Showing results by narrator "Michael Mola" in All Categories

What does it mean to live a life full of faith? Todd Anderson’s stories of his personal journey show what it means to trust what you can’t see and take small steps forward, rather than waiting for one giant leap. His stories reveal the truth that the journey is difficult at times, but his faith and experience show that God never leaves his children alone, and like the prodigal son, they will eventually find their way back home again.

Kevin’s life was fairly standard and hectic. Being the fifth out of nine children, there was never a shortage of excitement in the house. But his real joy came in building things. If he could describe heaven, it would be a place with unlimited access to power tools filled with the smell of sawdust and metal. Confident in his sexuality, and sometimes a bit aggressive, his journey into adulthood was running as smoothly as it could. That is, until high school.

Gavin is helping one of his best friends, Dario, navigate through depression with the help of another friend, Rayland. The three did everything together until high school ruined the bond. Something happened to Gavin that puts his friendship with Dario at risk. When it came down to the choice between their friendship and his own feelings, Gavin chose himself. Was it the best choice? Can the damage he did to Dario be undone?

Rayland has big dreams of Broadway superstardom and the spunky determination to get her there. Sometimes she's feisty and aggressive, but that’s part of her charm. Her two best friends, Dario and Gavin, have their own opinions about this charm. Chasing her dreams comes naturally. The harder task is dealing with Dario’s depression and helping him realize his worth. But when his friendship with Gavin breaks up for the second time and Dario starts to spiral out of control, will she be enough? Can she help him without Gavin, or will she lose Dario to depression and anxiety forever?

Born in a coal camp in Southview, Pennsylvania, to a German immigrant father who was a coal miner for 37 years, my future looked preordained. I was headed to the coal mines or the steel mills in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was just a way of life in Appalachia, and the measurement of success was just getting a job, eventually getting married, and raising a family--a good life by everyone's standards who worked and lived there.

Dario suffers from anxiety and depression mixed with a toxic desire to please his parents. Although an overachiever in all things, he can't get the approval he craves; never believing he could be good enough for them. His friends try to help him realise he's okay as is, but nothing they do works. Eventually, something beyond his control forces Dario to the conclusion that all he'd worked for no longer mattered. Will the damage of Dario's past stop him from full acceptance or will he push through to find the man he buried?

Giving in to the emotions Kevin stirs in him goes against everything Dario has been running from, but now, when he no longer has to run, will he take the leap into the unknown? Does he even have a choice? The only thing that seems certain is that all roads lead to Kevin.

Having been raised in the system, Louis never envisioned he’d have the life he had: A loving partner, his dream job bringing music into the world and three children—four if you counted Dario, a shy, anxious and extremely talented student who didn’t recognize his worth. Louis stepped in to be his father when Dario’s own had failed him.