Claim OwnershipA Season of Caring Podcast
Subscribed: 6Played: 106
Subscribe
© 2026 A Season of Caring Podcast
Description
A Season of Caring Podcast is a place to find hope for your Season of Caring. Pointing listeners to the hope they can find in God even in the busyness and loneliness of caregiving. I want you to know that I see you and God sees you. What you are doing is not only difficult, and often overwhelming, but it's also one of the most important and rewarding things you can do.
The guests featured are both everyday family members who are caregiver survivors and those who are still in the middle of their caring season. At times, you will meet professionals who bring their experience and compassion for you to our conversations.
I want you to feel encouraged and hopeful after our time together, so you can spend this season with no regrets, living content, and loving well.
235 Episodes
Reverse
Send a text A sudden stroke can upend a life in minutes, but the real story unfolds in the long, uneven days that follow. We sit down with Lana Wilhelm—retired nurse, author of Stroke and the Spouse and Stroke and the Caregiver—to explore the hard truths and hopeful practices that carry caregivers from shock to steady ground. Lana speaks candidly about how medical expertise couldn’t prepare her for the emotional terrain of caring for her husband, the isolation that arrives after the hospital ...
Send a text Caregiving can feel like carrying a secret storm—so many decisions, so much love, and a kind of grief that doesn’t wait for goodbye. We open up about the real weight caregivers hold and how faith, practical wisdom, and honest reflection can turn that weight into steadier steps. Rayna shares her journey through years of caring for a mom and dad with Alzheimer’s, naming the hidden losses, the relentless pressure to get it right, and the slow, surprising growth that follows when we s...
Send a text What if the behavior that broke your heart was actually the brain asking for help? In this episode Rayna sat down with author and advocate Lori Jones to explore the hidden contours of Huntington’s disease, where genetics, uncertainty, and everyday caregiving collide and uncover the small, human choices that change everything. Lori grew up in an HD family, later becoming a legal guardian for her father through care homes, hospital handoffs, and hospice. She opens up about the emot...
Send a text Caregiving can arrive gently maybe even without noticing or like a storm: sudden, disorienting, and unplanned. We explore how to find steadiness inside that swirl by remembering your why—not as pressure to push harder, but as an anchor that keeps love durable and presence kind. Rayna opens up about stepping into her father’s care after a health crisis, why a facility wasn’t the right fit, and how her family built a home-based plan that honored his active life. The result required ...
Send a text Caregiving doesn’t wait for perfect plans or tidy feelings. Pat invites us into the real work of loving a spouse through frontotemporal dementia—spotting the first behavior changes, pushing for a doctor who actually listens, and choosing calm care over empty checkboxes. Her story isn’t about fixing the unfixable; it’s about dignity, advocacy, and the courage to do what works when conventional paths only add stress. We walk through the moments that reshape a life: when Alzheimer’s...
Send a text What if the hardest part of caregiving isn’t the tasks, but letting go of control? We sit down with writer and caregiver advocate Jackie Freeman, who walked a rare dual path: caring for her father through Alzheimer’s while supporting her husband through a seven-year battle with glioblastoma. Jackie’s story is equal parts tender and practical, revealing how small choices—like waiting an extra 30 seconds so her dad could process—can restore dignity, reduce conflict, and deepen conne...
Send a text Enjoy the 3rd most listened to episode of 2025 with Joy Kats: What if the door you begged to open was actually protecting you for the work only you could do? That’s the tension we walk through with author and speaker Joy Kott as she traces the path from a failed kidney match to three sacred months caring for her father in his final season, and then to a later donation that finally connected. It’s a story of timing, trust, and the quiet courage to serve when plans fall apart. We s...
Send a text Caregiving rarely color‑codes itself on our calendars. One day you’re navigating an adoption that looks nothing like the tidy plans you imagined; the next day, you’re juggling a teen’s complex needs alongside aging parents in the hospital. Mandy Horne, a registered nurse and board‑certified health and wellness nurse coach, joins me to share how a late autism diagnosis reframed years of confusion, opened doors to therapies, and restored hope for her family. We talk about the diffe...
Send a text A small change in behavior can rewrite a life. When Pat began noticing Don’s unusual decisions, lost words, and shifting patterns, the search for answers led to a Frontotemporal Dementia diagnosis—and a decade-long lesson in love, agency, and faith. We unpack the realities of FTD’s behavioral variant, why it’s often misread in midlife, and how a caregiver’s voice can and should shape care. Pat explains how she learned to opt out of stressful, unhelpful appointments, advocate throu...
