We close season four with Tracy and Katy modeling what conversation during a Red Tent Dinner can look like. In this conversation, Katy shares a story about bearing witness, and Tracy engages the story from her own life as well. With a special look at what it looks like to grow community deeply and organically, this episode shows how meaningful conversation can unfold organically through a Red Tent Dinner. Join Tracy and Katy for a rich conversation, and consider signing up to host your own monthly Red Tent Dinner online at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

Most of us carry stories that feel painful, if not impossible, to speak aloud. Stories we fear no one would believe. Stories where we or someone we loved experienced pronounced harm or betrayal. Stories that changed us forever.  What does it mean to live after a story of harm has happened?  In this special episode, Katy and Tracy reflect on the impact of stories of harm that they have navigated and their ongoing relationships with those kinds of stories as they walk forward in their lives. Candid and transformational, this episode is for anyone who has ever wondered, "who would believe me if I could ever find the right words to tell the truth?" For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

Far too few women feel invited to speak freely about menopause and the changes they experience in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. In this episode, Tracy Johnson and Jamie Schaub go all the places you've wondered about: offering helpful context, personal stories, and encouraging support for women wondering if there is a better, kinder way to love their bodies as they age. It's an episode not to miss! For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

Author Christy Bauman shares with Tracy and Katy from her latest work, Her Rites, about the rite of legacy. While many of us have received traditions passed down from our mothers and grandmothers, far fewer have intentional language about the meaning behind those acts and traditions. Together, Christ, Katy, and Tracy reflect on the legacies they have inherited and the ones they long to intentionally leave behind. Join the conversation to consider what intentionally living your life to leave a legacy looks like. For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

In this rare sister-episdoe, Katy and Allison, swap stories of different seasons in their life when they knew it was time to embrace an ending, but they felt unsure of what awaited them on the other side. In their own words, they find language for the risks they each chose to take and the way they navigated closing a sweet and familiar season they didn't want to leave, per se, but knew they had outgrown.  Intimate, curious, and connected, join these two women as they bear witness for each other to a couple of stories on unexpected change and adventure.  For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

"Sorrow is the key to life," says Becky Allender. In this episode, Becky and Sandhya Oaks reflect on the nature of sorrow, the role it has in our lives, and the beauty we find because we are willing to engage the darker and more painful elements of our lives. Join Becky and Sandhya in this wide ranging conversation on living more fully thanks to the bravery of grief.  For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

Kindred Spirits and fellow writers for Red Tent Living, Rachel Blackston and Susan Tucker take time to ponder seasons on endings, specifically in the context of motherhood. From a story shared about the ending of childhood and start of the adolescent era to a longer look at the seasons of parting with a child as they embrace their adult independance, Rachel and Susan not only find language for the bittersweet grief of a mother learning to let go, but also the sacred privelege of raising securely attached children who want to leave and understand how to leave well. Wise and winsome, this conversation is a true delight. 

Tracy Johnson and Beth Bruno have both spent years pouring their passion and hearts into full time ministry, and both ultimately made the choice to leave that work behind. Together, they reflect on their initial call to ministry, why they left, and the life they have found in their vocations since. A conversation full of heart, hope, grief and growth, Tracy and Beth honor the seasons of ministry and the good work that comes after. 

Surprising, poignant, and creative, Sandhya and Susan share a conversation together about practices of gratitude they have woven into the rhythms of their lives thanks to friendship. From the sacredness of a dinner table to a courageous game practiced 30,000 feet in the air, these women shine a light on the ways we can all grow more present, more thankful, and more connected to the people around us. Tune in for a rich conversation unlike any other.  For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

Does all great art flow from suffering? Does the act of creating inherently bring suffering in its wake? How do we navigate the pain and beauty of creation? In this episode Katy Stafford and Cathy Loerzel reflect on their creative endeavors, from the most significant to the most mundane. Together, they ponder, "What does it cost us to create?" While also exploring why they keep creating even when it hurts. Whether or not you imagine yourself to be creative, this episode is for you and the important creative work you bring to you life. Join for a playful and reflective conversation. For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

This week, we're taking a moment to pause from our episodes on gratitude and journal on the places where life is good. This brief reflection with Katy is intended to ground you in the blessings of your life exactly as it stands today. Enjoy! For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

When it comes to living with gratitude, no one brings more wisdom to the Red Tent Living community than our beloved matriarch, Mary Jane Hamilton. Together, Mary Jane and Tracy reflect on the power of a practice of gratitude: from helping us see goodness in the day-to-day to instilling a sense of confidence and peace in the face of loss. As Mary Jane and Tracy speak on navigating different kinds of grief, they reflect with candor on how gratitude has continued to ground them and enrich their lives. Join them to discover the potential of gratitude in transforming your own life.    For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

