At the Counter with the Baking Pastor | Christian Encouragement, Grief Support, Burnout Recovery, Soul Care, Faith in Everyday Life
At the Counter with the Baking Pastor is a Christian podcast for women navigating grief, burnout, life transitions, emotional healing, and the quiet seasons of faith.
I'm Laura Sharp-Waites, a licensed minister, pastoral counselor, and Christian life coach.
This is a quiet space for the woman who is tired... but still showing up.
For the one who's holding it together on the outside while something underneath feels a little unsteady.
Each episode offers a calm, honest place to slow down, take a breath, and reconnect with God in the middle of everyday life. Through gentle conversations, personal stories, faith-filled encouragement, and practical soul care, we'll explore topics like grief, emotional healing, spiritual growth, identity, caregiving, resilience, and finding hope when life feels heavy.
If you've ever thought, "I don't feel like myself anymore," or "I don't even know where to start," you're not alone.
This isn't a space for pressure, performance, or quick fixes.
It's a space to sit.
To breathe.
To listen for God's presence.
And to begin again... slowly.
Pull up a chair.
You don't have to carry everything alone.
Episodes
25 episodes
25 | When Healing Happens Quietly 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 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 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 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: Finding Clarity When You Feel Stuck 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: Learning to Trust Yourself Again 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: Naming Emotions in Uncertain Seasons 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: Hidden Exhaustion, Survival Mode, and the Weight We Carry Quietly
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: Faith, Pressure, and Finding Your Way Back with Ashton Steven
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: Faith, Caregiving, and the Strength to Keep Showing Up 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: Letting Go, Healing, and Finding Your Way Forward 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? Compassion, Dignity, and 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: Hope for Relationships That Feel Fragile 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: What You're Carrying Beneath the Surface 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
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
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...
9 | Does Your Past Still Define You? Your Past Is Not Your Identity
Your story matters.But your story is not the whole story.In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura reflects on identity, healing, and the quiet process of becoming. While our past experiences shape us,...
8 | Feeling Overwhelmed? Decluttering Your Soul and Making Room for What Matters
What if the heaviest things you're carrying aren't visible?In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura reflects on emotional clutter, spiritual overwhelm, and the quiet weight many of us carry without realizing...
7 | Grieving Something You Can't Explain? The Grief We Don't Name
Sometimes grief doesn't arrive with a funeral.Sometimes it arrives through a life change, a broken dream, a relationship shift, a health diagnosis, a closed door, or a future that didn't unfold the way you hoped.In this epi...
6 | Feeling Left Out or Left Behind? Sending You Back Out with Gentleness
Before you leave the counter today, Laura offers a gentle blessing for the road ahead. Whether you're carrying joy, grief, loneliness, gratitude, or a little of everything, this conversation is a reminder that you don't have to prove your worth...
5 | When Relationships Change: Who's Still at the Table?
What happens when you stop holding everything together?In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura reflects on changing relationships, quiet grief, healthy boundaries, and the clarity that often comes when life...
4 | Feeling Like You're Not Doing Enough? Why the Small Things Still Matter
Do you ever feel like your efforts don't count because they seem too small?In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura reflects on crumbs, unfinished work, and the quiet faithfulness that often goes unnoticed.<...
3 | When You've Been Carrying Too Much: Learning to Set Down What's Too Heavy
Have you been carrying so much for so long that you don't know how to set it down?In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura reflects on the quiet exhaustion that comes from always being the strong one. Using ...
2 | Feeling Stuck While You Wait? Learning to Trust the Slow Rise
Have you ever felt like everyone else is moving forward while you're standing still?In this episode of At the Counter with the Baking Pastor, Laura reflects on waiting seasons, unseen growth, and the quiet work God often does bene...
1 | Pull Up a Chair: Finding Rest When You're Tired of Holding It All Together
Welcome to At the Counter with the Baking Pastor.If you're feeling overwhelmed, emotionally tired, spiritually weary, or simply carrying more than you know how to name, this episode is a gentle place to begin.Laura Sharp-Waites, l...
