This Undivided Life

Kimberly is a professional helper and artist. Today, she is an English professor, published writer, and counselor. During her critical illness in 2021-2022, she began dreaming about The Way Back to Ourselves and founded it in August of 2022. Her writing has been published in Ekstasis, Fathom, Truly Co, Radix, Calla Press, The Dew Drop, and many others. She is in the process of publishing her debut poetry book, Of Wings & Dirt, which is inspired by her health journey, infertility, and miraculous motherhood. She is also at work on a devotional, A Way Through the Wilderness: 40 Devotionals for Suffering, and a nonfiction work about parenting and leading this new generation toward wholeness, which is the research and passion project that inspired this community. It, too, is titled The Way Back to Ourselves.

Words. Especially encouraging words are what we all need, to give them and receive them. These words can give us life and help us navigate the challenges that often occur in our lives. Scott and Troy talk about the power of encouraging words and the effects they have on us.

Sarah L. Sanderson is a writer, speaker, and teacher who believes in the life-giving freedom found in radical honesty. Her work has appeared at PBS NewsHour, Blackpast, Christianity Today, Fathom, The Unmooring, Christ and Pop Culture, The Other Journal, Motherly, Relief, Stark and Main, and Brain, Child, among others. She is also a monthly contributor to Three-Fifths. She studied English and Philosophy at Wheaton College, and holds a Master in Teaching degree from Seattle University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. As a creative writing teacher, she has worked with every age, from preschool through adults. Her first book, The Place We Make: Breaking the Legacy of Legalized Hate, releases August 15, 2023 from WaterBrook. ‍Find her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, or stay in touch via her somewhat irregular email newsletter.

Jason is a writer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

www.jasonclarkis.com Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

Derek Turner is a follower of Jesus, in love with @sarahjturner, father to @caro.turn & @kaaatters, owner of Milo, pastor @rivercharlotte. Amazed by Grace

www.rivercharlotte.com Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

John Blake is an award-winning journalist at CNN.com, the online site for CNN. He is also the author of "More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew." He has been honored by the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Academy of Religion, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Religion Communicators Council and with the GLAAD Media Award. He was most recently the winner of the 2019 Sigma Delta Chi awards for Excellence in Journalism for his online columns on race and politics.

His 2020 essay, "There's One Epidemic We May Never Find a Cure For: Fear of Black Men in Public Spaces," was recently selected by Bustle Digital Group as one of the 11 best essays on racism and police violence. The other authors on that list included Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ibram X. Kendi, and Roxane Gay.

Blake's first book, "Children of the Movement," was a finalist for the 2005 NAACP Image Awards in the Outstanding Literary Work Non-Fiction category and a finalist for the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards. He has spoken at high schools, colleges, symposiums and in documentaries about topics such as race, religion and politics. Blake is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and a graduate of Howard University.

Maina Mwaura resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Tiffany, and daughter, Zyan. He is a graduate of Liberty University and New Orleans Theological Seminary and has served on staff at several churches. You can find Maina's written work at mainaspeaks.com.

Jillian Benfield (www.jillianbenfield.com) is a former journalist and news anchor. She holds a broadcast journalism degree from the University of Georgia. As a freelance writer, her essays about living an unexpected life have appeared on sites such as TODAY, Good Morning America, Yahoo! News, and ABC News. Jillian regularly advocates for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in her writings, community, and as a part of the National Down Syndrome Congress's National Down Syndrome Advocacy Coalition. Jillian and her husband, Andy, and their three children make their home on Florida's Space Coast.

How do we live our lives in light of the fact we will not be here some day? How do we live knowing we will go?Scott and Troy talk about death and dying, and how it informs our living.

Kayla Craig is a parent to four wild, wonderful kids and the author of Every Season Sacred: Reflections, Prayers, and Invitations to Nourish Your Soul and Nurture Your Family throughout the Year and To Light Their Way: A Collection of Prayers & Liturgies for Parents.

She is the creator of Liturgies for Parents, where she shares nuanced and nurturing prayers for you to borrow for your fantastic, dirty, messy, holy life.