Poetry puts the past in perspective, positions us in the here and now, and propels us toward what is possible. I share three poems that have the power to sustain through trying times and give hope.

We can learn to see God anywhere. Author and spiritual director Charlotte Donlon leads us in a spiritual practice called divine drawing. Using a story from her book, Charlotte helps us engage our senses and memories to discover God in familiar places.

What if your loneliness was space meant for God? Charlotte Donlon and I continue the conversation about sharing the universal burden of loneliness in Part 2. She also reads a chapter from her book.

There should be no only in lonely. Author, spiritual director, and podcast host, Charlotte Donlon believes its a privilege to share our stories of loneliness, including her own.

“Courage—you develop courage by doing small things like just as if you wouldn’t want to pick up a 100-pound weight without preparing yourself.” —Maya Angelou. This is a different kind of courage: the courage to slow it way down and how to train for it.

Hands tell a lifetime of stories. So does art. Using a piece called Rainbow Hands from the book A Cloud of Outrageous Blue by Vesper Stamper, I lead a 10-minute visio divina exercise.

Artists see the world differently, and yet, we desperately want to be seen and heard. Illustrator and storyteller Vanessa Brantley Newton's mission is to help children of all backgrounds know they are valued. Her work touches adults just as profoundly, and her story of harnessing dyslexia, synesthesia, and stuttering makes her a powerful advocate for those who feel invisible and out of place.

Josh Banner is a spiritual director and host of the Invitation Podcast. This is part two of our deep dive interview. We discuss spiritual direction, how contemplative prayer helped him have more fun, and ways to find deep rest in things you are already doing.

Josh is the host and creator of the Invitation Podcast. He is a certified spiritual director, a retreat leader, and facilitator of contemplative prayer practices in prisons. In part of one of this interview, we talk about rediscovering the art of brewing beer, being human, and wakefulness.

Blessing changes our experience. Liturgy gives voice to groanings and prayer we don’t have the words to say. This episode is a meditation with readings of blessing for today’s struggles of pandemic and injustice.

Carolyn Arends is a recording artist, speaker, author, and college instructor. We talk about the ebb and flow of creative rhythms and bringing our doubts to God. We chat about:

• tending to your garden during exile as a creative person,

• and expressing emotions with God during disorientation through prayer and art,

Christiana Peterson is the author of Mystics and Misfits: Meeting God through St. Francis and Other Unlikely Saints. We talk about:

• the artist as contemplative parent, story, and mental health and

• finding space to process crisis in music and story…

Lizzie Mattson is a social media manager and fiber artist. She's a small business owner at wildfeatherco.com.

• managing stress with creative routine and picking up old art forms,

• finding balance between art and business,

In this podcast we talk about:

• developing creative rhythms for home, work, and faith,

• silence, solitude, and movement as contemplative practice,

• what art can teach us about letting go and moving forward in pandemic and unknowing,

Niki Hardy is a Brit in the USA, a cancer survivor, pastor’s wife, tea drinker and teller of bad jokes. As a speaker and an author, she’s all about meeting you when life’s not fair and embracing the reality that with God, life doesn’t have to be pain-free to be full.

Tamara Gurley is a racial educator, consultant, seminarian, and creative artist in spoken and written word. She has served in business + ministry leadership for over 14 years as she blends her love for people, education, and creative arts into serving and growing faith-based and corporate communities.

Sheridan Voysey is an author and broadcaster. His books include: The Making of Us: Who We Can Become When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned and Resurrection Year: Turning Broken Dreams into New Beginnings, plus Resilient and the award-winning Unseen Footprints.

Kate Motaung is the author of a beautiful memoir, A Place to Land: A Story of Longing and Belonging and co-author of Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me). She also leads the Five Minute Friday writing community.

In this episode, Alice and I talk about:

• What she's doing to make the arts accessible to all kids,

• How Hip hop lessons on Zoom are keeping students connected,

• What happened when coronavirus took the lives of 6 people in her church community,

Kris Camealy is the founder and director of the Refine {the retreat} for writers and the author of Everything Is Yours: How Giving God Your Whole Heart Changes Your Whole Life. She created gracetable.org and writes for The Cultivating Project and Joyful Life.