135. God Is Good Even When Foster Care Is Hard with Shelly Mast

135. God Is Good Even When Foster Care Is Hard with Shelly Mast

In this episode of Restoried, we are introduced to Shelly Mast, the newest county coordinator serving Holmes County and the surrounding area, and a longtime foster mom herself.  Shelly shares her journey into foster care, which began in 2020 during the chaos of COVID, and how God used both the beauty and heartbreak of that season to shape her faith and calling. She opens up about the challenges of foster care, including medical needs, reunification, and the emotional weight of loving children through uncertain outcomes.  Out of her experience, Shelly co-founded Project 1018, focused on practical and relational support for foster families. Now, she brings that same heart into her work with Hope Bridge, helping churches and communities step into meaningful care for vulnerable children and families.  This episode is a simple but powerful introduction to Shelly’s story, and the heart behind her work: showing up, staying faithful, and loving kids and families in the middle of hard stories.    Episode Highlights:   * Meet Shelly Mast   * County Coordinator  * Foster Care   * Project 1018  * Church Mobilization  * Community    Find More on Hope Bridge:  * Project 1081 [https://www.instagram.com/project_1018_/] * Visit Our Website [https://hopebridgeohio.org/]  * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hopebridgeohio/]  * Follow us on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hopebridgeohio]

134. Spiritual Formation: How Fasting Reorients Our Hearts to God

In this month’s spiritual formation conversation, we continue our series by reflecting on the practice of fasting and why it matters for our walk with Christ. Spiritual formation helps re-center our lives on Jesus when everything else competes for our attention.  Fasting is more than just abstaining from food; it’s intentionally setting something aside to create space to seek God. Looking at Jesus in the wilderness, we see how fasting prepares us to depend on God rather than comfort, control, or distraction.  Alesia shares her experience fasting from social media and how it reduced anxiety, comparison, and noise while increasing presence and attentiveness to God. Brian shares his experience of fasting during a season of medical testing, and how it became a reminder of God’s goodness and steadiness in uncertainty.  Ultimately, fasting reveals what we rely on and invites us to re-center our lives on God. We encourage listeners to consider practicing fasting in some form this month as a way to step away from distractions and lean more fully into God’s presence.    Episode Highlights:   * Spiritual Discipline  * Fasting  * Living Less Distracted   * Focusing on God   * Foster Care Crisis     Find More on Hope Bridge:  * Visit Our Website [https://hopebridgeohio.org/]  * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hopebridgeohio/]  * Follow us on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hopebridgeohio]

133. Don’t Just Pray- Move: Faith with Feet in the Foster Care System

For Foster Care Awareness Month, we’re continuing our For the One series with one of our most honest and challenging conversations yet.  In this episode, we wrestle with the tension between awareness and action. As believers, many of us know the foster care crisis exists. We’ve heard the statistics, seen the social media posts, and maybe even prayed for the children and families impacted by it. But at what point does “not everyone is called to foster” become less of a truth and more of a shield protecting our comfort, convenience, and fear?  We also talk about the excuses we hear most often: “I’m too busy,” “I’m not equipped,” “What if it disrupts my family?”, and challenge listeners to honestly ask whether those barriers are rooted in wisdom… or fear and self-preservation. Because while not everyone may foster, some people absolutely are being called to step in, and are choosing not to because obedience feels costly.  We unpack the reality that faith was never meant to stay comfortable. Jesus consistently moved toward brokenness, interruption, inconvenience, and vulnerable people. He didn’t just raise awareness, He stepped in. And if our faith never moves us toward vulnerable children, struggling families, or sacrificial love, we have to ask ourselves what kind of faith we’re actually living.  This episode isn’t about shame. It’s about invitation. An invitation to stop looking away. To stop assuming someone else will do it. To ask God to break your heart for what breaks His, and to be willing to become part of the answer to your own prayers.  Whether fostering feels impossible, intriguing, terrifying, or deeply stirring, our encouragement is simple: take one step. Learn. Ask questions. Show up. Move toward the brokenness instead of away from it.  Because the foster care system doesn’t just need more awareness, it needs people willing to live out a faith that has feet.  Episode Highlights:   * Foster Care Awareness Month   * Faith with Feet in the Foster Care System   * For the ONE  * Don’t Just Pray- MOVE  * Debunking Common Barriers    Find More on Hope Bridge:  * Connect with a Hope Bridge Team Member [https://hopebridgeohio.org/mission/about-us/]  * Visit Our Website [https://hopebridgeohio.org/]  * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hopebridgeohio/]  * Follow us on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hopebridgeohio]

