Women Behind the Words

Date: September 22, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Batsirai and Aimee Chada

 

Story Highlights:

What if our children's identity does not begin with their circumstances, their behavior, their accomplishments, or even our plans for them? In this deeply personal episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek sits down with husband-and-wife team Batsirai and Aimee Chada, founders of Already Loved, for a thought-provoking conversation about Christian parenting, identity, belonging, grace, and helping our children know the love of God for themselves.

Their conversation begins with a story they never expected to tell. While attending Bible college, Batsirai and Aimee faced an unexpected pregnancy just three months into dating. What followed was a season of fear, shame, responsibility, hard decisions, and real uncertainty about their future. They speak honestly about the temptation to hide, the conversations with school leadership and family, and the moment their story was finally brought into the light. What first felt frightening slowly became freeing, a reminder that when life does not follow our plan, God is still present and still writing the story.

One of the central threads of the episode is the difference between circumstance and identity. Batsirai and Aimee talk about making sure an unexpected circumstance never becomes a verdict on a child's worth. Their son, Jaden, eventually learned the story of his conception, and rather than letting it define him, his parents wanted him to know something deeper: he belongs, he is wanted, he is loved, and his identity begins with God.

From there, Deb and the Chadas explore where a child's identity truly comes from. They believe it should be rooted not in parental expectations, performance, mistakes, circumstances, or behavior, but in God. Using the picture of a seed, they describe how the potential for what a child will become is already held within them. Our children are not blank slates for us to mold into who we think they should be. They are beloved people God has entrusted to us. The conversation looks at what it means to be an entrusted voice in a child's life, one that speaks truth, offers faithful presence, and helps a child encounter God rather than trying to control the outcome. That truth is tested and proven as they share Jaden's own journey from skepticism about faith to personally encountering the Lord. We can teach, model, pray, and create an atmosphere where our children can meet God, but we cannot manufacture that relationship for them. They need more than a secondhand faith. They need to know God for themselves.

The couple also challenges the way we often approach behavior. What if, instead of asking "How do I stop this?" we asked "What is underneath this?" Behaviors are frequently tied to the beliefs and stories a child has learned, and what looks like defiance, attention-seeking, or an emotional outburst may really be a deeper question: Do I matter? Am I seen? Do I belong? Am I loved? Rather than reasoning with a child in the middle of a tantrum, Batsirai and Aimee talk about building a foundation of connection, love, and acceptance first. And when parents get it wrong, as every parent eventually will, there is room for repair: returning to connection, acknowledging what happened, and rebuilding trust. Much of this is carried by a few simple, repeatable truths they speak over their children again and again. You are loved. You belong. You are seen.

Deb and the Chadas close with a candid look at control, fear, and the quiet temptation to measure ourselves by how well our children behave. They talk about the difference between controlling outcomes and empowering children, including the value of age-appropriate choices and the everyday practice that homeschooling can offer. Neither of them presents parenting as something they have mastered. Instead, they describe an ongoing journey of learning to parent from a secure identity rather than from fear or performance, and remind us that our children are beloved people before they are good students, obedient children, successful adults, or well-behaved Christians. If you have ever wondered whether you are doing enough, worried that your child's circumstances might define their future, or measured yourself by your child's behavior, this conversation is a gentle invitation to step back and remember that we are all invited to begin from the same place: already loved. This episode is Part One, so be sure to watch for Part Two, where the conversation about parenting, identity, behavior, and connection continues.

 

About Our Guests:

Batsirai and Aimee Chada are the husband-and-wife founders of Already Loved and parents of two. After becoming parents three months into dating while in Bible college, they began asking how to keep "unplanned" from ever becoming "unwanted" in a child's heart. Today they help Christian parents move beyond secondhand faith so their kids can know God for themselves and grow up rooted in how deeply they are loved.

 

Spotlight: Already Loved:

Already Loved is the book born out of the Chadas' own story. It is a personalized Christian bedtime book for ages three to six, a real 32-page hardcover built around one specific child. Using the child's name, photo, and the small details that make up their world, their favorite places, foods, animals, and the stuffed animal they take to bed, Already Loved turns those everyday things into custom illustrations that carry one steady truth through the whole book. The idea at the heart of it is simple: do not only tell children stories about God, help them see God in their own story. So instead of only hearing "God loves the world," a child hears "God loves me." Parents build and preview the first pages for free, then approve every page before anything is printed, which keeps the family's own faith and voice at the center. It is meant to be simple enough for an ordinary Tuesday night and lasting enough to become a truth a child carries for life.

