Catholic Church — Episodes — Mamas in Spirit Catholic Podcast and Ministry for Women

A Mini-Retreat in a Podcast

Heartfelt conversations with guests about how god has transformed their LIVES

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Becoming Who God Dreams Me to Be with Ismael Fierro

Becoming Who God Dreams Me to Be with Ismael Fierro

Ismael Fierro and his wife Vanessa prepared for three years--and even learned French--to move from Mexico to Canada. However, when the time came to go, Ismael's company didn't offer him a job in Canada--they unexpectedly invited him to work in Nashville, Tennessee.

Ismael learned to let go of his own plan and surrender to God's will. He prayed, “Let me be the person you dreamt of when you created me.”

Soon thereafter, Ismael, Vanessa and their two small children landed in the Nashville airport to create a home in a country they didn't know with a language they didn't speak. Ismael sensed God with him in a sacred moment he will never forget.

In this Easter podcast, be inspired as Ismael shares what “Thy Will be Done” in the Our Father means to him, as well as his love for Saint Joseph and the Surrender Novena.

May we, like Ismael, always invoke the Holy Spirit in prayer and surrender our lives to God's will.

Glorifying God While Carrying a Cross with Lorraine Hess

Glorifying God While Carrying a Cross with Lorraine Hess

Lorraine Hess was touring for her new album about glorifying God when she found out that her home had been severely damaged in a house fire.

After returning home she felt drawn to Adoration.

While there, she heard God ask her, “Can you glorify me while you are carrying a cross?”

In this Easter podcast, hear how Lorraine was committed to glorifying God throughout the 20 months her family was displaced while fixing their home.

God sharpened Lorraine to stay in gratitude and recognize how people were watching her living witness.

Hear Lorraine sing about this experience in her song “A Heart That’s Been Purified” at the end of the podcast, and learn more about her at lorrainehess.com.

A New Heart: Imagine the Impossible with Don and Barb Weller

A New Heart: Imagine the Impossible with Don and Barb Weller

“I’m here for a change of heart.”

Don Weller spoke these words as he began the intake process for his heart transplant surgery.

When Don woke up from the surgery, the doctor handed him a stethoscope and Don listened to his replacement heart's beat for the first time. A little while later, his wife Barb, their son and two daughters were able to do the same.

But Don wasn't the only one in the hospital room receiving the miraculous gift of new life that day. As Don and Barb’s daughters listened to Don’s new heart, two tiny hearts were beating within them—they were both pregnant.

Don and Barb never could have imagined the gift of new life for Don and their new grandchildren. Listen to this Easter podcast and imagine what may seem impossible for your life, too!

Love is Everything with Immaculée Ilibagiza

Love is Everything with Immaculée Ilibagiza

Immaculée Ilibagiza followed her father’s instructions and ran to her neighbor’s house to hide at the start of the Rwandan genocide. She spent the next three months huddled in a tiny bathroom with seven other women, while extremist members of another tribe tried to find and kill them.

It was in this bathroom that Immaculée gave her heart to God and began to pray in a way she never had before—as she recited the words of the Rosary, peace veiled and healed her from the anger and fear that otherwise consumed her.

When Immaculée finally left the bathroom at the end of the genocide, she learned that her parents, grandparents, siblings, 950 schoolmates and so many more had been murdered.

While Immaculée cried out for her loved ones, she sensed God holding her tight and telling her that her journey on Earth was not over. While her family was in heaven, she still had a mission.

Since that moment thirty years ago, Immaculée continues to wake up every day and ask the same question that echoed in her heart so long ago: How much can you love with what God has given you?

In this Easter podcast, learn that love is everything.

From Suspicion To Trust with Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer

From Suspicion To Trust with Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer

Our Church family is divided. Yet Christ calls us to communion in Him.

In this Lenten podcast, Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer and host Lindy Wynne explore how the division in our Catholic Church increases our sense of unhealthy suspicion and harms our capacity to love as we are called.

In life there is a healthy, intuitive suspicion we are blessed with that helps to keep us and our children safe. At the same time, there is a suspicion that is not of God and divides us even as we are called to be unified in Christ.

This Lent let’s invite Christ to help us sift through our suspicion and heal what is not of Him. May we grow in trust and become one body in Christ!

Go to mamasinspirit.com to subscribe.

The Gift of Love with Kathy Tankersley

The Gift of Love with Kathy Tankersley

By the time Kathy Tankersley was 23 years old, she was a single mom of five children.

Kathy vividly remembers being in church and praying on her knees for a someone she could truly trust and confide in. Then she met Rex Tankersley.

The day after their weekend honeymoon, Rex sat her five children down and asked them if they wanted him to be their dad. The children responded with a resounding "Yes!"

The children are now grown and have children of their own. Rex has also passed and Kathy reflects on why she says:

Don't feel sorry for me, because I have been so loved.

Listen to this Advent podcast and allow Kathy's gift of storytelling open your heart to the wondrous gift of God's love.

Thy Will be Done with Courtney Siebring, Author of "Little Spark of Life"

Thy Will be Done with Courtney Siebring, Author of "Little Spark of Life"

"In her life, Lord, be glorified."

