At Last She Said It

It can be terrifying to take the metaphorical lid off the box that holds everything you think you know about God. What do you do when you outgrow your old ideas? Can you trust the hopeful whisperings of your own heart if those whisperings also spark fear? In this bonus episode, Susan shares the journey that led her, as a Latter-day Saint woman, to reexamine and move beyond her previous answers in pursuit of questions that have expanded her faith.

What do we know, 2 seasons into this podcast? One thing seems certain—we're not the only women having the thoughts, feelings, ideas and experiences that inspired us to create the At Last She Said It project. More women are joining the conversation every day. In this bonus episode, Cynthia and Susan share some listeners' stories and feedback, and talk a bit about the road ahead.

In the Season 2 finale, Susan and Cynthia share and discuss the ongoing love lessons they're learning as they try—more successfully some days than others—to keep following Jesus as the focus of their faith lives.

From the time we are young girls, women are socialized to keep a calm exterior. It's an unhealthy expectation, since we experience the full range of human emotion. In the Church and in the world, an angry man is perceived as being tough or powerful, but an angry woman earns a much less positive label. For Latter-day Saint women, meekness, niceness, and peace-keeping are valued traits. Being sad is okay, but being furious is not. In Episode 43, a guest shares her insights into the lack of space many women feel for the full expression of their emotions—even within themselves. Then Cynthia and Susan take a deep dive on women and anger.

You may feel sure about a lot of things, but what if one day you reach for your faith and find the certainty that has always given you comfort is not where you thought it was? When foundational ideas or beliefs suddenly go missing for you or a loved one, it can feel like the ground has been pulled out from under you. In Episode 42, Cynthia and Susan are joined by Jeralee Renshaw for a discussion about surviving—and thriving—when faith shifts.

What if there were a remedy that might counteract the difficulties and disappointments of being human, but you weren't quite sure how it worked, or how to get it? Many Latter-day Saints feel certain about the importance of obedience in their lives, but are less settled in their thinking about grace. Cynthia and Susan discuss how and why, for each of them, the idea of grace has come to be foundational to their faith, rather than incidental to it.

If there's a way to make the word Obedience feel itchier for some of us, it's by combining it with the word Exact. But these words increasingly seem to appear together when we're holding up Latter-day Saint ideals. What does the phrase "exact obedience" mean? Are there different kinds of obedience, and do they all carry the same rewards? In this conversation, Cynthia and Susan explore the principle of obedience as a means to spiritual growth and personal transformation.

In recent years, it seems the phrases priesthood power and priesthood authority are being used more often in reference to women. But what do those words really mean? Has anything changed, or is this just a new way of describing old ideas? Cynthia and Susan talk about these phrases and the questions and feelings they evoke in a discussion of Pres. Jean B. Bingham's article, Women and Covenant Power.

When you're vocal in your criticism of an organization, people may wonder why you don't leave. But for some women, speaking up about the bad and the good are both important to the process of staying. In this episode, Cynthia and Susan discuss ways the Church leads them to Jesus Christ, and how engagement in their Latter-day Saint communities continues to impact and improve their lives.

Have you ever wished you heard Latter-day Saint women talk about modesty using words like context, intention, body acceptance, sexuality, empowerment, and authenticity? Well here's that conversation! Cynthia and Susan are joined by therapist C.A. Larson for a closer look at the ways we discuss, teach, and practice principles of modesty. How can we approach this topic with our youth in a way that will equip them to make their own good choices?