Hope for the Home with Jerry and Becky Drace

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Recent Episodes

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Grief, Trust, and Healing: Wrapping Up the Single Parenting Series with Lisa Reasons

August 16, 2026 — Episode #135

Divorce isn’t just the end of a marriage — it’s a grieving process for the person you thought you were. In her final week on this series, Lisa Reasons gets candid about what that grief actually looks like.

Jerry and Becky close out their multi-week series on single parenting with Lisa Reasons, sharing openly about her own path through divorce and healing. Lisa talks about finally finding a church with a real support system for divorced people, why rebuilding trust after betrayal is so much harder than it sounds, and how grief after divorce means mourning not just a marriage but an entire imagined future. Jerry shares a memorable story about a house full of college students and one young man’s tearful confession about his parents’ divorce — and the unexpected comfort he received from friends who’d been through the same thing. The conversation turns back to adoption as Lisa describes her role walking birth mothers through the process at Birth Choice, and the episode closes with an offer for listeners to request a free Bible packed with resources on family and single-parenting issues.

Topics discussed:

Why people become single parents: divorce, death, deployment, or never having married
Finding a church community with real support for divorced people
Divorce as a grieving process — mourning the marriage, the person, and the future you expected
Rebuilding trust after betrayal and understanding attachment styles
Leaning on prayer and Scripture during seasons of numbness or hopelessness
Why single parents should know their own worth before dating again
A story of unexpected comfort among college students processing their parents’ divorces
Lisa’s role guiding birth mothers through the adoption process at Birth Choice
Offer of a free Bible with family and single-parenting resources

Single Parenting and the Search for Healing: A Conversation with Lisa Reasons

August 9, 2026 — Episode #134

Nearly 24 million American families are headed by a single parent — and Lisa Reasons knows that world firsthand, both as a single mother of four and as the adoption agency director who now helps other families navigate it.

Continuing their series on single parenting, Jerry and Becky welcome back Lisa Reasons, director of the adoption agency at Birth Choice, to talk candidly about what it actually takes to heal and hold steady as a single parent. Lisa shares how prayer led her to Christian therapy, and unpacks EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) — including lesser-known variations like attachment-focused and pre-verbal EMDR, which address trauma from before a child could even speak. The conversation turns to the importance of seeking out a Christian counselor, the value of processing painful events from the past rather than pushing past them, and the loneliness Lisa felt when she was shunned by people in her own church after her divorce. Jerry and Becky share statistics on single-parent households and press the point that churches need real, visible support systems — not judgment — for the parents and kids living this reality. They close with a preview of next week’s continuation of the series, this time from a woman’s perspective.

Topics discussed:

Statistics on single-parent households in America
Finding and choosing a Christian therapist
EMDR, attachment-focused EMDR, and pre-verbal EMDR for processing trauma
Why processing the past matters instead of only moving forward
Feeling shunned by a church community after divorce
What churches can do to support single parents without judgment
Helping children of single parents process what they’ve been through
Preview of next week: single parenting from a woman’s viewpoint

Confronting the Abolitionist Movement: Adoption, Grace, and Single Motherhood

August 2, 2026 — Episode #133

Content note: this episode continues detailed discussion of a proposed movement to criminally charge women for abortion — including in cases of miscarriage — and includes statistics on teen suicide, gang involvement, and substance abuse linked to single-parent households.

In what they describe as her last week with them for now, Lisa Reasons returns to close out Jerry and Becky Drace’s series on abortion, adoption, and single parenting.

They continue unpacking the “abolitionist” movement, with Jerry and Becky wondering aloud whether it might actually originate from abortion pill manufacturers themselves, given the lack of informed consent or medical oversight women receive. They discuss how the movement’s logic could theoretically implicate women who’ve had miscarriages, and note that a proposed law along these lines was recently introduced and killed in Tennessee’s state legislature. The conversation turns toward grace and the church’s responsibility, with Jerry stating plainly that abortion is not the unpardonable sin and that God’s forgiveness supersedes the shame many women carry silently because their churches never address the issue. Lisa shares statistics from her adoption-agency work, including how many women who arrive “abortion-minded” change course toward life or adoption, and the biblical example of Moses’ mother placing him in the Nile before Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him. The episode closes with sobering statistics linking single-mother households to higher rates of teen suicide, gang involvement, and substance abuse, alongside a preview that next week’s series will shift focus to single fatherhood.

