039 Chronic Illness, Identity, and Faith: Bethany Bacon on Being Seen Beyond Symptoms

• What it can look like to hold hope that feels real, not performative

• Bethany’s early medical story: born at 24½ weeks and living with hydrocephalus

• How she thinks about faith in a broken world (and why she talks openly about spiritual battle)

• A simple morning rhythm Bethany uses to stay grounded when symptoms and stress flare

• How a painful moment in public criticism impacted her identity for years

• Why she created her Anchored in Hope coaching program and what it includes

• “People are wanting genuine hope.”

• “Chronic illness doesn’t have to define a person.”

• “I can’t control other people’s reactions. All I can do is obey the Lord.”

• “It’s in my head… and it’s not in my head.”

• “God wants you to see yourself as His child, not through the way the world does.”

• Bethany Bacon: Created in His Image

• Anchored in Hope coaching program

• Website: created-in-his-image.com (with dashes between the words)

• Host: April Aramanda

• Guest: Bethany Bacon

• Music: Audio Jungle

• Produced for: The Invisible Illness Club Podcast

April Aramanda: All right. Well, Bethany, welcome to the Invisible Illness Club podcast. I’m so happy to have you here.

Bethany Bacon: Thank you. I’m happy to be here.

April Aramanda: I know it’s been a little while. We’ve been back and forth, both of us, with health issues trying to get this podcast episode recorded. So, I’m glad we’re finally meeting.

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Yes. Y I was Yeah.

April Aramanda: All right. Well, let’s just jump right in. Um, Bethany, you were born at just 24 and a half weeks. Can you That’s just the fact that you survived that is crazy. Um, can you take us back to those early days and what that looked like for you and your family as that, you know, you’re a massive preeie at that point?

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Um that was somewhat unexpected for my parents. Um my they had been um they they had had the joy of becoming parents.

April Aramanda: Mhm. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: Um well, seven times before that, but all of those times um ended in miscarriage.

April Aramanda: Wow.

Bethany Bacon: And so it none of none of those were um abortion attempts. They were all Right.

April Aramanda: No, they just not a viable pregnancy. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: And so, um, my mom had had a doctor appointment, um, early on in her pregnancy with me. And her doctor even told her that if I was fullterm that I would probably be 9 lb. Yeah.

April Aramanda: Yeah, big baby.

Bethany Bacon: And so, um, it she was considered a high risk pregnancy because of, um, previous miscarriages.

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: And yet, um, I don’t really think they were anticipating, um, what happened with me. Um, and yet it’s amazing to see their steadfast faith through that all.

April Aramanda: Yes.

Bethany Bacon: It’s and you know even today it it’s evident to me that they are still steadfast in their faith and they um yeah they

April Aramanda: That’s amazing.

Bethany Bacon: been through a lot and so um it’s So from what they tell me, um when I was 6 weeks old, um finally big enough to um survive a surgery, I had a shunt inserted um because of hydro And

April Aramanda: Mhm. Mhm.

Bethany Bacon: so I do have a picture of me after that um with a scar on my head um from where that took place. Um I spent another two months then in the hospital um just you know getting bigger obviously.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: So um but it yeah

April Aramanda: How did that kind of shape things for you as you grew up as a child into your early adulthood, having a shunt and and knowing that things were a little different for Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: well um at 3 years old my parents were told that I no longer needed a shunt. And yet, according to the doctors, it was too life-threatening to remove the shunt.

April Aramanda: Thank you.

Bethany Bacon: And so I lived with the shunt inside the it was a straight line shunt, no valves. So basically the way I think of it is a long straw.

April Aramanda: Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: Um and so that it was left in um I was blessed with um 25 years of not having any more hydrophilis issues.

April Aramanda: That’s awesome.

Bethany Bacon: Yes, it is. Um, so I was very blessed to be able to go through my childhood and young adulthood without even really realizing I had I had hydrophilis.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: And so Yeah.

April Aramanda: So fairly normal childhood it seems.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah.

April Aramanda: Yeah. That’s awesome.

