Rachel Held Evans

Another friend passed away today.  Rachel Held Evans was only 37 years old.  She leaves behind her husband Dan and two children ages 3 and 11 months.  She was still nursing her baby.  Rachel took some antibiotics for an infection and then started having seizures.  They placed her in a medically induced coma, but she never recovered.  We are grief-stricken for the family and friends she leaves behind.

I was first introduced to Rachel by my daughter Kathryn.  When Kathryn moved to Dayton, she and Brandon became a part of a church start that was being led by Rachel and others.  I started reading her blog and found what she had to say very challenging. Phil and I were talking about this the other day.  We grew up in traditions that taught us to knowthe Bible, but we weren’t taught tothinkabout the Bible.  Rachel was the first voice I heard that really made me think about the Bible and grapple with some of the hard things you find there.  I am forever grateful for the impact she has had on my life.

Thankfully, her voice lives on from her writings.  If you haven’t read any of her books, I think you would love her book, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again.  Other books she has written are Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church; Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions;A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband ‘Master’. 

Although Rachel struggled with doubts about her faith, she had come to a wonderful peace with those doubts, and this was evident in her last book.  We all struggle with how her death makes sense in any way.  And it is with great sadness that I think about all her critics who may seize this opportunity to call this the judgement of God upon her life for some of her more controversial positions.  

But Rachel and her family held fast to the most important tenet of our faith—the Resurrection.  It gives us all great hope that she lives on in great peace and comfort with her Savior.  It is those who are left behind who struggle with the hole that has been blown wide open in their lives. Please pray for Dan, the kids, and Rachel’s parents and in-laws as they deal with this great tragedy.  Pray especially for Dan, as his livelihood was wrapped up in Rachel and her books and appearances.  He will have to find a way forward.

My heart breaks for these dear ones.