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Can God Be Just? Surviving My Baby’s Death
Episode 5323rd April 2024 • What's the Story? • CROWD Church
00:00:00 00:42:15

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Welcome to this profoundly moving episode of our podcast, where Katherine Gantlett shares her heart-wrenching journey through the darkest seasons of her life—losing her daughter Libby and enduring multiple miscarriages. This episode delves into the depths of spiritual and emotional resilience, as Katherine explores the complex relationship between grief, faith, and justice.

In this episode, you'll discover:

  • Katherine’s Personal Story: A detailed account of her journey from the joy of expecting to the agony of sudden loss, and how these experiences have shaped her understanding of faith and God's presence in pain.
  • Faith and Doubt: How Katherine wrestled with her faith in the face of overwhelming grief and what sustaining faith in times of doubt looks like.
  • The Role of Community: Insights into how community support played a crucial role in her process of grieving and finding ground again in life.
  • Spiritual Insights: Katherine shares her transformation from personal tragedy to spiritual guidance, including her current role in helping others navigate their grief.
  • Practical Wisdom for the Bereaved: Strategies and thoughts on managing grief, the importance of lament, and embracing vulnerability as a source of strength.

Additional Resources:

  • Book Mention: Katherine talks about her book, "Walking Through Winter," where she uses the metaphor of winter to describe the process of dealing with grief and loss.
  • Community Support: Highlighting the importance of finding and leaning on a supportive community during times of deep personal loss.
  • Spiritual Direction: Katherine discusses her ongoing work as a spiritual director, facilitating retreats and workshops to help others walk through their own winters.

This episode is not just a narrative; it's an exploration of the profound questions about God's fairness and presence in our suffering. It's about finding hope in the darkest places and the unexpected ways God shows up in our lives. Join Katherine and us for a journey through pain and faith, and perhaps find a fragment of light in your own winter.

Transcripts

Sadaf Beynon:

Hey there and welcome to What's the Story.

Sadaf Beynon:

We're an inquisitive bunch of hosts from the What's the Story team on a

Sadaf Beynon:

mission to uncover stories about faith and courage from everyday people.

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In doing that, we get the privilege of chatting with amazing guests and

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have the opportunity to delve into their faith journey, the hurdles

Sadaf Beynon:

they've overcome, and the life lessons they have learned along the way.

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What's the Story is brought to you by Crowd Church who fully understand that

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stepping into a traditional church might not be everyone's cup of joe.

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Crowd Church provides a digital sanctuary, a safe space to explore

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the Christian faith where you can engage in meaningful conversations,

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rather than just simply spectating.

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So whether you're new to the Christian faith or in search of

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a new church family, visit crowd.

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And if you have any questions at all, just drop them an email, hello at crowd.

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church.

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They would love to connect with you.

Sadaf Beynon:

And now, let's meet your host and our special guest for today.

Anna Kettle:

Hi there and welcome to this week's What's The Story Podcast.

Anna Kettle:

Today I'm joined by a guest, Katherine Gantlett.

Anna Kettle:

Now Katherine is a writer and a C-Me facilitator.

Anna Kettle:

She studied theology at Westminster Theological Centre

Anna Kettle:

and now lives in rural Oxford.

Anna Kettle:

Oxfordshire with her son and her husband.

Anna Kettle:

She has a background in biomedical science and a PhD from Oxford

Anna Kettle:

University in HIV research.

Anna Kettle:

She has a book called Walking Through Winter in which she shares her personal

Anna Kettle:

story involving the loss of five babies through miscarriage and also her daughter

Anna Kettle:

Libby who died in labour at full term.

Anna Kettle:

She's also currently training to be a spiritual director and

Anna Kettle:

probably lots more besides.

Anna Kettle:

So I'll introduce her at this point.

Anna Kettle:

Katherine, welcome to our podcast.

Anna Kettle:

It's so lovely to have you on here today.

Anna Kettle:

Hi, Anna.

Anna Kettle:

It's a real

Katherine Gantlett:

privilege

Anna Kettle:

to be with you all.

Anna Kettle:

Brilliant.

Anna Kettle:

So I suppose just obviously I've met you before.

Anna Kettle:

We've come across each other a few times in the Christian world now

Anna Kettle:

particularly in the infertility and loss kind of community.

Anna Kettle:

But for those that are listening in and maybe haven't, I've met you

Anna Kettle:

before, don't know who you are, can you tell us just a little bit more

Anna Kettle:

about yourself, about work, home life, how does life look for you right now?

Anna Kettle:

Yeah,

Katherine Gantlett:

As you said, I live in rural Oxfordshire, so my husband's

Katherine Gantlett:

an organic dairy farmer, so we we live out in the countryside, Charlie, our

Katherine Gantlett:

son, is eight, and when I'm not busy at home with all of that, My work

Katherine Gantlett:

basically revolves around my passion for personal and spiritual formation.

Katherine Gantlett:

Both for me and for anyone that I work with.

Katherine Gantlett:

So that can look like spiritual direction.

