There are seasons when everything feels a bit undone. A marriage ends. A child grows up. A job shifts. And suddenly, we’re no longer who we were…and not yet who we’ll become. Melinda French Gates has lived through some of life’s biggest transitions. In this conversation, she reflects on what it means to stay open when life is changing—quietly or all at once. To hold your own hand when everything feels uncertain. To lean on the people who tell you the truth. And to remember that good enough is more than just survival—it can be a way forward. If you’re in the middle of something—grief, reinvention, or a season that feels like wandering—this conversation is a soft place to land. In this conversation, Kate and Melinda discuss: Why transitions—chosen or not—ask us to be braver than we feel How to listen to the inner voice that won’t go quiet The beauty of being a “good enough” parent, partner, or person Why our friendships might be the most sacred thing we have What it means to be held—by community, by love, by something even bigger If you liked this episode, you’ll also love: Nicholas Kristof, "Hope is a Muscle" Sharon McMahon, "Drops Make an Ocean" Gregory Boyle, "The Case for Hope" Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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38:58
Sarah Bessey: Faith That Survives
What happens when the faith that once held you starts to unravel? When the certainty you clung to turns to dust? Sarah Bessey knows what it’s like to watch faith fall apart—and somehow find something more honest, more spacious, more real on the other side. In this Holy Week conversation, Kate and Sarah talk about what it means to sit in the wilderness of uncertainty, to be in the company of unanswered prayers, and to discover that faith was never about having it all figured out. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t belong in the faith you once knew, if you’ve ever wondered whether there’s still room for you here—this conversation is for you. In this conversation, Kate and Sarah discuss: Why faith is meant to evolve–and why certainty was never the goal The grief of spiritual disillusionment and what comes after The beauty (and cost) of trying to be faithful together Why God is not just in the light, but in the dark, too. Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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45:02
Simone Gorrindo: The Cost of Love and Duty
What happens when the person you love is called to something that takes them away? Again and again and again. Journalist Simone Gorrindo never expected to become a military wife. Raised in a liberal anti-war family, she had her whole life mapped out–until she fell in love. And love, as it turns out, isn’t just about saying yes. Sometimes it asks for waiting. For loneliness. For a life built around someone else’s calling. For making a home inside a world you never planned for. In this episode, Kate and Simone talk about: What it means to build a life that constantly asks for more—more patience, more sacrifice, more resilience than you ever thought you had. When your partner’s job becomes an identity—and you’re expected to adapt. The loneliness of waiting, the friendships that save us, and the pressure to be “strong.” If you liked this episode, you may also love: Cindy McCain Willie Jennings Priya Parker Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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38:09
Jeff Chu: Good Soil
What happens when a journalist-turned-seminarian finds God in a pile of rotting vegetables? You get Jeff Chu—writer, pastor, and accidental theologian of compost. In this tender and funny conversation, Jeff and Kate talk about what it means to be changed—by grief, by love, by the kind of calling that makes zero practical sense. They talk about complicated families, appropriate smallness, and what it means to belong to one another in just-because texts, foreign potato chips, and a rice cooker packed in a suitcase. Sometimes resurrection doesn’t look like a clean slate. Sometimes it looks like compost. Hope grows slowly. But oh, it grows. In this conversation, Kate and Jeff discuss: Why God’s call often doesn’t add up (and still won’t leave us alone) The theology of compost: how death, rot, and loss make way for new life How to live like we are beloved—even when life doesn’t feel that way Why small, ordinary graces are how we build the world we want Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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38:22
Pádraig Ó Tuama: In the Name of Belonging
What does it mean to live alongside people you don’t agree with? And love them anyway? Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, and conflict mediator from Ireland, where belonging has always been complicated and peace is fragile at best. In this conversation, Kate and Pádraig explore what it takes to live together in the midst of disagreement—the beauty, the cost, and the messy, sacred hope of it all. In this conversation, Kate and Pádraig discuss: Why peace is exhausting, fragile, and still worth fighting for The surprising role of curiosity in transforming division How belonging can comfort us—and cost us If you liked this episode, check out: Safiya Sinclair on Rewriting Roots Nadia Bolz Weber on the Insight of Outsiders Lanecia Rouse on When Hope Seems Lost Watch clips from this conversation, read the full transcript, and access discussion questions by clicking here or visiting katebowler.com/podcasts. Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler. Links to social pages and more available at linktr.ee/katecbowler.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens. Find her online at @katecbowler.
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