 

Connect with Batsirai and Aimee:

Website: https://alreadylovedkids.com
About: https://alreadylovedkids.com/about
Blog: https://alreadylovedkids.com/blog
Instagram: https://instagram.com/alreadylovedkids
Facebook: https://facebook.com/alreadylovedkids
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@alreadylovedkids
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IamAlreadyLoved
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/alreadylovedkids
X: https://x.com/urAlreadyloved

 

Closing Thought:

Our children are more than their behavior, and their circumstances were never meant to be a verdict on their worth. Batsirai and Aimee remind us that our job is not to manufacture a perfect outcome, but to be an entrusted voice pointing our children toward the One who loves them completely. Before they are anything they do, they are already loved. And so are we.

Date: September 8, 2026

Podcast Shownotes: Interview with Bobby Dufek, Deb and Bob’s grandson.

 

Story Highlight: Bobby Dufek’s Journey of Faith, Friendship & Purpose

What happens when a young man’s faith begins to fade—and then, little by little, God brings people and circumstances into his life that help lead him back?

In this episode of The Women Behind the Words, Deb has a very special guest at her table: her grandson, Bobby Dufek.

Bobby opens up about his journey of faith, beginning with his childhood in New York City, where he was raised with a Christian foundation. As life changed, so did his connection with God. Navigating difficult school years, experiencing bullying, and living through the isolation of COVID all shaped him in ways he is still discovering.

But God was also placing people in Bobby’s path. Moving upstate, family members, cousins, friends, and spiritual mentors became important influences in his life, now on a daily basis. Through those relationships, Bobby began asking himself questions about faith again. Many doors began to open for him, including attending Campus Ambassadors, an on-campus Christian organization and eventually finding his way into an Orthodox Christian church, where he was baptized, and became an active part of his church.

One of the most meaningful parts of Bobby’s story is his willingness to talk about the importance of positive male influences. He shares how men like his cousins, Brandon and Johnny, his Uncle Bruce, and his namesake, Bobby Dufek, his Papa, helped shape the young man he is becoming.

Bobby also talks about his decision to join the United States Coast Guard, motivated in part by his desire to help others—a desire that reflects the heart God has been cultivating in him his whole life.

His story is a beautiful reminder that faith journeys don't always happen in a straight line. Sometimes God uses a move, a friendship, a mentor, a difficult season, or a simple conversation to draw a young person closer to Himself.

And sometimes, the people God uses to influence us are sitting right around the table.

 

About Our Guest:

At 20 years old, Bobby has had an interesting path shaped by growing up in New York City and spending much of his life working in professional kitchens. Now beginning a career in the U.S. Coast Guard, he brings a perspective rooted in hard work, service, faith, and personal growth. As an Orthodox Christian, he is interested in the traditions, challenges, and experiences that shape people and their understanding of the world.

 

In This Episode, Bobby Shares:

• Growing up with a Christian foundation and what happened when his faith began to fade
• His challenging experiences in middle and high school
• How bullying and social isolation affected him
• The unexpected impact of COVID and remote learning
• How moving upstate changed his environment and introduced him to new friendships
• The importance of healthy, positive male role models
• How family members and friends influenced his faith
• His experience with Campus Ambassadors
• Finding a church community and being baptized
• Why making a conscious decision to trust Jesus matters
• His decision to join the United States Coast Guard
• His desire to help and serve others
• What he would say to other young men who are searching for their place and purpose
• Why parents need to have honest, open conversations with their sons about faith

A Word for Parents

Bobby’s story is also an encouragement to parents and grandparents.

We can't always control the environments our children and grandchildren encounter, and we can't walk their faith journey for them. But we can be present. We can listen. We can ask questions. We can introduce them to godly people and a healthy community. And we can keep pointing them toward Jesus.

Sometimes a young person needs to know that someone believes in who they are becoming—even while they are still figuring it out themselves.

 

A Word for Young Men

Bobby's encouragement is simple but powerful: don't be afraid to pursue your faith.

Finding men who will walk alongside you, challenge you, encourage you, and point you toward Jesus can make an enormous difference.

Faith isn't something we have to figure out alone.

 

The Heart Behind This Conversation

At The Women Behind the Words, we believe every person has a story—and that God is always at work within those stories.

Bobby's journey reminds us that even when faith seems distant, God is never far away. He can use people, friendships, family, community, and circumstances to draw us back to Himself.

And sometimes the next chapter begins with one simple decision:

“Jesus, I choose to trust You.”

If Bobby’s story encouraged you, share this episode with a parent, grandparent, or young person who might need the reminder that God is still writing their story.

