Woven

We get the joy of wrapping up our Hard Stuff series by talking with Laura Hamilton and Jen Young about Singleness. It was such a great conversation about the unique grief that accompanies being single longer than expected. We also dive deep into how the church gets ministering to singles wrong and how we can do better. What a great conversation!

Laura is the Program Director for BeLoved Atlanta. BeLoved is a two year residential home and program for adult women surviving prostitution, trafficking and addiction.

Jen is with Impact46 in Lawrenceville, GA. Impact46 seeks to build strategic partnerships in order to bless the city of Lawrenceville.

Resources Mentioned:

Elisabeth Elliot

Annie Downs

This week, author, Marissa Henley joins us to discuss her story of surviving a cancer diagnosis as a young mom and what it looks like to love a friend through cancer or any other longterm illness. Marissa is the author of Loving Your Friend Through Cancer: Moving Beyond "I'm Sorry" to Meaningful Support.

Marissa is a survivor of a rare cancer who writes about faith, friendship, motherhood and cancer at www.marissahenley.com. Most days, you'll find her drinking a latte while shuttling her three kids around in a minivan, wondering if the dog will ever learn to stay and if she'll ever love cooking as much as her husband loves eating.

Our next guest in our Hard Stuff series is Anna LeBaron, author of The Polygamist's Daughter. Anna shares with us her story of leaving the polygamist cult she grew up in, processing childhood trauma and the healing power of God and community.

About Anna:

• I'm a memoirist who tells my story of escape from a violent, polygamist cult. I hope that by reading my story, you realize that no matter what you've faced, you can live a life of wholeness.
• I'm a book launch expert who helps authors connect with readers and maximize their reach by harnessing the power of social media.
• I'm a dynamic speaker and life coach whose goal is transformation of the mind, body, and spirit.
• I'm an avid reader whose personal growth journey has been shaped by an arsenal of books.
• I'm a mom to five grown kids and live in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
• My name is Anna, pronounced "Awe-nuh" like the girl in the Disney movie, Frozen!

To learn more about Anna and her ministry, visit her at www.annalebaron.com.

Our next guest in our Hard Stuff series is Adriel Booker. Adriel came on Woven to discuss grief in the areas of Infertility, Miscarriage and Infant Loss. She is the author of Grace Like Scarlett: Grieving with Hope After Miscarriage and Loss.

Adriel Booker is a speaker, advocate, storyteller, and community builder. For nearly twenty years she's given her life to help people discover the intersection of God's goodness, their God-given identity, and how they're uniquely wired to love their neighbor well.

In 2011 Adriel founded the Love A Mama Collective—a grassroots movement of women committed to strengthening maternal health in the developing world through clean birth kits and other community development initiatives where access to health care is scarce. To date the Collective has raised 20,000 clean birth kits, funded midwifery scholarships, and resourced dozens of rural health outposts and village birth attendants through their annual Mother's Day drives.

Together with her husband and three sons, Adriel lives in Sydney, Australia where she co-leads a non-profit and enjoys her life-long dream of living in a city by the sea. In her free time she can be found browsing used record and book stores, rearranging furniture, or day dreaming of 9:00am sleep-ins and lazy days camping in their vintage caravan at the beach.

Happy 2019! We are so glad to be back! Our first series of the year is entitled "Hard Stuff". Over the next several weeks, we will bring you stories of people who have suffered unimaginable "hard stuff", but each of them have also experienced immeasurable hope in the midst of the grief, pain and tragedy. Our prayer is that as you listen to their stories, you will leave encouraged and full of hope as you experience "hard stuff" in your own lives.

Our first guest in this series is Becky McCoy. Becky's story includes the untimely death of her husband as they were just becoming young parents, but her story is also one of bravery and renewed purpose.

Becky L. McCoy lives on the Connecticut coast with her two precocious and hilarious children. Having struggled with depression and anxiety and experienced several seasons of grief and struggle, Becky is passionate about creating an online community where people share their stories and encourage one another to choose to live bravely and confidently when life is hard. You can find Becky on social media @BeckyLMcCoy and at her website BeckyLMcCoy.com or listen to her podcast Sucker Punched.