Bethany Bacon: Yes. And I mean I I did have some learning delays because of the prematurity and that. And yet, um, I was able to graduate high school in 2003 and I, um, went on to college with a psych material um,

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: major and graduated in 2005. And so, yeah, I um the Lord has abundantly blessed and that has just been huge.

April Aramanda: It’s awesome. Yes.

Bethany Bacon: um that he has shown me different things that have you know really increase my faith and increased my awareness in you know why why the world is

April Aramanda: Mhm.

Bethany Bacon: the way it is.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: So, yes.

April Aramanda: Well, that is I’m I’m really glad to hear you bringing faith up and God up and the way that that has shaped some things for you since probably the very beginning because your parents were very strong. Um especially when they were going through all this with you as a little child, you know, trying to to manage not only you being premature but also the hydrophilis and everything else going on in their lives.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: Um, so one of the other things that you talk about is hope in all of this because we know that God gives us a great hope.

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Yes.

April Aramanda: So you emphasize sharing genuine hope, not forced hope.

Bethany Bacon: Amen. Right.

April Aramanda: So what does that look like in practice for you when you’re encouraging other people?

Bethany Bacon: Um, I that’s a great question because it it helps me to understand that people are wanting that genuine hope. And I strongly believe there has to be a not only a realization of who God is and how he, you know, created the world and he creates us.

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: Um, but also understanding that we do have an enemy and that is Satan and God created Lucifer as an angel.

April Aramanda: Mhm.

Bethany Bacon: And yet Lucifer chose what he did to become Satan, to become your enemy.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: And I maybe maybe it’s just me, but I don’t I don’t hear much about Satan as I believe um should be told about him that he he is

our enemy and you know If so, how many people are being led astray because they’re not being

April Aramanda: I agree.

Bethany Bacon: told the whole truth.

April Aramanda: Oh, I agree. I agree so much.

Bethany Bacon: And I um I don’t want to get off on um something that you’re not intending this to be, but that’s Yeah, it’s

April Aramanda: I mean, we could have that conversation all day every day because I have so many opinions on that. But we’ll pull it back into illness for now.

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Yes.

April Aramanda: Um, so Genesis 3 does remind us that this is a broken world, a very broken world. So with illnesses and and our belief in God, because this is something that all of us who believe in God re have to wrestle with and reconcile at some point. How do you personally reconcile the reality of your illness with God’s goodness?

Bethany Bacon: Yes. I um I do believe that is another area where understanding that we do have an enemy comes into play because if people like I say if people don’t understand that then God is going to get blamed for things he doesn’t do.

April Aramanda: Thank you.

Bethany Bacon: And so it’s having hydrophilis, having an invisible condition that people perhaps don’t understand.

Bethany Bacon: Um because I mean I have it and I don’t even fully understand it.

April Aramanda: Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: And so it’s I do thank the Lord for how he’s working in my life through it and helping me to really help people understand how how it plays into um his will for my life.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: So yeah.

April Aramanda: Yeah. And I think that sometimes we Well, we all ask the questions why. I mean, if we’re going to be honest, every one of us asks why.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah. Yeah.

April Aramanda: Because sometimes it feels so much that it’s hard to understand how a God who loves us would allow it to happen.

Bethany Bacon: Right.

April Aramanda: One of the things that I want to to caution is that God does allow a lot of things to happen to us.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: Part of that is because we live in a broken world.

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Yes.

April Aramanda: at the fall in the beginning when things broke that meant that over time different illnesses different conditions different you know DNA things were going to happen because we are no longer a pure perfect world we’re now in a broken world so it’s not necessarily that you know God did it to you or that God created this disease.

Bethany Bacon: Right.

April Aramanda: It’s more that our world is now so broken that people who who all of us, let me just say it that way, all of us who sin um create things that happen and over time these things can become

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Yes.

April Aramanda: illnesses or worse illnesses or whatever.

Bethany Bacon: Yes, Yes.

April Aramanda: So hydrophilis, uh fibromyalgia, ankylosing spondylitis, you know, all these different things that we’re dealing with. It’s not necessarily because, oh, Satan came right at you and said you’re gonna have hydrophilis. It’s it’s more that the world is so broken that now these things are able to create and become a problem for us. So, yeah, I I like that you speak on that and that you recognize that, you know, God didn’t do this to you.