 

Connect with Bobby:

Email: rdufek24@gmail.com

Instagram: @robdufek

Date: September 1, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Amber Johns

 

Story Highlights:

In this heart-stirring episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek reunites with longtime friend Amber Johns, founder of BRAVE Ministries and New York State Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), for a conversation about discipleship, identity, and raising a generation of bold, courageous women of faith. Debbie and Amber first met at Bethlehem Community in 2011, when Amber's sons were six and three years old. Fifteen years later, those boys are grown and Amber is leading a ministry the Lord has spent years preparing her to carry.

Amber shares the story behind BRAVE, an acronym for Bold, Redeemed, Anointed, Victorious, and Eternal, and how it grew out of her work mentoring female athletes through FCA into its own nonprofit ministry serving girls and women of every age. She and Debbie dig into what she calls the discipleship deficit, the growing number of Christian women who cannot name who is discipling them or who they are discipling in return, and why that gap leaves so many believers stalled in their spiritual growth.

The conversation turns to The Great Rescue, the framework Amber built by drawing a deliberate parallel between the language of human trafficking and the way the enemy grooms and entangles women and girls spiritually. Rather than playing defense, Amber calls the church to go on the offense for the next generation. She and Debbie also talk through the real difference between attending a Bible study and walking in true discipleship, the idea of spiritual orphans (believers, often in their thirties, forties, and beyond, who have never had someone pour into them), and why Amber believes small groups and mentoring relationships should be multigenerational rather than divided by life stage.

Listeners will hear the biblical stories of Jael and the daughters of Zelophehad (including Noah) as pictures of bold, decisive obedience, plus the moving story of how God gave Amber the name Watchman through the teaching of Jamie Winship and the book of Ezekiel, and what it cost her to accept it. Amber and Debbie close with a challenge every listener can act on this week: pray for one person God wants you to disciple, then obey when He brings that person across your path.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• What BRAVE Ministries is and how it began inside FCA New York
• The discipleship deficit and why so many Christian women feel stuck in their spiritual growth
• The Great Rescue: a bold, offense-minded approach to discipling girls and young women
• The difference between Bible study and true, life-on-life discipleship
• Spiritual orphans and the case for multigenerational mentoring and small groups
• The biblical examples of Jael (Judges 4) and Noah, daughter of Zelophehad
• How God gave Amber her identity as a Watchman through the teaching of Jamie Winship
• Praying for one: a simple, biblical starting point for anyone who wants to disciple but doesn't know where to begin
• A preview of the upcoming BRAVE Conference and its workshop on ministering well to those navigating sexuality and gender identity

 

About Our Guest:

Amber Johns is the founder of BRAVE Ministries, a discipleship movement dedicated to equipping girls and women to live courageously in their God-given identity and mission. Known for her honest, relatable, and hope-filled teaching style, Amber creates space for hard conversations that lead to healing, freedom, and spiritual growth. She currently serves as the New York State Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and has spent years mentoring and discipling women, athletes, leaders, and students, whether speaking at conferences, retreats, churches, leadership gatherings, or student events. Amber's heart is to see women rise up as courageous followers of Christ: women who are decisive in their faith, obedient to God's voice, and committed to making disciples who make disciples.

Amber and her husband, Greg, live in New York and are raising two sons, now 23 and 20. BRAVE Ministries operated under the covering of FCA for several years before becoming its own independent nonprofit about a year and a half ago, with support from Amber's home church.

 

Ministry & Conference Spotlight - BRAVE Ministries:

BRAVE stands for Bold, Redeemed, Anointed, Victorious, and Eternal, the identity Amber believes God has given every woman to walk out in her calling. What started as informal conversations among a small group of female FCA staff, asking what girls in sports and in life were really facing, has grown into a discipleship ministry that serves girls and women of all ages, athletes and non-athletes alike, through mentoring, conferences, and resources built around real, unfiltered conversations.

BRAVE's fourth annual conference is coming up, and this year's gathering is built around one of the harder conversations Christian women and parents are facing today: how to walk alongside those navigating sexuality and gender identity with both biblical conviction and genuine love. Friday night is a workshop led by Lex Rennick, who lived for fourteen years as a man before coming to a place of surrender and detransitioning back to life as a woman. Lex now shares her story alongside practical, Spirit-led guidance for ministering to the LGBTQ community, walking with prodigal children, and having these conversations without compromise or contempt. Saturday brings a recorded message from author and speaker Mo Isom, along with a second teaching session from Lex.

Amber recommends the conference for ages 13 and up, at parental discretion, and encourages parents to preview the material on the BRAVE Ministries website ahead of time and to use the drive home as a chance to keep the conversation going with their daughters.

Learn more, watch past teaching, or register for the conference at BRAVE Ministries and read more about Amber's role with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Upstate New York.

