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What do you do when the answer is not "she's healthy" and it's not "she's dying," but something in between that you have to live in every single day? Bonnie Jimenez grew up as number three of seven, the oldest of five girls, homeschooled and then private schooled and then homeschooled again. She met her husband Michael waiting tables, invited him to church, and watched him come to faith. Now they have three little girls and a life that looks a lot fuller than either of them planned. Their oldest was born with a rare liver condition.

Bonnie walks us through the early appointments when nothing was adding up, the drive to Ann Arbor when everything felt urgent, and the strange place they sit in now, where things are managed but never far from her mind. She is honest about how she copes differently than her husband does, and why she stays off the support groups he finds so helpful.

Then the conversation turns, because Bonnie is fired up about the book of Isaiah and it shows. We get into studying scripture instead of skimming it, cross references, commentaries, the Blue Letter Bible app, and why this kind of digging is not reserved for pastors and seminary students. It's for the mom who is nap trapped with a phone in her hand.

In this episode we talk about:

• Growing up in a big family, and what it really looked like behind the scenes
• Working full time while raising three little ones
• Parenting a child with a medical diagnosis, and living without a tidy answer
• Handling hard news when you and your spouse process it differently
• Not forgetting the other kids when one child needs so much
• Leaving legalism behind and landing on Romans 8:1
• How to actually study the Bible, not just read a chapter and check it off

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Some friendships start with a duster and a mutual love of stationary.

Pam Isom worked at the Faith Christian bookstore, and one day I walked in with my daughter having a very not okay moment. Pam asked if I needed help. I said she needs a job. Pam went behind the counter, grabbed a duster, handed it to Lydia, and that was it. We have been friends ever since.

Pam has been in the word since she was five years old. She asked to be saved at seven and did not fully know what she was signing up for, but that yearning never left her. She raised two kids six years apart, worked at a homeless shelter where God showed her what she was actually built for, and is now an empowerment coach at the YWCA. The girls she has poured into call her Mama Pam. They still call her when they need prayer.

She is also a widow. When her husband passed suddenly, everything she knew was gone overnight, and the foundation she had been building since she was a little girl is the only reason she is still standing. She talks in this episode about crying on her bed with a mortgage she could not cover on one income, and what happened an hour later when the phone rang.

Now she is starting a nonprofit called I'm A Wife Ministries, because she wants girls to know their worth before somebody else tries to tell them what it is. Not a side chick. Not just a baby mama. A wife. And she wants to start teaching that at age ten.

In this episode we talk about:

• Raising kids with respect instead of fear, and why Pam never had to give a spanking
• What we shelter our kids from and why it matters more than we think
• Why nobody is teaching girls their value, and how the church and parents both assume the other one is doing it
• Finding time in the word as a young mom when there is no time
• What Pam is learning right now in the book of Acts, and why Stephen the martyr stopped her cold
• The difference between empowering women and telling them to follow their heart
• Christian phrases we repeat that are not actually in the Bible
• Meeting people where they are instead of beating them up with the Bible
• Losing her husband suddenly, and the two moments God answered so specifically she cried in a parking lot
• Where I'm A Wife Ministries is headed, from meet and greets to seminars to a 90 day mentorship program

Key verses from this conversation:

• Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God"
• Psalm 23, the first thing Pam ever memorized
• Acts 7, Stephen asking God to forgive the people stoning him
• Titus 2:3-5, older women teaching the younger women
• 2 Timothy 2:15, study to show yourself approved

If you have ever felt like you missed your window to be poured into, or like you are the one who is supposed to be pouring and you have no idea what you are doing, this one is for you. We need each other. We need women older than us who are humble enough to be kind about what they know.

Find Pam on Instagram and Facebook at I'm A Wife Ministries.

Head to the Substack for this week's devotional that goes along with the episode, and grab everything else at the link below.

You are not alone here. 🙏

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You Are Not Unlovable

Before we get into it, a gentle heads up. This conversation walks through some real dark places, thoughts of suicide, an abusive marriage, and a story of sexual assault that stayed buried for years. If any of that is close to home for you today, take care of yourself while you listen, maybe save it for when you have space to sit with it.

Okay, now let's talk about Elizabeth Rohn.

She grew up Catholic, went to church every Sunday, and still walked away feeling like she wasn't good enough for God. Years in a toxic marriage, a diagnosis that she couldn't have kids, and a plan to end her life all led up to one night in the car when she heard a voice that wasn't hers. The pain you've been feeling can't compare to the joy that's coming. She didn't know it yet, but that was Romans 8:18.

We talk about the dream where her dog Max stood guard while Jesus stood behind her with His hand on her shoulder. We talk about body dysmorphia, and about the day she finally caught her own reflection and saw something pretty. We talk about golden retrievers too, because Winston and Sawyer deserve their own segment honestly.

Elizabeth's takeaway for you today, whatever isn't your fault, God can redeem. And whatever is your fault, God can redeem that too. Nobody is too far gone. You are not unlovable.

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