Welcome To Stories That Stay
What’s with the blog name?
In 2024, I was inspired to start a blog and joined the Substack platform.
My first blog name started with the remnants of a C.S. Lewis quote which says:
“The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self--all your wishes and precautions--to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead.”
This blog also went through a number of other iterations afterwards (equivalent to me changing college majors like seven times).
Yet, as I kept blogging, I kept coming back to stories and how they have saved my life and by extension the lives of others.
So, why “Stories That Stay?”
Simply, stories have saved my life.
The fairytale story that I was writing from my evangelical charismatic Christian upbringing, juxtaposed alongside Disney movies, unraveled faster than a yo-yo.
So, I escaped into books, movies, fantasy, and listening to and sharing the stories of others so I could escape my own disintegrating reality.
Before I knew it, other people began writing my story.
That is, until, I reframed my story by surrendering it back into the hands of God. Now, I’m on a mission to help others do the same.
So, why subscribe?
For the foreseeable future, this place will be free. I want to be a loving and welcoming space for people wrestling with the intersectionality of faith, grief, and hope.
You’ll get weekly(ish) posts around topics that I’m exploring including, but not limited to:
How faith meets mental illness and what that looks like in our daily lives, culture, and in the church
How faith meets grief after we have experienced death or some other form of loss
How faith meets healing after we’ve experienced trauma and other debilitating setbacks in life
So, pull up a cozy chair and your favorite beverage (and pastry or dessert) and let’s dive in together 🤎
About Me
Hi friend! My name is Joelle (pronounced Jo elle). I’m married to my college sweetheart and mama to three boys (ages 15, 10, and 1 … yes it’s chaotic and yes it’s glorious all at the same time).
I’m a budding entrepreneur who has an undergraduate degree in communication and two masters degrees in multicultural/international education and family ministry. I’m also currently working on my masters in divinity degree with a focus on care and counseling (with a language path of Ancient Biblical Hebrew).
I’m also currently working on my first published book which will shockingly be the first part of a poetry book series.
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