Dese’Rae Stage, creator of Live Through This, joins Steph and me for an honest conversation about suicide. Dese’Rae is a suicidologist and a suicide attempt survivor. She created Live Through This to reduce the stigma and shame around suicide by giving suicide attempt survivors a chance to tell their stories. Too often, suicidality is described using impersonal statistics and anonymous …
Steph and I have an honest conversation about what sin is, what it isn’t, and who decides. We delve into the ethics of sin by asking questions like: If murder is sin, then is the executioner who carries out the death penalty committing a sin? And in what ways is sin individual and in what ways is it communal? Are …
What does your name say about who you are? In this episode, Steph and I have an honest conversation about the connection between name and identity. I talk about my ill-fated middle-school attempt to go by my actual name (Elizabeth). I also talk about the decision to change my children’s names when they were adopted. While their Russian names were …
At one point, not too long before the crucifixion, Jesus started explaining to his disciples that things weren’t going to go the way they expected. Peter had already identified Jesus as the Messiah—someone who would bring triumph. But Jesus then told the disciples that triumph would come only after he was rejected by organized religion and executed by the government …
Never underestimate the importance of being part of something bigger than yourself. Steph and I were each part of Girl Scouts, but Steph took it much farther than most—all the way to the end of high school, in fact! Steph sold cookies and earned badges along the way but as a senior in high school she earned the prestigious Gold …
Prayer is the ultimate honest conversation. God is not a vending machine and prayer is not about putting in our order. Why do some people have an active prayer life? What do they get out of it? And talking to God is one thing, but what about hearing from God? Is it weird to hear an audible voice and know …
This episode of Discovering Our Scars almost didn’t happen. Steph and I pride ourselves on honest conversations and we tend to look for topics that have the potential to create discomfort, but friends, this topic made me really uncomfortable. This week’s episode is titled, “Is Steph Asexual?“ A few weeks ago, Steph and I released an episode titled “Love? Actually…” where …
Divorce is a deeply personal, life-changing event that can be hard to talk about. Neither Steph nor I have ever been divorced so we brought in my friend Christi Gray for this honest conversation. Christi is a lawyer who has specialized exclusively in family law (i.e., divorces and what happens afterward) for ten years. Christi brings not only her professional …
In episodes 35 and 39, Steph and I explored the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and the reality of white privilege. In this episode, we check in on our ongoing learning. We have an honest conversation about why it’s important for white people to do this work for themselves (rather than expecting our black friends to do it) and how …
Some people can casually say, “I love you,” but for others, it’s an almost sacred phrase that is reserved for the most special of circumstances and people. Steph and I explore our experience with love—the word and the emotion. When I think of “love,” I think of the verse in 1 John that tells us, “God is love.” I also …