If you want to go deeper on a few of the ideas from this episode, Amber recommends Pray for One by Bo Chancey, a short, practical guide to praying for and pursuing one person at a time, and the teaching ministry of Jamie Winship and Identity Exchange, which shapes Amber's understanding of identity in Christ. Mo Isom's book, Sex, Jesus, and the Conversations the Church Forgot, is a helpful resource for the same conversations the BRAVE Conference will address.

 

Connect with Amber:

Website: amberjjohns.com

Facebook: BRAVE Ministry

FCA New York: nyfca.org

Email: ajohns@fca.org

 

Closing Thought:

Amber's story is a reminder that discipleship was never meant to be complicated, only costly. It starts with one honest question between you and God (what do You call me, and who do You want me to see), and it moves forward one obedient step, one relationship, one girl at a time. As Debbie says every week, when we're willing to share what the Lord has done in our lives, He uses those stories to change the course of history and the outcome of eternity, one heart at a time. This week, that might simply look like praying for one.

Date: August 26, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Debbie Dufek interviewed by Nancy Haack, Part Two

 

Story Highlights:

The conversation Debbie Dufek and her friend Nancy Haack began last week deepens in this second half, moving from the daily rhythm of trusting God into the tender, lifelong work of surrendering the things we love most. On The Women Behind the Words, Debbie is usually the one asking the questions, and it is a gift to hear her answer them, tracing what a life of following God's lead has actually cost, taught, and given her over the years.

Debbie opens by challenging a fear many of us carry, that handing our dreams to God means losing them. If a godly hope first came from Him, she says, then giving it back is not surrender to loss but an open door for Him to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think. She describes a practice she returns to nearly every day, lifting up open, empty hands full of the very things that could crush her, her children who are not yet walking with the Lord, her husband's brain injury, the hopes she has not yet seen answered, and praying simply, "Lord, take this. I don't want what You don't want for me."

That trust opens into one of the episode's richest threads, the difference between controlling the people we love and stewarding them. Debbie speaks honestly as a self described fiery mother who once repeated her convictions to her children three times in a single hour, until a teaching convicted her that God asks us to share our stand once, maybe twice, and then step back. She and Nancy talk about what it means to steward God's love, kindness, and hope in a home instead of leading with worry and fear, and Debbie models a humility many parents wrestle with, returning to her grown children and her little ones alike to ask forgiveness when she has spoken in haste. To ask forgiveness and to offer it freely, they agree, may be one of the most lasting inheritances a mother can leave.

With the perspective of a long life of faith, the two women name what matters less as the years pass and what matters more. For Nancy, what has fallen away is the weight of what people think. For Debbie, what remains is a longing to live for an audience of One. She reflects on keeping short accounts, refusing to let the sun go down on anger, and slowly learning to see herself through God's eyes rather than measuring her worth against the noise of Instagram and Facebook. When the Lord takes the lead, she says, His voice grows louder than the static of the world, and that changes the way we walk.

Some of the most moving moments come as Debbie speaks about two of the hardest disciplines of faith, waiting and silence. Leaning on the promise that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and rise up on wings like eagles, she shares a picture a pastor once gave her during a season when God felt quiet: in the silence, our roots are going down deep. Nancy points to Joseph, whose long wait held pruning, preparation, and a prospering hand even inside a prison. Debbie recalls her own thirty year wait between God's call to write and the release of her first book, years spent homeschooling five of her seven children and caring for aging parents in her home, and she says now she is grateful she was made to wait, certain she was not ready any sooner.

She also shares how ordinary seasons quietly prepared her for what God had ahead. She remembers kneeling at a window at Shiloh Christian Retreat Center four years before her family moved there, sensing God whisper that she was home, and the deep character work He did in her heart in the waiting. Most unforgettable is her account of a difficult man at the retreat center she simply could not bring herself to love, until a Keith Green song broke something open and filled her with a compassion that was not her own, for a man God went on to heal, deliver, and restore to his wife. Only God, she says, does that kind of work.

The episode draws to a close on the passion that drives everything Debbie does, helping women believe their own stories matter. Tracing the fracture in her own foundation back to the death of her father when she was fifteen, and the hope she found watching Jesus transform her brother's life, she insists that no one is too broken and no one too ordinary for God to use their story. She encourages a daily practice of gratitude, telling the Lord over and over how thankful she is simply to belong to Him. And to everyone who feels overlooked, tired, or afraid, she offers a promise she has staked her life on: you are not neglected, you are not marginal in God's eyes, you are dearly loved, and He sees you exactly where you are. Her closing invitation is quiet and freeing, to stop laboring for God and begin living with Him, working side by side with the One who has never once looked away.