Katherine Gantlett:

It can also, in the work setting, see me and helping people understand

Katherine Gantlett:

themselves better and therefore other people, but essentially my time is

Katherine Gantlett:

consumed with the question of what does it look like to live a fully

Katherine Gantlett:

human life in every season of life?

Anna Kettle:

It's a big but important question, isn't it?

Anna Kettle:

I'm sure we'll unpackage it more as we go.

Anna Kettle:

And you also, you have that whole sort of science background and you

Anna Kettle:

did some interesting stuff in COVID as well, didn't you, around the vaccine.

Anna Kettle:

Can you just tell us a little bit about that?

Katherine Gantlett:

So I did, so I used to work for the Oxford Vaccine Group,

Katherine Gantlett:

who created the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, so I wasn't actually working with

Katherine Gantlett:

them during COVID I left the group about a decade ago, but a lot of my good friends

Katherine Gantlett:

still work in the group, and so it was really I was so proud of them all, and to

Katherine Gantlett:

see, so Andrew Pollard was my boss, so to see him knighted was was a really proud

Katherine Gantlett:

thing for me, actually, it's going to be.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

It's amazing, an amazing team, aren't they?

Anna Kettle:

It's

Katherine Gantlett:

really amazing

Anna Kettle:

team.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

And amazing to have that history and be like a small part of it in some

Anna Kettle:

way, because it all, years of research have all built into that, haven't they?

Anna Kettle:

Absolutely.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

Let's dig into a little bit more into your story.

Anna Kettle:

I guess we should start at the beginning of your faith journey.

Anna Kettle:

So can you tell us a bit about the start, like your early years?

Anna Kettle:

How did your sort of faith journey begin?

Anna Kettle:

Did you grow up in a Christian home?

Anna Kettle:

How, what were those formative moments?

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah, so I grew up in a Christian home, my parents, so I was

Katherine Gantlett:

born in Kenya but we moved to this country when I was four, but my parents had both

Katherine Gantlett:

been through boarding school in this country, so I think, we're well schooled.

Katherine Gantlett:

in the Christian faith.

Katherine Gantlett:

But I remember both of them coming to a more living faith.

Katherine Gantlett:

I'm the oldest of three.

Katherine Gantlett:

And yeah, I grew up going to church.

Katherine Gantlett:

For most of my sort of childhood, a Baptist church, but faith

Katherine Gantlett:

became a real thing for me.

Katherine Gantlett:

My first sort of encounter with Jesus was at a holiday camp, so a Script Union

Katherine Gantlett:

holiday camp, and just in worship, just having a really visceral sense of the

Katherine Gantlett:

spirit and what Jesus had done for me.

Katherine Gantlett:

I guess I was 15, 16 at that point, and so I grew up going to youth

Katherine Gantlett:

groups, all that kind of stuff.

Katherine Gantlett:

But I guess.

Katherine Gantlett:

It really, the decision, the rubber hit the road when I went to university.

Katherine Gantlett:

It's okay, what am I going to do?

Katherine Gantlett:

My parents aren't saying, we're going to Sunday, we're going

Katherine Gantlett:

to church on Sunday morning.

Katherine Gantlett:

And I actually had three or four years of drifting in and out of church.

Katherine Gantlett:

And actually some really disastrous God is so gracious and he always places the right

Katherine Gantlett:

people alongside us at the right time.

Katherine Gantlett:

And so I studied in Cambridge and then moved to London.

Katherine Gantlett:

And when I moved to London, I did go to a home group.

Katherine Gantlett:

And as part of that home group, I met the most wonderful lady who's

Katherine Gantlett:

still one of my good friends now.

Katherine Gantlett:

He had walked a similar journey, was now married, and was able to help

Katherine Gantlett:

me actually commit for six months, no relationships, no boyfriends,

Katherine Gantlett:

let's just try to clean the slate.

Katherine Gantlett:

And that's it.

Katherine Gantlett:

That was a really profound time for me I started going back to church, but I'd

Katherine Gantlett:

find myself just in tears every Sunday and in that time, I'd started my PhD

Katherine Gantlett:

at Imperial, and then my supervisor, who actually lived in Oxford, got a

Katherine Gantlett:

job in Oxford, so he moved the lab to Oxford, and I had helped, because of my

Katherine Gantlett:

formative experience in Scripture Union Council, so As a young adult, I'd gone

Katherine Gantlett:

back as a leader, and one of my friends lived in Oxford, so I was like, great.

Katherine Gantlett:

She was able to introduce me to church, and within six weeks of moving to Oxford

Katherine Gantlett:

she was like, the church I'm at is having a summer ball, why don't you come along,

Katherine Gantlett:

it'd be a great way to meet people, and that summer ball was six months to

Katherine Gantlett:

the day that I'd committed time to God, and that, long story short, was the

Katherine Gantlett:

evening that I met my husband, John.

Katherine Gantlett:

Oh wow.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah.

Katherine Gantlett:

So yeah, God all through it and I will, I'm sure I'll pack this as we

Katherine Gantlett:

get into our story of baby loss, God is present in all of it and so good.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah, I love that.

