Desert Streams

Desert Streams is a quiet place to sit with grief, longing, and the steady presence of God. Hosted by Jessie Kuhn, LPC-S, these short reflections offer a gentle companion between therapy sessions and in the in-between seasons of life. No fixing. No pressure. Just space to breathe, notice what’s true, and be met where you are. You’re welcome to come as you are.

If you’re looking for counseling or additional support, you can learn more at desertstreams126.com

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Desert Streams

Episode 8 — Learning to Be Held

May 07, 2026 • Jessie Kuhn, LPC-S • Season 1 • Episode 7

0:00 | 10:40

Share what this space is like for you

An episode for the moments when it’s still quiet — when nothing feels like it’s changing, and you’re not sure how to stay.

In this reflection, I share a little of my own experience alongside the tension of hoping for something different while also facing what is. Together we notice the urge to fix, to force, or to move past… and the gentle possibility of being held right here.

Even if it doesn’t feel like it, something in you may already be learning that this can be held.

More episodes, reflections, and information about my counseling practice can be found at desertstreams126.com/podcast.

You can also follow along on instagram at @jessiekuhn126

I’m glad you’re here.

Season 1: Learning How to Stay With the One Who Never Leaves.

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome back. Before we begin, I'd like to invite you to just take a moment to arrive. However, you're arriving, remember nothing needs to change for you to be here. In the last few moments we've shared, we've been noticing something together that even in the quiet, even when it seems like nothing is changing, something has been holding you. And sometimes that can be hard to feel, or even harder to trust. I've been in a space where nothing was really changing, where change felt like the only way out. And yet I couldn't leave. And I didn't know how to stay. Part of me wanted to hold on to hope. Like if I just held it tightly enough, if I didn't look at the possibility of things not changing, then maybe something would shift. And another part of me wanted to take it into my own hands to force something to happen, to make the change come. But when I couldn't do that, when I was faced with the reality that I couldn't make it change. Sometimes I just wanted to escape it, distract from it, move around it somehow. Because staying there felt risky. If I let myself be held in that space, what if it didn't change? What if this is just how it was going to be? Or what if it got worse and not better? There was a real fear of being overtaken by it. And yet there was something about that space that felt strangely safe. Like it was the only place that I didn't have to explain anything or have an answer or even try to survive it. I could just be. Sometimes even fall asleep there. And slowly I began to notice something else too. How good he is, how much he loves. Trusted enough to surrender to, even without knowing the outcome. Even right now, that this can be held. You don't have to force it. You don't have to figure it out or even have to know how to stay. You're not holding this by yourself. And if you want, you might just take a moment and notice what it's like to let this be here without trying to move past it. And maybe allow yourself to wonder what it would be like if you too could be held. So glad you're here.