At the Counter with the Baking Pastor | Christian Encouragement, Grief Support, Burnout Recovery & Soul Care
Are you grieving a loss, navigating an unwanted change, caring for everyone but yourself, or waking up already tired? Maybe you’re burned out, your faith feels weary, or life simply doesn’t feel the way it used to.
At the Counter with the Baking Pastor is a Christian podcast offering encouragement for hard seasons, grief and loss support, burnout recovery, practical soul care, and honest conversations about faith in everyday life.
Hosted by Laura Sharp-Waites, licensed minister, pastoral counselor, and Christian soul care coach, each episode brings meaningful stories, gentle spiritual encouragement, and practical ways to care for your soul when life feels heavy.
Here, grief is bigger than bereavement. It can come with caregiving, divorce, friendship loss, health changes, career changes, disappointment, or a life you never expected to be living. Sometimes what you’re carrying has a name, and sometimes you simply know you don’t feel like yourself anymore.
You don’t have to have everything figured out before you come to the Counter. This is a place to slow down, breathe, reconnect with your faith, and notice God’s presence in the middle of ordinary life.
Pull up a chair. The counter is open. ☕
Episodes
34 episodes
34 | When the Life You Built No Longer Fits | Burnout Recovery with Jobert Abueva
What happens when the life you worked so hard to build no longer fits who you are?Sometimes burnout recovery begins before we make the next plan, set another goal, or try to reinvent ourselves. It begins by slowing down long enough to lo...
33 | When Other People Decide What You're Capable Of | Christian Encouragement with Dorsey Ross
What happens when other people decide what you’re capable of before you ever get the chance to find out for yourself?Dorsey Ross has spent much of his life hearing predictions about what he wouldn’t be able to do.Born with Apert s...
32 | When You Need Someone to Carry Your Mat | Christian Encouragement
You’re probably pretty good at carrying other people’s mats.You show up. You help. You pray. You remember what everyone needs. You’re the person others know they can count on.But what happens when you’re the one who can’t get up?<...
31 | When the Screen Is Meeting a Need You Can't See | Christian Parenting with Nathan Graham
What if the screen isn’t the real problem?For many parents, gaming can become a battleground. We see hours disappearing behind a screen, responsibilities being ignored, tempers flaring when it’s time to log off, and a child who seems inc...
30 | When Coping Isn't Enough Anymore | Burnout Recovery with Kathrine Parnell
Sometimes the things that helped us survive eventually stop helping us live.We keep functioning. We show up. We take care of people. We handle the responsibilities. From the outside, we may even look successful.But underneath all ...
29 | Second Chances, Front Porches, and Grace | Christian Encouragement with Melissa Alyse
Some stories entertain us. Others somehow feel like home.Author Melissa Alyse has created just such a place in Willow Creek, Texas, the fictional small town at the heart of her grace-soaked Christian fiction and cozy mystery series. It's...
28 | When Life Doesn't Go Back to Normal | Grief Support with Laura Bratton
What do you do when life changes in ways you never expected?When the future you imagined is no longer possible.When grief isn't just about losing a person, but about losing dreams, milestones, health, or the life you thought you w...
27 | When You Don't Recognize Your Life Anymore | Soul Care with Shannon Michelle
Sometimes life changes slowly.Sometimes it changes all at once.One day you know who you are. The next, everything feels unfamiliar.In this heartfelt conversation, Laura welcomes Shannon Michelle, former award-winning Los An...
26 | Your Story Is Still Unfolding | Christian Encouragement with Chip Scholz
There are seasons when it feels like everyone else is moving forward while you're standing still. You look around and wonder if you've missed your chance, taken a wrong turn, or simply should be further along by now.This week at the coun...
25 | When Healing Happens Quietly | Soul Care with Melissa Prusinski
Healing doesn't always happen in dramatic moments.Sometimes it looks like taking one more faithful step.Sometimes it looks like learning to breathe again.Sometimes it happens so quietly that you don't notice the change unti...
