You and the World — the image of walking so close behind Jesus that you're drenched in his grace instead of just coated in his dust, and the two kinds of readers he wrote it for: Christians who feel stuck and defeated in their own walk, and Christians who love someone broken and don't know how to help. Then the conversation goes deeper. Two years ago, in the middle of his own grief over the state of the church, Michael heard two words from God that he never expected: "soul warriors." The problem was, Michael didn't feel like a warrior of any kind — by his own description, he's a peacemaker, an introvert, a self-described coward. Karen asks him what it was like to carry a message he didn't feel qualified to deliver, how the book's title changed after his beta readers told him "great book, but I wouldn't buy it if I saw that title on a shelf," and the real story underneath all of it — a decade-old season of rejection, isolation, and a moment at the foot of the cross where he heard Jesus say the only words that could reach him: "I know. Me too." It's a conversation about what it actually looks like to be transformed into something you never thought you could be — not by trying harder, but by staying close enough to Jesus to be changed. In the Wake of Jesus: Grace That Changes You and the World is available now wherever books are sold. Want to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  7. Sep 10

    It's Never Too Late: Kerry Damiano on the 22-Year Wait for Her God-Given Dream

    Connect with Karen and GraceForge at thegraceforge.com Kerry Damiano spent 22 years sensing that God had something big in store for her — long before she had any idea what it would look like. In this episode, Kerry shares how that season of waiting became the foundation for Ms. World Traveler, the platform she launched in her 60s to inspire women to travel the world, even alone. She and Karen talk about the difference between fixating on what's coming and finding joy in what God has for you right now, a spiritual moment Kerry experienced in the ancient amphitheater at Ephesus, and the fears that keep so many women from ever booking that first solo trip. Kerry's biggest encouragement: it's never too late to go after the thing God put in your heart. Links mentioned: Website: kerrydamiano.comYouTube: Ms. World TravelerInstagram: @KerryMsWorldTravelerFacebook: KerryMsWorldTraveler4. Timestamps [00:00] Introduction [00:40] The 22-Year Wait for Ms. World Traveler [02:24] Finding Joy in the Waiting [05:47] Starting Something New in Her 60s [06:43] A Spiritual Moment in Ephesus [08:44] When God's Plan Is Better Than Yours [11:01] 146 Countries and Counting [12:52] The Fears That Hold Women Back From Traveling Alone [15:51] Where to Find Kerry [17:04] It's Never Too Late [18:40] Closing ReflectionWant to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

  8. Aug 20

    Drenched in Grace: Michael Dittman on Following Jesus Through Pain, Not Around It

    This episode is personal — Karen's guest is her husband, Michael. Fresh out of seminary, the two of them once wondered how they'd ever minister to people in real pain, since their own life had felt easy. That question got answered fast: years of infertility treatments ending in the news they'd never conceive naturally, a first pastorate in New Jersey that collapsed after four months, and an unexpected pivot back into engineering that Michael now calls their "30-year desert." A decade later came a mysterious, undiagnosed inflammatory condition that put Michael in near-constant pain for ten years — and around the same time, the family adopted two infants, unaware that every adopted child carries early trauma. When one of their kids hit puberty and the family cycled into crisis, Michael says, that was rock bottom. In this conversation, Michael and Karen talk about "the wall" — the concept from writers like Peter Scazzero and Janet Hagberg, where hardship either stops you cold or reshapes you into someone who can get through it — and how a COVID-era study of gratitude taught them the difference between reading about God's goodness and actually sitting in it. Michael shares the moment he now points to as his turning point: at his lowest, betrayed and rejected by yet another church, he heard God say four words in his soul — "I know. Me too." He also talks about discovering The Other Half of Church by Michael Hendricks and Jim Wilder, the small, untrained house-church couple who taught him more about love than decades of ministry training, and a visualization practice built on John 10:10 that pictures him safe in Jesus' sheepfold with the Good Shepherd's back to the door. Michael's new book, In the Wake of Jesus: Grace That Changes You and the World, releases September 8, 2026 (pre-orders open August 8). In it, he names three "postures of defeat" many Christians fall into — resigned, angry, and what he calls "trench Christian" — versus the three postures of Jesus: humble before God, unshakeable before evil, and inviting to the world. His closing word for listeners: draw near to Jesus not just with your head, but by taking the risk to bring Him what you actually have, even when it feels like it isn't enough. Connect with Michael: Book: In the Wake of Jesus: Grace That Changes You and the World (releases September 8, 2026; pre-order opens August 8, 2026) — search "Michael G. Dittman" (the "G" matters — there's another author with the same name)Website: michaelgdittman.com 4. Timestamps [00:00] Introduction [00:55] 30 Years of Impossible: Where Do We Start? [01:57] The Infertility Battle [02:47] A First Pastorate That Lasted Four Months [04:09] Ten Years of Undiagnosed, Constant Pain [05:04] Adopting Two Traumatized Infants [05:51] Hitting Rock Bottom as a Family [06:12] The Wall: Where Life's Forge Meets God's Grace [08:31] The COVID Gratitude Project [11:20] Betrayed Again — and Meeting Jesus at the Cross [11:52] "I Know. Me Too." [13:54] Discovering The Other Half of Church [16:47] The Untrained Couple Who Taught Him Love [18:37] Safe in the Sheepfold: A John 10:10 Visualization [21:23] Announcing In the Wake of Jesus [22:22] The Three Postures of Defeat [26:15] Becoming a "Soul Warrior" [28:29] The Three Postures of Jesus [31:53] Draw Near to Jesus: The TakeawayWant to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

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About

When life brings the impossible, God doesn't just show up — he forges exactly what you need to get through it. The GraceForge Podcast is a collection of intimate conversations with people who've faced seasons of struggle that had no human solution — and discovered that God was already crafting the grace they needed. Each guest brings a story of provision that was personal, precise, and powerful. Come hear what he made for them. And be reminded of what he can make for you. Want to be a guest on The GraceForge Podcast? Send Karen Dittman a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1733503318442796293a1fecb

Information

  • Creator
    Karen Dittman
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 GraceForge
  • Show Website
    The GraceForge Podcast

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