It’s soul-rending. Agonizing. Messy. And the judgement and criticism from the Church and its people often just causes more pain and heartache. 

In this episode, I bring on a dear friend to talk very candidly about all of these issues. After recently ending a 19 year marriage, having to find a way to support herself after 12 years of homeschooling her five kids, and spending the last year in therapy seeking personal growth- I ask her provocative questions unpacking Christian divorce. 

It’s our hope that any listener feeling alone and unsupported would find comfort and two girls who will hold space for you. 

Alicia Wright lives in Northern California with her five kids. Her hustle is selling real estate and she is currently working on two books, a memoir and a historical fiction. You can find her on Instagram @splendidwren.

In part one, my husband and I give several “dont’s” regarding short term service trips; however, we failed to mention the do’s. Here is a follow up episode on ways you CAN be helpful (and not harmful) during a short term service trip. 

The last half of this episode focuses on re-entry back to your own culture and familiar surroundings. The ups, downs, depression, anger, and the highs and lows of now reverse culture shock that many people experience upon returning from a life changing service trip. 

My husband and I both offer our advice based on years of re-entry experiences on how to thrive back home without alienating yourself from those around you. We discuss the fine balance between allowing the impact of a one week trip to truly take root in you - while simultaneously dealing with people’s insensitive comments and ignorance of how much of our world really lives. 

It is possible to thrive in both places, even when your heart longs to be somewhere else.

We all have insecurities that manifest themselves in different ways-but oftentimes for females, it can be through judgement and jealousy. 

In this episode, I interview my dear friend Jen-who was not always my biggest fan. She discusses the attitude she had towards me initially-and the ugliness that creeped up in her heart anytime she would view my Instagram profile. 

One day, she felt convicted and compelled to not only deal with the insecurities in her heart, but to also apologize to me, publicly (to which I had no knowledge of how she felt until she exposed her truth). 

From that moment, there was a huge shift in our relationship that led to a very close, safe and trusted friendship. 

I respect and honor Jen a great deal and thankful she is alive today to share her wisdom with us (towards the end of this episode, Jen discuses a little about her multiple suicide attempts, severe abuse growing up, PTSD, and many other unimaginable hardships). 

Thank you Jen for coming on and sharing your truth with us and allowing us to learn from your vulnerability and bravery.  

Also-stay tuned for the podcast she and her husband are launching in September called “Marriage in the Rough”.

Are short term service trips helpful, harmful, or both? In this episode my husband and I discuss the effects of a short term humanitarian or mission trips. Tass spent a few years hosting and facilitating short term teams that came to serve our partner organization in Haiti. Through that experience we both saw first hand the type of impact these teams make in an underserved community. We discuss all of this through the lens of knowing that our living in Haiti, and all that we have experienced in the past several years, is the result of me going on a one week service trip.

Several listeners asked for an episode about parenting. This one won’t be the last, but it’s definitely the foundation of our parenting philosophy. As always, take with a grain of salt, but this approach of parenting has brought us much peace and expansion of vision for our family’s future.

Feeling stuck? Unaccomplished? Consider these suggestions on how to expand your capacity to handle difficult situations in order to accomplish the goals you've set out to do. 

The first guest on The Verite Podcast: my dearest and best friend in the world, Dre Marion, who happens to be a gay Christian. We discuss her childhood and how she was raised in church, her previous 14 year marriage to a man, and how she reconciles her faith, the Bible, and her walk with God to the fact that she’s now married to a woman.

The little girl in Haiti who forever changed the course of my life. In the “Giving Your Best” episode, I talked about how we met. This episode is about how she died. Before her, I had never prayed for anyone to die…

Patting ourselves on the back with our giving. Us Americans love to do that. But what is true giving? In this episode, I present the idea that you cannot call it giving unless it actually costs you something of value. Unless it actually stings a bit. I also share the story of how I met Bethsaika in Haiti.

What the delete button on our phones is doing to our psyche. 

Warning: Explicit and sexual content.