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Welcome to Courageous Overcomers, a podcast dedicated to those who have faced adversity, whether it’s trauma, addiction, abuse, or life’s toughest challenges. In each episode, you’ll hear real stories from individuals who’ve walked through difficult times and emerged stronger through courage, faith, and resilience.
This podcast provides practical advice, heart-driven encouragement, and the tools you need to begin or continue your healing journey. No matter what you’ve been through, you are not alone and have the strength to overcome.
Become part of a community of overcomers breaking free from fear and pain. Together, we’ll build faith, embrace courage, and find hope.
37 Episodes
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Send us a text What does genuine courage look like in a season of exhaustion? Sometimes, the bravest decision is acknowledging our limits and embracing rest without guilt. In this vulnerable and heartfelt episode, I share my difficult decision to temporarily pause the Courageous Overcomers podcast. After reflecting deeply during a recent anniversary trip with my husband, I've realized I don't know how to rest well—something many of us struggle with in our busy lives. The Lord has been showin...
Send us a text Why do some people push themselves so hard—even when they’re already doing too much? In this powerful episode of Courageous Overcomers, we explore the hidden connection between trauma and performance-based living. Host Tonya breaks down five reasons why survivors often fall into the trap of overworking, overachieving, and never feeling “enough.” You’ll learn how early wounds shape the need to prove yourself, how performance becomes a coping mechanism, and how to finally lay it ...
Send us a text Welcome to Courageous Overcomers, where we share real stories of faith, grit, and healing. Today’s guest is John Mollura—a man who went from launching rockets for NASA to launching people into their purpose. After facing deep personal pain and burnout, John made a bold pivot. He left the world of high-pressure engineering to become a portrait photographer, coach, and speaker. Now he helps people silence the lies that keep them stuck and step into the courage it takes to live fu...
Send us a text Welcome to Courageous Overcomers, where we face the pain, fight the lies, and rise with faith and resilience. Today’s episode is not an easy one—but it’s a necessary one. We’re peeling back the layers of deception—the deeply rooted lies women have been told… and believed. Lies like: "God can't forgive you." "Your decision will bring shame to your family." "Ignoring it will make it go away." But silence doesn’t heal. And a lie, when left unchallenged, becomes a quiet prison. May...
Send us a text For over 30 years, she carried a silent weight—two decisions made in fear, buried deep beneath layers of shame and what-ifs. She never married. Never had children of her own. And for decades, she believed that disqualified her from joy, from purpose, from grace. But then… Jesus. In today’s episode of Courageous Overcomers, you’ll meet a woman whose story reminds us that even the heaviest chains can be broken. Though her past was marked by abortion, grief, and isolation, her pre...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of Courageous Overcomers, we’re talking about the weight of secrets—and one of the heaviest is abortion. Not because it didn’t hurt, but because shame said, “Don’t tell.” I didn’t walk that road myself, but I’ve sat with many who have. And what I’ve seen over and over again is this: silence isolates, but truth sets us free. This episode is for the woman who made a decision out of fear—fear of rejection, fear of being a disappointment, fear of not bein...
Send us a text What happens when the pain we carry feels too buried, too dark, or too shameful to bring into the light? Catherine's powerful story of abortion, shame, and ultimate healing reminds us that redemption thrives in vulnerability. Catherine never planned to share her abortion story publicly. For years after her procedure in 1981, she buried the memory, numbing her pain through what she calls "reckless living" until hitting rock bottom at age 28. Even after finding faith, she faced ...
Send us a text Have you ever found yourself stuck in that excruciating space between obedience and outcome, wondering if God has forgotten you? That painful waiting room is exactly what we're tackling in this soul-nourishing episode. The harvest is indeed coming, but growth requires patience. Drawing from personal experience, I share my family's challenging two-year period after relocating from Montana to South Carolina—a season filled with divine silence that had me questioning everything. ...
Send us a text The garden of your life needs regular weeding - a truth that resonates deeply whether you're nurturing actual plants or cultivating personal growth. Drawing from my childhood experiences of weeding as punishment, I share powerful insights about identifying and removing the things that steal energy from what matters most. What's draining your potential right now? Perhaps it's bitterness disguised as boundaries, shame whispering you'll never change, addictive behaviors masquerad...
