Singing Through Fire

Can we experience joy and grief at the same time? In this episode, Lara talks about what it means to rejoice in the middle of suffering without pretending the pain isn't real.

Drawing from Scripture and her experiences with chronic illness, her late husband Matt's cancer, and his final days in hospice, Lara shares some of the unexpected ways God brought joy into their lives during difficult seasons.

She also reflects on the difference between giving thanks in our suffering and giving thanks for our suffering, and what it means to trust God when we...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman interviews Ara and Esther Assilian about raising their son Hirad, who suffered severe brain damage at birth. After spending three days on a respirator, Hirad unexpectedly began breathing on his own and lived for 13 years, requiring around-the-clock care.

Ara shares his struggle with anger and unanswered prayers for healing, while Esther reflects on her steadfast faith and the comfort she found in church music. Together, they explore God’s presence in suffering, the dignity of people with disabilities, and how their journey deepened their empathy, strengthened their fa...

In this special birthday episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman welcomes singer-songwriter and longtime friend Tim Katendjian to remember her late husband, Matt Silverman's legacy in the days leading up to what would have been his 43rd birthday on October 16th.

Tim knew Matt long before Lara and Matt fell in love, and he was there for their remarkable love story. Together, Lara and Tim reminisce about Matt's humility, humor, hospitality, deep knowledge of Scripture, and unwavering faith in the face of cancer. They revisit the joy of Lara and Matt's wedding, where Tim led...

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues the Faith in the Furnace series on Singing Through Fire with guest Lori Ann Wood, an award-winning author and speaker whose life was suddenly upended by a diagnosis of severe heart failure. After years of uncertainty, unexpected turns, and unanswered prayers, Lori Ann shares how suffering transformed the way she understood faith, prayer, and the character of God.

Lori Ann describes how she stopped “bubble-wrapping” the faith she had inherited, learned to embrace lament and hard questions, and discovered that wrestling with God could actually strengthen her faith rather than dest...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman sits down with Dr. Clay Jones and Jean Jones to talk about faith in the midst of suffering.

Drawing from their own experiences with cancer, health challenges, miscarriage, fear, and unanswered prayers, Clay and Jean share what they’ve learned about trusting God when life hurts. They discuss surrender, renewing the mind, finding joy while grieving, and keeping our hope anchored in eternity.

They also share practical ways they prepare their hearts and minds for difficult seasons—including the “seven truths” and truth journals from their book, Ho...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman takes you “to Wall Street, heaven style” to explore a hope-filled biblical promise: God doesn’t waste suffering, and He intends to turn grief into glory. With honesty, humor, and hard-won faith, Lara shares how an eternal perspective can steady you in chronic pain, heartbreak, loss, or unanswered prayers—and why Jesus encourages us to store up treasure in heaven. You’ll hear why perseverance matters, how Scripture frames joy on the other side of the cross, and the comforting truth that your faithfulness in the fire is seen by God and is...

What if your suffering never completely goes away—but it doesn’t have to have the final word?

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman sits down with Sona Jamgotchian, author of Finding Hope in Suffering, to talk about what it looks like to hold onto hope when life hurts.

After years of chronic pain, two spinal cord surgeries, and a difficult recovery, Sona had plenty of reasons to ask, “Why am I suffering like this?” But through her journey, she discovered that suffering can become a place where God grows us, strengthens us, and...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara talks with singer-songwriter Brittany Born about her son Caleb, who was born with multiple life-threatening medical conditions and spent his first months in the hospital.

Brittany shares what it has looked like to trust God without knowing the outcome, wrestle with fear and lament, and see His faithfulness in the midst of a difficult season. She also talks about how the poems she wrote during Caleb’s hospital stays eventually became songs for her album Held, created to encourage parents walking through medical trials.

