Grace When Suffering Lingers | K.J. Ramsey

We are made to hold the presence of God … the God who holds all things together holds us.

K.J. has been reckoning with an autoimmune disease, ankylosing spondylitis (AS), for 11 years. It’s been an “unpredictable companion” in her life that not only propelled her into her counseling career but also propelled her to experience and hold the presence of God.

K.J. Ramsey (BA, Covenant College, MA, Denver Seminary) is a licensed professional counselor, writer, and recovering idealist who believes sorrow and joy coexist. Her writing on the integration of theology, psychology, and spiritual formation can be found in publications including Christianity Today, RELEVANT, and The Huffington Post. She and her husband live in Denver, Colorado. K.J.’s first book, This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers, invites us to the wonder that before God ever rescues us, he stands in solidarity with us. It’s the book that she wished she could’ve had as a 20-year-old who’s suffering never went away.

K.J. says these four things about herself:

  1. “I ended up at Denver Seminary where I got my Masters in Counseling…after seeing my own counselor and realizing A, we all need space to process the suffering in our lives but B, that it could be a career that was a lot more flexible for what my body needs. And then I also needed a better climate and the more dry climate of Colorado is a lot better for my body.”
  2. “One time we saw someone with a German Shorthaired Pointer at a restaurant sitting outside, and it was the most beautiful dog we had ever seen and it was so sweet. We caught the bug and about 5 weeks later, we got one. His name, Merton, is after Thomas Merton, who is one of my favorite authors.”
  3. “I was a figure skater growing up.”
  4. “I am a total nerd.”

Listen in to my timely conversation with K.J. In seasons like we’re all in right now sheltering-in-place, we have the invitation to pay special attention to the hurt in our lives in a way that we can’t when we’re so hurried. We all have pain that persists … K.J. reminds us that our present pain is always experienced in the presence of God and the more we learn how to be present to our pain and to our hard circumstances, the more we get to experience unity with Jesus and the grace God gives us. I think she will comfort you with her heart and wisdom.

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SHOW NOTES

Dear Daughters is a template for those multi-generational conversations and relationships you’re craving.

Dear Daughters is meant to be a bridge between two groups of women–dear daughters and spiritual mamas. Dear daughters are young women in search of spiritual guidance and spiritual mamas are women just a little further down the road with age-old wisdom to share. Each group has valuable insight for the other and the hope is that the reader will invite someone to come alongside them, pore over the included letters together, and pass along wisdom and advice that will make both lives more beautiful, wherever they are in their God story.