When Your Faith in Evil is Greater Than Your Faith in God (& What He Wants to Do About It) | S2 EP7
In this episode, we tackle the problem of having greater faith in the Devil than in God. This can look like focusing more on what the Devil is doing than on what God is doing or focusing more on your wounds than on God's heart for you. Who has the last word in your story? When you tell your story, is it one of hope or one of hopelessness? If you struggle to see the goodness woven throughout your own story, this episode is for you.
Book recommendations:
Big GOD, Little Devil: A Radical Shift in the Approach to Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance by Sean Tobin.
Everything Is Grace: The Life and Way of Thérèse of Lisieux by Joseph F. Schmidt
Searching For and Maintaining Peace by Fr. Jacques Philippe
The Bible by God
Shattered Dreams: God's Unexpected Path to Joy by Larry Crabb
29 Jul 2026
What if your life is a great story? | S2 EP6
In this episode, Nicole & Trinity discuss what it's like to know that your life is a story, one with a beautiful ending that makes sense of and redeems the sufferings that have come before. Knowing that you're in a story can give you a sense of meaning and purpose in the midst of suffering, and not just after it's over. It can encourage and invigorate you.
Book recommendations:
The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge and Brent Curtis
A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
1 Jul 2026
Disappointments, Shattered Dreams & the Silence of God | S2 EP5
In this episode, Nicole & Trinity explore how to wrestle with God in the midst of our disappointments and shattered dreams, what it means to actually have a face before God, and what our good God might be up to when we think He's not doing anything. We recommend C.S. Lewis' Til We Have Faces for the trillionth time, and sooner or later we are going to do a series on the book, so now's a good time as ever to start reading!
We also recommend Larry Crabb's Shattered Dreams if you're dealing with a loss or disappointment right now or want to grow your trust in God despite manifold suffering in this world.
11 Jun 2026
Shame Pt. 1: An Introduction | S2 EP4
In this episode, Nicole introduces the nature of shame, mostly pulling from Curt Thompson's The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves. She discusses its relationship to vulnerability, how it will show up and disrupt the process of learning that's required for growing as people and for growing in intimate relationships, and its connection to motivation. This is only the beginning of the exploration of shame that we will undertake on this podcast.
Book recommendation (besides The Soul of Shame): John Eldredge and Brent Curtis' The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God.
10 Jun 2026
Hope, Healing & the Restoration We Desire | S2 EP3
In this episode, we tackle the nature of hope and how to experience it in the midst of unmet needs, desires, and longings. What is hope? What does it mean to have hope in Jesus rather than in circumstances or desired outcomes?
Here's the song that Nicole mentioned: Revival's In the Air by Bethel Music
4 Jun 2026
Expanding the Imagination | S2 EP2
In this episode, Nicole explores an important antidote to anxiety: expanding our imaginations. She explores how we can understand anxiety as being stuck in a very small world out of which we must break out so we can enter our real, vast and mysterious world.
Book recommendations:
- You Are the One You've Been Waiting For: Applying Internal Family Systems to Intimate Relationships by Richard Schwartz
- Litanies of the Heart: Relieving Post-Traumatic Stress and Calming Anxiety Through Healing Our Parts by Gerry Ken Crete
- Personal Prayer: A Guide for Receiving the Father's Love by Boniface Hicks and Thomas Acklin
-
My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints
by Dawn Eden
22 May 2026
WE'RE SO BACK (feat. motivation, self-compassion, abandonment wounds, and prayer) | S2 EP1
After a long and unexpected hiatus, we have returned with season 2!
First, Nicole & Trinity explain why we took such a long break, our new philosophy and approach to the podcast, and then we discuss what God has been teaching us all these months.
We touch on discouragement and motivation, self-compassion, struggling with abandonment wounds, how to approach our wounded parts, and prayer.
Thanks for relishing reality with us!
16 Dec 2025
Nicole & Trinity VS. Eternal Damnation | Ep. 8
In this episode, we take on the following questions (while keeping in mind those who struggle with scrupulosity):
How are we supposed to attach to God given the existence of Hell?
Does the possibility of Hell mean we can't trust God's heart for us?
How can we reconcile the need to trust Him with the possibility of eternal damnation?
8 Dec 2025
An Advent Chat with Nicole & Trinity | Ep. 7
We're back after taking a week off for Thanksgiving! Follow us on Instagram @realitypartypodcast for updates and news, like when we're taking a week off.
