Welcome to Grace and Space, a weekly newsletter from the Deconstructing Mamas Podcast! GRACE for who you have been, are now and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be!
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I am in such a weird place spiritually.
Suspended indefinitely between two extremes.
Certainty and doubt. Religion and rejection of it all.
In the tension between tidy beliefs of childhood and the untamed wilderness before me.
Yet God hovers.
I have so many questions and bitterness. I am angry and disillusioned. I hate the devils disguised inside American Christianity, claiming love while spitting violent plumes of hate.
There is too much to reconcile.
Yet God chases.
There are so many triggers. I see Bible verses posted and I recoil a little. To what agenda are they attached?
Church is another. What pretty face do they slap on for a Sunday service? What ugliness is hidden underneath and behind closed doors and screamed silently, in between the lines? What abuse is perpetuated in shrouds of good godliness?
Yet, God calls my name.
I realize now that God exists outside of religion. In the voids left by imperfect people trying to fill voids of their own.
God sees me. God is here. God is inside.
And when I strip it all away and see myself and the world through the lens of God, that God cannot be separated from anything or anyone I touch,
All is beautiful again.
-Written by Melissa Neeb on Faith in The Mess ( and upcoming podcast guest)-
The Podcast Further Further Sneak Peek to Season Three (Next Week We HOPE to have a HUGE surprise about our final guest): Season Three is sure to be a good one as our lineup of guests are already giving us the happy jitters. We feel like kids in a candy store with a bunch of coins in our pockets. It's that wonderful! Here are three... Jonathan Puddle. WHAT? The ONE and ONLY Jonathan Puddle. Check him out HERE! Melissa Neeb. From Faith in the Mess! She's dog-gone wonderful! Check her out HERE! Dr. Camden (Morgante Pigg) Purity Culture, we're coming for you! Check her out HERE!
Here are three MORE... Kat Wordsworth. From About Doubt. She's got a cool BOOK and everything! Check her out HERE! Jason Elam. Former pastor, PODCASTER and compiler of Parenting Deconstructed! Annalise Hume. Embodied Faith Project. Spiritual Director. Mom. Evolving Faith speaker. YUP! And now we've got three MORE just to get you even more excited... Jillian Benfield. Author of The Gift of the Unexpected. Special needs mom. Check her out HERE! Mike Morrell. Dad. Coauthor of the Divine Dance with Father Richard Rohr. Check him out HERE! Jamie Edelbrock. Children's book author. Mom. Mental health advocate. Get her books HERE!
Here's our last triad, except for a huge reveal next week for number #13!!
Matt Mattson. Cofounder of Today I Pray and Between Church. Dad extraordinaire. Love him.
Ericka Graham. Preacher. Mom. World-changer. Follow here HERE.
Liz Mall. Podcast Host. Deconstructing the Myth. Mom. It's true. We're having her.
Our last and final guest of Season Three... Drumroll please... Sarah Bessey. Founder of Evolving Faith. Author. Podcaster. Mom-extraordinaire. She's HERE. Just FYI, these guests could shift and change based on your needs and ours. Be mindful that our podcast is evolving, just like the rest of us! PHEW!
Latest News:
Join Our Private Facebook Community and receive access to the recording of this Live Q&A with Lizz & Esther about Parenting & Hell. You can access this by supporting us on our PATREON platform.
Lizz & Esther unpack some of our own thoughts and then work through these four questions:
1. What if someone else tells my child about hell?
2. What should I tell my child about the afterlife?
3. How can I teach morality without the consequence of hell?
4. I can’t stop being afraid hell might be real, even though I’m deconstructing that belief. I randomly get scared I’m wrong and I’m going to burn for eternity. What should I do?
Come join us HERE!
Resource Alert:
OKAY PEOPLE: THIS BOOK!
By Sarah Bessey. As she candidly shares her wrestlings with core issues—such as who Jesus is, what place the Church has in our lives, how to disagree yet remain within a community, and how to love the Bible for what it is rather than what we want it to be—she teaches us how to walk courageously through our own tough questions.
In the process of gently helping us sort things out, Bessey teaches us how to be as comfortable with uncertainty as we are with solid answers. And as we learn to hold questions in one hand and answers in the other, we discover new depths of faith that will remain secure even through the storms of life.
Random Fact (Just for Fun - 'cause why not?)
Tuesday is National Pancake Day. Also known as Johnnycakes, griddle cakes or hotcakes, this batter-made breakfast item dates back more than 30,000 years. In fact, it may be the oldest breakfast food in history, spanning as far back as the Stone Age and even found in the stomach of Otzi the Iceman, whose human remains are estimated to be 5,300 years old. So if you want to have a fun thing to do with your family of any age or stage (even if it's just yourself or two or 20 of you), take a break from the usual and make pancakes!
The possibilities are endless!
One last thing. We want to remind you that we are so glad you are here. We wouldn't be the same without you. You will always find GRACE for where you've been and who you are now, and SPACE for who you are becoming and will be.
Carry on, our new-found friends. Welcome to the twisty-windy, full -of-adventure faith path that's laid out before us all. Love,
Lizz & Esther
P.S. SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE!