Loving the Hell Out of Ourselves
A Memoir
by Elaine Heath & Jeanine Heath-McGlinn
Summary
This memoir is co-written by Elaine Heath and her younger sister Jeanine. In it they describe the turmoil they experienced growing up in a family with an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who sacrificed their needs by choosing to remain with him. Compounding the tragedy, as they grew into adulthood, both sisters became involved in “traditional-values” churches that blamed rather than supported them.
Eventually, the sisters found supportive community elsewhere. This in addition to education and purposeful work helped them to embark on a journey toward healing.
In a beautiful twist, both sisters ultimately entered healing professions—Elaine as an ordained Methodist pastor and Jeanine as a certified therapist—where they now see how their own life experiences make them more empathetic to others in pain.
Somehow, despite the pain of their beginnings, their story ends with hope.
Author’s Website
Leaving Church - By Barbara Brown Taylor
Favorite Quotes
“Lord, help me to show up, pay attention, speak the truth in love, and to detach from outcome.”
“Even though I was as green and new as spring grass, I knew this word was my work, what I was always meant to do. I felt fully alive.”
“Companioning people as they prepare for death is an unspeakably sacred and humbling part of pastoral ministry.”
“We are always beginners in some sense, no matter how long we journey.”
“Birthing yourself is a messy process with convoluted feelings and fears that create a rhythm of moving forward between "contractions" and retreating backward when the pain returns. Eventually new life comes forth, bringing a new normal.”
“There is an Orthodox saying that to desire to pray is prayer. Forgiveness is like that; I desire to have the desire to forgive. It is the beginning.”
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