Send us a text Have you ever mistaken a good day for deep healing? That fleeting moment when everything seems better might just be a beautiful bloom—but what about the roots beneath? This week on Courageous Overcomers, we're digging deeper than last week's conversation about blooming where you're planted. We're examining what truly anchors us during life's storms by exploring the difference between momentary progress and lasting transformation. Drawing from Jeremiah 17:8, we discover that re...
Send us a text Have you ever wondered if anything beautiful could possibly grow from your broken places? The soil of past pain, addiction, betrayal, or heartbreak might seem too damaged to support new life—but that's exactly where the most resilient growth begins. Drawing from her family's annual gardening tradition, Tonya Shellnutt explores the profound parallel between tending a garden and nurturing our healing journey. Just as we carefully prepare soil, wait for the right planting time, a...
Send us a text What happens when childhood trauma becomes the foundation for revolutionary joy? The remarkable story of Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas offers powerful lessons about resilience that transcend the baseball diamond. Jesse Cole's journey from a broken home with an addicted mother to creating the baseball phenomenon that recently filled Clemson's Death Valley with 81,000 cheering fans demonstrates how adversity builds the emotional muscle needed for extraordinary vision. His ...
Send us a text What does addiction promise you, and what does it actually steal? This powerful question forms the foundation of our exploration into the deceptive facade of addiction. Numbing feels like safety, but silently robs us of the very things we desperately seek: peace, purpose, and authentic connection. Throughout this raw and honest conversation, we unpack the dangerous paradox of addiction. While it offers temporary relief from pain, it simultaneously prevents true healing. Though...
Send us a text What happens when the very thing that seems to bring us comfort is slowly destroying our lives? Today we're pulling back the curtain on a rarely discussed aspect of addiction—not the chaos it creates, but the counterfeit comfort it provides before taking everything else. Most addictive behaviors aren't primarily about chasing highs; they're about silencing the deafening noise in our heads. That overthinking mind that never stops racing. The perfectionistic pressure to always p...
Send us a text What happens when a high-achieving perfectionist discovers that alcohol simultaneously soothes and sabotages her life? Chris Janssen, USA Today bestselling author of "Grace Yourself," takes us on her remarkable journey from teenage drinking to sustained sobriety, an unexpected relapse, and ultimately, profound redemption. Janssen's story begins at fourteen, when she discovered alcohol's ability to quiet her relentless perfectionism. The temporary relief it provided became a cr...
Send us a text What if your path to sobriety revealed something much deeper than freedom from addiction? Rich Shellnutt knows this journey intimately. With 34 years of sobriety under his belt, he sits down with his wife Tonya to unpack how alcohol gradually infiltrated his life, one drink at a time, and the profound awakening that followed his recovery. Behind Rich's addiction lay a complex web of pain – abandonment issues from an absent father, the early loss of his grandfather, learning di...
Send us a text Freedom is possible—I'm living proof of it. After three decades of sobriety, I've discovered that the journey isn't simply about putting down the bottle. It's about confronting the pain we've been desperately trying to numb. My relationship with alcohol began as an escape route. I drank because I couldn't sit with my reality and pain. I drank because I didn't feel safe or seen. I drank because, deep down, I believed I had no worth. What looked like a drinking problem on the su...
Send us a text Ever wondered what makes a podcast host who regularly dives into trauma and healing tick when they're off-mic? This week, Courageous Overcomers takes a refreshing detour as Tonya Shellnutt pulls back the curtain on her personal life at the urging of her Producer and Children. Through rapid-fire questions and candid answers, Tonya reveals herself as an early-to-bed morning person who cherishes her quiet coffee time, hates slow drivers in the left lane, and admits to being "the ...
Send us a text Your pain does not get the final say. Keep walking, keep believing, keep fighting." Too often, we let pain define us, but what if we let purposeshape our story instead? This episode will challenge you to move from victimhood to victory using the P.A.I.N. framework: 🔹 P – Process the Pain – Face it, don’t bury it. 🔹 A – Ask What the Pain is Teaching You – Strength comes from struggle. 🔹 I – Identify Who Needs Your Story – Your survival is someone’s roadmap. 🔹 N – Nurture the Pur...
Send us a text In Hope Beyond the Walls, we dive deep into the hard stuff—trauma, fear, and pain—but we don’t stop there. This podcast is for those who refuse to let suffering have the final say. Through powerful stories, biblical truth, and practical steps, we uncover how hope becomes the bridge from pain to purpose. No matter how long you've felt stuck, God is not finished with you. Keep walking, keep believing, and keep fighting—because we are not victims. We are Courageous Overcomers. Sup...
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