Bethany Bacon: Right.

April Aramanda: He has allowed it to happen.

Bethany Bacon: Right.

April Aramanda: And the reasons he’s allowed it, some of us may never know until we’re in heaven.

Bethany Bacon: Right. Yeah.

April Aramanda: Um, but you’re doing something with it. And that is part of the reason in my opinion.

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Yes.

April Aramanda: So, you’ve spoken about how chronic illness doesn’t have to define a person because it is the I mean the biggest thing we all think of 247. We don’t stop thinking about it because we’re living with it.

Bethany Bacon: Right.

April Aramanda: But it doesn’t have to define us as a person.

Bethany Bacon: No. Um, that looks like Every morning before I get up, I pray and I two

April Aramanda: So, what does that look like in your life?

Bethany Bacon: things I include specifically in that prayer along with other things. Um, one is thanking God for his protection and two, thanking God for restraining Satan over myself and,

April Aramanda: Mhm.

Bethany Bacon: you know, my house and my computer and all of that.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: And just um you know really understand again understanding that if if nobody if if no Christians pray for Satan to be restrained and he thinks that he has free reign.

April Aramanda: Sure.

Bethany Bacon: I believe and you know even even though the Holy Spirit is within every Christian, there are people who don’t respect the Holy Spirit.

April Aramanda: Well, that’s true.

Bethany Bacon: And so it I do believe that it is important to you know acknowledge thank God for his protection.

April Aramanda: Thank you.

Bethany Bacon: Thank him for restraining Satan and you know seeing how that comes about. Um, and so as far as the illness that you know, I feel that the Lord gives me the strength as I pray and ask for it. and then thank him for it because what we can pray all we want to but if we don’t act on what he says through the

April Aramanda: Mhm. Hey

Bethany Bacon: Holy Spirit or we don’t thank him for what he will do then that’s on us I believe. And so, um, yeah, it Oh, yeah.

April Aramanda: Right. Well, and I think also because we’re we’re talking about, you know, how does this illness not become everything in our life? And sometimes, some days, some weeks, some months it does. Um, I think, you know, the fact that you’re helping other people, um, really pulls you out of your own head and puts you in that that thing of helping someone and giving of ourselves to someone else really helps

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Yes.

April Aramanda: make it not all about us and our illness because I think it’s so easy to get lost in that.

Bethany Bacon: Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

April Aramanda: Um, so I love I love that you help people also, you know, that your prayer is God, what do I need to do?

Bethany Bacon: Oh, yeah.

April Aramanda: What do I need to be doing? And you do that. So that’s really good. Um, you’ve mentioned, so we’re going to shift a little to kind of some personal things.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah.

April Aramanda: You’ve mentioned your unique voice quality from being on a ventilator after birth.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: H what has that looked like in your story over the years?

Bethany Bacon: Um well, childhood obviously. Um they you know kids and um that I tried not to let that affect me.

April Aramanda: Kids are mean. Thank you.

Bethany Bacon: Um and and yet as I grew up and as certain circumstances in the world changed. Um I I did start to feel more like okay how how does someone like me who their voice quality can’t be changed overcome the whole Well, are you a man or what?

Bethany Bacon: And I not to get into any of that. Um, but um it’s just it’s been interesting.

April Aramanda: All right.

Bethany Bacon: Um, and in 2006, I was working a retail job in the woman’s department of a store.

April Aramanda: I’m sure Sometimes

Bethany Bacon: Normally there was more than one worker in each department but as Yeah.

April Aramanda: it happens. You’re left there alone. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: And so a call came in and not wanting to leave the customer hanging, I answered it and I did my best to explain, you know, I said my name. I said I think I said I was a woman.

April Aramanda: Mhm.

Bethany Bacon: Um, but the customer wasn’t having it. And she proceeded to ask the obvious question that anybody would ask.

April Aramanda: All

Bethany Bacon: Why do they have a man working in the woman’s department?