 

About Our Guest:

Debbie Dufek is an inspirational storyteller at heart, along with being an author, conference and retreat speaker, certified writing and speaking coach, and the creator and host of The Women Behind the Words podcast. Everything she does grows from a single conviction, that every person's story matters to God and can carry His hope to someone else. She has spent decades encouraging women to live deliberately for what matters to Jesus, whether from a stage, in a Bible study, or across a kitchen table. Debbie is the author of Holy Interruptions: When God Taps You on the Shoulder, published by Bold Vision Books in 2022, and her newest release, Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose, published by Shepherd's Pen Press in 2026. She makes her home in upstate New York with her husband Bob, still her sweetheart after fifty years, at the center of a lively, ever growing family of seven children, twenty-two grandchildren, and a rising number of great-grandchildren, some of them as far away as Switzerland.

 

Book Spotlight:

Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose

So much of the conversation in this episode, the open hands, the waiting, the letting go of control, is the beating heart of Debbie's newest book. Lord, Take the Lead is her invitation to trade striving for surrender, to stop working anxiously for God and learn instead to walk with Him through every ordinary and extraordinary season. Drawing on the My Business Meeting with God practice that first reshaped her own days, Debbie weaves together honest stories, Scripture, and gentle, livable wisdom for the woman who feels she is carrying too much alone. Here you will find encouragement for holding your dreams loosely, stewarding the people you love without controlling them, and trusting God's timing even when He seems silent. It is not a call to do more. It is a hope filled path toward peace, clarity, and the quiet freedom of following where God leads. Lord, Take the Lead is available now on Amazon.

 

Connect with Debbie:

Debbie would love to walk alongside you. You can find her ministry, her writing, and her heart for storytelling at debbiedufek.com, or reach out to her personally at deb@debbiedufek.com. She shares everyday encouragement and glimpses of family life on Instagram at @deb.dufek and on Facebook at Debbie Cone Dufek, and a new episode of The Women Behind the Words arrives every week on Podbean.

 

Closing Thought:

If you take one thing from Debbie's story, let it be this: you are not overlooked. In a world that measures worth by noise and applause and the passing opinions of others, she points steadily to the only voice that lasts, the God who calls us His own, sees us in our waiting, and keeps working long after the platform grows quiet. Whatever season you are in, He is not finished with you. He is still shaping, still leading, and still inviting you to lay down the striving and simply walk the rest of the way with Him.

Date: August 18, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Debbie Dufek interviewed by Nancy Haack, Part One

 

Story Highlights:

In this special episode of The Women Behind the Words, the tables are turned. Host Debbie Dufek steps to the other side of the microphone as her dear friend Nancy Haack takes over as interviewer, and what unfolds is a warm, unhurried conversation about faith, transformation, and learning to walk through daily life with God rather than simply working for Him.

Debbie rarely accepts the guest seat, so this hour is a genuine gift for longtime listeners. She opens by reflecting on who she is when no one is watching, tracing the distance between the woman she was before meeting Jesus in April of 1974 and the woman the Holy Spirit is still shaping today. She shares, with real tenderness, how her grandchildren describe her as kind, gentle, patient, and trusting of God, and she is quick to give the credit where she believes it belongs. These are not qualities she manufactured through effort, she explains, but the fruit of a lifelong walk with the Lord. Anchoring the whole conversation is Philippians one, verse six, and the hope she draws from it: that God will faithfully continue the good work He has begun in each of us.

From there, Debbie tells the story that changed how she moves through her days. Years ago, gluing the last of the hair onto a handmade doll for a retreat secret sister and already running late, she found herself gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white on the short drive to Shiloh Retreat Center. In that small, ordinary moment she sensed God gently telling her she was not meant to live in a constant rush. That day marked the end of a frantic season and the beginning of a practice she still keeps: giving God her minutes and her moments, her clock time and her sacred time, every single day.

Debbie and Nancy explore what it looks like to trust God with an overwhelming to-do list rather than carrying it alone. Debbie recalls the morning she had to fit a third of her home into the other two thirds to make room for her daughter's family, and how God met her in her quiet time with Proverbs sixteen, verse three, the reminder to commit our work to the Lord so that our plans will succeed. She talks honestly about being a recovering overplanner, about the difference between striving and stewardship, and about the freedom of letting God decide what truly belongs on her plate. Nancy adds her own gentle wisdom, describing how simply surrendering the first five minutes of the morning to God reshaped the rest of her day.

The conversation then turns to the heart behind Debbie's newest book, Lord, Take the Lead. She describes the marketing struggle that followed the release of her first book, Holy Interruptions, and how a single quiet prayer led her to an eighteen minute video on the idea of holding a business meeting with God. That concept cracked something open. She realized God did not want to lead only her business, He wanted to be, in her words, the Chief Organizing Engineer of her entire life. What began as a marketing question became an invitation to live the whole of her days with God, deliberately and unhurried, for what matters most to Him.

