BeTempered Episode 63 – A Nurse, A Mother, A Survivor: Susan’s War Behind the Smile

How do you find strength when your world is crumbling from the inside out?In this powerful episode of BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Susan Preble, whose story of perseverance through hidden trauma, heartbreak, and healing will leave you breathless and forever changed.Susan’s journey began with tragedy—when she was just 18 months old, her family car was T-boned, leaving her mother in a coma and shifting the course of her life. As she grew, the trauma deepened: childhood sexual abuse, isolation from scoliosis treatment during her teens, and a painful family move that triggered a years-long battle with anorexia.But her most painful battle came later—a 20-year marriage to a man struggling with severe pornography addiction. Susan shares how she lived in two realities: the public image of a functioning family and the private chaos of emotional pain. “I often felt like an imposter in my own life,” she confesses, navigating life as a registered nurse, a cancer survivor, and a mother of two—all while her marriage unraveled behind closed doors.Through every chapter, Susan’s faith became both a lifeline and a battlefield. She doesn’t offer easy answers—only raw honesty about what it means to question, wrestle, and cling to hope in the darkest of seasons. “It wasn’t just about knowing Christ came and died,” she explains. “It became about a personal relationship.”Whether you’re navigating addiction in your family, carrying unspoken pain, or struggling to reconcile your faith with suffering, Susan’s story is a testament to the power of bringing hidden wounds into the light—because once exposed, they lose their power to define us.Listen now at www.betempered.com or find us on all major platforms. You’ll be challenged. You’ll be moved. And you won’t walk away the same.Send us Fan MailSupport the show