These are the words Courtney Siebring sang as she cuddled and prayed over the baby girl Courtney and her husband were fostering.

Courtney had experienced infertility and longed to be a mother more than anything--yet the department of social services told Courtney and her husband they would not be keeping the baby girl that they already loved so dearly.

Courtney learned the meaning of "Thy will be done" in a way she never had before.

What unfolded was completely unexpected and clearly God's plan: Courtney and her husband learned this baby would become their daughter through adoption.

Listen to this Advent podcast and be inspired to loosen control in your life, offer your very heart to the Lord and experience the peace and joy that can only come from Christ.

Courtney is the author of Little Spark of Life: A Celebration of Born and Preborn Human Life. Learn more at www.littlesparkoflifebook.com.

Saying "Yes" to God's Plan with Brenda Hauk of BrightStone

Saying "Yes" to God's Plan with Brenda Hauk of BrightStone

"You know who's going to have to do this."

The words Brenda Hauk's husband spoke penetrated her heart--she knew she was called by God to something so much bigger than herself.

Even though Brenda was frightened, she said "yes" to a plan that was clearly not her own.

Brenda started BrightStone, a comprehensive work, social support, and residential community for adults with special needs, expanding their potential and helping them develop mentally, physically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually.

Let Brenda's "yes" and the tremendous blessing that has come from it inspire your own fiat in this Advent podcast.

Learn more at brightstone.org.

Awe of Advent with Fr. Ed Steiner, Pastor of St. Philip Catholic Church

Awe of Advent with Fr. Ed Steiner, Pastor of St. Philip Catholic Church

When Fr. Ed Steiner was just 5 years old, there was a knock on his front door during supper. Fr. Ed excitedly ran to see who it was. What he found he never could have imagined.

It was Santa Claus!

To the day Fr. Ed still finds himself stirred with a similar sense of awe he experienced that very moment he saw Santa as a young boy. Yet Fr. Ed recognizes what he is really waiting for is the coming of Christ.

In this Advent podcast Fr. Ed reflects on our need to remember why Christ came—and how the true meaning of Christmas fills our hearts and homes during this special time of year.

Let us strive to make awe-filled memories and practice the Gospel with our loved ones this Advent Season.

50 Years and Grateful with Ted and Catherine Wynne, Host Lindy Wynne's Parents-in-Law

50 Years and Grateful with Ted and Catherine Wynne, Host Lindy Wynne's Parents-in-Law

Be charmed by Ted and Catherine Wynne as they share their gratitude to God and advice to listeners after 50 years of marriage.

Host Lindy Wynne has a heartfelt conversation with her parents-in-law as they reveal the trust and companionship they are blessed to have with one another.

From Catherine’s ’69 Camaro to Ted’s love of football, hear how they revel in both the little and big moments. Their lives are blessed with profound meaning as they companion one another in both the good and difficult times of life.

Let your heart be wrapped in the gift of family this Thanksgiving season.

The Gift of Women with Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer

The Gift of Women with Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer

The table is turned on Host Lindy Wynne, as Chaplain Fr. Jon Meyer asks Lindy about womanhood and what it means to be a woman.

Lindy explores the gift of womanhood and meaning of Saint Edith Stein's words, "The woman's soul is fashioned as a shelter in which other souls may unfold."

When Lindy was twenty-one and volunteering at an orphanage in Tijuana, she met and developed a maternal love for a young boy named Coco. Coco began calling Lindy "mama." It broke Lindy's heart to have to leave Coco, yet simultaneously revealed God's call for Lindy to be a spiritual mother and shelter souls through adoption.

Womanhood is a complete self-gift in which a woman surrenders her heart for the sake of Love Itself.

Lindy has witnessed such mercy, love and compassion in other women. The gift of a woman is her feminine heart and ability to shelter other souls in a way that hopefully moves others to do the same.

The Kiss of God with Kristi Bentley

The Kiss of God with Kristi Bentley

After Kristi Bentley experienced pregnancy loss with her first baby, she wondered how something so beautiful could be given and then taken away from her.

Kristi now sees how the hand of God was at work in her life all those years ago.

Kristi’s loss led to a deep understanding of the precious gift of life. While mourning her first child she promised to be open to all the children God might bless her and her husband Patrick with. Seven children and countless prayers later, Kristi shares personal stories about Our Lady of Fatima, many Saints and the “kiss of God.”

Be inspired by Kristi’s openness to life even when others don’t understand—Kristi’s pure heart encourages us to notice all the ways we may experience the kiss of God, too.

The Heart of Mary with Kim Derrick

The Heart of Mary with Kim Derrick

“This is a story God wrote.”

God planted a seed in Kim's young heart to accompany and care for the sick and dying as an adult.

Kim was raised in a family in which the members surrounded one another in all the joys and sorrows of life, including death. She didn't realize until adulthood that this was not every person's experience.

As a hospice nurse it broke Kim's heart that there were so many people poor and dying who had nowhere to go.

With the help of Saint Edward Church in Nashville, TN and others who shared in her desire to help the poor and dying, Kim created "The Heart of Mary House" to love God's children during their final days as Our Blessed Mother would want.

