In this final episode of Season 3, we find Katie Hubbard characteristically wrestling with questions of doubt and faith, death and life, promises of provision and bills to pay. Most of all, we find her true to herself and her God, committed to

“I Love the Perspective that Comes with Having Cancer”

Mar 25th, 2024 8m 17s

Katie hated almost everything about cancer treatment, except for the perspective cancer brings. She had a high tolerance for pain but a low tolerance for medication. Constant check-ups and scans left her feeling exposed and anxious. The surgeri

Reflections and Hopes for a New Year (2014)

Mar 18th, 2024 12m 42s

Katie Hubbard closes out 2013 with a long journal entry on everything she had done since mid-November of that year. (She didn’t journal a lot during that time because her journal went missing for a month.) It’s amazing to consider all she did a

Katie Hubbard, the Auburn Tigers Fan

Mar 11th, 2024 10m 18s

Lest anyone think I (Norman Hubbard) edit Katie’s journals heavily when I read them on air, let this podcast stand as testimony. In early December 2013, you get pure Katie Hubbard, the quintessential Auburn Tigers football fan. (Really, the "ki

Reconstructive Surgery and Gratitude

Mar 4th, 2024 13m 49s

In this episode, Katie Hubbard talks about reconstructive surgery with her followers on Caring Bridge. It may be the only time you hear her publicly threaten to beat you with a baseball bat. And she reflects on a common theme in her journals: h

Parenting, Losing a Friend, and Focusing on Scripture

Feb 26th, 2024 12m 48s

In this episode, Katie reflects on the challenges and joys of parenting four kids at very different stages of life, losing a friend to cancer, and meditating on Scripture.

“Katie Hubbard, Beloved Child of God”

Feb 19th, 2024 14m 2s

In the previous podcast, we found Katie Hubbard struggling with the idea that her life, taken by cancer, might be dispensable. Here, we find her breakthrough as she writes out, Romans 8:38: “For I am persuaded that … death … shall not be able t

“I Feel Shaken To The Core”

Feb 12th, 2024 13m 34s

Katie Hubbard grapples with the distressing notion that cancer might kill her, and God might regard her life as "dispensable." In her words: "I feel shaken to the core. I feel sad. I just feel totally dispensable. How do you face your life bein

Most of the Things We Desire Leave Us Empty When They Become Ours

Feb 5th, 2024 8m 9s

In her journey with cancer, Katie Hubbard learned a thing or two about what truly satisfies. To God, she wrote, “You are the one thing that I crave and desire that FULFILLS. Everything else leaves me feeling empty.”

"Cherishing The Beauty of Your Own Backyard"

Jan 29th, 2024 11m 55s

Cherishing the beauty of your own backyard. Asking God for the things you want. Trusting him for the things that lie ahead. That’s what you’ll hear from Katie Hubbard in her journal entries from mid-August 2013. And you get classic commentary l

The 8th Anniversary Edition

Jan 25th, 2024 12m 46s

Join Norman Hubbard as he reflects on Katie Hubbard's life, the "voice" of this podcast, and Jesus' promises of eternal life. January 25, 2024 is the 8th anniversary of Katie's passing.

"Cowardly Joyless Souls"

Oct 17th, 2023 6m 39s

Katie Hubbard tried to find her footing in "the land of the living" after weeks of chemotherapy had kept her sidelined. Resuming something like normal life meant confronting the anxiety of normal life. She wrote down a quote from a friend about

"The Garden Is Always Changing"

Oct 10th, 2023 10m 22s

Katie Hubbard had lived under the shadow of cancer and cancer treatment so long, it was hard to look ahead with hope. Even so, that's what her God and her garden asked her to do. Sitting under her new pergola (of course), she meditated on the w

Everyone Needs a Pergola

Oct 3rd, 2023 8m 4s

Katie Hubbard must have spent every morning in June of 2013 under her new pergola thinking about the troubles in her world and the beauty of her God. I don't know that you need a pergola to do so, but if you do, find a friend to build you one.

The Practice of Disciplined Thankfulness

Sep 26th, 2023 8m 34s

Katie Hubbard was capable of tutoring an entire generation on thanksgiving in the face of suffering. Many of us know what it's like to write a half-hearted thank-you note or "give thanks" over a meal. It's an honest effort to do what's right, a

"How To Trust You?"

Sep 21st, 2023 7m 47s

In her journal entries for late May 2013, Katie wonders how to trust God for the healing that others need. She was not only walking through her own cancer journey but also praying for friends whose cancers had recurred. Her true struggle was no

"How much larger your life would be if you were smaller in it"

May 22nd, 2023 12m 17s

As Katie wrestled with her own sickness and fear, she knew how tempting it was to turn her eyes only on herself. The Scriptures were calling her to focus on God's holiness with humility. GK Chesterton's quote captures Katie's reflections master

"Why me? Why now? Why here? Why this?"

May 8th, 2023 7m 55s

Katie was not just struggling with cancer. She was struggling with self-pity. Everyone in the world would have given her a pass, but she would not allow herself to go down that road.

"With Whom Did God Seek Counsel"

Apr 17th, 2023 12m 38s

From Isaiah 40:13, 14, Katie Hubbard wrote, "From whom did God take counsel, and who instructed him and taught him the paths of justice?" Her reflection on this thought: "You seek no counsel or direction. You are the perfect source. From you fl

"I Have To Walk Through This Valley"

Apr 12th, 2023 10m 18s

"I have to walk through this valley no matter what. No matter how I respond, I am still here. So I can slog through with bitterness and a pity party or I can choose light, love, thanksgiving. God I need the Holy Spirit to work in me love, joy!

"I Would Choose Heaven This Afternoon"

Mar 27th, 2023 8m 30s

As Katie Hubbard faced the challenges of radiation and the fear of losing her life to cancer, she told the Lord what she often told me. If she only had her own interests in mind, she would choose heaven in a heartbeat. Her concerns were all for

"I Can't Make God Do My Will"

Mar 6th, 2023 10m 31s

Stress and anxiety have a way of driving us forward while blinding us to reality. Katie Hubbard was experiencing massive anxiety as she faced radiation, but she was beginning to analyze the deeper cause of her stress. In her own words: "I think

"Take Captive Every (Stressful) Thought"

Feb 16th, 2023 8m 24s

After Katie Hubbard's diagnosis with recurrent breast cancer, she struggled to take every stressful thought captive. The idea behind this comes from 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the

"Even There"

Jan 25th, 2023 18m 31s

For me (Norman Hubbard), it's an emotional start to a new season of the podcast. Today is the 7th anniversary of Katie's passing, and it falls very close to the time of year when she was diagnosed with recurrent breast cancer ten years ago. Ope

"Deeply Happy and Profoundly Emotional"

Dec 26th, 2022 17m 23s

Katie closed her journal entries for 2009 by reflecting on a December that was a fitting end to a hard year! Everyone in our family got sick with strep the week before Christmas. We were so sick we could not even celebrate Katie's birthday (whi