Your Suffering is Sacred (TAW044)

The Apprenticeship Way Header Graphic. Episode 44. Your Suffering is Sacred. An Interview with KJ Ramsey.

Episode 044 – Your Suffering is Sacred (With K.J. Ramsey)

Are you allergic to happy clappy Christianity? There’s a good reason for thats. Churches that ignore suffering are ignoring Jesus. Many churches are not good at holding suffering. People who find themselves in extended suffering — maybe living with depression or anxiety, other mental health issues, or even invisible chronic illness — sometimes find there’s not a place for them in the church. In this episode, I talk with KJ Ramsey who has particular experience with this, and we talk about the gospel according to suffering.

Show Notes

  • “There needs to be more room in the Body of Christ to stand in the ground of our sorrow and see our suffering Savior.” – KJR
  • “We prefer to keep death out of sight and any reminders of the decay in our bodies or being less than dazzling, we want to hide and pretend it doesn’t exist but the good news is that’s not the way of Jesus.” -KJR
  • “If you’re in a church where they say ‘This table is for all,’ but you’re not actually included, leave. You don’t need to stay in a community that crushes you…You are not faithless if you need to walk away.” – KJR
  • “To deconstruct the 2x4s of a house that was never actually God’s house is a gift that you give to your future self.” -KJR

Follow KJ Ramsey & Get her Book

K.J. Ramsey (BA, Covenant College, MA, Denver Seminary) is a licensed professional counselor, writer, and recovering idealist who believes sorrow and joy coexist. She is the author of This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers, and her writing has been published in Christianity TodayRELEVANTThe Huffington PostFathom MagazineHealth Central, and more on the integration of theology, psychology, and spiritual formation. She and her husband live in Denver, Colorado.


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Today’s Sponsor

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