192. What Chronic Suffering Teaches About God | Sydney Bennett

Chronic suffering and faith in God collide in a way that most of us hope we never have to face, but today's guest has lived inside that collision for five years and come out the other side with a hope I found genuinely convicting. My guest today is Sydney Anne Bennett, a writer, disability advocate, and speaker who became disabled almost overnight two weeks after her honeymoon and was later diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. She lives with daily seizures, chronic pain, and mobility loss, and she has built a community of over 300000 people by being honest about what it actually looks like to keep believing when your body will not cooperate and your prayers do not get answered the way you hoped. In this conversation we talk about what it means to lament honestly before God, how she learned to receive help from her husband Colton without feeling like a burden, and what she has learned about motherhood while raising her daughters Hadassah and Felicity from a wheelchair. I would love to know what stood out most to you, so leave a comment below and let me know, and if this conversation encourages you, please subscribe so you never miss an episode. Sydney's story starts just after her wedding, when what began as unexplained pain escalated within weeks into paralysis, seizures, hallucinations, and loss of speech, with doctors telling her at one point that she was likely dying from a degenerating brain condition they could not identify. It took about a month before she finally received her diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder, a condition where the brain sends faulty signals to the body, causing symptoms that can shift drastically from day to day. Her husband was deployed just three months later, which meant she faced that first year of disability largely on her own, learning to use a wheelchair and manage seizures while still trying to finish school. We spend a lot of this conversation talking honestly about what faith through chronic illness really looks like, not the version with a tidy resolution, but the version where you keep showing up to God in weakness, day after day, without knowing when or if healing will come. Sydney shares how a mentor taught her that raw, honest lament, the kind we see throughout the Psalms, is not a lack of faith but an act of it, and how that reframing changed the way she prays. We also talk about the difference between the theological answers to suffering she grew up with as a pastor's daughter and the much harder work of actually trusting God in suffering when she is living it herself. She is candid about ongoing struggles with depression and anxiety, about a current flare in her symptoms eight months postpartum, and about learning to respond to fear more quickly instead of spiraling into it. Toward the end we talk about marriage, motherhood, and what it has meant for her to graciously receive her husband's help, and to redefine what being a good mother looks like from a wheelchair, raising her two young daughters with honesty, humor, and hope in Jesus. Find more from Sydney: the.annegirl (@the.annegirl) • Instagram photos and videos: https://www.instagram.com/the.annegirl/?hl=en the.annegirl - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@the.annegirl/videos Sydney Anne Bennett: http://www.sydneyannebennett.com Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

Freedom without purpose can quietly turn into its own kind of suffering, and that is exactly what I sat down to talk through in this episode. I am joined by Anne Francis, a former government economist who spent three years studying philosophy and theology in Rome before becoming a high school philosophy teacher and author of a philosophy textbook written for teenagers. We talk through what true freedom actually requires, why chasing whatever we want often leaves us more restless rather than more free, and how purpose and fulfillment are tied together in a way most of us were never taught. Anne draws on Aristotle to explain the real relationship between freedom and duty, and why doing something out of love changes everything about how free we actually feel. If you have ever felt like freedom was supposed to make you happier and it has not, this conversation will give you language for why. I would love to hear what stood out to you, so leave a comment and let me know your own definition of freedom before you watched this. Anne spent nineteen years working as an economist in the Canadian government before she walked away from a stable and well paying career to study philosophy and theology in Rome for three years. She had no plan for what would come next, only a sense that something else was calling her. That leap eventually led her to teaching philosophy at a Catholic high school in Toronto, where she has spent the past decade helping teenagers wrestle with the biggest questions of their lives. A few years ago she wrote her own philosophy textbook because one simply did not exist for students her age, and that book became the starting point for our conversation. We spend a good part of this episode on the meaning of freedom, and how easily we confuse doing whatever we want with actually being free. Anne walks through Aristotle's understanding of freedom and duty, and how purpose and fulfillment are inseparable from one another even though our culture tends to treat them as optional extras. We talk about why freedom without direction so often leaves people feeling more lost rather than more alive, and how love, not obligation, is what ultimately makes duty feel like freedom instead of a burden. From there we move into some of the deeper waters of our conversation, including relativism, the difference between tolerance and simply saying everyone has their own truth, and why Anne believes that confusion is one of the most dangerous ideas being absorbed by teenagers today. We also talk honestly about suffering, about a friend of mine walking through cancer, about my own experience being told I had a year left to live, and about why euthanasia is not the answer our culture often makes it out to be. Anne brings her philosophy training and her Catholic faith into these conversations in a way that never feels heavy handed, and I think you will find, like I did, that these ideas about freedom, purpose, and fulfillment have a way of meeting you exactly where you are. Find more from Anne: Hawthorn School for Girls: https://hawthornschool.com/ The Basics of Philosophy – Paulist Press: https://www.paulistpress.com/Products/5800-3/the-basics-of-philosophy.aspx The Basics of Philosophy – Novalis: https://en.novalis.ca/products/the-basics-of-philosophy?_pos=1&_psq=the+basics+of+ph&_psid=cdf582acf&_ss=e Connect with me: My Website: http://tammympeterson.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast  

