Episode 07: Bonus Series: Quarantine Queens and Kings

Kate Bowler – You Can Be Afraid & Faithful

Apple Podcasts

Episode 07

What do you do when you believe God is good, that He has a plans to give us hope and a future, and yet the reality of what we’re living is . . . well, it’s hard. And sad. So how do we reconcile having hard feelings and holding onto faith? Times like these call for experts who’ve walked hard paths before, and we have that leader in the incredible Kate Bowler, an associate professor at Duke Divinity School and NYT bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved. After Kate walked through a Stage IV cancer diagnosis at 35 years old, she’s gained some hard-earned wisdom that she shares abundantly, like how to manage our moments when we can’t plan for the future (spoiler alert: look for signs of hope in the in-between space). Plus, Kate reminds us that the language of the Christian faith isn’t always self-improvement—there’s a purpose to our pain, and it’s something we need to talk about, because we can be scared and still be faithful. Let’s be honest: we’re living through a really hard season. But even right now, God is still here with us.

Episode Transcript

Hey everybody, welcome to our special edition Quarantine Queens series of the For the Love Podcast. The team and I were talking, and we were like, “We need to talk to someone who has been through a really hard thing already. They have hard-fought lessons in their hands to share. We need to speak to somebody who has been to the wilderness and has survived and have come back to tell the tale and lead us well.”

And I’m telling you, I had one person on my list that I wanted to speak to us as a spiritual leader, as someone who could pastor us through this moment because I know her and I know her story. And I know she is a faithful witness to the work required right now.

If you do not already know Kate Bowler, it is my joy to introduce her to you today. Kate, she’s just a real special thing. She’s an associate professor of the History of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School (I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s, like, a little university that’s doing okay). And Kate is a New York Times bestselling author of several excellent books, but especially for our purpose of today, you may want to learn more about her book called Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved. I mean, on the nose, you guys. She wrote that book after she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer at 35 years old, which we talk about a little bit today. She also has a podcast called Everything Happens, sort of spinning off this idea where she talks to people about how they have learned to live inside pain and struggle and loss and hang on to hope and faith and love.

So long story short, Kate is exactly who we need right now. Exactly. I want you to follow her on every single social media platform. I want you to sit under her leadership. I’m telling you I can’t think of a better guide and I’m so, so grateful to her for coming on the show today. This conversation is going to mean so much to you, and it closes with a very beautiful prayer that Kate prays over us together and it is just . . . I’m so glad you’re here today.

PS: Listen, I don’t know if you heard the news, but I am delighted to tell you two things.

  1. The April 14th in-person live event has been rescheduled for September 9th in Dallas. Same venue, September 9th.
  2. The April 14th event is also going to be transformed in to a webcast! Woo! Which will be coming straight to your screen on April 30th. And my lovely special guests that were going to hang out with us, Brené Brown and Anjelah Johnson, will still be joining us for the webcast.

So how do you join the webcast fun? Super easy, you guys.

First, if you already bought a ticket to the Dallas event, you’re in. Mmkay?

Second, if you’ve preordered my new book, Fierce Free and Full of Fire in any format, any vendor, you’re in.

And third, if you’re in the Jen Hatmaker Book Club you’re in.

So all you have to do is go to jenhatmaker.com/fierceevent and register for the webcast. So easy. You have to register, even if you’re in one of those categories.

And if you’re not eligible for the webcast yet, we want to have you. We would love to have you! so to be eligible, you can either buy tickets to the rescheduled live event on September 9th or just preorder the book! Preorder Fierce, Free and Full of Fire, any vendor, any format. And then boom, go to go register for the webcast. That’s it. That’s how you get in.

We are so excited to bring this to you. You can do all of these things at jenhatmaker.com/fierceevent.

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