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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
57 episodes
Finding Jesus in Chronic Illness, Weakness and Caregiving with Kristen Wetherell and Sarah Walton
For anyone walking through chronic illness, relentless suffering, caregivers, and special needs parenting, this conversation offers gentle biblical encouragement for the days when life doesn’t improve.Carrie sits down with bestselling au...
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When Shame Shapes Your Story: Finding Freedom, Healing, and God's Love in the Special Needs Parenting Journey with Dr. Zoe Shaw
For many parents raising children with disabilities, shame quietly becomes part of the journey. We question our parenting, compare ourselves to other families, wonder if we've somehow failed, and sometimes even believe God is disappointed with ...
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When God Doesn't Prevent Suffering: Wrestling with Difficult Questions in Disability Parenting with Sandy Ramsey-Trayvick
In this powerful episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie sits down with author, speaker, coach, and special needs mom Sandy Ramsey-Trayvick to explore what it means to trust God when life doesn't unfold the way we imagined.After...
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Learning to Embrace the Life You Didn't Expect: Finding Peace, Purpose, and Prayer in the Special Needs Parenting Journey with Jenn Soehnlin
When Jenn Soehnlin's two young sons began receiving diagnoses including hearing loss, apraxia, autism, and anxiety, her world quickly filled with therapies, specialists, grief, and questions for God. What started as a season of overwhelming unc...
The Autism Caregiver's Journey: Finding Jesus in Perfectionism, People-Pleasing, and Isolation with Sarah Mays
When Sarah Mays first heard her newborn son cry, she knew something wasn't right. What followed was a long journey of medical appointments, therapies, genetic testing, autism, ADHD, and learning how to advocate fiercely for her child.In ...
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When You Feel Alone: Finding God’s Provision and Presence in a Rare Diagnosis with Brianna Johnson
When Brianna Johnson's son was diagnosed with Bainbridge-Ropers Syndrome, a rare genetic condition affecting only a few hundred people worldwide, her family entered a journey they never expected. Faced with uncertainty, unanswered questions, an...
There Was Jesus: Knowing God’s Presence in Trauma, Loss & Disability Parenting with Becky Davidson
This month kicks off the new podcast series entitled, There Was Jesus. In this deeply honest episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie M. Holt sits down with returning guest Becky Davidson to discuss recognizing God’s presence i...
When Your Child Asks Difficult Questions: Navigating Faith, Medical Motherhood and Rare Disease with Katie Seelig
In this heartfelt episode of This Unexpected Life, Carrie sits down with homeschooling mom of six, Katie Seelig, to discuss raising a child with a rare neuromuscular condition, navigating medical uncertainty, and learning to trust God ...
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...
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...
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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...
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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 ...
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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,...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...