This is only the beginning of the conversation. Part Two continues next week.

 

About Our Guest:

Debbie Dufek is an author, conference and retreat speaker, inspirational storyteller, certified writing and speaking coach, and the creator and host of The Women Behind the Words podcast. Her passion is encouraging women to live deliberately for what matters to Jesus, and she believes every person's story is significant and worth sharing for the glory of God. She is the author of Holy Interruptions: When God Taps You on the Shoulder, released by Bold Vision Books in 2022, and Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose, released by Shepherd's Pen Press in 2026. Debbie lives in upstate New York with her husband Bob, still her sweetheart after fifty years, surrounded by a lively family that includes seven children, twenty-two grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren, with a few loved ones as far away as Switzerland.

 

Book Spotlight:

Lord, Take the Lead: Where God Brings Clarity, Peace, and Purpose

Grown from Debbie's own My Business Meeting with God practice, Lord, Take the Lead is an invitation into a daily rhythm of meeting with God so that every decision, every dream, and every season is shaped by His guidance instead of our striving. Through heartfelt stories, biblical encouragement, and practical wisdom, Debbie shows what it looks like to hand God the lead not only in business and ministry but at the kitchen table, in the homeschool planner, in the marketplace, and in the quiet, unseen places of faithfulness. This is not a book about doing more for God. It is a gentle, hope filled guide to walking the with-God life, learning to stop striving, and starting instead to follow where He leads. It is available now on Amazon.

 

Connect with Debbie:

You can learn more about Debbie and her ministry at her website, debbiedufek.com, or reach her directly by email at deb@debbiedufek.com. She shares encouragement and glimpses of daily life on Instagram at @deb.dufek, and new episodes of The Women Behind the Words are available each week on Podbean.

 

Closing Thought:

Debbie's story is a quiet, steady reminder that God is never finished with us. Whatever season we find ourselves in, rushed, weary, or unsure of our next step, He is still writing, still shaping, and still inviting us to give Him our minutes and our moments and simply let Him lead.

Date: August 11, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Amy Loflin

 

Story Highlights:

In this deeply moving episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek welcomes author, coach, and speaker Amy Loflin for a tender and honest conversation about forgiveness, healing from trauma, and the freedom Jesus offers when we let Him meet us in our darkest places. Amy is the co-founder of Echo Joy Collective, a ministry that guides Christian women into a deeper, more intimate walk with God, and that heart is present in every moment of this exchange.

Amy opens by sharing the pilgrimage that gave birth to her book. After years of doing all the right things, serving on church staff, tithing, praying, and studying Scripture, she still felt a holy hunger she could not satisfy. Sensing the Holy Spirit inviting her to go deeper, she set aside six to seven months to immerse herself in seven New Testament stories of people who encountered Jesus and were transformed. Each month she paired one story with a fast, releasing something in her life to stay tender to what God was revealing. She describes fasting from food, from comfort, even sleeping on the floor, and fasting from vanity during the month she sat with the woman with the issue of blood, identifying with that woman's sense of betrayal by her own body.

Debbie and Amy linger on that woman's story, tracing it in three movements: who she was before, isolated and living from shame and rejection, who she became when she reached out and touched the hem of His garment, and who she was after Jesus called her out of the crowd. They reflect on the beauty of Jesus stopping, asking who touched Him, and drawing her voice into the open so her story could be told rather than hidden. Most tender of all is the moment He calls her daughter, claiming her, pronouncing her clean, and welcoming her back into community.

From there the conversation moves into Amy's own long journey of forgiveness. With gentleness and courage she shares the childhood sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of someone her parents trusted, and the layers of healing God walked her through over decades. She recounts the first assurance she needed, that God was present with her in that room, and the later season when her abuser reappeared in her life and God asked her a question that changed everything: what made her so sure it was the enemy, and not His grace, placing that man in her path. In one unforgettable moment, God reminded her that she was not the only one in that room He was there for, turning her healing from a story about one man's sin into a story about the magnitude of God's mercy.

Debbie shares from her own life as well, including the sudden loss of her father when she was fifteen and the wall of self protection she did not know she had built until God broke it open years later. Together they name anticipatory grief, the quiet habit of grieving loved ones before they are gone in an attempt to guard against future pain, and how that self protection can shut out the very love we long for. Their conversation is a reminder that forgiveness and healing come in seasons and layers, that God is patient with the process, and that there is always more of Him to discover.

