Episode Details

What if some of the hardest things you’ve walked through could become the very things God uses to encourage someone else?

This week on Rocking It with Chrys & Shellie, we sit down with wife, mom, grandmother, ministry leader, author, and speaker Rhonda Stoppe for an honest conversation about family, ministry, relationships, and finding purpose in the difficult parts of our stories. Rhonda believes meaningful relationships grow when we’re willing to move beyond surface-level conversations and honestly share some of the hard things we’ve experienced.

Her message is simple and powerful:

Don’t waste your hurts.

The difficult seasons we’ve survived may become the encouragement someone else desperately needs. When we’re willing to share our stories, not for attention, but for connection, our experiences can remind someone else that they aren’t alone and give them hope to keep going. Rhonda also gives us a peek into her very full life as a grandmother of 15, including what it’s really like to live on the same property with 11 of those grandchildren! She shares the joys, realities, boundaries, and blessings that come with having so much family close by.

As a longtime preacher’s wife and ministry leader, Rhonda brings honesty and humor to the realities of marriage, motherhood, grandmotherhood, ministry, and simply being a woman trying to follow Jesus through every season.

This conversation is a reminder that God doesn’t have to waste any part of our stories, even the parts we wish we could rewrite.

In This Episode, We Talk About

● What Rhonda means when she says, “Don’t waste your hurts”

● Why sharing our difficult experiences can give someone else hope

● Moving beyond surface-level relationships

● The importance of honesty and vulnerability

● Knowing when and how to share the harder parts of our stories

● Finding purpose in seasons we never would have chosen

● Rhonda’s life as a preacher’s wife and ministry leader

● What years of serving women have taught her

● Being a grandmother to 15 grandchildren

● What it’s really like having 11 grandchildren living on the same property

● Staying connected to adult children and grandchildren while respecting boundaries

● Using every season of life to encourage the people God puts in our path

Key Takeaway

Don’t waste your hurts. The story you once wished you didn’t have to tell may become the story that gives someone else hope.

Scripture Connection

“The God of all comfort… comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”  

- 2 Corinthians 1:3–4

About Our Guest

Rhonda Stoppe is an author, speaker, wife, mother, grandmother, and longtime ministry leader. As a preacher’s wife, she has spent years walking alongside women through the joys and difficulties of real life. Known for her honest, practical, and faith-filled approach, Rhonda encourages women to build purposeful relationships, invest in their families, and allow God to use every part of their stories. She’s also the grandmother of 15 and has the unusual joy of living on the same property with 11 of them!

Listener Reflection

Is there a difficult season in your life that you’ve always

wished you could erase?

What if God could use what you learned in that season to help someone walking through the same thing today?

You don’t have to share everything with everyone. But maybe there is someone who needs to hear: “I’ve been there too. And here’s what God taught me along the way.”