We Have This Hope

Most of us don’t work at church.  Or at least we don’t call our local church the place we get paid to show up every day and that was really never Amy’s plan.  Today you get to meet someone who is equal parts wise and funny, someone I dearly love, someone who has served the local church for nearly 15 years.  My friend Amy moved to Texas after college to teach elementary school when God called her back to her hometown to serve at the church where she grew up.  In today’s episode, she’s remembering the good and long work of loving your church, your community, and the beautiful people we meet along the way.  Make sure you don’t miss “The Butterfly Story” toward the end!  

#wehavethishope #remember #localchurch #butterflystory #podcastinterview #christianpodcast

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“Do I actually believe the resurrection is true? If it’s not, all is lost. If it is, that changes everything…” - Sarah J. Hauser

Friends, you need to meet Sarah J. Hauser. I stayed up late editing her episode because I just couldn’t find a place I wanted to stop. My conversation with Sarah had me holding back tears, laughing, shaking my head in solidarity, and thanking God for her story.

Sarah lives with her husband and four kids (including twins!) in the suburbs of Chicago. She writes and speaks about mental health, motherhood, grief, and creativity. Her work has been featured in several favorites including Coffee & Crumbs, Risen Motherhood, & The Gospel Coalition. She’s the author of All Who Are Weary: Finding True Rest by Letting Go of the Burdens You Were Never Meant to Carry.

In today’s Remembering Interview, Sarah shares specifically about a season of depression after having kids and the grief she experienced after losing her mom to cancer. Her hope in the Resurrection hasn’t come without wrestling. If you’re wondering and weary, this episode will encourage you!

#wehavethishope #podcasting #rememberinginterview #allwhoareweary #christianpodcast #motherhood #grief #podcastinterview

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“Maybe this is an image of God some people find hard to bow before or praise.  But for me, a God who grieves is a God I am more willing to trust…” - Amanda Held Opelt, Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness, & the Myth of the Blessed Life

Friends, I can't wait to get this episode to your ears. Last week I sat down with Amanda Held Opelt, author of Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness, & the Myth of the Blessed Life and I haven't stopped thinking about our conversation. Amanda speaks beautifully about her life with God, the disillusionment she experienced when pain and suffering didn't go as she expected, and how a God who grieves is a God she just can't walk away from. If you've ever wrestled with emotions that don't match expectations, this is an episode for you. If you've walked through grief (we talk about infertility and sibling loss specifically), this is an episode for you. If you are clinging to Hope and trying your best to be human, this is an episode for you. Tune in and be encouraged!

#wehavethishope #remembering #holyunhappiness #podcasting

Amanda Held Opelt is an author, speaker, and songwriter. She writes about faith, grief, and creativity, and believes in the power of community, ritual, shared worship, and storytelling to heal even our deepest wounds. Amanda has spent 15 years serving in the non-profit and humanitarian aid sectors, and has written for Christianity Today, Premier Christianity, and 100 Days in Appalachia. She lives in the mountains of Boone, North Carolina, with her husband and two young daughters.

Amanda's Books:

Holy Unhappiness: God, Goodness & the Myth of the Blessed Life

A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing

Amanda's Podcast:

Holy Unhappiness with Amanda Held Opelt

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We're launching Season 2 with an interview that I am truly so delighted to be sharing. A few years ago I stumbled upon the IG account Liturgies for Parents and was captivated by how these prayers were giving words to my actual life as a mom with three young kids. As it turns out the author of these beautiful words is a real person and she's LOVELY. Today, we get the gift of hearing Kayla Craig remember the story of her own family coming together through birth and adoption and how her latest work Every Season Sacred was born out of her own parenting journey.

Kayla is a former journalist who brings deep curiosity and care to her writing. She's the author of Every Season Sacred and To Light Their Way. With a poetic, prophetic voice, she created the popular Liturgies for Parents Instagram account, which Christianity Today named an "essential parenting resource." She also hosts the Liturgies for Parents podcast. Kayla's nuanced and accessible reflections, essays, and prayers are featured in various books, devotionals, and Bible studies. Kayla lives in a 115-year-old former convent in her Iowa hometown, where she hopes to create spaces of welcome alongside her four children, two dogs, and pastor-husband, Jonny.