Send a text Caregiving rarely unfolds the way we imagine. Catherine joins us to trace a decades-long journey that started in childhood waiting rooms and led to the moment her father was diagnosed with Huntington’s at 80, long after her mother’s dementia and medical challenges had reshaped daily life. What follows is a candid, hope-filled guide to planning one step ahead, inviting family into specific roles, and choosing dignity over control when everything changes faster than your systems can...
Send a text What happens when the child you love suddenly can’t face the day—and the usual fixes don’t work? We open up about a mother’s unseen caregiving: guiding her son through anxiety and depression after a cross-country move collided with the uncertainty of COVID. The story moves beyond clichés, touching the raw places—shame when friends don’t understand, judgment from well-meaning people, and the weary loop of doing “all the right things” without a breakthrough—until a quiet yes to coun...
Send a text What if the hardest season of your life became the place where wonder returned, marriage deepened, and purpose took root? That’s the heart of our conversation with caregiver and author Cathy Bennett, who spent nine years walking alongside her husband Michael through ALS—and found a new kind of faith and community in the process. We open with the practical realities few outsiders see: the wheelchair, the Hoyer lift, the accessible van, the heavy “operator” tasks you never trained ...
Send a text Do you ever feel weighed down by guilt as a caregiver—second-guessing your choices, comparing yourself to others, or wondering if you’ve done enough? In this heartfelt episode of A Season of Caring Podcast, Rayna Neises gently reminds us that faith and guilt do not belong together. Guilt shadows many caregivers, whispering that they're not doing enough or that needing rest makes them selfish. This burden weighs heavily on already exhausted hearts, creating distance from the very g...
Send a text What happens when a healthcare professional becomes the patient, then becomes a family caregiver? Manjeet Singh's remarkable journey offers a powerful perspective on caregiving that few can provide. Manjeet joins us to share his transformative path from being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at age 20 and losing his colon to becoming a registered nurse with over 15 years of critical care experience. His story takes a deeply personal turn as he recounts caring for his mother duri...
Send a text What happens when a self-described "overachiever" and "fixer" faces the uncontrollable challenges of caring for multiple loved ones with serious illnesses? Jackie Freeman's powerful story reveals the beautiful transformation that can occur when we release our grip on control and embrace faithful presence instead. Jackie grew up believing she could handle anything life threw her way. As she puts it, she was raised during the height of the feminist movement with the message that sh...
Send a text What happens when caregiving forces you to confront your most painful memories? For Susie Lewis, caring for her parents became an unexpected journey toward freedom and healing. Susie shares the contrasting experiences of caring for her mother with terminal cancer for 30 days in her mother's home, and later having her father live with her and her husband for four and a half years. While these seasons brought their unique challenges, they also offered profound gifts of restoration ...
Send a text "Who am I outside of caregiving?" This question haunts many family caregivers as they navigate the all-consuming journey of caring for a loved one. Drawing from my personal experience of caring for my father with Alzheimer's for 14 years, I unpack the struggle to maintain our sense of self when someone else's needs dominate our days and decisions. Caregiving has a way of rewriting your identity without permission. Suddenly, you're an advocate, a nurse, a scheduler, and an emotion...
Send a text Your loved one's behavior isn't the source of your stress—your reaction to it is." This powerful insight forms the foundation of Rick Henkin's transformative approach to dementia caregiving, which he shares in this deeply moving episode. When Rick's wife Sonia was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at 65, their world shifted dramatically. From her developing Capgras syndrome (believing Rick was an imposter) to the heartbreak of seeing her relationship with their granddaughters deteriorate...
Send a text What happens when a personal health transformation becomes the unexpected preparation for a life-altering caregiving journey? Christine Trimpe's story powerfully demonstrates how God works ahead of our awareness to equip us for challenges we can't yet imagine. Christine candidly shares the moment that changed everything - standing breathless on a Rocky Mountain trail, unable to complete a half-mile hike due to being over 100 pounds overweight. That humbling experience led to a si...
Send a text What happens when caregiving transforms you so completely that it redirects your life's purpose? Susan Stern's remarkable journey takes us through two decades of caring for both parents—first as a long-distance caregiver for her father during his 10-year cancer battle, then as primary caregiver for her mother through a decade of Alzheimer's. The conversation reveals the stark differences between these caregiving experiences while uncovering the universal challenges all care...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States