Draw Near

One Hour with Our Son

February 1st, 2023  |  52 mins 42 secs

catholic marriage, faith, guest, hope, infant loss, love, miscarriage, suffering, testimony

*** Trigger Warning: Infant Loss and Miscarriage ***

In this episode we are joined by our friends Danny and Ashley Swalve as we discuss their journey of coming to a deeper faith in Christ and how that has shaped their marriage and helped them to find great hope even through otherwise overwhelmingly difficult circumstances. At the heart of their testimony is their story of surrender and trust in God's will for their lives; a desire to be used by Him to help bring healing to others who have faced similar challenges.

You talkin' about me?

January 18th, 2023  |  45 mins 25 secs

draw near, gossip, guest, love your neighbor, venting

"Treat me like a human being." These were the words of a friend of ours recounting a difficult situation to us recently. These words have stuck with us since. We - like so many we'd be willing to guess - often speak of the "dignity of the human person," and yet belief in that dignity is not always evident in the experiences of daily life. Christ tells us that the world will know us by our love for one another; that we are to love one another as he has loved us. Yet, we gossip, we slander. We are quick to desire empathy and we want to be given the benefit of the doubt, but we are not always so quick to extend that to others. How can we overcome this? What are the implications of the dignity of each human person, on the way we live our lives as social beings? These are some of the topics we dive into with our good friend, and special guest, Sr Fidelis Marie.

What Am I Supposed to Do?

November 10th, 2021  |  54 mins 26 secs

catholic, discernment, draw near podcast, fred and kara, guest, holiness, sister fidelis marie, vocations

Fred Shellabarger, Kara Kardell, and guest-Sister Fidelis Marie talk about living holiness in our every day lives on this episode of the Draw Near podcast. It's easy to get bogged down discerning the future options, vocations, or the many choices placed in front of us. Sister Fidelis gives wonderful, spiritually balanced, guidance on discerning where God calls us. We also talk about making decisions in life, consolation and desolation, wounds, and the importance of living out the call to holiness each day. We shouldn't wait until a future date to become who God created us to be! Simply say yes to God.