Even After Everything : The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway

A “special work” (J. S. Park) that honors life’s deep griefs, great joys, and unsettled in-betweens through every sacred season, assuring us that we are never alone “Oh, I love this book. . . . Honest and hopeful, masterfully written, both a balm and a bolstering.”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author Exquisitely told and urgently resonant, Even After Everything is a love letter to anyone who has opened their heart only to be hurt. Stephanie Duncan Smith proposes that it’s not through grit or forced resilience that you will find a way forward, but through receiving the full spectrum of our lives, just as we receive the empathy of God-with-us in every moment. Duncan Smith’s disorientation began when she lost her first pregnancy on the winter solstice, just as the world readied to celebrate its most historic birth on Christmas. Then a new yet uncertain pregnancy... A gorgeous memoir that honors lifes deep griefs, great joys, and unsettled in-betweens throughout every sacred season, reminding us that we are never alone This beautifully written memoir is for anyone who has walked a hard road and wondered how to get to the other side. Stephanie Duncan Smith promises that it's not through grit and force that you will find a way forward, but through leaning in to the promises that hold true when all seems lost.Duncan Smiths personal disorientation began when she lost her first pregnancy on the winter solstices longest night, just as the world readied to celebrate its most historic birth on Christmas. Then a new yet uncertain pregnancy unfolded in parallel to the global pandemic, until one year nearly to the day of her loss, she gave birth to her daughter whose birthday marked the peak of pandemic death in their city. This clash prompted a desperate search for steadiness, in which the liturgical year became an anchoring force.In Even After Everything, Duncan Smith looks to the church's calendar as a way of finding and reorienting ourselves within the sacred story of Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Ordinary Time. The Christian year illuminates a full circle of love, loss, and liminality, holding space for the full spectrum of the human experience. At its heart lives the promise of God-With-Us, inviting us into the spiritual practice of living well by accepting that there is a time for everything, and trusting that in whatever moment we find ourselves, we are never truly alone.