 

About Our Guest:

Amy Loflin is an author, coach, and seasoned speaker known for connecting deeply with women through authentic, heartfelt storytelling grounded in biblical truth. She is the co-founder and CEO of Echo Joy Collective, a ministry created to help women encounter God more intimately and step into the extraordinary story He is writing with their lives. With a background in counseling and more than a decade of church leadership, Amy equips women to move out of striving and self-doubt and into wholeness, clarity, and freedom. Warm, compassionate, and quick to laughter, she brings practical insight to the questions women carry about faith, identity, and purpose.

 

Book Spotlight:

A Story Worth Living: Reclaim Your Confidence, Purpose, and Peace is Amy Loflin's invitation to move past a surface-level faith and into a genuine encounter with Jesus. Written out of her own pilgrimage, the book weaves familiar Scripture with the raw and personal stories of her life, showing that the same God who met men and women in the Gospels is still pursuing each of us today. Readers walk alongside characters like the woman with the issue of blood and discover fresh depth in stories they thought they knew, learning to slow down, immerse themselves fully, and imagine their way into the scene until Scripture becomes personal. More than a study, it is a gentle guide toward healing, forgiveness, and identity, helping women trade shame and self-doubt for the confidence, peace, and purpose of a beloved daughter of God. Whether read on your own or with a group of friends, it offers small, faithful steps toward a vibrant and enduring faith. You can learn more or begin your own journey through the book at echojoycollective.com.

 

Connect with Amy:

Website: www.echojoycollective.com
Email: amyloflin@echojoycollective.com
Instagram: instagram.com/echojoycollective
Facebook: facebook.com/echojoycollective

 

Closing Thought:

Amy's story reminds us that healing is rarely a single event and forgiveness is rarely finished in one season. God meets us in the dark rooms of our lives, reminds us we were never alone, and then, when we are ready, invites us to peel back one more layer. His grace is big enough to hold both our pain and our healing, and He is patient enough to keep working until we see Him face to face. If you have ever believed your story was too broken to matter, Amy's life is proof that the same God who pursued a suffering woman two thousand years ago is still pursuing you.

Date: August 4, 2026

Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Esther Camealy

 

Story Highlights:

In this deeply moving episode of The Women Behind the Words, host Debbie Dufek welcomes author, speaker, and bereaved mother Esther Camealy for an honest conversation about faith, grief, and finding God in the darkest valleys of loss. Esther shares the story at the heart of her award-winning debut memoir, My Song in the Night: Worshiping When the World Goes Dark, walking listeners through the journey that began at a routine twelve-week ultrasound when she and her husband, Clint, learned their fourth baby had trisomy 13, a genetic condition the medical community considers incompatible with life.

Rather than asking why this was happening to her, Esther chose a posture of why not me, trusting that God's strength is made perfect in weakness. She and Clint carried their son Isaac to full term, welcomed him into a family that had already learned to love him, and cherished the forty-three precious hours of his life. At his graveside they released forty-three butterflies, one for every hour he lived, the tender image that gives Esther's ministry its name.

Throughout the conversation, Esther and Debbie explore what it means to grieve well as an act of love, to encounter Jesus as the man of sorrows, and to wrestle honestly with God without letting go of Him. Esther speaks candidly about journaling her rawest prayers, leaning on her study of Job and Revelation, and discovering that God draws uniquely near to the brokenhearted. She and Debbie, who has walked her own road of pregnancy loss, reflect on how grief can become a sacred resource God uses to bring comfort, connection, and unexpected beauty from ashes.

This episode also offers gentle wisdom for families in the thick of loss. Esther shares how she and Clint modeled faith for their children in the hardest season, why grieving fathers are so often overlooked, and how a husband and wife can give one another the grace and space to mourn differently. Whether you have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss yourself, or you love someone who has, Esther's story is a companion for the journey and a reminder that God can be trusted with our very lives, even when the world goes dark.

 

About Our Guest:

Esther Camealy is an author, speaker, and bereaved mother devoted to walking alongside families navigating loss and helping others find honest faith through suffering. She is the author of the award-winning debut memoir My Song in the Night: Worshiping When the World Goes Dark, in which she offers vulnerable, hard-won spiritual insights on surrender and the discovery of God's sustaining presence in the deepest valleys.

Esther lives with her family in Huntsville, Alabama, where she writes at the dining table her husband, Clint, lovingly built, balancing daily life with school drop-offs and a relentless mountain of laundry. Through her website at 43butterflies.com she offers curated resources for families experiencing prenatal diagnosis, pregnancy, or infant loss, including bereavement support for the often overlooked siblings, fathers, grandparents, and medical professionals who serve them.

