Licensed professional clinical counselor Matt Knabe joins Wendy Rollin to share how anxiety and panic attacks led him from the music industry to Emerge Counseling Ministries. They discuss Christian counseling, the stigma surrounding mental health, and why seeking professional help does not mean someone lacks faith. Matt’s story demonstrates how God can use counseling, personal experience, and unexpected changes in direction to bring healing and prepare us to help others.

Children’s author and Willow and Word founder Shannon McClain joins Wendy Rollin to discuss her unexpected calling to create faith-filled books for young readers. Shannon shares the inspiration behind A Wink from God and explains how storytelling can help children recognize God’s presence, learn about Jesus, and develop a foundation of faith.

This uplifting conversation explores trusting God’s direction, answering His call, and planting spiritual seeds that can influence children and families for generations.

In this episode of Held by Faith: The Podcast, Wendy reflects on Mark 11:24 and what it means to pray with faith.

This short devotional encourages listeners to believe that God hears every prayer, trust Him while waiting, and surrender the answer to His wisdom, timing, and will.

Author and evangelist Mark Winter joins Wendy Rollin to discuss his journey from a prodigal season to a life devoted to Christ and ministry.

Inspired by his book, If I’m the Temple of God, Why Are My Pillars Cracked?, Mark speaks candidly about childhood wounds, depression, anxiety, forgiveness, and the pressure to appear spiritually perfect. He explains why God is not repelled by our brokenness and how His grace continues rebuilding the damaged places within us.

Mark also shares the deeply moving story of reconciling with his father only hours before his father’s unexpected death. This conversation offers hope to anyone struggling with condemnation, unresolved pain, performance-based religion, or the fear that they are too broken to be loved and restored by God.

Author Jen Conrad joins Wendy Rollin to discuss the painful experiences that inspired her book, Finding God in the Trenches. After facing the loss of a family business, heartbreak surrounding an adoption journey, the death of her mother, and other personal struggles, Jen found herself overwhelmed by compounded grief.

In this honest conversation, Jen shares how grief affected her emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being—and how therapy, trusted friendships, surrender, and an honest relationship with God helped her begin healing.

This episode is a reminder that God is not frightened by our anger, questions, or pain. Even when He feels distant, He remains present in the trenches with us.

In this episode of Held by Faith: The Podcast, Wendy Rollin sits down with Shawna Layland for a powerful and heartfelt conversation about faith, survival, surrender, and trusting God when life changes in an instant.

Shawna shares her testimony of surviving a Type A aortic dissection, a life-threatening medical emergency involving a tear in the body’s main artery, the aorta. Her story is not only about what happened physically, but about how God was present with her, how her faith deepened through the journey, and how she now hopes her testimony will encourage others and point them back to Jesus.

This episode is a reminder that faith does not mean we will never face trials, but it does mean we do not face them alone.

Listen now to Shawna’s testimony on Held by Faith: The Podcast

In this episode of Held by Faith: The Podcast, Wendy shares Sunday’s Verse and Devotional from Psalm 28:7:

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped.”

A short devotional reminder that God is still our strength when we feel weak, our shield when life feels overwhelming, and our help when we trust Him with what we are carrying.

In this episode of Held by Faith: The Podcast, Wendy shares Sunday’s Verse and Devotional from Isaiah 26:3:

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.”

A short devotional reminder that real peace is found in keeping our minds on God. When life feels crowded with worry, pressure, or uncertainty, His peace can still steady the heart.