BROKENNESS
HAPPENS
Encouragement for when you’ve been hurt by the church
Hello my dear,
Maybe you are reimagining what your faith looks like now because you have been hurt by church. Or maybe you are having to recreate what your relationship to church should look like. Maybe you feel the sting of unbelonging or you are grieving all that you’ve lost.
I am so sorry for your pain, hurt, and grief. I am sorry that it happened to you. We’ve curated this page with you in mind and we hope that you will be reminded of the bigger truth: You, at your very core, are worth cherishing. Sending you so much love.
Bless you, my dear,
Kate
A Blessing for
When Church Breaks Your Heart
Blessed are you standing among the
ruins of a family of faith
that once felt so sturdy,
now turned to dust under your feet.
The certainty you once had, gone.
The community you loved, dissipated.
The hope you held dear, hard to find.
Instead, what’s taken up residence
is the very stuff that seems counter
to what you imagined:
Disappointment. Doubt. Disillusionment. Despair.
In this new landscape, may you practice
the courage to find the others
who make space for your questions
without easy answers,
who celebrate doubt when it makes room
for more faith,
who search high and low for a defiant
hope born amidst despair.
Bless you, dear one.
You who don’t give up wrestling.
Who have eves to see something new
being rebuilt on top of what was.
Blessed are you who walk away
wounded, yes. But changed.
You are not the bad thing.
You are a gift.
And we love every bit of you.
WATCH
When Faith Breaks Your Heart
READ
Accidental Saints
Finding God in All the Wrong People
In a time when many have become disillusioned with Christianity, Nadia Bolz-Weber’s Accidental Saints demonstrates what happens when ordinary people share bread and wine, struggle with scripture together, and tell each other the truth about their real lives.
READ
Out of Sorts:
Making Peace with an Evolving Faith
Sarah Bessey’s book: Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith teaches us to be comfortable with uncertainty as you ask tough questions about Christian issues.
READ
The Lives We Actually Have
100 Blessings for Imperfect Days
Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, authors of the instant New York Times bestseller Good Enough, reveal how every day is worth blessing—even Tuesdays. In a world that demands relentless perfection, Bowler and Richie offer creative, faith-based blessings that center gratitude and hope without making light of our real, messy lives. Formatted like a prayer book, The Lives We Actually Have is an oasis and a landing spot for weary souls, with blessings that center on various moods, including Bless This Ordinary Day, Bless This Lovely Day, Bless This Mournful Day, and more. These heartfelt blessings are a sanctuary for the grieving, the hopeful, the restless, the careworn, and anyone who needs a chance to exhale in a chaotic world.
“Teach us to hold on to the truths that enliven our spirits and fill our souls and loosen our grip on the painful untruths. Like that we are alone or unlovable or that desire itself is the enemy. Teach us to hunger for what is good and be filled. There will be no easy addition or subtraction, we will lose and we will gain and almost none of it will make much sense at the time. And it forces our hands open in the ebb and flow of wins and losses, comings and goings we will look for divine love in the mystery of it all.” —From Kate’s conversation with Father Richard Rohr on the Everything Happens Podcast
LISTEN
Everything
Happens Podcast
For when you are trying to maintain faith when you’ve been hurt by the church