Hey, I'm Rachel D. Fox — but you can call me Rachel.

I created Barefoot Conversations because I know what it's like to wear the mask. To perform. To smile when you're falling apart inside. I know what it feels like to run from your own story because it's too heavy to carry, let alone speak out loud. I know what it's like to look in the mirror and not recognize the woman staring back — because somewhere along the way, you lost her.

And I also know what it feels like to come home. To finally stop running. To let God meet you right where you are — messy, broken, tired — and hear Him say, "I've been waiting for you."

The name of this podcast comes from Moses at the burning bush. Before God gave him his calling, He told him to take off his sandals. Holy ground required bare feet. Vulnerability before calling. Surrender before assignment. That's the foundation of every conversation I have here. We take off the masks. We stop performing. We get down to the truth about what it really took to come home to ourselves and to God.

Each episode, I sit across from a woman who's walked through something that tried to take her out. Abuse. Addiction. Betrayal. Loss. Broken marriages. Shattered identities. Trauma that doesn't have a name. The kind of pain you don't talk about at brunch. The kind you bury so deep you convince yourself it's gone — until it isn't.

And she tells me the truth. Not the cleaned-up version. Not the testimony with the pretty bow on it. The real one. The version with tears and laughter and long pauses and "I can't believe I'm saying this out loud." The version that makes you feel like you're sitting right there with us, leaning in, holding your breath, and whispering, "Me too."

This isn't a self-help podcast. I'm not here to give you five steps to fix your life. I'm not here to tell you to pray harder or trust more or get over it already. I'm here to sit with you in the mess and remind you that you're not alone. That your story matters. That the woman you buried under all that pain and all those years of surviving? She's still in there. And God's not done with her yet.

This podcast is for you if you've been through something that tried to break you — and you're still here. If you've been wearing the mask so long you forgot what your real face looks like. If you've been performing for everyone else and you're exhausted. If you're in the middle of a season that doesn't make sense and you just need someone to say, "I see you. I've been there. Keep going."

It's for you if you grew up in the church but your faith got complicated somewhere along the way. If you love God but you've got questions. If you're not sure where you stand but you know you're searching for something real.

It's for you if you've been called crazy, too much, too sensitive, too broken. If people have counted you out. If you've counted yourself out.

It's for you if you're ready to stop hiding and start healing. If you're ready to reclaim the parts of yourself you thought were gone forever. If you're ready to remember who you've always been.

I'm not here to preach at you. I'm here to sit with you. To hold space for you. To remind you that it's not too late. It's never too late to come home.

So pull up a chair. Grab some coffee or tea. Take a deep breath. And let's have a conversation — the kind that changes something inside of you.

This is Barefoot Conversations. Real women. Real stories. Real faith. No masks allowed.

Let's go barefoot.