The Kamloops mass grave controversy is back in the headlines, and this time the update is even more shocking than the first. I sat down again with Frances Widdowson, the professor who was wrongfully dismissed from Mount Royal University for questioning the official narrative around the Kamloops residential school claims, and what she shared this time left me speechless. One year after our first conversation, Frances updates us on her ongoing legal battle for reinstatement, the excavation that still has not happened despite millions of dollars in public funding, and a shocking new development where she was handcuffed and removed from a university campus simply for trying to have a conversation with students. Frances has spent years researching Indigenous policy in Canada and is currently working on a documentary series exposing the institutional failures behind the Kamloops case. She is one of the few academics willing to ask hard questions in a climate where asking questions can cost you your career, and her courage and conviction are something every one of us can learn from. If you have ever wondered what it costs to stand for truth, or if you needed a reminder that faith and conviction can carry you through even the hardest battles, this conversation is for you. Listen in, and let me know in the comments what stood out to you most. Frances and I first talked about the Kamloops residential school controversy about a year ago, and I wanted to have her back on to give us an honest update on where things actually stand. Frances is a professor who was let go from Mount Royal University after she started asking questions about the ground penetrating radar findings at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, and she has spent the time since fighting through the courts for her reinstatement while continuing to dig into the facts of this case. In this conversation we talk about the twelve point one million dollars that was given to the Kamloops band for excavations back in 2021, and the fact that no excavation has happened to this day. We talk about what ground penetrating radar can and cannot actually tell you, and why so many people jumped to conclusions before any physical evidence was found. Frances also shares what happened to her at the University of Lethbridge, where she was declared a safety risk and removed from campus in handcuffs simply for trying to meet with students for a conversation. We talk about her documentary work with Simon Hergott, the new film called Grave Error that she is working on to document the institutional failures across universities, media, and government that allowed this story to spread unchecked. We also get into her broader research on what she calls the Aboriginal industry, the lawyers and consultants she says are profiting from unresolved claims while real needs in Aboriginal communities go unmet. Frances speaks candidly about the personal cost of standing by her convictions, from losing her job to being physically removed from a university she was invited to. This is a conversation about truth, courage, and what it means to keep showing up even when the cost is high. If academic freedom, the Kamloops residential school story, or the search for honest answers in the reconciliation conversation matter to you, this episode is worth your time. Find more from Frances: https://youtu.be/PE6OEpz0xyQ https://fundrazr.com/52XKmf?ref=ab_63AIcaxpJgN63AIcaxpJgN Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast  

How do you go about finding your purpose when life feels like a series of decisions made without a clear direction. That is the question I explored with Dr. Peter Howard, a theologian with a doctorate from the Angelicum in Rome and the mind behind the Fulton Sheen Institute, who has spent thirty years building his entire life around a single retreat that changed everything for him. Peter shares the remarkable story of Fulton Sheen tearing up a life changing opportunity because his spiritual director told him God had something else in mind, and what that moment teaches us about trusting God even when the path forward looks uncertain. We also get into how he and his wife Chantal are raising seven kids to seek their own calling instead of rushing into the wrong one, why he believes we are living through what Sheen called the final battle of an era, and the daily discipline that has held his family together through their hardest seasons. If you have ever felt lost about what you are meant to do with your life, I think this conversation will give you a lot to sit with. I would love to hear what stands out to you in the comments, and if this episode speaks to you, please subscribe and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Peter earned his doctorate in theology at the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, and has spent the last three decades of his life devoted to the legacy of the soon to be beatified Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He is married to Chantal Howard, who I spoke with in a previous episode, and together they are raising seven children while homeschooling and running a household built around discernment and faith. This conversation is really about finding your purpose, and Peter brings both a theologian's depth and a father's practical wisdom to that question. He tells the story of Fulton Sheen as a young seminarian holding a life changing scholarship letter in his hand, and how one conversation with his spiritual director asking him to trust God completely changed the trajectory of his entire life. We talk about discerning your calling not as a single dramatic moment but as an ongoing posture of trust, and Peter shares how he and Chantal have tried to raise their own kids to genuinely seek God's will for their life rather than default into whatever path looks safest or most expected, including their daughter's decision to take a gap year to figure out her own direction. We also get into some bigger cultural territory, including why Peter believes artificial intelligence represents a kind of counterfeit to what it means to be made in the image of God, and how that ties into what Fulton Sheen called the final battle of an era. Peter opens up about the daily holy hour of prayer that has anchored his marriage and family through genuinely hard seasons, describing it as one discipline that has made the biggest difference in living with purpose day to day. Whether you are in a season of feeling completely lost or just want to hear the story behind Fulton Sheen's own path to the priesthood, I think this conversation offers real clarity on knowing God's will for your life. Find more from Peter: Website: https://fultonsheeninstitute.com/ Catholic Finishing School: https://catholicfinishingschool.com/ Show Me Your Scars (the book): https://fultonsheenmovement.com/show-me-your-scars Beatification Pilgrimage: https://fultonsheenmovement.com/pilgrimage-register America's Saint Conference: https://fultonsheenconference.com/ Mass Tickets: https://www.celebratesheen.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fulton.sheen.movement YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fultonsheeninstitute Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fultonsheenmovement Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast  

How do you suffer well when the pain never seems to end. That is the question I sat with in this conversation with Chantal Howard, founder of a Catholic finishing school for young women and author of Show Me Your Scars, a book built on Fulton Sheen's theology of suffering. Chantal has spent years forming young women in identity and character, and she has walked through her own deep seasons of suffering too, from a hard chapter with her daughter to twenty four years of a marriage she calls both painful and victorious. We talk about what Fulton Sheen taught her about turning wounds into scars, why suffering might be the very thing that opens our hearts to love others well, and how I found my own peace in the middle of a health scare that changed how I see everything. If you have ever wondered whether your suffering has a purpose, I think this conversation will meet you right where you are. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments, and if this one speaks to you, please subscribe and share it with someone who needs it today. Chantal is a mother of seven, an entrepreneur, and the founder of a Catholic finishing school that helps young women between the ages of fourteen and nineteen discover who they are through the lens of their faith. Her husband Peter has spent more than twenty years championing the life and legacy of Fulton Sheen, and that work is reaching a beautiful milestone with his upcoming beatification. Chantal's new book, released as a tandem series, Show Me Your Scars and The Fellowship of the Scars, gathers twenty testimonies from people who have walked through real suffering, including her own, and found that suffering and grace are not opposites but companions. In this conversation we get into the purpose of suffering from a Catholic perspective, and why Fulton Sheen believed that suffering, offered well, becomes our way to happiness rather than something to simply survive. Chantal shares how her own marriage, now twenty four years in, has been both one of her greatest sources of pain and one of her proudest testimonies of grace, and how she and her husband learned to see their hardest seasons as scars rather than open wounds. We also talk about a devastating loss her family walked through when her daughter was pregnant, and how they found their footing again through prayer and community. I share my own story of receiving a frightening health prognosis and how watching my son's love for me in that moment changed the way I saw my whole life. Chantal and I talk honestly about finding peace in pain, about what it looks like to build a genuine prayer life in the middle of busyness and distraction, and about raising daughters who know their worth in a culture that constantly tells them otherwise. We also touch on her Catholic finishing school, her work forming women of all ages through a related program, and the upcoming beatification conference where survivors and witnesses of Fulton Sheen's influence will gather to share how his teaching helped them heal through suffering. If you are in a season where the suffering does not seem to be ending, I hope this conversation reminds you that you are not alone in it, and that there is real purpose waiting on the other side. Find more from Chantal: Personal Website: https://chantal-howard.com/ Catholic Finishing School: https://catholicfinishingschool.com/ Show Me Your Scars (the book): https://fultonsheenmovement.com/show-me-your-scars Beatification Pilgrimage: https://fultonsheenmovement.com/pilgrimage-register America's Saint Conference: https://fultonsheenconference.com/ Mass Tickets: https://www.celebratesheen.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fulton.sheen.movement YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@fultonsheeninstitute Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fultonsheenmovement Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tammypetersonpodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/tammy1peterson