132. For the One: When Foster & Biological Moms Choose Each Other

In this really special episode for Foster Care Awareness Month, Nicole sits down with DiEmma, the biological mom of her three adopted kids—for an honest conversation about what it actually looks like to choose relationship in the middle of really hard things.   What started over ten years ago in the middle of addiction, loss, and the foster care system has slowly grown into something neither of them expected, a relationship built on respect, compassion, and a shared love for the same kids. Together, they talk about the fears that can keep foster families from connecting with biological parents, and gently push back on the idea that it has to be “us vs. them.”  From relapse to healing, boundaries to grace, it hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it. DiEmma shares what it’s like from her side: not just as a biological mom, but as someone who was in foster care herself, and what it meant to feel supported instead of judged. Nicole talks about how important it is to stay grounded in who you are, choose empathy, and remember that loving a child means caring about where they came from, too.  At the end of the day, this episode is a reminder that foster care isn’t about swooping in to save the day, it’s about showing up, again and again. It’s messy, it’s hard, but it’s also where real healing can happen. And when it’s safe and healthy, connection between foster and biological families can be one of the most powerful gifts we give kids. This is what “For the One” looks like in real life.    Episode Highlights:   * Foster care awareness   * Bio family connection   * Standing in the gap   * Shared motherhood story   * Restoration is possible    Find More on Hope Bridge:  * Chat with a Hope Bridge Staff Member [https://hopebridgeohio.org/mission/about-us/]   * Visit Our Website [https://hopebridgeohio.org/]  * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hopebridgeohio/]  * Follow us on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hopebridgeohio]

131. For the One: Seeing People Like Jesus Does

In this special episode of Restoried, we’re coming together as the four directors of HopeBridge to launch something that is deeply personal to us: our new campaign and heart posture, “For the One.” This conversation is really about what has been forming in us for a long time—how we see people, how we do ministry, and how we stay anchored in the middle of work that can often feel overwhelming in scale.  We talk about how easy it is to slip into a “numbers mindset,” especially in the nonprofit and foster care world, where outcomes, stats, and impact reports often take center stage. But over and over again, we come back to this truth: our work has never been about reaching everyone at once—it’s about being faithful to the one person in front of us. One child. One mom. One family. And ultimately, the One who leads it all—Jesus.  As we share, we reflect on how Jesus consistently modeled this for us in Scripture—stopping for the one, noticing the overlooked, and restoring individuals in deeply personal ways. That same heart is what we want to shape everything we do at HopeBridge: how we show up with churches, how we support foster families, how we care for single moms, and how we love each other as a team.  At the core of this conversation is a shared conviction: we are not called to fix everything or everyone—we are called to faithfully respond to the one God places in front of us. And in doing so, we reflect the heart of Jesus, who sees, knows, and loves each of us fully.  This episode is our way of launching the “For the One” campaign, but more than that, it’s an invitation—to slow down, to be present, and to believe that one act of obedience can carry eternal weight.    Episode Highlights:   * Foster Care Awareness Month  * For the One Campaign  * Foster Care  * Adoption   * Faith   * Our Heart Posture at Hope Bridge   Find More on Hope Bridge:  * Visit Our Website [https://hopebridgeohio.org/]  * Follow us on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hopebridgeohio/]  * Follow us on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hopebridgeohio]