Chapters

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues her Faith in the Furnace series on Singing Through Fire with guest Sherrie Pilkington, a speaker, blogger, podcast host, and founder of Sealed With a Hug, a monthly subscription gift box designed to help people stay connected to grievers. Sherie shares the devastating, unexpected death of her seemingly healthy 52-year-old husband from a massive heart attack after a minor car accident, and describes the shock, silence, anger, lament, and fear of not being able to trust God again.

She recounts how God met her through worship, His presence, and a...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman sits down with Michelle Bader Ebersole, author, speaker, founder of Widow Goals, and host of the podcast Widowed 2 Soon, for an honest conversation about faith, grief, suffering, and finding hope after devastating loss.

Michelle's husband, Luke, battled cancer early in their marriage and ultimately lost his life after years of illness. Michelle shares what it was like to walk through cancer, amputation, chronic illness, hospice, and eventually widowhood while raising their three children.

But Michelle's story doesn't end with loss.

She shares several powerful...

What do you do when you’ve already walked through years of suffering—and then the suffering comes back in a new and unexpected form?

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman sits down with Sara Willoughby to talk honestly about chronic illness, unanswered prayer, lament, and what it means to keep trusting God when you cannot understand what He is doing.

After years of debilitating illness and significant recovery, Sara is now facing a new season of suffering, including suspected TIAs, a traumatic brain injury, migraines, and brain rehabilitation.

And yet...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman explores the Bible’s picture of the Christian life as an intense race that requires training, endurance, and perseverance through suffering. She explains how trials strengthen “faith muscles,” calls listeners not to quit when bitterness or doubt hits and, encourages offering God a sacrifice of praise even in pain. Lara describes the ultimate prize as Christ Himself—eternity with Jesus—and highlights the hope of hearing God’s commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” She also unpacks the idea that earthly suffering is not wasted but somehow produces an “eternal weight of...

What happens when life changes overnight—and the healing you've been praying for doesn't come as quickly as you'd hoped?

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman sits down with Lauren Watt, whose life was turned upside down by a sudden illness at age 14 that left her mostly bedridden for eight years. But this isn't simply a story about chronic illness. It's a conversation about discovering God's faithfulness in the middle of an unfinished story.

Lauren shares how suffering reshaped her identity, why she stopped praying only for healing and began praying for jo...

In this episode, Lara Silverman interviews Susan Mellen, a mother of three who was wrongfully convicted of murder sentenced to life without parole, spending 17 years in prison before being released in 2014 and later declared factually innocent. Susan describes the trauma of her arrest, the crushing reality of life without parole, and how her faith became real behind bars. She shares moments she believes were God’s reassurance—like seeing a rainbow on the way to sentencing and being prompted to write “freedom” on the soles of her shoes—and explains how forgiveness, surrender, and choosing joy helped her endure and minist...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman unpacks how God can redeem personal suffering by advancing the gospel through it—turning “tests into testimonies.” She explains Paul’s “suffering to salvation” principle from Philippians, showing how courage in affliction can become a witness to unbelievers and embolden other believers to speak without fear. Lara connects this to the early church’s view of suffering as a privilege and shares how her husband Matt’s public battle with terminal stage-four cancer became a powerful testimony that strengthened their community, echoed by God’s repeated comfort through Genesis 50:20. She also describes how...

What does it look like to trust God when suffering never seems to end?

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman sits down with chronic illness blogger Katelyn Friesen to discuss a lifetime marked by profound hardship—and the unwavering faith that has sustained her through it all. From years of unanswered questions, abuse, and chronic illness to countless hospitalizations, Katelyn shares how God met her in the darkest places and taught her to find peace in His providence.

Together, Lara and Katelyn explore lament, choosing hope, the power of Scripture and worship, Go...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman asks a question many hurting Christians have wrestled with: Is God really near when our hearts are breaking? Drawing from Psalm 34:18, she explores what the Bible says about God's presence in suffering and shares how He has faithfully comforted her through some of life's darkest seasons. From losing her dream career after developing a rare neurological illness to spending three years bedridden and later grieving the death of her husband, Matt, Lara offers personal stories of God's timely encouragement through Scripture, the Holy Spirit's gentle whisper, and the support of...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman continues the Faith in the Furnace series with Emily Curtis, president of Hope in the Morning, compiler of Hope in the Morning: A Hope-Filled Guide Through Grief, and host of the Hope in the Morning radio and podcast.

