Christy Nockels is opening up about the difficult season behind a tender new chapter in her marriage. In an interview on The Women of Joy Show, published August 18, 2026, the worship singer revealed that her 30th year of marriage to husband Nathan was their hardest-and explained why the joy they are discovering now has been hard fought.
The conversation explored faith in ordinary life, but its most personal moment came when Nockels was asked what was bringing her unexpected joy. Her answer centered on getting to know her husband again as their children grow older and the couple approaches an empty nest.
"We've both lost our moms in the last three years," she shared, explaining that they had also faced heavy family circumstances. "And I will say our 30th year was our hardest year."
Nockels did not detail the difficulties behind that statement. Instead, she described renewed closeness emerging amid ongoing challenges, with more room to discover what she and Nathan enjoy together beyond the responsibilities that shaped their earlier family years.
Having met at 19, the couple has effectively grown up together. At the time of the interview, Nockels said they had been married for 31 years, and the transition toward life with fewer children at home was bringing fresh questions: What do they want to eat? How do they want to spend a Tuesday evening? What do they enjoy when it is just the two of them?
Those small discoveries have become meaningful sources of connection. Nockels said the couple is finding new rhythms and continuing to learn about each other, even after decades of shared life and creative work.
"We still like each other," she said with a laugh.
Their working relationship also came into the conversation. Nockels acknowledged that collaborating is not always effortless, joking that work on a Christmas record had included a couple of disagreements. Yet making music together remains part of the life they have long shared.
That honesty carried into her broader message about exhaustion, faith, and the pressure to keep producing. Throughout the interview, Nockels encouraged listeners to recognize God's presence in the ordinary responsibilities they might otherwise dismiss as interruptions to something more significant.
She recalled learning, when her children were young, that meaningful time with God could happen at the kitchen table during nap time. A brief pause, a quiet car journey, or a conversation begun in the morning and continued throughout the day could become part of a sustained relationship with Him.
Her practical advice included bringing an overwhelming to-do list into prayer and asking which tasks actually needed to happen that day. She also emphasized the freedom to let some commitments rest when a season calls for different priorities.
For listeners familiar with The Glorious and the Mundane, that principle helps explain her podcast's pauses. Nockels said the show had needed to become dormant when other responsibilities required her attention.
"If something's got to give, a lot of times it's the podcast," she explained. "It's not going to be my soul or my family."
The interview also included two creative announcements: Nockels said she planned to release a Christmas record in 2026 and bring the podcast back that fall. Those plans reflected the renewed capacity she described during the conversation, although she did not provide a release date or album title.
For Nockels, the joy of this chapter is found in quiet discoveries as much as creative milestones: reconnecting with her husband, making room for prayer, and recognizing goodness amid grief. Her candid account gives listeners a glimpse of the daily choices behind the message of rest she shares through her ministry.