Topics discussed:

The “abolitionist” movement and questions about who may be funding it
Legislative attempts in Tennessee to criminalize abortion for the mother
Why the movement’s logic could implicate women who’ve miscarried
Abortion as not the “unpardonable sin,” and the church’s silence on the issue
Statistics on women who enter counseling “abortion-minded” and choose life or adoption
Moses’ mother and Pharaoh’s daughter as a biblical picture of adoption
Statistics linking single-mother households to teen suicide, gang involvement, and substance abuse
Preview of next week’s shift to single fatherhood

The Abortion “Abolitionist” Movement: Should Mothers Face Criminal Charges?

July 26, 2026 — Episode #132

Content note: this episode includes detailed discussion of a proposed movement to criminally charge women for abortions — including in cases of miscarriage — as well as discussion of the abortion pill and its accessibility.

Lisa Reasons returns to continue Jerry and Becky Drace’s series on single parenting, this time tackling a controversial legal movement that would charge mothers with homicide over abortion.

They open by previewing next week’s topic — single fatherhood — after a listener from North Carolina asked why the series had only addressed single mothers, and share a statistic that 81% of single-parent households are headed by mothers versus 18% by fathers. Lisa then unpacks the “abolitionist” movement within the pro-life space, explaining how it seeks to criminally charge women who have abortions, and why she believes this approach — despite sounding pro-life — actually further victimizes women who were often misled by abortion providers with no informed consent or medical oversight. The conversation covers the legal double standard between abortion and adoption (where fathers must sign away parental rights for adoption but not for abortion), the risk that criminalization could wrongly implicate women who’ve had miscarriages, and the importance of churches removing shame and stigma around unplanned pregnancy so women feel safe pursuing adoption. Lisa also shares candidly about her own journey as a single mother of four, including the challenges of co-parenting, returning to graduate school, and the therapists and pastoral counselors who helped her heal. The episode closes with statistics on communication as the greatest co-parenting challenge and a promise to continue the series next week.

Topics discussed:

Preview of next week’s topic: single fatherhood (81% of single parents are mothers, 18% are fathers)
The abortion “abolitionist” movement and proposals to criminally charge mothers
Legal double standards between abortion and adoption regarding fathers’ rights
The abortion pill’s history, accessibility, and lack of medical oversight
Removing shame and stigma around unplanned pregnancy in church communities
Lisa Reasons’ personal story of single motherhood, co-parenting, and healing
Statistics on co-parenting communication challenges
The value of biblically grounded Christian counseling and therapy

Single Parenting: How It Happens and the Pressures Families Face

July 19, 2026 — Episode #131

Jerry and Becky Drace open a new series on single parenting, digging into how people become single parents in the first place and the surprising statistics behind it.

They walk through the three main paths to single parenthood — never marrying, divorce, and the death of a spouse — and share a statistic that the first divorce in the U.S. typically occurs around age 30. The conversation turns candid about why marriages fail, with Becky pointing to premarital counseling that skips hard compatibility questions, and Jerry sharing a story about a young man convinced he was “in love” based purely on physical symptoms. They cite data showing 40% of single-parent households are headed by a mother who is the sole breadwinner (compared to just 10% of two-parent homes), and discuss the added strain when an ex-spouse remarries and shifts financial priorities to a new family. The Draces also touch on grandparents and au pairs stepping in as caregivers, share a story about a waitress working multiple jobs as a single mom, and reference Psalm 10:14 and Psalm 146:9 on God’s care for the fatherless. They also take a moment to announce the show’s newly launched podcast, encouraging listeners to find the full back catalog and subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or the website. The episode closes with a preview: next week they’ll welcome a guest with personal experience as a single parent.

Topics discussed:

Roughly 24 million U.S. families are headed by a single parent (34% of all families with children)
Three main paths to single parenthood: never marrying, divorce, and the death of a spouse
The typical age of first divorce and why “falling out of love” isn’t the real cause
Premarital counseling and the compatibility questions couples skip
Statistics on single mothers as sole breadwinners
Grandparents and au pairs stepping in as caregivers
Psalm 10:14 and Psalm 146:9 on God’s care for the fatherless
Announcing the show’s new podcast and how to subscribe
Preview: next week’s guest, a single parent sharing their story

That’s the 5 most recent episodes. For the complete back catalog, visit the full episode archive.