24 | When You Don't Recognize Your Life Anymore... and Still Keep Going | Christian Encouragement with Jay Setchell
Life doesn't always unfold the way we imagined.Sometimes illness changes everything.Sometimes loss reshapes our future.Sometimes we wake up one day and realize we hardly recognize the life we're living.In this episod...
23 | When Some Things Never Fully Resolve | Grief Support with Rev. Rebecca Foster
Some questions don't have easy answers.Some hurts don't disappear overnight.Some chapters of life remain unfinished longer than we'd ever choose.Today, Laura is joined by Rev. Rebecca Foster, an ordained minister wit...
22 | When You Wonder If You'll Always Carry This | Grief Support with Dr. Larry Brant
Sometimes the heaviest burdens are the ones no one else can see.The things we've carried for years.The stories we've never told.The guilt, shame, grief, trauma, or memories we fear others wouldn't understand.In this episod...
21 | When You Keep Showing Up... Barely | Burnout Recovery with John Salzwedel
Have you ever looked around and thought:"Nothing is technically wrong... so why does everything feel so heavy?"In this episode of At the Counter, Laura sits down with coach, speaker, and author John Salzwedel ...
20 | When You Don’t Have Words for What You Feel | Soul Care with Kristan Swan
There are moments in life when something feels off, but we can’t quite explain why.In this Seat at the Counter conversation, Laura is joined by Kristan Swan, a life and spiritual guide who helps people reconnect with themse...
19 | When You Don't Know What You're Feeling | Soul Care with Doug Earl Johnston
There are moments when it's not that you don't feel anything.It's that you feel too much all at once.And none of it has a clear name.In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura sits down with auth...
18 | When You're Tired of Pretending You're Fine | Burnout Recovery
Sometimes the hardest part about exhaustion isn't the exhaustion itself.It's how long you've been pretending you're okay while carrying it.In this solo episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura responds to lis...
17 | When You Feel Spiritually Tired | Burnout Recovery with Ashton Stevens
There are seasons when you're not just tired.You're emotionally stretched thin.Running on fumes.Trying to keep going while carrying pressure, responsibility, fear, trauma, and expectations all at once.And sometimes ...
16 | When You Love Someone Through the Unthinkable | Christian Caregiving with Jody Hudson
What happens when someone you love is suffering and no one seems to have answers?In this deeply moving conversation, Laura sits down with author, speaker, and nonprofit founder Jody Hudson to talk about motherhood, caregivi...
15 | When Strength Starts to Feel Heavy | Burnout Recovery with Heidi Blackie
There comes a point when pushing through stops working.Not because you've failed.Not because you're weak.But because you've been carrying more than anyone realizes for far too long.In this episode of At the Co...
14 | What If Being Seen Changes Everything? | Faith in Action with Karen Davidson
Sometimes care doesn't happen in dramatic moments.Sometimes it happens in a laundromat.In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura sits down with Deaconess Karen Davidson, co-creator of Suds n Buds
13 | When Love Feels Unsteady | Christian Marriage with Tammy Noble
What do you do when a relationship feels fragile?When you're trying to hold everything together, but underneath the surface things feel strained, disconnected, or uncertain?In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking ...
12 | Holding It Together When Everything Feels Unsteady | Soul Care with Kurt Bush
What happens when you look steady on the outside but feel uncertain on the inside?In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura sits down with trauma-informed coach, former pastor, and Internal Family Systems pra...
11 | When You Don't Feel Like Yourself Anymore: Finding Your Way Back Gently | Soul Care
Have you ever looked around at your life and thought:"I don't feel like myself anymore."Maybe life changed.Maybe you changed.Maybe you've spent so much time surviving, caregiving, grieving, healing, or simply ...
10 | When You Wake Up Already Tired: The Work of Everyday Faith | Burnout Recovery
There is a kind of tiredness that sleep doesn't fix.The kind that is already there before your feet hit the floor.The kind that lingers quietly beneath everything you carry.In this episode of At the Counte...