We kick off season 4 with this sweet, New Year's reflection between Katy and Tracy as they process relationships coming to a close and relationships being birthed, all through the lens of gratitude. With a focus on embracing our own humanity and leaning into our shortcomings and the hard moments, Katy and Tracy look for the ordinary magic that makes the day to day worth living.  Join us for this refreshing conversation to reframe your perspective on engaging with loved ones this coming year. For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

It's Christmas Eve and our time of advent is drawing to a close as we turn our hearts and minds to the arrival of Jesus and celebrate light breaking forth in the darkness. This week, Tracy and Katy reflect on God as love, pondering how the Christmas Season invites us to remember that Love is With US and to risk extending love.  For this is the story of Christmas: that God chose to embody love, with all of its suffering, because he longed to come alongside us. He knew the cross lay at the end of the road, and he risked love anyway. Join us as we dar to hope this Christmas that we may we be brave enough to do the same.  For journaling prompts that coincide with this episode and walk you through each day of advent, sign up at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

When it comes to the thin spaces of our lives where we are laboring to birth life,  it's difficult to overstate the power of a midwife, or wise woman, who has walked the journey before us and can offer her hope, peace, and courage along the way. For this week of advent, Katy and Tracy discuss the places where they have labored for life, and needed the guidance of another woman and where they have each gotten to provide that encouragement in the aftermath of their own hardships. With a special attention to what God has to say about the strength of a laboring mother and the hope of a midwife, this week is sacred, connective, and inspiring. Join us for  the conversation! For journaling prompts that coincide with this episode and walk you through each day of advent, sign up at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

"Carrying" life of any kind is a personal journey for each life bearer. As we carry life within us, nurturing it until it is ready to be born into this world, we come to understand our motivations, our hopes, our fears, and our purpose in new ways. The same was true for Mary. For the second week of Advent, Katy and Tracy reflect on what carrying life meant to Mary, what shalom looks like in the world, and how we all can embrace peacemaking in our everyday lives. How might you bring shalom into the world this Christmas season? For journaling prompts that coincide with this episode and walk you through each day of advent, sign up at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

Welcome to the first week of Advent. This is a season of waiting and anticipation: a season of leaning into the hope that God is with us and God comes to us again and again. In the coming month, Katy and Tracy reflect on what advent means for us today. Inspired by Mary's journey as a pregnant mother, we examine advent through the various stages of carrying and birthing life into the world (whether physcially or metaphorically). It's a series of Christmas conversations unlike any other, and we hope you'll join us on the journey!  *Trigger Warning* This episode engages the biblical story of Bathsheba and her experience of sexual violence. For journaling prompts that coincide with this episode and walk you through each day of advent, sign up at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

This week, Eliza and Haley reflect on their individual journeys to embracing their call to spiritual leadership as women of color. Together, Eliza and Haley bring wisdom and grace as they share stories of navigating spaces where they have not always been welcomed or celebrated. And, they give perspective on how to keep showing up with courage, clarity, and truth, no matter the context where you are called to lead.  Kind, generous, and boldly differentiated, Eliza and Haley are a gift you won't want to miss. Tune in to their conversation on female pastoring and leadership. For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

To be human is to have a body. We each negotiate our relationships with our bodies: at times fraught, and at times more self-accepting. Mother/Daughter Duo Tracy and Katy reflect on their own relationships with their bodies, particularly in their current seasons of post-menopause and pregnancy. Together, they approach their bodies with curiosity and gratitude. Join them for a different kind of conversation around seeing and celebrating the body that has carried you here today. For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].

Most of us who have attended or are attending church regularly have faced questions and tensions about what it means to be a part of a body of Christian believers. Churches are spaces filled with diverse opinions and convictions about what it means to follow Jesus well and who belongs at the table of God. At their best, these diverse opinions serve to refine love for one another with gentleness and permission and growth. At their worst these convictions become weapons on power and abuse, silencing marginalized voices and those whom we demand repent or submit for what we perceive to be a God-imposed limitation or judgement on their selves. So how on earth are those of us who love Jesus to remain a part of these fraught and flawed communities? That's the question Tracy and Emily tackle together, reflecting on the various church communities they and their families have participated in over the decades.  Join in their tender searching and reflections. For more stories from brave, ordinary women, join us at Red Tent Living [https://redtentliving.com/].