Healing chronic pain felt impossible for my guest today, but she found a way to completely rewire her own brain and body to get her life back. In this episode I sit down with Ashleigh Di Lello, founder of the Bio Emotional Healing method, a neuroscience based approach that has helped people around the world break free from chronic pain, trauma, anxiety, and limiting beliefs. Ashleigh was told by doctors as a teenager that she would never dance again, and years later a failed hip surgery left her in relentless nerve pain that doctors said would only get worse. She shares how she spent six years dancing only in her mind before returning to the stage stronger than ever, and how it took nine years to fully heal after chronic pain took over her life. We talk about faith, resilience, and what it actually takes to trust your body again once it feels like it has betrayed you. If this conversation speaks to you, leave a comment, subscribe for more conversations like this one, and share it with someone who needs to hear there is hope. Ashleigh's story is one of the most remarkable I have had the honor to sit with. At thirteen years old she was diagnosed with a rare illness that doctors could not identify, and she was told plainly that she would not live past her teenage years, that she would never dance again, never marry, and never have children. She refused to accept that verdict. What followed was four years of fighting for her life, and eventually a full recovery that let her return to competitive ballroom dance after six years away, a comeback so strong it made no sense to the doctors who had written her off. She went on to become an elite athlete, a television and Broadway performer, and she built a beautiful family, all things she had once been told were impossible for her. Then at thirty three, at what she describes as the height of her career, a failed hip surgery sent her body into chronic nerve pain that lasted for years. This is where our conversation goes deepest, into what chronic pain recovery actually requires when the body itself feels like it can no longer be trusted. Ashleigh walks through how she came to understand the brain body connection well enough to build her own path back to health, teaching the nervous system to release old patterns of fear and defense rather than staying locked in them. We talk about the writing practice she developed to help release stored trauma from the body, the neuroscience behind gratitude and self forgiveness, and why healing trauma in the body is not just a mental exercise but a physical and spiritual one. What I loved most about this conversation is how naturally the science and the faith fit together for Ashleigh. She does not separate rewiring the nervous system from trusting God with the outcome. She talks openly about the night she wanted to give up, and what kept her going instead. If you or someone you love is walking through overcoming chronic illness, or simply feels stuck in a body or a season that feels hopeless, I believe this conversation will meet you exactly where you are and remind you that healing, however long it takes, is still possible. Find more from Ashleigh: Website: https://ashleighdilello.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleighdilello/ Free Brain-Body Blueprint: https://ashleighdilello.com/freeblueprint/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ashleighdilello Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleighdilello Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast  

