Loved Called Gifted

Maria Garvey: Sacred Fragility and Chocolate for Tollbooth Operators

Catherine is joined again by Maria Garvey who is navigating life with ongoing physical fragility and chronic pain. She reflects on surrender, vulnerability, and the slow undoing of an identity built on strength, resilience, and responsibility. What emerges is not a neat lesson, but a lived experience of being “broken open” — and discovering love not as something earned or managed, but something received.
Together they explore curated vulnerability, aging, self-compassion, and the courage it takes to stop “bouncing back.” Maria shares stories of toll booth chocolate bars and “microdoses of love” — inviting us to notice the small, sacred encounters that hold us together. What does it mean to rest into love, especially when life brings us somewhere we’d rather not go?
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Surrender, Rest and Being Enough with Andrea Clarke

Catherine Cowell chats with Andrea Clarke about surrender, rest, and rediscovering who we really are beneath all the roles and expectations. Andrea reflects on a sailing trip that became a powerful spiritual reset, where she sensed an invitation to join Jesus’ “crack surrender squad” — not about doing more, but about letting go. Through stories, poetry, and deep honesty, they explore surrender as returning to our “factory settings”: being loved, enough, and free to live authentically. It’s a gentle, thoughtful conversation about releasing over-responsibility, resisting pressure (especially in faith spaces), and learning to live and serve from a place of love rather than exhaustion.
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A Call to Advocacy with Addison Torrence and Caidyn Bearfield

This episode is a deep, honest conversation with Addison Torrance and Caidyn Bearfield about their experiences in the foster care and youth institutional system in Ohio, and how those experiences led them into advocacy. They both share painful stories of being placed in congregate care and residential treatment facilities, where trauma, over-medication, lack of education, and loss of trust were common. Despite that, they talk about finding healing through community—especially with other former foster youth—and turning their experiences into purpose. Much of the episode focuses on challenging systems that profit from institutionalizing young people, advocating for safer, more humane alternatives, and pushing for systemic change (like the creation of a Youth Ombudsman). It’s heavy, but also hopeful, showing how shared experience, learning, and courage can turn harm into meaningful action.If you would like a transcript, you can find one here
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The Examen: An Ancient Practice for Modern Life with Olga Mullarkey

As we start the New Year, Catherine is joined by Olga Malarkey for a rich, down-to-earth conversation about faith, identity, and noticing God in everyday life. Olga shares a bit of her story and together they reflect on Ireland, creativity, and the deep hunger for freedom and healing woven into Irish culture, before moving into Olga’s personal journey of faith — including walking through years of chronic illness and experiencing both God’s presence in the struggle and the joy of healing.
The heart of the conversation focuses on the Examen, an ancient Ignatian prayer practice that helps people reflect on their lives and become more aware of God’s loving presence in both the highs and the lows. Olga explains the practice in a simple, accessible way, sharing why it’s been so transformative for her personally and why it’s increasingly used in leadership, therapy, and spiritual formation.
It’s a gentle, hope-filled episode about living an integrated life, bringing our whole selves into the light, and learning to lay down the day with honesty, gratitude, and grace.transcript
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If you'd like to get in touch, you can email Catherine at lovedcalledgifted@gmail.com 
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She Said No with Sophie Killingley (Discovering Vashti: overlooked Old Testament feminist heroine)

Sophie Killingley is a freelance artist who is passionate about the intersection of faith and creativity and breaking down the sacred/secular divide to explore the world as it is. Her work and cartooning are quirky offerings of humour and heart from her perspectives on mental health, Christian culture, and the daily realities of having a neurodivergent family. I discovered Sophie's work having been alerted to her presence in the world by a fellow parent of children with additional needs. When I came across her piece inspired by Vashti - the often overlooked woman in the biblical story of Esther, I immediately wanted to meet and record a conversation. Very grateful that Sophie said 'yes'. This is conversation that resulted. We explored life, finding your calling, neurodivergence, faith and the queen who dared to say 'no'. Discover Sophie's work on her website here
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Finding Mama God with Anni Ponder and Kim Eckhart

Catherine talks with Anni Ponder and Kim Eckhart, who host a regular online meeting called “Finding Mama God”.
 
Both Anni and Kim describe how, independently, they have grown up in Christian churches which focused on the masculine aspects of the divine, and yet were drawn into a journey of discovering the transformative power of perceiving God as feminine, particularly through the lens of our motherhood.  How they met, and have been able to share together their experiences of deeply healing and empowering through their encounters with “Mama God”. They highlight the importance of creating spaces where this feminine divine can be openly acknowledged and celebrated, fostering a sense of community and shared experience, and how they have facilitated this with the establishment of their online “Finding Mama God” group of which everyone is invited to be a part.
 
You can find more about Finding Mama God at https://www.anniponder.com/finding-mama-god.
Anni Ponders podcast can be found here: Barely Christian, Fully Christian
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If you have comments or questions, or want to get in touch, you can email: lovedcalledgifted@gmail.com

Unschooling Ourselves with Heidi Steel

Catherine is joined once again by the wonderful Heidi Steele from Live Play Learn. Heidi’s an unschooling parent of four and a former teacher, and she shares what life looks like when learning happens naturally — no classrooms, no curriculums, just curiosity.
They dive into how unschooling has supported Heidi’s neurodivergent family, what it means to unschool ourselves as adults, and how questioning old assumptions can lead to more compassion, joy, and freedom in everyday life.
You can find more about Heidi at Live Play Learn.
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If you have comments or questions, or want to get in touch, you can email: lovedcalledgifted@gmail.com

Maria Skoyles and the Dorcas Dress Project

Maria Skoyles, founder of Dorcas Dresses, shares her journey inspired by the biblical figure Dorcas, a dressmaker known for her acts of charity. Maria’s business supports women in financial hardship, providing them with sewing machines and training to establish their own businesses. Through her work, Maria witnesses the transformative power of empowering women, enabling them to bless others and create a ripple effect of positive change.
You can find a transcript of this episode at lovedcalledgifted.com
Find the Dorcas Dress Project here: https://dorcasdressproject.org/

God’s Therapeutic Parenting with Margaret McGregor

Margret and Catherine take a look at the parables that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 15.
The parable of the running Father is a beautiful case study of therapeutic parenting, helpful to all parents, particularly those with children with additional needs.
You can find a transcript of this episode at lovedcalledgifted.com 
To find out more about the And Breathe parenting course: andbreathe.org.uk
 

Grace as Maternal Embrace with Joan Wright Howie

What does God's mothering of us look like? What are the different ways that we experience the maternal embrace of the divine? This is the question that Joan Wright Howie explores with Catherine in this episode. 
Joan is a minister in the Uniting Church in Australia. She is also a Spiritual Director and a professional supervisor. 
Here is  Joan's Golden Thread website. The conversation she refers to can be found on The Golden Thread Untangled podcast. The link here is to Spotify.
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If you'd like to get in touch, you can email Catherine at lovedcalledgifted@gmail.com