Carrying an Unshared Trauma Together

There is something hauntingly intimate when you hold a secret between two people. Something that only the two of you know. A sacred knowing. What is it called, though, when the same secret is carried by millions? In 2012, I arrived through the gates of O’Hare International Airport. Home. My feet had landed on US […]

In Remembrance

We are cloistered now and I rarely know what day it is. The hours, the minutes, they keep folding over onto themselves. The days are all so quotidian but I’ll be damned if I am any more virtuous. I am woefully inept at navigating a pandemic. I am woefully inept at navigating a pandemic. Click […]

What Strong Women Do

None of the ladies in my family shrink back. Distinctly southern, full voices fill the room when we enter. We’re known for our loud laughs and warm embraces. We aren’t afraid to speak our minds and take the lead. We see a space and fill it. We see a need and fill it. I never […]

Beatitudes for COVID-19 Times

(Inspired by the Mother of Alternative Blessings, Nadia Bolz-Weber, who was inspired by a Jesus who offered extravagant blessings to those who wouldn’t otherwise have received blessings.)  We imagine Jesus, in our midst, offering beatitudes for this time: Blessed are you when you have been affected by COVID-19.  Blessed are the people of Wuhan. Blessed […]

Launching SheLoves Church

When a virus isolates us, we lean in to the opposite spirit. Here on SheLoves, even more than before, we’re leaning in to safe online community. COVID-19 days feel scary and uncertain, yes. Yesterday, our family restaurant closed—for how long we don’t know. And yet, I hope and trust in a God who looks after the […]