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This Unexpected Life
Welcome to This Unexpected Life, a podcast designed to equip and encourage parents and caregivers of children with disabilities so they can embrace their journey with hope, faith, and resilience.
With over twenty years of parenting experience, Carrie M Holt is a story-telling companion for caregiving mothers, exploring the hope and healing found in Jesus Christ—one story at a time.
Episodes
49 episodes
When Your Yes Is On The Table: Trusting God Through Disability Parenting, Adoption, and Trauma with Johnna Hensley
What does it look like to keep saying “yes” to God when life feels chaotic, exhausting, and completely unexpected?In this heartfelt conversation, Carrie Holt sits down with author, disability mom, and “coordinator of chaos,” Johnna Hensl...
The Special Needs Parenting Journey: Faith, Marriage & Finding Hope in the Life You Never Expected with Dr. Joe & Cindi Ferrini
What happens when the life you planned is suddenly replaced with one you never expected?In this powerful and deeply practical episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie sits down with Dr. Joe and Cindi Ferrini, authors of The S...
Desperate Prayers and Deep Faith: Finding God in Long-Term Caregiving and Loss with Rachel Wojo
What do you do when you don’t have the words to pray?In this deeply honest and hope-filled conversation, Carrie sits down with author and speaker Rachel Wojo to talk about caregiving, grief, and how prayer transforms in life’s hardest se...
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From Disability to Calling: Finding Purpose, Identity & Joy in Christ with Anna Harp (Part 2)
In Part 2 of this powerful conversation on This Unexpected Life, Carrie M. Holt continues her interview with Anna Harp, a young writer living with cerebral palsy who is discovering her God-given purpose through storytelling.Anna...
Cerebral Palsy, Faith & Overcoming Fear: A Teen’s Journey from Feeling “Less Than” to Trusting God With Anna Harp (Part 1)
In Part 1 of this powerful two-part conversation, Carrie sits down with Anna Harp, a young adult living with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, to share her story of faith, fear, and transformation.Born at just 27 weeks and spending nearly...
Why Disability Ministry Isn’t One-Sided (And What the Church Is Missing) with Barb Stanley
What happens when the life you planned falls apart—and God builds something completely unexpected in its place?In this episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie sits down with Barb Stanley, founder of Wonderful Works Ministry, to ...
Autism, Faith, and the Gospel: Raising an Autistic Child to Know God with Larah Roberts
What happens when an autism diagnosis reshapes everything you expected about parenting—and faith?In this episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie Holt talks with Bible teacher, author, and autism mom Larah Roberts about navigatin...
The Hidden Story of Special Needs Siblings: Growing Up with Disability and Raising a Child with Autism with Sandra Peoples
What is it really like to grow up as the sibling of a child with disabilities? How does that experience shape the way you parent your own family?In this episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie Holt talks with Sandra Peoples, a d...
When I Stopped Praying for Healing: Autism, Anxiety, and a God Who Stayed with Camille Joy
Enter to win the giveaway for a free copy of Camille's new devotional: Moments of Joy:1. Subscribe to Carrie's newsletter hereOR 2. Share this episode...
How to Process Grief as a Special Needs Mom: Lament, Sibling Dynamics & Trusting God in Ongoing Medical Trauma with Jen Potter (Part 2)
In Part 2 of Carrie’s conversation with Jen Potter, the focus turns to grief, sibling dynamics, and learning to trust God in the middle of ongoing medical trauma.Jen shares what it has looked like to raise five children while navigating ...
When Suffering Isn’t Resolved: Finding Rest, Faith, and Living Life Open-Handed with Jen Potter
What do you do when the suffering doesn’t end—and there’s no clear resolution in sight?In Part One of this heartfelt conversation, Carrie sits down with her friend Jen Potter to talk honestly about unresolved grief, long-term caregiving,...
When Caregiving Feels Unseen: Finding God’s Presence in Lifelong Special Needs Parenting
What happens when caregiving lasts far longer than you ever imagined—and no one is applauding?In this deeply honest episode, Carrie sits down with Beth Benson, a mother whose life has been shaped by infertility, trauma, adoption, autism,...
The Long Wait: Trusting God Through Autism, Infertility, and Unanswered Prayers with Jenna Erlandson
In this episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie Holt talks with Jenna Erlandson,, a mother of six, about her journey through infertility, postpartum depression, and receiving an autism diagnosis for her son. Jenna shares how seasons of...
When Special Needs Parenting Becomes Survival: Faith, Endurance and Autism Parenting with Celeste Shally
What happens when special needs parenting moves beyond exhaustion and into survival?In this deeply honest and faith-filled conversation, Carrie M. Holt sits down with Celeste Shally, author of While We Wait: Clinging to Christ in the...
Finding God in the Autism Journey: Jeanetta Bryant on Hope, Healing, and Advocacy
When Jeanetta Bryant’s daughter was diagnosed with autism, her world changed overnight. What began as heartbreak soon became a journey of faith, perseverance, and unexpected purpose. In this episode, Jeanetta shares how God met her in the middl...
When Fear Clouds the Future: An Advent Reflection for Special Needs Moms
In this Advent reflection, Carrie M. Holt closes out the year with a powerful reminder for the special-needs mom who finds herself afraid. Drawing from the Christmas story—Zechariah’s uncertainty, Mary’s shock, and Joseph’s quiet fear—Carrie sh...
God With Us in the Unexpected: An Advent Reflection For Disability Mothers
In this Advent reflection, Carrie M. Holt invites weary, overwhelmed, and tender-hearted special needs moms into the ultimate unexpected story—Christmas. Through a first-person narrative inspired by Mary’s journey in Luke and Matthew, Carrie dr...
Finding Rest in Caregiving: Burnout, Faith, and Letting Go with Jess Ronne
In this profoundly moving conversation, Carrie M. Holt talks with author and advocate Jess Ronne about her powerful and unexpected story—one marked by disability, grief, resilience, surrender, and the refining work of God. Jess shares her journ...
Acceptance: Learning to Live, Grieve, and Thrive in a Life You Didn’t Expect
In this episode, Carrie Holt closes her grief-cycle series by exploring acceptance, a stage often misunderstood in the journey of raising a child with disabilities or receiving an unexpected diagnosis. Carrie explains what acceptance is not...
When Grief Needs Words: Learning the Practice of Lament
In this episode, Carrie M. Holt continues her grief-cycle series by exploring lament—the Biblical practice of bringing our raw, honest emotions to God. Through Scripture, personal stories, and reflections from resources like Dark Clouds, De...
When The Grieving Cycle Includes Anger: How to Respond with Curiosity, Connection, and Coming to God
In this episode, Carrie M Holt explores one of the most misunderstood emotions in the grief cycle: anger. Whether it’s anger at a diagnosis, inaccessible systems, unfair treatment, or even at God Himself, Carrie reminds us that anger isn’t inhe...
The “Shoulds” That Sink Us: Untangling Guilt in Grief
In this episode, Carrie M. Holt discusses the complex emotions of guilt that often accompany the grieving process. She unpacks the difference between conviction (from the Holy Spirit) and accusation (from the enemy), and how the “shoulds”...
Control to Trust: Facing Fear and Anxiety in This Unexpected Journey
In this solo episode, Carrie explores fear and anxiety as one of the recurring stages in the grief journey for parents and caregivers of children with disabilities. She unpacks the distinction between fear and anxiety, drawing from Ada...
Marriage, Caregiving, and Connection: A Conversation with Bruce Holt (Part 2)
In this final episode of the month, Carrie is joined once again by her husband, Bruce, for a candid conversation about marriage in the midst of caregiving. From survival mode in the early years after their son Toby’s diagnosis, to counseling an...
A Father’s Voice in Special Needs Parenting with Bruce Holt
In this heartfelt episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie M. Holt sits down with her husband, Bruce, to share the often-unspoken perspective of fathers in the world of special needs parenting. Together, they revisit th...