Worship pastor Melanie Rasanen (Faith Assembly of God in Elk Run Heights, IA) joins the show today to talk about Ruth Haley Barton’s book Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Presence.* Melanie shares some book recs for kids, and we talk about what so many are experiencing these days—what Barton calls the state of being “dangerously tired.” What’s the truth about ourselves and our limits? What do we do when we are desperate for peace and need to stop the hustle? Tune in when you have a slow moment!
(P.S. When an author's words resonate with us deeply, it sometimes feels as if those words become our own! This happened to Pastor Melanie at around minute 33 in the podcast. However, she wanted to make sure credit went to Barton for first writing the words Melanie now says to her own children: “Mommy will be a better mommy if she has some alone time with God.”)
Show Notes:
Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn
Ramona series by Beverly Cleary
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Presence by Ruth Haley Barton
Snuggle Up Sleepy Ones by Claire Freedman and Tina Macnaughton
Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again by Ruth Haley Barton
“All Those Books You’ve Bought but Haven’t Read? There’s a Word for That,” by Linda Huang (“anti-library”)
Heather Weber is a book-obsessed pastor, author, and holistic life and leadership coach. She is the author of Dear Boy,: An Epistolary Memoir. Find out more about her coaching and other creative projects at www.heatherweber.org. Subscribe to her Dear Exiles newsletter at heatherweber.substack.com.
#4 (S1) Rediscovering Childhood through Reading, Halting the Hustle & Ruth Haley Barton's Solitude and Silence.