Emily shares the story of her lifelong journey through suffering—from her parents' divorce as a young child and the gift of a loving stepfather to his heartbreaking 39-day battle with pancreatic cancer. She also opens up about losing five babies through miscarriage, the physical and emotional realities of pr...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman shares the extraordinary ways she believes God has met her during eight years of profound suffering. After becoming bedridden with a rare neurological disease that left her dependent on full-time care, Lara recounts a series of deeply personal experiences—including vivid dreams, providential Scripture passages, remarkable timing, and unexpected encouragements—that strengthened her faith and convinced her that God was speaking to her through her affliction. She also reflects on meeting and marrying her late husband, Matt, while they were both facing life-altering illnesses, and how God continued to reveal His...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman continues the Faith in the Furnace series with author, speaker, and podcaster Shawna Marie Bryant, who shares how her second child, Sam, was born with trisomy 13 and lived less than three weeks, shattering her expectation that God would always “fix things.” Shawna describes God’s sustaining presence through specific moments: a comforting “weighted blanket” embrace, Scripture guidance to Jeremiah (including the fuller promise, “Your children will return to their own land”), and a friend awakened to pray at the exact hour she received peace. She recounts how grief strained her marriage d...

In this episode, Lara Silverman explores how Christians can respond to profound suffering in a way that is both honest and biblical. She argues that Scripture makes room for deep grief through the practice of lament—a process she describes as bringing both questions and cries before God. Drawing from the experiences of Jacob, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Moses, Paul, Job, and the psalmist in Psalm 88, she demonstrates that God welcomes honest expressions of pain. Even Jesus Himself cried out in anguish from the cross.

Lara also highlights the comfort believers have in Christ, who sympathizes with their suffering an...

In this Faith in the Furnace episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman interviews Christian comedian and social media creator Andrew Villalpando about a decade marked by grief, betrayal, and rebuilding faith. Andrew recounts receiving a call at 20 years old that his father had an hour left to live before suddenly dying of a heart attack on his little sister’s birthday — a loss that launched years of disorientation, wrestling with God’s goodness, and learning how to lament honestly.

While still serving in ministry, Andrew faced additional heartbreak, including the loss of trusted relationships, a devast...

In this episode of the Faith in the Furnace series, host Lara Silverman sits down with journalist, author, and musician Carrie Sheffield to discuss surviving childhood trauma, religious abuse, mental illness in her family, and finding healing through Christ.

Carrie shares what it was like growing up as the fifth of eight children in a violent, unstable motorhome lifestyle under her father’s extremist “prophet” claims connected to an offshoot LDS belief system. She attended 17 schools, performed classical music on the streets, and endured severe trauma, including sexual assault and emotional abuse.

Despite her circumstances, Carrie...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman continues the Faith in the Furnace series with Mischelle Saunders-Gutch, founder and CEO of Altered Stories Ministry, host of The Altered Story Show, and author of the 30-day healing memoir devotional The Story Within You. Michelle shares her testimony as a childhood survivor of a Christian-claiming cult from ages 7–12, describing spiritual, emotional, and sexual abuse, the impact on her faith, and how her family left after the leader was exposed and her father (serving overseas) learned what had happened. She explains rebuilding faith through surrender during a difficult divorce wh...

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues her “Faith in the Furnace” series with Christian life and mental health coach, author, and Unveiling Hope founder, Lori Schumaker, who shares a testimony shaped by abortion and years of shame, abusive marriage, and chronic illness (including cystinuria with severe kidney stones, Hashimoto’s, migraines, fibromyalgia, extensive food allergies, and black mold toxicity.) Lori explains how suffering deepened her relationship with Jesus, why lament is valid but getting stuck is not, and how “habits of hope,” gratitude, Scripture, and replacing lies with truth can rewire thought patterns. She discusses parenting her adopted daughter f...

