We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carol Roper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carol, appreciate you joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
About twelve years ago I felt called to start writing but since my background is in architectural engineering designing homes, this was really out of my wheelhouse. I’d heard about a local writer’s group and decided to join. I was overwhelmed by the support and encouragement they gave me and felt like the next step was to go to a writing conference nearby. There I met more great people who cheered me on and helped to enhance my writing skills. Because of that encouragement I started a blog, writing stories about inspirational life experiences with my husband and children. At this point in my life, I’d also been in womens ministry for over fifteen years and felt my blog should address issues that pertained to home and family. After a few years of writing and blogging and having been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Guideposts Magazine as well as a few other publications, I let my writing fall to the wayside in order to focus more on my young adult children. But in 2018 I felt God leading me to step out in a bigger way by starting a podcast. Because of my love for home design and women’s ministry I decided to meld those passions together and call the podcast Building Strong Homes One Story at a Time. There are so many people in my own community who’ve overcome huge challenges in their homes, marriages and families, that I knew these stories needed to be told so that others could receive hope and encouragement from their testimonies. But just as I was about to start working on bringing that dream to fruition, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That put the podcast on hold for over a year while I underwent two surgeries and 20 radiation treatments. I completed my last radiation treatment the end of January 2020 and began focusing on learning how to start a podcast. In March, as we all know, Covid hit and shut the world down. After several months of uncertainty, I decided to go ahead and work toward starting the podcast again set a release date of December 1 of 2020. Then, my dad unexpectedly died of Covid on December 10, 2020. I felt like I’d been knocked down again and again. I wasn’t sure I could get back up again and continue on with the podcast. But my brother shared with me how excited our dad was about the it and how he’d been praying for it. I knew I didn’t want to give up on something he believed in, so I forged ahead.
On December 1 my podcast will celebrate its second birthday and will have released 67 episodes with over 15,000 downloads. I’ve met some amazing people and heard so many great stories of how God has worked in their lives through the podcast. My dream is to touch and transform lives and families so that the generations following us will be impacted in positive ways for years to come. I know that’s a big statement, but I also know how big my God is.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
As a womens ministry leader I saw many ladies who had come from difficult situations. One lady’s mom had dropped her off at the babysitters when she was five months old and never came back. As a result, she struggled with lots of mental health issues and even lost her children in her divorce. Another lady was a widow in her 20’s trying to support her young son on her own. Those are two that stand out most prominently in my mind. I met these ladies while teaching a Sunday school class and at first felt like I’d never be able to connect with them. But as the weeks went on, I found myself asking God to teach me how to love them in ways that they needed, and He was so good to answer that prayer. From these encounters, my desire to impact women and teach them about God’s goodness grew. My heart aches for those who’ve never experienced God’s love for themselves and who, from that pain, have an upside-down view of the world. I want to give women hope in the form of teaching them about Jesus and sharing how He truly can transform and redeem people and family situations.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
When I hear how one of the interviews from the podcast has encouraged a listener and given them hope in the midst of hard situations. I had one girl reach out to a friend she hadn’t spoken to in a while because of a misunderstanding and after she listened to an episode on friendship decided to put her differences aside and contact her. She told her how much she’d meant to her and realized how important their friendship is to her. That’s just one instance of how one podcast episode influenced those two ladies in a positive way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carolroper.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/building_strong_homes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/975070836302973
Image Credits
Corrie Bagwell, Laura Brown Wood