After my piece for Prodigal magazine, Donald McAllister asked me to interview me for his podcast site, Bibledoing.com
We conducted the interview over Skype, which I still view as something quite magical. Towards the end of the interview, there is a brief period where my voice sounds a bit like an alien, but it comes back quite quickly and is fine for the rest. (I quite like my voice as an alien.)
It was a real pleasure to chat to Don and get to know him a little better. He is a great guy, and I loved hearing his love story. He also wrote on Prodigal recently, telling the story of losing his dream house. His podcast site is a great resource – do check out the other interviews.
Here’s the link for 20 mins of me answering Don’s questions on suffering and unanswered prayer – come on over with me?
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I couldn’t agree more with the previous comments. The entire podcast was wonderful, but I about stood up and cheered when he asked what you would tell someone who was suffering and you said you would choose to sit with them instead. Yes! Thank you for sharing your story with such insight and grace.
Thank you for cheering! 🙂
Tanya,
It was absolutely great to get to hear you speak on the podcast. I really appreciated hearing what you have to say as always. I feel passionately that we need to do what you say in regard to sitting with people in their suffering and letting them have the space to vent all of what they think and feel. I think it is important for us to be a sanctuary of sorts for people who are hurting and if we sit with them and listen to them and come along side while they hurt then I think we are doing what we should do. People do not need us to solve their problems most of the time; they need someone who will listen and understand and hurt with them as they hurt; mourn with them when they mourn; cry with the when they cry, and laugh with them when they laugh. We need to love like this more.
I admire you Tanya Marlow.
Thank you for your kind comments, as always. I thought of you when I recorded it – i wondered if you might appreciate a podcast (in lieu of a Vlog!) Sanctuary is such a good word for it. You have such a high degree of empathy – I really appreciate it.
“We need to love like this more” – yes!
Alien voice or not it was good to hear more of your story and your struggle to recognise God’s hand in difficult circumstances. Your comments on sitting with people in their suffering and letting them have the space to be hurt and angry were especially important. One of the hardest parts of being chronically ill is having to bottle up the anger and hurt because other people can’t handle hearing it. Too often when we don’t understand what someone is going through we try to comfort them with ill-timed soundbites that may well be true but are rarely what the person needs to hear at that moment in time. I look forward to the prospect of seeing books from you in the not too distant future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen in – I really appreciate it. I’m so glad that you also agreed with the need to sit and listen (and be listened to…) I hope there are people in your life who you can vent to, who are able to sit with the frustration of chronic illness. (And thanks for cheering me on in my book writing!)
Really lovely to hear your interview online.
Thank you for speaking out wisely about how we come alongside other who are suffering – so often our culture is looking for an easy soundbite to answer those tough questions and times in our lives but to be still and simply be there and listen is an art we should not lose because you are right, we live in a broken world and we can’t simply pretend we don’t see and feel all that as we eagerly look toward heaven.
Shell
Thanks so much for taking the time to listen to it – I really appreciate it!