In this episode, host Lara Silverman begins the Theology in the Fire series with Mark Jones, a former dentist and longtime prayer pastor and elder at Mana House in Portland, Oregon. He teaches on prayer, intimacy with God, surrender, and spiritual warfare. Mark shares how years of offense and bitterness toward two church leaders became his entry point into understanding spiritual warfare, culminating in a confession and reconciliation during communion that brought freedom. He explains spiritual warfare basics and stresses that believers can be influenced though not possessed. Rather than fixating on deliverance or the devil, he argues surrender...

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues the “Faith in the Furnace” series on Singing Through Fire with entrepreneur, podcast host, and former bivocational pastor Matthew Efird who shares his family’s testimony of suffering and faith. Matthew recounts learning during his wife’s pregnancy that their son Noah had Trisomy 13, the months of anticipatory grief, and Noah’s birth on March 7, 2020 and death on March 9, including God’s mercies surrounding timing just before COVID shutdowns. He describes praying for healing, moving toward costly acceptance, lament through tears, Scripture, worship, and community, and reframing Noah as “fully healed” in Christ. Matthew...

In this episode, Lara Silverman welcomes Jim Burgoon—strategist for Faith-Driven Leaders, host of the Unshakeable Life Podcast, military veteran, and former pastor—to share his “faith in the furnace” story, centered on his wife’s decades-long battle with four major mental illnesses, recurring hospitalizations, and a near-suicide attempt while raising children and leading in ministry. Jim describes the church’s frequent lack of support and stigma around mental illness, his 2017 decision to step down and relocate for better care, and how surrendering control to Christ sustained him. The conversation addresses asking “why,” lament, and rejecting prosperity/word-of-faith formulas, emphasizing that...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman speaks to listeners who feel overwhelmed, afraid, and unsure they can keep going, and prays for God’s comfort. She challenges the idea that “God will never give you more than you can handle,” showing from Scripture that God sometimes allows burdens beyond our strength so we will rely on Him, citing Paul, Elijah, Job, Jeremiah, and even Jesus’ anguish before the cross. Lara centers the episode on 2 Corinthians 12:9—God’s grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in weakness—along with other passages about God sustaining His people. She sh...

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues the “Faith in the Furnace” series with Melissa McLaughlin, a writer, teacher, and speaker who retired early after debilitating chronic back pain from deteriorating discs forced her out of a beloved teaching career, exposing how much her identity was tied to work and capability. Melissa shares how suffering and dependence on others led her to rediscover her true identity as God’s child, even as she felt God’s silence and lost words to pray. She describes using Psalms and other passages as spoken prayers, collecting and rewriting verses into scripture-based prayers, and deve...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman, wrestles with why God sometimes does not heal chronic pain and how Christians should respond when God calls them to stay in the storm rather than keep chasing the shore. Sharing her own experience of being led to accept a permanent neurological illness, she encourages listeners to grieve, keep praying for confirmation, and pursue surrender and contentment rooted in Scripture. The episode focuses on God’s purposes in weakness, arguing from multiple biblical passages that believers are created to depend on God, and highlighting 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul’s “thorn” remains...

In this episode, host Lara Silverman continues her “Faith in the Furnace” series with guest Mary Balian, an Armenian American singer-songwriter dedicated to creating contemporary Armenian Christian worship music so Armenians can worship Christ in their own language. Mary shares her testimony of suffering and faith, including losing her father to a sudden heart attack at age 15 while performing CPR, and the bitterness, depression, and questions that followed without a strong church community until later finding deeper faith through Armenian Christian camp and church mentors. She also recounts her second daughter’s journey through pain, her NICU stay as a baby...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman wrestles with a painful question many sufferers ask: if God is sovereign, why doesn’t He heal everyone? Drawing from her own eight-year battle with a rare neurological disease and the loss of her husband Matt to stage four cancer, she examines key biblical passages about healing, challenges prosperity gospel assumptions, and explains why unanswered prayers are not proof of weak faith. Lara emphasizes that God’s promises must be read in context and that God acts according to His will, not human timelines, while still being near to the brok...