 

Book Spotlight:

My Song in the Night: Worshiping When the World Goes Dark

When Esther and Clint Camealy learned that their unborn son would not survive, they faced a choice no expectant parent imagines: how to love, welcome, and release a child in the same breath. My Song in the Night is Esther's unflinching account of that journey, from the diagnosis of trisomy 13 through Isaac's birth, his forty-three hours of life, and the long, uneven road toward healing that followed.

What sets this memoir apart is its refusal to offer easy answers. Esther does not tie grief up with a bow or rush past the sorrow to reach the redemption. Instead she invites readers into the questions themselves, the wrestling, the doubt, and the honesty of praying when God feels silent, and she shows how worship in the middle of that darkness became the most costly and genuine gift she could give. Drawing on Scripture, the support of her community, and her daily practice of prayer journaling, she traces how sorrow and faith can be held together rather than forced apart.

For any parent walking through pregnancy or infant loss, for anyone caring for a grieving friend, or for readers longing to believe that beauty can rise from ashes, My Song in the Night is a steady and compassionate companion. It is a testament to the nearness of God to the brokenhearted and to the quiet truth that a song of praise can still be sung, even when the night feels endless.

 

Connect with Esther:

Website: 43butterflies.com

Email: fortythreebutterflies@gmail.com

Facebook: facebook.com/esther.neal.7

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/esther-neal-camealy-89607911

On her website you will also find her Resource Center for families facing prenatal diagnosis, pregnancy, or infant loss, a free first chapter of My Song in the Night, and a Spotify playlist of the songs that carried her through her darkest nights.

 

Closing Thought:

Esther's story reminds us that God never promises a pain-free life, but He does promise never to leave us. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. Whatever dark night you may be walking through, He is near to the brokenhearted, He can be trusted with your deepest grief, and He is still writing beauty from the ashes.

Date: July 28, 2026
Podcast Show Notes: Interview with Noa Razen

 

Story Highlights:

In this heartfelt episode of The Women Behind the Words, Debbie Dufek sits down with her own granddaughter, Noa Razen, a worship leader and ministry servant with a deep passion for helping the next generation know and walk with Jesus. What happens when a young person discovers that God isn't simply asking them to do something for Him, but inviting them to walk with Him?

With honesty and humility, Noa shares her journey from an ordinary high school student to serving with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). She opens up about hearing God's gentle call, wrestling with uncertainty, and ultimately saying yes to an adventure that changed her life. From her training at YWAM's base in Kona, Hawaii, to outreach in Fiji and recent mission experiences mentoring hundreds of students, Noa takes us behind the scenes of what it truly means to step into God's calling as a young person.

This conversation is especially close to Debbie's heart, a rare and beautiful glimpse into two generations sharing the same love for Jesus. Together, they offer practical wisdom for parents, grandparents, church leaders, and anyone longing to see young people build an authentic, life-giving relationship with God.

In this episode, Debbie and Noa explore:

• Noa's personal faith journey and how God led her to YWAM
• What YWAM training is really like, and how to choose the best fit for your family member
• The impact of outreach in Fiji and building relationships with children and families
• Why mission trips so often become life-changing turning points
• The challenges young people face after returning home
• Practical ways parents and churches can support returning students
• How to create authentic, welcoming church communities
• Why serving alongside older generations helps young people grow in their faith
• Helping teenagers move from simply living for God to walking with God
• Encouraging young people to find purpose beyond social media and cultural pressure

Whether you're a parent praying for your children, a young adult wondering what God has for your future, or someone who simply wants to encourage the next generation, this conversation is a reminder that God still calls ordinary people to extraordinary purposes.

 

About Our Guest:

Noa Razen is a worship leader and ministry servant with a heart for helping young people know and walk with Jesus. After completing her training with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Kona, Hawaii, and serving on outreach in Fiji, she returned home with a deep passion for investing in the next generation through worship, discipleship, and local church ministry. She was hired on staff for a year-long internship, where she served in youth ministry, led worship, and mentored students. Today she continues to encourage others to discover a genuine, with-God relationship. Noa is also Debbie's granddaughter, making this conversation a special glimpse into two generations united by their love for Jesus and His calling.

 

Connect with Noa:

Email: noarazen@gmail.com
Instagram: @noarazen
Facebook: Noa Razen
Learn more about YWAM Kona: ywamkona.org

 

Looking Ahead:

Be sure to catch the teaser for Noa's next visit to the podcast, where she'll share practical, biblical encouragement on overcoming negative thoughts and unhealthy conversations. It's an episode you won't want to miss.

 

Closing Thought:

God isn't simply calling us to do something for Him. He's inviting us into a relationship where we learn to walk with Him every day. As Scripture reminds us: "Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity" (1 Timothy 4:12, NLT).