Hey Rachel ~

There is something special about meeting a person who has been so influential in your life, and who has so profoundly changed your belief system.  So if you have any ideas on how I could meet Rob Bell, I’d love to hear them.

But really, meeting you was the reason the phrase awesomesauce was invented.  Hearing you speak, explain, and stand up for women was inspiring.  Hearing your voice reminds me that these words you write don’t appear out of thin air.  They are hard fought lessons.  Your words are authentic because you have lived them.  Your voice is important because it tells of experience and wisdom.

One of the things I’ve realized recently is that although I have a voice, I don’t use it. As a fellow INFJ, my mind is never quiet.  (And once my husband discovered that, I stopped being able to say ‘nothing’ when he asked what I was thinking!)

But so, so, often, I keep my mouth shut.  Now that I have a better grasp on what I think and believe, I’m aware of how out of step I am with most church people around me.

So I clam up, unwilling to own my voice, my experiences, my story.  I’m afraid of being misunderstood, not liked, even outcast.

But you are showing me that it is worth it to speak up.  It is worth it to raise our voices on behalf of the silenced, the oppressed, and the maligned.

If I am being silent about who I am, out of fear or awkwardness, I am not honoring who God made me to be.

My voice was not meant to stay shut up inside me.  When I keep my opinions and thoughts in Bible study or community group to myself, I reveal a false self, and I am being dishonest.

If I value honesty and authenticity, if I want to challenge those who also say they value those things, then I need to live into the freedom I’ve been given and be myself.  Because don’t we all have hard fought lessons and authentic words and experiences, if we could get past clichés and christianese language?

You are inspiring because it takes guts to go on national television.  It takes courage to put something out there that will be ridiculed and misunderstood.  It takes even more tenacity to go back on national TV after a week of onslaught.  (My theory is if you can make it to Colbert, all the ruckus will die down, because, hello, it’s Colbert.  Or just wait until Nov 7th.  All the haters will be either super excited or super depressed and won’t focus on you.)

And it will take the determination I know you have to sit back down after this is all over, put fingers to keyboard, to dive deep, and create, teach, and inspire us all to speak up and live honestly.

So thank you, and Eshet chayil!

J.R. Goudeau had the great idea to do a surprise synchroblog to honor our friend Rachel Held Evans, since her book A Year of Biblical Womanhood is releasing today.  Go check out all of the other amazing letters!