I have spent my life feeling somewhat outside of normal, experiencing my feelings in a way that felt unacceptable to the culture I was raised in. I cried too much as a kid, spent too much time alone in my room writing in my journal as a teen, or listening to sad, meaningful music as a young twenty-something. I often felt like my sadness didn’t measure up with the story of God I wanted to live into. I was supposed to find joy in the Lord! I was supposed to be fun and cool and especially caring so other people would want to know about Jesus. But I often found sorrow in the stories of the Bible I read each day as a 16-year-old Jesus-kid. Why didn’t people talk about how sad the Bible was? All those sick people needing healing? All the people who rejected Jesus’s words and went away confused?

Maybe you’ve felt this way before too. Let’s reflect on this together.

Links:

• This reflection and practice were also published this week in The Slow Way Newsletter.
• Read Bittersweet by Susan Cain here.
• Find a transcript of this episode here. 
• Find Micha's website and sign up for her weekly newsletter here
• Check out The Slow Way online store
• Find Micha on Instagram
• Find Micha on Twitter
• Micha's other podcast, The Lucky Few, is all about Down syndrome advocacy. She cohosts it with Heather Avis and Mercedes Lara.

Found: A Story of Questions, Grace, and Everyday Prayer is available everywhere books are sold