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Wednesdays With Watson: Faith & Trauma Amy Watson- PTSD Patient-Trauma Survivor
Welcome to "Wednesdays With Watson," a compassionate and insightful podcast dedicated to exploring the complex journey of healing from PTSD, the role of faith in recovery, and the profound impact of trauma on our lives. Hosted by Amy Watson, a passionate advocate for mental health and a trauma survivor, this podcast aims to provide a safe and empathetic space for listeners to learn, share, and find hope.In each episode, we delve deep into the multifaceted aspects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its far-reaching effects. We bring you riveting personal stories of resilience, recovery, and transformation and expert interviews with psychologists, therapists, faith leaders, and individuals who have walked the path of healing.Our mission is to break mental health stigma and encourage open dialogue about PTSD and trauma. We explore the profound connection between faith, spirituality, and mental well-being, offering insights into how one's faith can be a powerful source of strength and healing.Whether PTSD, faith, or trauma has touched you or someone you know, "Wednesdays With Watson" is here to inspire, educate, and provide practical tools for navigating the healing journey. Join us on this empowering quest towards reclaiming peace, resilience, and a renewed sense of purpose.Today, subscribe to our community of survivors, advocates, and compassionate listeners. Together, we can heal our hearts and find the path to recovery, one episode at a time.
Wednesdays With Watson: Faith & Trauma Amy Watson- PTSD Patient-Trauma Survivor
Faith Doesn't Erase Pain, It Gives It Purpose, 5 Year Anniversary
Five years and 125 episodes later, what began as a trembling voice in a closet recording booth has blossomed into a sacred journey of healing, faith, and community. Wednesdays with Watson was born not from expertise but from raw necessity—a desperate search for understanding my own PTSD during the early, uncertain days of the 2020 pandemic.
Lying in a hammock when the world suddenly stopped, I confronted a truth that had followed me since childhood: trauma wasn't just a chapter in my story; it was the paper my story was written on. Abuse, abandonment, and neglect had whispered lies that I was too broken to be loved, too damaged to be useful. But something miraculous happened when I dared to speak these truths aloud—I began to heal, and others began to listen.
This anniversary episode unpacks how sharing my journey through childhood trauma and domestic violence created space for others to feel less alone. The podcast transformed from a personal healing project into a ministry, ultimately setting me on a path toward completing a doctorate in trauma and community care. What started as a way to make sense of my own symptoms became a lifeline for a community of trauma survivors seeking hope in their darkest moments.
The most profound lesson from these five years is simple yet revolutionary: faith doesn't erase pain—it gives it purpose. Every time you tune in, share an episode, or send a message about how this podcast has touched your life, you affirm that God doesn't waste pain. To every survivor who has ever felt defined by their trauma, to every person questioning if healing is possible, to every listener new and old: You are seen. You are known. You are heard. You are loved. You are valued. And I'm honored to continue walking this journey together.
You ARE:
SEEN KNOWN HEARD LOVED VALUED
Five years, that is, over 250 Wednesdays, 125 of which we posted episodes. There have been countless hours of preparation, more tears than I can count, but the sweetest of all the moments, the sacred moments, when God has made his presence known through a microphone, a story, a voice. Welcome to the special five-year anniversary episode of the Wednesdays with Watson podcast. If you don't already know by now, I am your host. My name is Amy Watson and today, even though life is crazy for all of us, especially for me, today, I want to slow down and share with you why this podcast exists. I want to share with you how trauma shaped it and how faith continues to save it. This is a Wednesdays with Watson podcast. Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the Wednesdays with Watson podcast. This is our fifth anniversary. I am recording this on April the 22nd 2025. Recording this on April the 22nd 2025. And on April the 22nd 2020, we I we, because I have a producer that has been with me the whole time. We dropped our first episode and this episode is kind of an ode to all of those stories, all those times I got behind the microphone, all of those messages that we fielded the honor that is to be the host of the Wednesdays with Watson podcast is never lost on me. You see, this podcast changed my life as it set me on a course that I will complete by the end of the year. I will have a doctorate degree in trauma and community care. That April day when I started this podcast literally changed my life, because I lay in the hammock that day when the world was shut down Suddenly. I understood that time is so short and the mission is so critical Because, you see, that mission is you, the listener on the other side of this microphone.
Speaker 1:I didn't set out to be a podcaster. I didn't even really listen to podcasts before I launched this podcast. I didn't set out to be a podcaster. I set out to find survival techniques for my own trauma, for my own PTSD, because for most of my life, as many as you know, trauma was the undercurrent, not just a chapter in my story, but trauma was the paper that my story was written on. A story of abuse, abandonment, neglect, Experiences that stole more than my safety. They stole, or at least tried to steal, because it didn't successfully steal my identity, but trauma wanted me to believe that I am my trauma. I am what happened to me. Trauma stole my voice. Therefore, it threatened to steal me Because, you see, I walked through life believing the lies that trauma whispers into your soul. Lies like you are too broken to be loved. You are too damaged to be useful. I knew Jesus. I know Jesus. I believed in God. I believe in God, but in those darkest times, I couldn't quite believe that he was as good as they said he was. Not when I was living with flashbacks, not when I was waking up in cold sweats, not when I was sleeping two and three hours at night, not when I was at the pinnacle of my struggle with PTSD, not when I was begging God to just make it stop. And then, one day, I heard something deep in my spirit, and not audibly, but clearly. It was April 2020, 2020 and the world was shut down.
Speaker 1:If you're listening to this, you likely remember those days, that same trauma that I endured. My whole life was on overdrive with a worldwide pandemic Because, remember, ptsd by definition means that your safety has been compromised, and now all of our safety had been compromised in those dark times. Some of you, listening on the sound of my voice, lost people during the pandemic. But I remember those days when we really didn't know what we were dealing with and we were all sheltered in place and I was laying in a hammock in my backyard, not really understanding the two week vacation, if you will really understanding the two week vacation, if you will. I needed to do something because this forced vacation was not working for me. My livelihood was turned upside down, and that is something that is still true today. I knew that I was struggling with PTSD, but, besides what you could Google, I didn't know anything about PTSD. I had an inability really to read anything. But I needed something to help me and, just like God does, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to be that voice of PTSD that people like me could find from Google. I didn't know really that I needed to start a podcast, except for I had a friend of mine Her name is JT, shout out to JT who said to me back in those days when I was blogging and all the things she said I think you need to start a podcast. So I was laying in that hammock on that April day, I knew that I needed to start a podcast to help people like me that needed to understand what was happening to them. So, before the whole world became podcasters.
Speaker 1:I started the Wednesdays with Watson podcast on April 22nd 2020. That episode I entitled Healing. That Doesn't Make Sense. I named that first season PTSD, jesus and me. And that's exactly what it was in those early days, as I had a makeshift podcast space in the closet of my house.
Speaker 1:It all started with a microphone. It all started out of a desire to help people like me. It all started with this message of hope. It all started with my desire for people to know that they are seen, that they are known, that they are heard, that they are loved and that they are valued. I remember those early days. I was so nervous as I would get behind that microphone. And so it began with some trembling hands, a shaky voice and a fragile heart. You see, I didn't start the Wednesdays with Watson podcast because I was healed. I started it because I was healing and I thought, maybe, maybe, if I could say it out loud, one of you would feel less alone.
Speaker 1:And those early episodes in that first season I told pieces of my story. I told the hard parts, the ones that people usually skip over. I shared about my childhood trauma After surviving that abuse. I then was in a domestic violence, marriage. I talked about the long and agonizing process of learning to trust God when I couldn't feel him. And something happened I began to heal, my trauma began to make sense to me, my symptoms began to make sense to me, my symptoms began to make sense to me. And all of that was a byproduct because, you see, people started listening. They started listening to the podcast, not to just the content, but people grab on to the hope of the message of the Wednesdays with Watson podcast.
Speaker 1:That's the only reason why I do it, because, you see, I am a flawed human being, living with PTSD, attempting to live a life worthy of the healing and of course I'm worthy of the healing but I want people to look at my life and see hope. But let me be honest, there were moments during this podcast journey over the last five years that I didn't think that we would continue, because I was doing some deep healing as I was walking you through yours. But the thing to remember is that trauma recovery is not linear. Of course there were setbacks. Of course there were hard days, the kind of days when the darkness would feel all-encompassing again and the lies would get loud again, and there were times when I wondered if I had anything left to say. Oh, but then there's you, the listener. I get messages like I felt seen, I thought I was the only one to go through this. And maybe my favorite is, I found Jesus again because of the hope of this podcast.
Speaker 1:And that's when I realized that this wasn't just a podcast, it was a ministry. It is a ministry, it is a mission, it is redemption, because, you see, we know that trauma rewires the brain. It changes the way that we see the world, it changes the way that we see the world, it changes the way we see ourselves. But then, when we pair faith with trauma, faith rewrites the story. Faith doesn't erase the pain. Faith gives the pain a purpose. It doesn't undo the past, but it certainly refines or reframes the future.
Speaker 1:And that's what these five years have been about Faith in the fire, faith through our traumatic events, and faith because we have pain, not because, not in spite of it. I'll say that again faith because we have pain. It's the only way to walk through this life with unspeakable pain is with the faith in the completed work of Jesus on the cross. So, faith in spite of the pain. I believe with every fiber of my being that God doesn't waste pain. My life is proof of that. This podcast is proof of that. You, the listener yes, you are proof that God doesn't waste pain. Every time somebody tunes in, every time somebody shares an episode, every time you tell a friend about the podcast, you are helping us build a space where faith and suffering don't have to be at odds. Because, back to looking at faith, it's not the absence of pain. Faith is not the absence of pain. Faith is the presence of God in the pain. So what's next for the Wednesdays?
Speaker 1:With Watson podcast, we keep telling stories, we keep sitting in that tension of trauma and healing. We keep declaring with every episode that Jesus is still in the business of resurrection. Even if the tomb looks like a diagnosis, a memory, a broken relationship or a wounded soul, that tomb is empty and Jesus lives. He lives so that you can have hope. We're going to keep walking this journey together Because five years ago, when I hit record for the first time with nothing but really a wounded heart, a little bit of knowledge and a bunch of hope, today I celebrate with a community of people who have chosen healing, who have chosen honesty and maybe, hopefully, you've chosen Jesus too.
Speaker 1:I'm so grateful to you, the listener, for listening to me. I'm grateful to every guest that I've had on this podcast over the past five years who have told their story of pain. I'm grateful that you honor my story of pain. I hope that you believe that trauma doesn't have to be the end To the survivor listening, especially if you have hit play for the first time on the Wednesdays with Watson podcast.
Speaker 1:You are seen, you are known, you are heard, you are loved, you are valued. You are not alone. Wherever you are in the world right now, there is somebody behind a microphone, like me, talking to you and throwing out prayers as the episodes get recorded, as they get released and as we process them. You are not alone. You are more than what happened to you, to the struggler of faith. God is not afraid of your questions. God is not afraid of your questions. God is not afraid of your questions.
Speaker 1:We just celebrated Easter and I'm always marked by the silence of that Saturday, sunday's, coming to those that are struggling right now. God is not afraid of your questions. He sits with you in that silence, sunday's, coming to every listener, old and new. This podcast is for you. This healing journey is for us, and to the God who gave me breath when I didn't want it anymore. This is all for you. And to God I also thank for putting me on this journey because of this podcast, to pursue my doctorate degree in trauma and community care. And while you're listening to this under the sound of my voice, I am a dissertation away from having that doctorate degree.
Speaker 1:That happened because of this podcast, that happened because people listened, that happened because there's a need out there for the message of hope and unspeakable trauma. Thank you to each and every listener out there, to each and every listener out there. Five years of faith, five years of fire and five years of finding Jesus in the ashes of our brokenness. Thank you for listening, thank you for sharing episodes. Thank you for sending me messages. Thank you to those of you who support me on Patreon. Thank you. Every month I just smile when I see the Patreon deposit into my account. It's not much, but the people that support this podcast have done so almost from the beginning and I just want to say thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you to my podcast producer, amy Hyland. She has been with me from the beginning. I remember when I got that text from my friend JT who said hey, you should start a podcast. I immediately reached out to Amy and said I don't know what I'm doing, but I can talk and she has done the rest. Thank you, amy Hyland. I consider you a ministry partner in the Wednesdays with Watson podcast. As for what's next, we are still going to go back to that generational trauma series. Because of the aforementioned dissertation, the podcast has suffered a little bit and that's okay. But I want you guys to know that I am so grateful for these five years. I am grateful to the God who sees, I am just grateful. I hope that you will continue to listen. We will be back here in two weeks. Thank you, jesus. Happy anniversary Fifth year anniversary to the Wednesdays with Watson podcast.
Speaker 2:You have pulled me out from the depths. You have saved me from certain death. You have shown yourself faithful to me over and over Jesus, so let my life glorify you and teach me to walk beside you. I want to be more like you, so let my life be one marked by you, and when my hope is fading and when worries do assail me, I will remember how you you never failed me. You have pulled me out from the depths. You have saved me from certain death. You have shown yourself faithful to me over and over jesus. So let my life glorify you. Teach me to walk beside you. I want to be more like you, so let my life be one marked by you, marked by you, marked by you.