#wehavethishope #everyseasonsacred #podcast #liturgies

Every Season Sacred

To Light Their Way

Liturgies for Parents on IG

Kayla on IG

Kayla on Twitter

Kayla’s website

Kayla’s Substack

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This season we're exploring the SPACES we occupy, the actual physical spaces where God plants us and meets with us. Each week we'll focus on one particular space, digging into where its found in Scripture and hearing stories from YOU about how you've encountered God in the spaces you occupy. Here's a little preview of the SPACES to come this Fall....

• Hometowns & Neighborhoods


• Church Buildings


• Foreign Lands & Temporary Shelters


• Spaces Where We Do Our Work


• At Home & Around Our Tables


• Outside

Have you encountered God in one of these spaces? How has God used one of these spaces to influence your story? I'd love to include your response on an episode. Send me a 1-2 minute voice memo at [email protected]. See you next week for Season 2 of We Have This Hope!

#wehavethishope #podcasts #biblestudypodcasts #spacesweoccupy #podcastersofinstagram

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Most of us can say that our stories are shaped by their intersections with grief and hope. Not as many of us can say that our everyday professional lives do, but for today's guest that's exactly the case. Dr. Ryan Huey is a medical oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Ryan shares his story of unexpected grief and how God used this season of his life to influence his care for patients and families as they walk through cancer. We've been friends for nearly 30 years and I've had a front row seat to God's work in his life...spoiler alert: it's good, good work. I can't wait for you to listen!

#wehavethishope #remember #griefandhope #podcasts

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In today’s episode, wife and mom of 3, Amanda Brown remembers her last year of discovering a tumor in her brain, followed by surgery, a cancer diagnosis, recovery and remission.  This story is one I haven’t stopped thinking about since recording. Not just because the story itself is compelling, but because of how Amanda tells it.

Amanda shares about finding purpose in our pain, the beauty in receiving care and learning how to give it well, and how God’s given her enough for each day. I cried when she told the story and I cried when I edited the story.  God’s work in Amanda’s life is good and it’s not finished yet.  Listen anywhere you get your podcasts - LINK IN STORIES/COMMENTS  

Plus, you can find more of Amanda’s story at @thebrowntribeof5 where she shares her everyday life + reflections on what it looks like to follow Jesus in our messy, painful, and beautiful lives.

#wehavethishope #remember #artofremembering #podcastinterview  

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"The crazy thing about grief is when you're experiencing one area of grief, it really tends to open a floodgate in our brains to the other areas of grief in our life that we've never dealt with..."

On today's episode my friend Lauren King shares how God met her in grief and offered healing, empathy and rest. If you've ever struggled to sit in your own sadness or filled your life so full that you can't see yourself quite clearly, Lauren's words will challenge you and equip you. Her new book Sabbath Guide is available RIGHT NOW. This tool will help you build a more intentional Sabbath practice into your weekly rhythms. Friends, don't miss this resource and beautiful story behind it. Link to Sabbath Guide & Episode 24 in stories/comments!

#wehavethishope #sabbathguide #remember #rememberinginterview #podcast

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Need to change your rhythms up this Summer? Or are your rhythms changing whether you like it or not? Join me for our Summer Morning Series on James - an 8 episode deep dive into the book that some have called the Proverbs of the New Testament. This episode will break down what I'm doing, invite you to join me, and a quick look at WHO IS JAMES? I bet you'll learn something you didn't know, I definitely did!

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Ever try to turn your own dream into reality and find that God was writing the same story but better? Today’s Remembering Interview with my friend Cheryl Wood will remind you that God can use us in delightfully surprising ways. Cheryl is a certified birth & postpartum doula living in Tulsa, Oklahoma and in 2021 her dream of becoming a doula to refugee women came to reality in the most unexpected ways. Tune in for the encouragement we all need as she REMEMBERS the work of God in her beautiful story! LINK IN STORIES/COMMENTS

#wehavethishope #podcasting #remembering #doula #refugee

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wehavethishope.substack.com/subscribe