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For The Love With Jen Hatmaker Podcast

The Long Arc of Becoming: Listener Voices From the Other Side of Awake

For The Love With Jen Hatmaker Podcast

Jen Hatmaker

Society & Culture, Relationships

4.6 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Description:As we close out the year, we wanted to do something a little different—and a little more tender. In this special end-of-year episode of For the Love, we’re turning the mic over to you. Over the past months, your voicemails have poured in, telling the story of what it’s been like to read Awake: the unraveling, the naming, the grief, the relief, the courage, the slow return to yourself. The messages were so honest and so resonant that we knew we needed to play some of them back—not just to honor the people who shared them, but to remind anyone listening in a similar space that they are not alone. We’ve woven these voices together in four acts, tracing the arc so many of us recognize. Act I — “The Moment Everything Broke” We hear from Nadine, Allison, and Sharon about the before-and-after moments: marriages ending, bodies shamed, the deep wounds of purity culture, and the rupture that comes when the life you were living can no longer hold. Act II — “Finding Language for the Ache” Paulette and Inez share what it means to finally name what couldn’t be named before—untangling attachment and codependence, wrestling with faith, Jesus, and the pain of church rupture, and discovering words for a long-held ache. Act III — “Coming Back to Ourselves” With Kelly and Laura, we witness what healing can look like in motion: reclaiming agency, inhabiting our bodies again, joy returning, learning to cherish yourself, embracing life, committing to therapy, finding community, and being truly seen. Act IV — “Witnessing a Life Over Time” Tracy closes us out with the long view—what it means to trust the slow arc of a life, to be held in shared history, and to witness change unfolding over time. If something in you woke up this year—even painfully—you’re not behind. You’re right on time. And you are certainly not alone. Thought-provoking Quotes: “Here’s to cherishing ourselves. We have so much to cherish.” – Kelly, For the Love listener “If you’re willing to believe a voice from the future who has been sitting exactly where you are sitting…There is something after this story, even though you can't see that, something good is still coming for you.” – Jen Hatmaker “Everyone's experience can be a lantern to someone else.” – Amy Hardin “This is how it goes. This is how people are inspired and moved. This is how we lend courage to one another by saying our things out loud. And that is literally how my life moved. I listened to other people who were saying their thing out loud and I just was just sitting there quietly listening, going, I wonder if this is something I could consider.” – Jen Hatmaker Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker – https://amzn.to/44U2DuL Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself by Melody Beattie – https://amzn.to/48UTYcn Jen Hatmaker Book Club – https://shop.jenhatmaker.com/collections/book-club?srsltid=AfmBOooHcTDRzkwfxjaozkEQyYWtFpthqUtOcFwOOiSYTqO7fCTbaEsb Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

All right, everyone, welcome to the For the Love podcast.

0:11.1

Welcome back.

0:12.8

This is kind of a special one for more than one reason.

0:17.6

Number one, this is the final episode of 2025.

0:29.2

It is. We did it. We did it. One full year of non-stop shows.

0:42.8

And a good year. We had some real highlights this year. Yes, a good year for the pod and a really hard year in every other category.

0:51.8

Yes, but we did it. We did it. You guys did it too, listeners. Like, we're so happy that this little show is somehow, my guess, a part of your self-care practice,

0:58.1

you know, like, I've got to put something good on my ears.

1:01.4

I think that all the time.

1:02.9

When I'm, like, going about my day, I'm like, what could I listen to that won't make me despair more?

1:09.6

Right.

1:10.3

More than I am today.

1:11.6

Yeah.

1:11.9

On my commute.

1:13.0

On my walk.

1:14.0

While I'm doing the dishes while I'm folding the laundry.

1:17.1

It's like we're honored by that.

1:19.5

Like your time is limited and valuable.

1:23.5

So every time you hit play on one of our shows, one of our episodes, and you're like, I'm going to spend one hour with these girls.

1:33.4

That is no small thing.

1:37.4

Like, thank you for that.

1:39.1

And, you know, we just wouldn't have a show if you didn't listen.

...

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