In this episode, we talk about our how we're doing this Advent and what's on our hearts. For the first time, we just let pressed record and had a normal conversation, updating each other in real time. We thought we'd try something new, so let us know if you like this format!
We are praying for you all as you continue on the Advent journey. God bless you.
24 Nov 2025
Healing the Imagination & Fearing The Spiritual Life | Ep. 6
In this episode, Nicole tackles the role of the imagination in the spiritual life, and how we need healthy imaginations in order to have a proper desire for God and the spiritual life. She also offers a few ideas regarding how to start healing the imagination, especially as someone who has struggled with a wounded imagination herself.
17 Nov 2025
What Are Emotions, & What Do I Do with Them? | Ep. 5
In this episode, Nicole offers a basic background on the philosophy of the human person as laid out by Aristotle and Aquinas, but with a specific focus on the emotions, where they come from, and what their role would have been in our state of "original integrity," which Fr. Brian Mullady uses to describe how Adam and Eve functioned (and therefore, how we are designed to function).
Since we live post-Adam and Eve, what are we supposed to do with our emotions? Nicole offers one way to start approaching our emotions in this fallen world, using the work of Dr. Diana Fosha on core emotions.
Original Integrity Diagram (as mentioned in the podcast)
10 Nov 2025
Nicole & Trinity VS. That One Atheist at the Bar | Ep. 4
In this episode, Nicole & Trinity share their intellectual and personal reasons for belief in God, ranging from the idea of God as the first cause of all things to God as the underlying order and reason that makes this world understandable. This is what we might say if an atheist at the bar asked us "Why do you believe in God, anyway?"
Is this episode supposed to definitively prove God's existence? In no way. Is it still worth a listen? We sure hope so.
Thank you for supporting our show. Please consider following us on whatever podcasting platform you use so that you can get updates about new episodes.
Have any comments or questions? Email nicolehocott@gmail.com.
3 Nov 2025
Nicole & Trinity VS. Scrupulosity (God's Mercy VS. Spiritual Perfectionism) | Ep. 3
In today's episode, Nicole & Trinity take on scrupulosity, which is a kind of spiritual perfectionism and a subset of OCD. We don't take on the topic from a clinical perspective, but rather some underlying beliefs and God images that might dispose us toward a struggle with scrupulosity. We discuss God's goodness, mercy, and examples of His character found in literature.
Link to Sr. Miriam James clip (EDIT: It's actually a different Bible story and it's called, "What Do You Still Lack?" That's my bad, but it's still the same point. - Nicole):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpQJyaAz4gU
Links on Scrupulosity as OCD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWRrNCKc0l8&feature=youtu.be
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/87-scrupulosity-when-ocd-gets-religion/id1503898046?i=1000544076273 (this episode is also found on Spotify and other podcasting platforms)
Book Recommendation: I Believe in Love by Fr Jean C. J. D'Elbee
29 Oct 2025
What is Reality? An Introduction to Metaphysics with Nicole | Ep. 2
Nicole Hocott explains how one might even begin to answer, "What is Reality?" We figured that since this is a podcast that's making claims about reality and that has "reality" in the title, it would probably be a good idea to define what that is. In order to do this, we have to engage in metaphysics. This episode will also attempt to pitch you the idea that your metaphysics (i.e., your underlying principles and assumptions about the world, being, and reality) are absolutely crucial to your wellbeing. Nicole discusses how reality is either bigger than what's in your thought and philosophies, smaller than what's in your thought, or the exact same as what's in your thought. With the help of Peter Kreeft (via his book, unfortunately, not as a guest), Nicole also examines what difference it makes to your life which one of these you believe.
Will this episode answer all of life's mysteries? Absolutely not. Is it still worth listening to? We sure hope so, or else we wouldn't be publishing it.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, email nicolehocott@gmail.com
Please consider suscribing to help our new channel, and thanks for listening!
27 Oct 2025
Trinity & Nicole VS. the Void
In this episode, Trinity and Nicole take on the void, or the sense of longing for more that's part of every human life.
Questions Explored:
What am I supposed to do with my longings and unmet desires?
Where do I take my disappointments, and how am I supposed to interpret them in light of God's goodness?
If I'm a Christian, am I supposed to feel satisfied already?
What will ultimately satisfy the human heart?
What do we do when we find ourselves in the waiting place?
Book Recommendations:
The Sacred Romance by John Eldredge and Brent Curtis
Shattered Dreams by Larry Crabb
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge
Have any suggestions, comments, or questions? Email nicolehocott@gmail.com.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.4 / 5
7 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
15 ratings
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