April Aramanda: right.

Bethany Bacon: And Obviously, that’s a justified question.

April Aramanda: Okay.

Bethany Bacon: Well, I I did proceed quickly to try to explain to her my situation, but she still wasn’t having it.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: And so we hang up and she proceeds to call the store manager and complain. And and that situation caused me. I mistakenly submitted to Satan and I’m like no more no more am I going to put myself out there. I’m just it’s not worth it.

April Aramanda: can be hard. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: Yes. And so for the next 19 years until just this past June 2025, I greatly struggled with, you know, how are people going to view me?

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: How are people going to, you know, are they going to have this the same view?

April Aramanda: reaction. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah. And it and then in June 2025 is when the Lord just it’s almost like he uh hit me over the head or something and

April Aramanda: You kind of woke up.

Bethany Bacon: you like he’s like you’re not that I need you to get my message out there and you cannot wait any longer. And that was what really hit home to me that okay, I I can’t control other people’s reactions.

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: I can’t control how they respond. All I can do is obey the Lord and continue getting his message through me out.

April Aramanda: It’s true. And it’s hard because in this world, well, probably since before any of us were born, this world takes looks and and voice and, you know, the different pieces that make us um and uses

Bethany Bacon: Yeah. Yeah.

April Aramanda: those to judge us.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: Um, it’s been especially true since the ‘9s when everything was the skinny mini look and you know that’s kind of coming back right now.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah.

April Aramanda: Um, and those of us with chronic illness, sometimes we I mean this is steroid face right here. It’s not going away anytime soon. So sometimes we look different or we sound different than what they are expecting and that can be really really hard.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah.

April Aramanda: I am very glad to hear that you hit a point this year that God was able to get a hold of you and say, “Hey, wait a minute. You’re

April Aramanda: my child. This is how I see you. I want you to stop looking at yourself through the way the world does.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah.

April Aramanda: And I want you to look at yourself the way I see you because that is a hard place to come to.” And

Bethany Bacon: Yeah.

April Aramanda: I wrestle with that all the time. Um, but it is something that I think that God really wants us to understand is that we are his child and that it doesn’t matter what the world says about the way we look, the way we sound, the

Bethany Bacon: Yeah. No. Amen.

April Aramanda: way we dress, way we cut our hair, whatever doesn’t matter that we are a child of God and he sees us as that perfect child that he loves. He doesn’t see our imperfections.

Bethany Bacon: Yeah.

April Aramanda: He doesn’t see our, you know, medical equipment. He doesn’t see or hear our voice the way that we hear it. He sees us as perfect. And so, I’m so glad that you are working on that because that’s an amazing thing that needs that everyone needs to be able to come to.

April Aramanda: Um, so how let’s see. I just lost my train of thought. That’s brain fog for you guys. Let me tell you, it’s a real thing and you can completely lose what you’re doing. So, I’m going to look at my notes here. So, I know that one of the reasons that we haven’t gotten together before now is because you had to have another surgery.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: Um, I’m going to assume related to your hydrophilis.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: Um, how has it been going since that last surgery?

Bethany Bacon: It’s been going quite well. Um I there have been um symptoms that have completely disappeared that I I have assumed were the result of the new shunt being placed.

April Aramanda: That’s great.

Bethany Bacon: Now now the doctors They’re like, but I’m I’m convinced that it’s the new shock that um alleviated the symptoms and that is awesome that I you know imaging like CT scans, MRIs is X-rays and that they can only go so far.

April Aramanda: Yeah. Right.

April Aramanda: It’s true.

Bethany Bacon: And so what I had to do and the first um test they suggested um when I called them in August, they said you need shunt flow studies just to make sure that the flow was still.

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: And so, and that that was the first time that has ever happened where they’ve come back and said, “Okay, you need more advanced testing.” because they prior to this they were they’ve always been like, “Oh, let’s try this and let’s try that.” And well just to

April Aramanda: Yeah. Well, the older we get sometimes the more testing we need. Um, partly because our bodies are breaking down because we’re older and so that’s kind of a common thing I think. So, yeah. But it is funny how they’re always like, “Yeah, let’s try this. Let’s try this. Let’s try this.” And they exhaust all the tries and then they go, “Okay, now we’ll do the testing

Bethany Bacon: Yeah. So, um, but it’s been it’s been great, um, to finally have something that I can look to and say, okay, if I have these symptoms, then I know it’s shunt

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: related and not just, you know, in my head, which it is in my head, but you know what I mean.

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: And yeah, yeah, yeah.

April Aramanda: That’s actually good. It just hit me when you said it. I was like, “Wait a second. It is in your head.” See, there’s your great joke for the day. It’s in my head, but it’s not in my head. Well, Bethany, could you tell us a little bit about now created in his image and your anchored in hope coaching program?

Bethany Bacon: Yes. Um that program was conceived in um July 2024 after I had been let go from my classroom aid position um because of employer their financial difficulty and I I struggled.

April Aramanda: Thank you.

Bethany Bacon: I struggled for weeks like, “Okay, God, what what do you want me to do?”

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: I mean, I I go from something I truly loved and to now almost abruptly being let go from that.

April Aramanda: Right.

Bethany Bacon: And it so I I did struggle.

Bethany Bacon: And in that time though, the Lord started really working on me that okay, you this is what I need you to do. And so anchored in hope the coaching program is a 12week program. Week one starts with the foundation that we do have an enemy because I, as I’ve said, I strongly believe that if people don’t understand that, then they will have a wrong view of God. And so that week one is just setting that foundation. And then the other 11 weeks I go through one of God’s attributes a week recognizing that there’s more than 11 obviously but these 11

April Aramanda: Awesome.

Bethany Bacon: I believe are core um to really understanding God. And then as a bonus, one of the bonuses, I go through the other attributes and just lay out um all of them so that people have a better understanding of

April Aramanda: Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: who God is. And then um one of the other bonuses I offer is the opportunity to continue on with me for up to a year.

April Aramanda: Okay.

Bethany Bacon: um having the weekly sessions just to get that support because so often it seems like people are wanting that one- on-one support and yet

April Aramanda: Yeah. Yeah.

Bethany Bacon: um it seems like so many people are saying, “Oh, I’m I’m busy.” And yes, life is busy.

April Aramanda: Yes.

Bethany Bacon: And yet we need to make it a priority to spend our time not on things that are discouraging and depressing and that, but really uplifting. And um so that people kind of break that chains of despair and defeat and have that freedom from Satan’s grip.

April Aramanda: Yeah, that sounds like an amazing program. Um, I love the idea that you spend so much time on the attributes of God because I think it’s important that we understand who he is.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: That helps us understand why he created us, helps us understand how to deal with other people, so many different things in our lives, even making it through the chronic illnesses that we’re all dealing with. So, that’s amazing.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: Well, Bethany, can you tell us how we can get a hold of you?

April Aramanda: how we can follow your story, how we can see your program, where can we find you.

Bethany Bacon: um created in his image.com um having dashes in between the words. So created dashin d-his-image.com.

April Aramanda: Okay.

Bethany Bacon: Um, and I I believe you have the link there to put in the show.

April Aramanda: Yes, I’ll have all your links in the show notes for people.

Bethany Bacon: Oh, right.

April Aramanda: Awesome.

Bethany Bacon: Yes.

April Aramanda: Well, Bethany, it is Oh, I’m sorry.

Bethany Bacon: And um you know I’m I’m here for anyone who just needs someone to listen, someone to care.

April Aramanda: You have another place. Mhm.

Bethany Bacon: Um, I if you’re someone who is wondering, someone who is hurting, I’m here and I would love the opportunity to connect with

you.

April Aramanda: I think that’s amazing. I think that is a fantastic way to end this show is with that encouragement that that Bethany is one of those people who wants to just sit there and listen to you and let you know you’re not alone. So definitely definitely look for the link in the show notes so that you can reach out to Bethany because I think that she would be an amazing resource for some of you. Bethany, thank you so much for being on the podcast. We really appreciate it and I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your week.

Bethany Bacon: Thank you