Turning 55 has stirred something deep in my heart… and in this episode, I’m sharing a more personal reflection on birthdays, midlife, and what it truly means to be becoming.

For many of us, birthdays aren’t just celebrations they can also bring up disappointment, unmet expectations, and questions about where life has taken us. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering, “Is this where I thought I’d be? don't worry, you are not alone.

But what if birthdays in midlife are not something to dread… but something sacred?

In this episode, we explore how to:

• Look back on your life with grace instead of shame
• Hold both grief and growth at the same time
• Recognize how God has been present—even in the hardest seasons
• Take one small, hope-filled step forward into the life He is still writing

Drawing inspiration from the stories of Esther and Ruth, I reflect on what it means to trust God in both the bold moments and the quiet ones and how obedience, faith, and surrender shape the women you and I are becoming.

I also share three simple, meaningful ways to celebrate your birthday in midlife—honoring both the pain of what didn’t turn out as planned and the beauty of what God is still doing.

This is an invitation to pause… to reflect… and to remember:

✨ You are not behind
✨ You are not too late
✨ You are here—for a time such as this

Whether you’re stepping into a new year of life or simply navigating a season of change, this episode will encourage you to see your story through a new lens—one of grace, hope, and purpose.

Jennie Guinn is a Catholic life coach and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She accompanies midlife women through divorce, grief, and major life transitions, helping them encounter God’s healing and rediscover their purpose.

This week’s episode is a personal one.

My uncle recently passed away, and being close to that experience has had me thinking a lot about death… and how we, as Catholics, are meant to approach it.

We don’t talk about death very often. It’s something we tend to avoid or push aside. But walking through these final days with my uncle reminded me just how sacred that time really is.

In this episode, I’m sharing some of what I witnessed, what stayed with me, and how it’s shifted the way I’m thinking about my own life—and my own readiness to one day meet the Lord.

This isn’t a heavy or hopeless conversation. It’s actually the opposite. It is about living ready!

It’s about slowing down.
It’s about what really matters.
It’s about living with eternity in mind.

If you’ve experienced loss… or if this is something you’ve been quietly thinking about too… I hope this episode feels like you’re not alone in it.

Have you ever found yourself in the story of the prodigal son… but not quite sure where you fit? In this deeply personal and reflective episode, we step into one of the most beloved parables from the Gospel of Luke and begin to see it through the lens of midlife. Because the truth is… we are not just one son in the story. We are the one who ran. We are the one who stayed… but slowly hardened. And we are the woman God is gently inviting you and I to become.

Which one do you relate to?

✨ The younger son where we’ve searched for love, identity, and fulfillment outside of God

✨ The older son where pride, self-reliance, and quiet resentment have created distance in our hearts

✨ And the “middle son” a reflection of spiritual maturity, where we begin to rest in our identity as beloved daughters If you are a Catholic midlife woman navigating disappointment, betrayal, transition, or simply longing for something deeper

This episode will meet you there. I hope you will recognize where you may be in the story right now Release striving, comparison, and quiet self-righteousness Return to the Father’s embrace just as you are And rediscover the truth that your worth has never been lost.

Jennie Guinn is a Catholic life coach and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She accompanies midlife women through divorce, grief, and major life transitions, helping them encounter God’s healing and rediscover their purpose.

In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle, Jennie shares powerful insights from her experience at the John Paul II Healing Center’s Healing the Whole Person retreat. She explores the reality that we all carry wounds and that healing is an ongoing part of our journey to holiness.

Jennie invites you to consider a transformative question: What is pouring out of your wounds? Through honest reflection, she walks listeners through the importance of becoming aware of our emotions, courageously uncovering their roots, and allowing Jesus to meet us in those deeper places.

Finally, this episode offers a tender reminder that the Father is always pursuing us especially in our deepest places of hurt. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation God meets us where His mercy is waiting to restore, heal, and renew our hearts if we are willing to be vulnerable and receptive.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in patterns of hurt, pain, reaction, or spiritual dryness, this episode will gently guide you toward greater awareness, healing, and the transforming love of God. There is beautiful healing waiting for you in the middle.

Jennie Guinn is a Catholic life coach and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She accompanies midlife women through divorce, grief, and major life transitions, helping them encounter God’s healing and rediscover their purpose.

A Sacred Circle is a prayerfully boundary around your life that protects your peace, nurtures your healing, and honors the woman God is shaping you to become.

For years, I believed that being a “good Catholic woman” meant being endlessly available, self-sacrificing at all costs, and saying yes to every need and expectation. But what if holiness also includes stewardship? What if guarding your heart, as Proverbs teaches is not selfish, but sacred?

Drawing from Scripture, the example of Jesus in the Gospels, and the wisdom of the saints, I share how creating a Sacred Circle transformed my journey through exhaustion, divorce, grief, and transition. I share the difference between selfishness and discernment, and how loving boundaries bring clarity, emotional peace, spiritual renewal, and even physical healing.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why constant availability is not the same as God’s calling.
• How to discern what and who belongs in your inner circle.
• The connection between boundaries and nervous system healing.
• How a Sacred Circle restores agency, reduces emotional overload, and creates space for grief
• Why healing isn’t about going back to who you were — but becoming who you are now.

If you are walking through midlife transition, divorce, empty nesting, or simply feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, this episode will gently invite you to ask:

What brings me closer to God — and what pulls me away from His peace?

What belongs in my life in this season?

Where is God inviting me to choose peace over chaos?

The Sacred Circle isn’t about shrinking your world — it’s about sanctifying it. It’s about becoming ordered, rooted, and whole in your faith.

Jennie Guinn is a Catholic life coach and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She accompanies midlife women through divorce, grief, and major life transitions, helping them encounter God’s healing and rediscover their purpose.

What if changing the world didn’t require doing big, heroic things—but simply showing up with love?

In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle, I sit down with my friend, Lisa Link, for a beautiful, hope-filled conversation about serving others through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Lisa opens up about how simple acts of service such as listening to someone’s story, offering a small gift card, praying with a neighbor in need have transformed not only the lives of those she serves, but her own heart, faith, and marriage.

This episode will inspire you to:

• See the face of Christ in everyday encounters

• Rediscover compassion, gratitude, and presence

• Believe that small acts done with great love truly matter

If you’ve ever wondered how God might be calling you to serve right where you are, this conversation will gently stir your heart and remind you: you don’t have to do great things—just little things, with great love.

Jennie Guinn is a Catholic life coach and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She accompanies midlife women through divorce, grief, and major life transitions, helping them encounter God’s healing and rediscover their purpose.

In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle, I’m reflecting on what it means to enter 2026 feeling stretched—but not broken. So many of us have walked through a year that stretched us mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually in ways we never would have chosen. And when you’re in it, that stretching often feels like breaking.

In this episode, I invite you to pause before rushing into a new year and to gently look back at 2025 not the highlight reel, but the real moments. The grief, the growth, the hidden blessings, and the quiet ways God was present even when it didn’t feel like it.

We’ll talk about how stretching, when held in God’s hands, isn’t meant to weaken us, but t’s meant to form us. How strength is often built in tension, surrender, and dependence on God rather than self-reliance. And how what feels like being broken open may actually be God creating more space for His grace.

If you’ve been carrying a lot, if you’re weary, or if you’re stepping into this new year unsure of what comes next, this episode is for you. My prayer is that you’ll leave encouraged, grounded, and reminded that you are stronger than you think—because God has been at work in the stretching.

Jennie Guinn is a Catholic life coach and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She accompanies midlife women through divorce, grief, and major life transitions, helping them encounter God’s healing and rediscover their purpose.

As we approach the end of the year, you may feel an internal pressure to rush ahead—to set goals, make changes, and focus on what still feels unfinished. In this episode of Catholic Moms in the Middle, I invite you to resist that urge and instead embrace a holy pause. Before stepping into what’s next, I encourage you to gently look back and notice God’s goodness in the past year.

This episode is a quiet, faith-filled reflection on the ways God remains faithful even when life is uncertain, painful, or exhausting. I will share how God’s goodness often shows up not in dramatic moments, but in subtle, ordinary ways—through unexpected encouragement, moments of peace, and the simple grace to keep going. God’s goodness is not dependent on perfect circumstances, but is constant and personal, woven into everyday life.

A great way to remember God’s blessings is to scroll through the photos on your phone from the past year. As you revisit moments of joy, connection, adventure, and quiet beauty, it causes you to pause and thank God for each one. This gentle act of remembrance becomes a way to recognize how God has been present all along, even in seasons that felt heavy or uncertain.

Rather than focusing on what went wrong or what still needs healing, this episode will encourage you to honor the ways you have lived, loved, and persevered. It offers reassurance to those who feel tired or behind, reminding you that endurance, faithfulness, and simply showing up matter deeply to God. Gratitude doesn’t deny hardship but it gives you the strength to carry it with hope.

You are invited to reflect, remember, and rest, to be gently reminded of a simple truth: God has been good, He is good, and He will continue to be faithful in every season.

Jennie Guinn is a Catholic life coach and founder of Catholic Moms in the Middle. She accompanies midlife women through divorce, grief, and major life transitions, helping them encounter God’s healing and rediscover their purpose.