God Draws Us Close with Kayce Maddux

God Draws Us Close with Kayce Maddux

Kayce Maddux lost her sister when she was in third grade. In their suffering, Kayce's family stopped going to church for a time. Yet God met Kayce right where she was at in the intimacy of her heart and backyard of her home.

Jesus became Kayce's very best friend.

Kayce continued to seek God throughout her adolescence and was blessed to meet her husband at a young age--she was surprised when they sat atop a lifeguard tower and talked about their passionate love of God during their first full conversation.

Kayce converted to Catholicism to get married to her husband in the Church. Kayce talks about how God works through all things, met her as a young bride and drew her closer than she had ever been before.

Kayce continues grow close to God through the Sacraments and prayers she has been blessed with in the Catholic Church.

Kayce recognizes how God draws us near every day in all things. She recognizes the sacred balance between having Catholic friendships centered in the Lord, while also being surrounded with those different from her to discover God more fully and stay ignited with the fire of His love.

Allowing Ourselves to Be Loved with Lisa Canning, The Possibility Mom

Allowing Ourselves to Be Loved with Lisa Canning, The Possibility Mom

Lisa Canning is a Catholic wife, mother and business woman who seems to be able to do it all.

Yet Lisa shares that doing it all herself is impossible--for this "Possibility Mom" all things are only possible with God.

In this Easter Podcast, Lisa shares how she is constantly being sharpened as she re-surrenders her life, business and plans over to God and trusts in a future filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

One of the greatest gifts Lisa has learned is to loosen her grip of control and open her heart to being loved in ways she never could have imagined.

After Alcohol: Finding Joy with Rachel, Member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

After Alcohol: Finding Joy with Rachel, Member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

Rachel's husband was going to leave here and take their children with him. While Rachel had been deceiving her husband and hiding the extent of her drinking for some time, her recent car accident couldn't be explained away. She was caught.

In this Easter podcast, Rachel looks back on this moment as a gift from God--this was the "rock bottom" she needed to finally get help.

As Rachel engaged in the work needed to become and maintain sobriety, she discovered a greater joy than she could have ever imagined possible.

Rachel has been an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for five years.

The Miracle Of Going Home with Elaine Drabik

The Miracle Of Going Home with Elaine Drabik

Elaine Drabik was rushed to the hospital after an unexpected seizure. Unknowingly, she had a virus resulting in a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that left Elaine's family uncertain if she would survive.

Elaine and her family were blessed with a miracle. While doctors were uncertain if Elaine would ever be well enough to go home, Elaine miraculously returned home on her youngest child's first birthday. She'd healed more than her doctors had even hoped.

In this Lenten podcast, Elaine shares about the months of recovery in which she spent most of the time alone sleeping and resting due to severe headaches. Throughout these long months Elaine clung to Scripture, as well as the word she heard God speak to her in the hospital: "Okay." Somehow, Elaine knew she would be "okay."

Hear Elaine share how God transformed her heart throughout this tremendous trial.

Struggling with Your Reality? with Fr. Jon Meyer, Chaplain of Mamas in Spirit

Struggling with Your Reality? with Fr. Jon Meyer, Chaplain of Mamas in Spirit

Are you struggling to accept the crosses you carry? This Lenten podcast explores how difficult it can be to face long-term suffering due to circumstances such as death, addiction, broken relationships, illness, mental illness and more.

Father Jon Meyer (Chaplain) and Lindy Wynne (Host) delve into Luke 22:42 when Jesus asks God, "if you are willing, take this cup away from me."

We all have "cups of suffering" we want taken away. Father Jon and Lindy share situations in their own lives that left them wondering how they could possibly get through.

Yet they have learned through their suffering that when we open our hearts, surrender to the will of God and trust Jesus fully that God touches and transforms us with the completeness of His love.

Vessels of the Holy Spirit with John Angotti

Vessels of the Holy Spirit with John Angotti

John Angotti reaches out and connects others to God by creating and telling stories with his music for worship and liturgy.

In this Advent podcast, John shares about his experience as an adopted son and journey of healing with both his adoptive and biological parents. John discovered that separation anxiety has been a core struggle thorughout his life, due to being removed from his birth mother and kept in the hospital for months after his birth.

John shares how we all experience separation anxiety in some way due to our separation from God while on Earth. Yet, John reminds listeners that, ultimately, “we dwell in God and God dwells in us.” We are meant to be vessels of the Holy Spirit to share the love of God throughout our lifetimes.

John sings his new song, "There's Life After Hell."

Combatting the Crisis of Masculinity with Father Jon Meyer and Brian Wynne

Combatting the Crisis of Masculinity with Father Jon Meyer and Brian Wynne

Father Jon Meyer, Chaplain of Mamas in Spirit and Brian Wynne explore the current crisis of masculinity in our culture. They share how manhood is a total gift of self with Saint Joseph as a model and Christ as the ultimate model.

Father Jon and Brian also talk about ways to combat the crisis of masculinity with specific suggestions: building men and boys up, encouraging men and boys to identify role models they can spend time with, encouraging men to attend men's retreats and small groups, praying for our men and encouraging them to pray with and for one another.