Hope, Chronic Illness, and Trusting God with Your Kids with Sarah Walton

When faced with parenting crises, special-needs challenges, fear, and exhaustion, how do you keep moving forward? Today's guest Sarah Walton is an author, wife, and mom of four whose family has faced chronic illness, a son with severe behavioral episodes, and years of uncertainty without answers. In this conversation, Sarah talks about what it looked like to survive the hardest seasons of motherhood and how her faith carried her through. She shares how she learned to grieve her expectations, hold hope and acceptance together, and find small joys when everything felt dark. She also offers practical words for how to support a friend who is suffering — and what not to say. Her new book is "Jesus Will Meet You There."  03:14 — Sarah shares what happened when her oldest son spiked a severe fever at 7 weeks old and what followed in the years after 06:11 — The family's Lyme disease diagnosis and how it connected the dots across years of unexplained health struggles 08:19 — How Sarah stayed spiritually afloat — opening her Bible daily, journaling, and talking to God about how awful things felt 10:37 — What to say to the parent who is disappointed and asking why they got a hard child 17:44 — Holding hope and acceptance at the same time: the balance of praying for a miracle while being at peace if it doesn't come 21:05 — How Sarah talks to her kids about suffering and why she lets them see her struggle with hard questions too 26:15 — Why God doesn't always give us the "why" — and why that's actually a gift to our faith 30:02 — Listen, learn, lean in: what to do (and not do) when a friend is going through something hard   Grab a copy of Sarah Walton's book at JesusWillMeetYouThere.com Sarah Walton's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahpwalton/?hl=en Substack: https://substack.com/@sarahpwalton   More Resources from Arlene Pellicane: SUBSCRIBE to Arlene's newsletter "What I'm Learning This Week" and get the checklist, 7 Warning Signs of Screen Overuse. Check out Arlene's BOOKS including Parents Rising, Screen Kids, and Making Marriage Easier. Follow Arlene on Instagram and/or Facebook Watch the podcast on Arlene's YouTube Channel How did Arlene's kids adapt to not having phones, video games or social media? Watch the free video, Screen Kids: In Their Own Words. Have a question for Arlene to address on the podcast? Want to invite Arlene to speak to your group? Email [email protected] Not sure about a smartphone for your child? Check out the Gabb Wireless phone for kids and teens (use the promo code ARLENE)     Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.