In this episode, Lara Silverman continues her “Faith in the Furnace” series with Rick Cram, a resilience coach and author who has lived with severe left-knee pain since a high school football injury 50 years ago. Rick recounts a long medical journey—multiple failed repairs, a total knee replacement at 40, and a 2019 partial revision that solved some issues but created new problems—leaving him with daily bursts of agony and ongoing exhaustion. He shares how his faith has shifted over time from anger and “why, God?” questions to a practiced life of intentionality, gratitude, and “productive lament,” anchored in God’s love, promises...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara explores God’s end goal for believers—not an easy, comfortable life, but sanctification: being conformed to the image of Christ. Walking through key passages like Romans 8:29, Luke 9:23, and Philippians 1:6, she explains that becoming Christ-like requires daily self-denial, crucifying the flesh, and surrendering personal rights and agendas to God’s will. Lara also unpacks how God often uses suffering as a refining fire to test faith, strip away idols, and form perseverance, character, and hope, emphasizing that this discipline is not punishment but loving transformation in preparation for eternity. She clarifies that c...

Host Lara Silverman continues the “Faith in the Furnace” series with David Heflin, founder and executive director of the chronic illness and pain support ministry Broken and Mended, former pastor of 20 years, and author of the upcoming book Purpose in Pain. David shares how hip injuries revealed ankylosing spondylitis, later compounded by Crohn’s, and how worsening symptoms affected ministry, family expectations, and mental health. He recounts a frightening season of medical uncertainty that led to Mayo Clinic evaluation, a past period of job loss and foreclosure that intensified doubts about God’s nearness, and a later moment of spiritua...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara wrestles with why the phrase “God knows what’s best” can feel cruel in seasons of deep suffering, especially after loss, illness, loneliness, or unanswered prayer. She examines whether Scripture supports the idea, citing passages that describe God’s ways as perfect, just, loving, and wise, and argues that God’s goodness is proven through Christ’s suffering on the cross. Lara shares her own story of marrying her husband Matt during his stage four cancer and losing him a year later, and explores why trusting God emotionally is hard, pointing to pride, id...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman continues the “Faith in the Furnace” series with Kelly Hall—host of the Unshakeable Hope Podcast, author, Bible teacher, and speaker. Kelly shares her family’s long road through military life, raising four children (three profoundly deaf), years of separations from her Air Force fighter-pilot husband to pursue cochlear implants and specialized schooling, and a later, unexpected battle as three of their children were diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease. Together, Lara and Kelly talk candidly about unanswered prayers, God’s delays, and learning to trust his heart when circumstances don’t make...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, Lara Silverman tackles one of the most painful truths in the Christian life: sometimes God’s answer to our prayers is a clear “no,” even when the desire is good and godly. She explains why Christianity is not a prosperity gospel—and why many believers still slip into “prosperity gospel light,” assuming that waiting long enough guarantees earthly deliverance. With Scripture and personal testimony (chronic neurological illness, the loss of her legal career, and the death of her husband after one year of marriage), Lara challenges the idea that blessings equal God’s favor and ar...

In this episode of Singing Through Fire, host Lara Silverman begins the “Faith in the Furnace” series with Sara Gaver—speaker, advocate, founder of Wheel Life Connections, and Miss Wheelchair USA 2022. Sara shares what it’s like living with Arthrogryposis as a full-time power wheelchair user, including chronic pain, childhood surgeries, and the challenges of relying on caregivers. She tells how she came to faith during a dark season in college after two students prayed for her inner healing, and how God sustained her through abuse, depression, and seasons that felt silent. Sara also recounts the fight to gain independ...