Years ago, I obsessively read everything by Rachel Held Evans. Starting with 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺, I quickly tore through all her work. 𝘈 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 created a newfound thirst for learning church history, Judaism, and the importance of context that continues today.
As Glennon Doyle said, “Rachel cares too much about the Bible to read what it says without wrestling with what it means.”
Yes. Exactly. That is what had been missing for me. I had no clue I was allowed to wrestle with God, just like Jacob. And I was suffocating under the weight of worldly pressure to fall in line, something God did not wire me to do.
Rachel was my plumb line to faith while I took apart old ways and stitched together a fresh mysterious faith, one that was not bogged down by absolutes.
RHE opened my heart to authentic Jesus and opened my thinking to make room for the mysterious. Her strong will matched my own and delivered me back to a table at which I had begun to worry I had no place, but now, I refused to sit down unless that table included ALL of God’s beloved.
Sadly, Rachel died unexpectedly, but not before sharing that her next project would be a book for children. Rachel was the mother of two tiny children when she passed, and I imagine her babies were her inspiration. Rachel’s husband, Daniel, asked Rachel’s friend and known children’s book author Matthew Paul Turner to complete the book and release it.
Learning this made me so happy, as I have gifted countless books of Matthew’s for baptisms, baby showers, and birthdays!
Today, Rachel and Matthew’s children’s book, 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦? was released. Poetic and colorful, it reminds us that God is light and strength, and mysteriously everywhere at once, delighting in his beloved. Holding us all, always.
God’s mysterious work revealed itself this past week after the world lost Steve Austin. As Steve’s friends, we were blessed to find connection and comfort with one another amid our heartbreak as we grappled with our collective shock and intense grief. People who had never met before came together to mourn Steve.
One of the people God put in my path this week was Matthew Paul Turner.
God makes the world small, exactly when we need it. A seeming happenstance, which I believe is more aptly called Grace. And because God’s Grace is poured out during heartbreak, we now have a book created by two friends God joined on earth and continues to connect though they share opposite sides of Heaven.
Yes, you will see God’s mysterious Grace spilled colorfully all over the pages of this book.
“𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘸, 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳, 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮.”
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦?
By Rachel Held Evans & Matthew Paul Turner