Weekend Update From Amy @ Untangled Faith
Hello!
I love how Kendra Adachi AKA The Lazy Genius formats her newsletters by adding some bullet points at the beginning to tell her readers what she is sharing. It makes it easy to scroll to what is most interesting to the reader. So, I’m going to offer the same service for you.
In this week’s newsletter, I’m going to cover:
A quote from Jennifer Lyell about grief. (So good!)
A practice that’s been helping me during the days I feel most discouraged, and, really, any day.
A new show I’ve been loving.
What’s new on the podcast and plans for future seasons.
A quote about grief
“I wish there was a quote from a writer or Bible verse that captures the whole of grief. There isn’t, though, which is actually what says the most about the experience of not just one loss, or several losses, but the grief of losing everything that created the form of your life.” - Jennifer Lyell
Jennifer Lyell has endured more than anyone should have ever been asked to endure. Her words come from paying the price of living through hell. And they are painfully beautiful.
Her words are especially applicable to anyone who has experienced pain at the hand of their faith community.
A practice that has helped me
At the very beginning of May of 2020, I went to WalMart and bought a journal. I was desperate for direction and wanted to find a way to consistently pray and record those prayers and answers to prayers. I committed to pray every day of that month. 15 months later, I’m still going strong.
Here’s how it works for me. At the beginning of the month, I write out a list of things I intend to pray about. Then, each day I journal prayers and/or the way I see God answering. At the end of the month, I review the month’s prayers and I write out a list of the ways I saw God move. And then I start over again on the next page writing out my prayer focus for the next month. It’s been one of the best spiritual practices for me. Maybe it’s something that could help you?
P.S. I totally miss some days. I’ve never been able to do it every day of the month.
So, I’ve been watching this new/old show
Have y’all seen Leverage? It’s a show that ran from 2008-2012. And, lucky me, there is a new reboot Leverage:Redemption.
Here’s the IMDB description: “Former insurance claims investigator Nathan Ford heads a team of former top-criminals. They handle 'unorthodox' cases of people unlikely to get their due through regular channels and legal procedures. That often involves stinging or otherwise scamming criminals.”
I love it. It’s funny. The cast is amazing. You can watch it for free on IMDB TV. If you’ve seen it, drop a comment below telling me how you agree with me that it’s awesome!
Untangled Faith Updates
The winners of the Wade Mullen book were emailed! One of them didn’t respond. So, check your email, especially if your email address starts with an “a.c “. If I don’t hear a response, I’ll choose a new winner. I don’t want you to miss out!
This upcoming week’s episode is an interview with Sheila Gregoire. She’s a marriage blogger and the author of The Great Sex Rescue. We chat about her book, but also talk about the risk she took by sharing what she had learned about the toxic teachings in popular marriage books. We also discussed what she is seeing with the current state of church culture.
The last episode of season will be August 18 and I would love to do an Ask Me Anything. But. . . in order for that to work, I need someone to, well, ask me something. :-)
So, what questions do you have for me? Personal questions, questions about the podcast, . . . you can comment here with your questions and I’ll save them up for the episode. If you would rather email me, you can send me a note to amy@thefritzes.net
In case you missed the most recent episodes, you can find them here:
Thanks for being the best listeners!
Amy