What does it take for a man once called an enemy of the state to say he felt the Holy Spirit move through him. In this episode I sit down with Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League and one of the most controversial and misunderstood men in Britain, for a conversation that goes far beyond politics. Tommy opens up about growing up in Luton, the moment he first spoke out against grooming gangs as a young man, the prison sentences that followed, and the surprising spiritual awakening that has reshaped how he sees his own life and his country. We talk about the Christ is King moment that swept through a crowd of one hundred thousand people, a prayer from strangers in Israel that left him in tears, and what he believes it will take for Britain to find its identity and its faith again. This is a raw and honest look at redemption, purpose, and the fight for a nation, and I think it will surprise you no matter where you stand. If this conversation moves you, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments, and if you have not already, subscribe so you never miss an episode. Find more from Tommy: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TommyRobinsonOnline X: https://x.com/TRobinsonNewEra Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

What if the shame and fear you feel around money has nothing to do with math? In this episode, I sit down with Lori Atwood, founder and CEO of Fearless Finance and certified financial planner with over 25 years of experience in investment banking, asset management, and private equity, to talk about why personal finance is 90% emotional and only 10% mathematical, and what that means for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed, frozen, or ashamed when it comes to their money. Lori built Fearless Finance to offer something rare in the financial world: fiduciary, hourly financial planning with no sales, no minimums, and no judgment, making expert guidance accessible to people at every stage of life, from your 20s through retirement. We talk about how avoidance is the single worst thing you can do for your finances, how to take that first honest look at your numbers without spiraling, what it really means for a financial advisor to be a fiduciary and why it matters, the emotional baggage so many of us carry around money and where it comes from, and how financial clarity can actually open the door to a more meaningful and intentional life. If this conversation helped you see your finances differently, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments, and if you are not subscribed yet, this is a great place to start. Find more from Lori: Fearless Finance: https://fearlessfinance.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fearlessfinance Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fearlessfinance/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fearless-finance/ Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

What if the hidden wounds in your family are the reason you keep repeating the same patterns in relationships, parenting, and life? In this episode, I sit down with John Acosta, military veteran, father, business leader, and host of the ZuluOne Podcast, to explore the profound and often unseen world of family constellations therapy and generational trauma healing. John shares how a single workshop in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania completely shattered his understanding of reality and set him on a path of facilitating deep healing for families across the country. We talk about the hidden dynamics passed down through generations, why our unresolved wounds show up in our children, how judgment keeps us entangled with the very people who hurt us, the connection between broken family systems and the cultural chaos we are living through today, and why healing yourself is ultimately the only thing you can control. If you have ever wondered why certain patterns in your family just refuse to change, this conversation will open your eyes. Leave a comment below and let me know what resonated with you, and if this episode moved you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. Find more from John: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@zuluonepodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zuluonepodcast Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnacosta?r=11dfsv&utm_medium=ios Podcast: https://zuluonepodcast.buzzsprout.com/ X: https://x.com/jaykaboomboom Website: https://www.zuluone.org/ Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson

What is Gen Z really going through, and what can their experience teach the rest of us about faith, technology, and the search for meaning? In this episode, I sit down in person with Mary Morgan, a Gen Z cultural commentator and host of Pop Culture Crisis, for one of the most wide-ranging and honest conversations I have had on this podcast. Mary and I cover a lot of ground together, from the very real dangers of AI companionship and the way social media algorithms are designed to exploit insecurity, to the surprising backlash she received for simply suggesting that some young women might be called to religious life. We also dig into the birth control conversation that keeps getting shut down, why getting married and starting a family has become a countercultural act for her generation, and what it means to grow up online without any map for how to live. Mary is sharp, disarming, and refreshingly willing to say what others won't, and I think you are going to love this conversation. If this episode resonated with you, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments, and make sure you are subscribed so you never miss a new episode. Find more from Mary: Pop Culture Crisis: youtube.com/@PopCultureCrisis Instagram: instagram.com/maryarchived X: x.com/maryarchived Connect with me: My website: https://tammympeterson.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast