Think of Everything to Binge This Summer as your unhinged WhatsApp group chat with your friends and all their best recommendations: books, TV, and podcast episodes. We’re here to save you from the endless scroll cycle where you can’t think of a single thing you would like to watch, or indeed anything you have ever watched. Or the aimless stroll around the library questioning if you are indeed a person who reads? We’re preparing you for reading poolside, living your best beach life, and binge-watching TV with your favourite cousin. We got you!

Of course, if we were actually chatting in person, there might be things that we wouldn’t recommend, but you know, given it’s a podcast we can’t tailor recs for everyone. So please use discernment and debrief with a friend if something we recommended is not good for you. Remember this chat [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/p/issue-18-youre-so-vain-i-bet-you]? I mean, even in today’s episode we recommend stuff that the other podcast co-hosts would never read (see: 80s style vampire slayer horror novels).

Check out the http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e19-binge-summershow notes [https://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e19-binge-summer] for everything mentioned in the show.

This is our last episode of 2025. Season 2 kicks off in March 2026. Please help us serve you better in 2026. Give us feedback either in our super short survey [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/survey/1148306?token=] and let us know what you want us to chat about in 2026 or flick me an email at rebecca@storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au

If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].

Everything to Binge This Summer

We are interviewing all of our regular contributors in Season 1 for you to get to know them better. Today’s guest is Rhianon Rae, who shares beautifully about her difficulty with vulnerability throughout her life and what God has taught her about his faithfulness and peace through seasons of doubt and church conflict as a pastor's wife.

Rhianon is married to Sam and spends much of her time loving and looking after their three (soon to be four) children. In God’s kindness, she first heard the gospel from her parents, and has since trained in Christian ministry with UWA Christian Union and Trinity Theological College. In this season, she enjoys leading a Bible study, coffee dates with friends, watching cricket, and dreaming of the day she can play netball again.

In today’s episode, we explore:

 * The joys of cricket, netball, and reading the Bible one to one with other women.
 * Growing up in a Christian family on a farm in the country and becoming a Christian as a child.
 * Struggling with doubts as a teenager and young adult, and the role Christian Union had in her life as they were not afraid of the big questions.
 * Walking through a season of church conflict as a pastor’s wife and her fears of the damage to her reputation and relationships, her desire to avoid conflict, and what God taught her about forgiveness, his faithfulness and peace, and the value of having trusted people outside of your own ministry context to walk alongside you.

You can check out the show notes [https://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e18-church-conflict] for everything mentioned in the episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.

If you want to send us compliments or constructive suggestions, flick me an email rebecca@storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au 

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].

What I Learned Through Church Conflict: An Interview with Rhianon Rae

Loving On Your Brothers and Sisters was born from Britt texting this essay [https://katieblackburn.substack.com/p/brotherly-love] to our group chat and us collectively weeping at how beautiful and honest and encouraging it was. Join us as we debrief and process the practicalities of loving our as brothers and sisters in the church.

🎧 What it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ

🎧 Where we’ve seen this done well in our own lives

🎧 What we are working on to embrace the idea of church being family

🎧 The barriers we’ve grappled with as we try to love others (see: messy homes, fears of being a bad homemaker, busyness, not wanting to burden others, and not knowing where to start).

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e17-brothers-and-sisters] for everything mentioned in the show.

If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.

If you want to say hello, give us a compliment or suggestion, drop a line to to rebecca@storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au 

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].

Loving On Your Brothers and Sisters

We are interviewing all of our regular contributors in Season 1 for you to get to know them better. Today’s guest is Pearl Roycroft, a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Perth.

In today’s episode, we explore:

 * The joys of being in nature, writing poetry and performing music.
 * Growing up with parents who were immigrants and became Christians in their 20s, and her own slow journey to a deeper faith.
 * Pearl’s struggles with feeling weak and trusting God with her needs, including periods of travel across the country in her van and working in remote Aboriginal communities, and coming to trust more deeply in his love and provision for her.
 * How these periods of struggle and changes of seasons have influenced her new album, Closing Doors.

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e16-weak-pearl] for everything mentioned in the show.

If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.

Pearl released her new album, Closing Doors [https://open.spotify.com/album/5y4SLvLekRf9YQ2nAZm4qK?si=u90HZBoURY6txdaX4l-FmQ], this year. You can listen to her music on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/album/5y4SLvLekRf9YQ2nAZm4qK?si=u90HZBoURY6txdaX4l-FmQ] and Bandcamp [https://pearlroycroft.bandcamp.com/album/closing-doors]. You can see Pearl perform live by following through her company, @redgumrhythm [https://www.instagram.com/redgumrhythm/] and @pearl.music [https://www.instagram.com/pearl.music/] on Instagram.

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].

What I Learned When I Felt Weak: An Interview with Pearl Roycroft

The Internet Said Everyone Else is Doing It is a light hearted debrief (with some cackles) with Maddy, Rach, and Bec about learning to parent while drowning in a sea of parenting advice online. Even if you are not a mother, just a woman casting her anxieties upon the internet and hoping for a sign, this is worth a listen as it is ultimately about growing in discernment.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

🎧 Parenting strategies the internet said would work but did not work as promised with our families.

🎧 What we are learning about parenting as a Christian in a sea of secular parenting advice.

🎧 What we are learning about parenting as a Christian in a sea of “Christian” parenting advice.

🎧 What has actually helped us process problems in parenting.

You can listen on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1t9WsUUc7ituO3sAU9XPId], Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-after-dinner-mint/id1797955229], YouTube [https://youtube.com/@storiesidtellyouatdinner?feature=shared], or anywhere you get podcasts.

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e15-the-internet-said] for everything mentioned in the show.

If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].

The Internet Said Everyone Else is Doing It

The After Dinner Mint is a podcast of Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. We bring Christian women in Western Australia together through honest stories. Bethany Smith is a regular contributor to Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner and she shares her desire to hold on tightly to friendships after the isolation of interstate and overseas moves. She explains how God’s unchanging nature has been a comfort to her and has changed her approach to friendship as one of gratitude and openness.

In today’s episode, we explore:

 * Bethany’s role caring for her children and partnering with her husband in their ministry to students at UWA.
 * Growing up as a pastor's kid and not remembering a day when she did not believe in Jesus.
 * Her experiences in friendship and isolation with multiple moves overseas and interstate, the desire to hold on tightly to friendships and wanting them to be unchanging. We discuss how she has come to rest in the fact that God is the only one who is unchanging.
 * How the change in her theology of friendships has changed how she approaches friendship.

You can listen on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1t9WsUUc7ituO3sAU9XPId], Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-after-dinner-mint/id1797955229], YouTube [https://youtube.com/@storiesidtellyouatdinner?si=ZGlg2Z-JP_re--St], or anywhere you get podcasts.

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e14-friendship-bethany] for everything mentioned in the show.

About Bethany

Bethany grew up on the South Coast of NSW, moved to Sydney for university, and met her husband, Matt, while studying at Moore Theological College. They moved to Perth in 2020 to share the gospel with university students at UWA. They’ve since had three children who she spends her days with, caring for and discipling in the Lord Jesus. Bethany enjoys reading, exercising, baking and attempting to keep her plants alive.

Want honest stories from Christian women in Western Australia in your inbox on Wednesdays? Sign up here [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/].

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/]

What I Learned When I Wanted Friendship to be Unchanging: An Interview with Bethany Smith

Thanks for listening to Season 1, Episode 13 of The After Dinner Mint, a podcast of Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. We bring Christian women in Western Australia together through honest stories. Thanks for sharing your day with us!

Why Do The Sads Feel So Sad? is a deep dive into grief with a Mental Health Social Worker, a woman in ministry, and a Clinical Psych Registrar. Britt, Maddy and Bec explore our experiences of grief including bereavement but also discuss loss through transitions, aging, and the loss of dreams and potential. Life in a fallen world means we, collectively, are well acquainted with grief.

Can grief be a gift? How do we learn to live with it when our bodies shut down? How do we grieve in community? How do we grieve as Christians? As always, we have questions. Join us around the dinner table as we flesh this one out.

In Wednesday’s episode, we discuss:

🎧 What grief is and the common responses of either ignoring it or being consumed by it.

🎧 How our lives have been shaped by sitting with grief and what it means to grieve as a Christian.

🎧 Making space for grief and being able to sit with it, through therapy, deep friendships, prayer and lament, and what makes this vital skill difficult.

🎧 Grieving in community: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e13-the-sads] for everything mentioned in the show.

If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].

Why Do The Sads Feel So Sad?

The After Dinner Mint is a podcast of Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. We bring Christian women in Western Australia together through honest stories. Maddie Richards is a singer-songwriter and a regular contributor to Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. We are interviewing all our contributors in Season 1 for you to get to know them better.

In today’s episode, we explore:

 * The slowness of the creative process and how Maddie started writing and producing music
 * Growing up in a Christian family but coming to faith in her twenties
 * A life changing diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis in her twenties, which deepened her trust in the Lord and relationship with church community.
 * Her shift from wanting to do life on her own and feeling like she had to bring perfection to the Lord and her growing conviction that she can bring her mess to the Lord because he loves her.

You can listen on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/1t9WsUUc7ituO3sAU9XPId], Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-after-dinner-mint/id1797955229], YouTube [https://youtube.com/@storiesidtellyouatdinner?si=ZGlg2Z-JP_re--St], or anywhere you get podcasts.

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e12-life-changing-diagnosis] for everything mentioned in the show.

Check out Post Swim [https://open.spotify.com/track/2vvlMnurdZMg7usdXRQYQU?si=qcn0fva1Sl6DrYGrTFBsUw], Maddie’s most recent single.

About Maddie

Madeleine resides in the sleepy town of Perth Western Australia where she mostly spends her days writing, singing and dancing. With a tone made to mesmerise and lyricism that is tender and true, Madeleine takes the listener to a Heavenlike sort of realm. When not creating songs, she is found down by the seaside or at her favourite local coffee shop. You can find more on Instagram @toastoastbaby

Want honest stories from Christian women in Western Australia in your inbox on Wednesdays? Sign up here [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/].

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/]

What I Learned When I Had a Life Changing Diagnosis

When You Are Not Quiet and Gentle is an exuberant conversation with Rach, Maddy, and Bec about extrovert personalities (the personality type that calls out to a speaker from the back of the room), the downward mental spiral when you compare yourself to Maud Flanders, and what on earth “quiet and gentle” actually means. Is it a personality type or something much more? Join an ED nurse, a women’s ministry worker, and clinical psych reg on a tour through nineties church culture, 1 Peter 3:3-4, and Greek words.

Disclaimer: We really, really emphasise that we are 100% not experts here. We’re processing what we’re learning about the application of biblical principles to life in the hope you might have these conversations with your friends too.

In today’s episode, we:

 * Deep dive the concepts of quiet and gentle
 * Discuss our experiences of not fitting the “quiet and gentle” mould
 * Explore personality, internal vs external quietness, restless hearts, and dependence on the Lord
 * Discuss what faithfulness to God has called you to do and be looks like in different women

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e11-quiet-and-gentle] for everything mentioned in the show.

If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for free encouragement [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] in your inbox on Wednesdays from local Christian women. One week you get essays and poetry, the next week you get a podcast episode.

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/].

When You Are Not Quiet and Gentle

The After Dinner Mint is a podcast of Stories I’d Tell You at Dinner. We bring Christian women in Western Australia together through honest stories. We are interviewing all our regular contributors in Season 1 for you to get to know them better. Khaiah Thomson is a social worker and the author of the Blackwood series.

In today’s episode, we explore:

 * Turning your creative hobby into your job and finding ways to get unstuck
 * Growing up as a pastor’s kid in the country. Khaiah believed she was a Christian, but when she moved to Perth as a teenager she wrestled with feeling alone and unloveable. God said to her, “You don’t know me.”
 * In a time when people want to outsource discipleship of their kids, the value of growing up in a big family where she felt like it was a safe place to wrestle with all her big questions about faith and life.
 * Working as a hospital social worker on the renal transplant team whilst also diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease. We discuss coming to terms with eventually needing a kidney transplant when she wanted to ignore it and learning to rest in the fact that God is in control.

Check out the show notes [http://www.storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au/podcast/s1-e10-khaiah-thomson] for everything mentioned in the show.

Check out Welcome to Blackwood [https://www.amazon.com.au/Welcome-Blackwood-Where-Nothing-Seems/dp/0648366138], the first book in the trilogy. So fun!!

About Khaiah

West Australian Author Khaiah Thomson pens the Blackwood series. The first book Welcome to Blackwood won the Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize in 2020. Khaiah first decided to write young adult fiction novels as a way to exercise her brain while on maternity leave. She wanted to create a magical escape for young readers, all the while gently weaving in themes of God’s love through the timeless battles of good versus evil, unconditional love and the power of redemption.

Khaiah lives in Perth with her husband and two sons. When she isn't working or in her home office writing, Khaiah can usually be found nose-deep in a book, gaming or at the nearest cafe, hovering close to the coffee machine. Khaiah’s Welcome to Blackwood series can be found in all good bookstores and Hawkeye Books [https://hawkeyebooks.com.au/products/blackwood-series-bundle-pack-3-books].

Want honest stories from Christian women in Western Australia in your inbox on Wednesdays? Sign up here [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/].

Music: Come Back by Ketsa [https://ketsa.uk/]. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/]

What I Learned When I Couldn't Ignore Polycystic Kidney Disease Anymore: An Interview with Khaiah Thomson

The After Dinner Mint is a podcast of Stories I'd Tell You at Dinner. We bring Christian women in Western Australia together through honest stories. One fortnight you get an interview with a local Christian woman about how she became a Christian, who encourages her, and what she has learned about God through suffering that she would not have learned otherwise. On the other fortnight, hosts Bec, Britt, Rach, and Maddy discuss what they're learning about faith, hope, and the right pair of jeans. Sign up to our newsletter, Stories I'd Tell You at Dinner [https://storiesidtellyouatdinner.substack.com/] to get honest stories from local Christian women in your inbox on Wednesdays.

Rebecca Fergie

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