Anna Kettle:

I think it's it's really encouraging and I'm sure it's probably encouraging

Anna Kettle:

to any parents who perhaps have kids in that stage of growing up in church and

Anna Kettle:

finding their own feet in their face.

Anna Kettle:

It's reassuring to know that God doesn't lose us in the middle of that,

Anna Kettle:

but there's, he's there, he's right there and he's working all the time.

Anna Kettle:

And yeah, I have a similar story in that I grew up in the church and I know

Anna Kettle:

God was there at every formative stage and even in those searching moments,

Anna Kettle:

it's really reassuring, isn't it?

Anna Kettle:

And I think it's reassuring for us as parents now to know that as well,

Anna Kettle:

like God has his hands right on

Katherine Gantlett:

you.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah and I've had, really powerful moments with our son Charlie of just going, okay,

Katherine Gantlett:

Lord, I release him to you because, I talk about the lioness in me as a mother

Katherine Gantlett:

isn't I, but reflecting back on my own story and seeing God there and present

Katherine Gantlett:

when I wouldn't have been, I think we often talk about pursuing God and, running

Katherine Gantlett:

after Jesus and all the rest of it, but the truth is that he is It's always there

Katherine Gantlett:

and it's not God who wanders, it's us.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah, that's really profound.

Anna Kettle:

So true.

Anna Kettle:

That's your early years and how you met your husband and stuff and then,

Anna Kettle:

life twists and turns as it does.

Anna Kettle:

And then at some point.

Anna Kettle:

Baby loss and pregnancy loss becomes a part of your story so can you tell

Anna Kettle:

us a little bit more about that?

Anna Kettle:

Because we always unpack a kind of key challenge on the, on this podcast

Anna Kettle:

that someone faces in their faith or, in their life because we don't

Anna Kettle:

want to give that picture that you find God and everything's perfect.

Anna Kettle:

We know that's not true but yeah, can you tell us a bit more about that story?

Anna Kettle:

What happened?

Anna Kettle:

How did it begin?

Anna Kettle:

How did it unfold?

Anna Kettle:

Yeah,

Katherine Gantlett:

so John and I got married in 2006, and we had a few

Katherine Gantlett:

years where we're just like, no, we're just going to enjoy being married.

Katherine Gantlett:

And then 2009, we decided with a very healthy dose of naivety that

Katherine Gantlett:

we were ready to start a family.

Katherine Gantlett:

So we got on what turned out to be, the monthly roller coaster.

Katherine Gantlett:

And after a year, I, we conceived but very sadly that first pregnancy ended

Katherine Gantlett:

in a misc, miscarriage at 11 weeks.

Katherine Gantlett:

And.

Katherine Gantlett:

I took that, we both took that really hard and like a lot of people who go

Katherine Gantlett:

through some form of infertility we were surrounded by people having

Katherine Gantlett:

babies, family members, church, it was, it seemingly was everywhere.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah, but we're like the statistics are one in four, one in five

Katherine Gantlett:

pregnancies ends in miscarriage.

Katherine Gantlett:

We'll go again.

Katherine Gantlett:

But after a year, we still hadn't conceived again.

Katherine Gantlett:

So we went through all the fertility workup and.

Katherine Gantlett:

They discovered that there was a, an issue with me but the doctors

Katherine Gantlett:

were very reassuring and said, no, it doesn't mean you can't

Katherine Gantlett:

conceive or carry a baby to term.

Katherine Gantlett:

We kept going and conceived our daughter, Libby, in 2011.

Katherine Gantlett:

I carried her to full term but very sadly on the 3rd of

Katherine Gantlett:

July, 2012 Libby was stillborn.

Katherine Gantlett:

So that was, I describe it like a bomb going off in our lives,

Katherine Gantlett:

it just shattered everything.

Katherine Gantlett:

And initially I was like, I can't do this again.

Katherine Gantlett:

I just can't.

Katherine Gantlett:

But.

Katherine Gantlett:

Faith is a gift, isn't it?

Katherine Gantlett:

And God gives us faith for different things, and that's

Katherine Gantlett:

the only way I can explain my determination that we kept going.

Katherine Gantlett:

I was like, no, we're not done.

Katherine Gantlett:

And so we kept going, and I had I had another three miscarriages after Libby.

Katherine Gantlett:

And two failed cycles of IVF, and we eventually conceived our son Charlie,

Katherine Gantlett:

which is a whole other faith story and he was born healthy and well.

Anna Kettle:

He's 8 now, same age as my son, so that's how I got

Anna Kettle:

to that conclusion so fast, 2015.

Anna Kettle:

What a miracle that like, after all that heartbreak and loss and

Anna Kettle:

difficulty conceiving, that then, you managed to have Charlie.

Katherine Gantlett:

And I say to people, I don't use that word lightly, he is

Katherine Gantlett:

a miracle baby and but once he was born, I was like, that's it, I'm done.

Katherine Gantlett:

I could no more grow another baby than I could grow another limb.

Katherine Gantlett:

But yeah, it was, but even his conception, obviously all the loss

Katherine Gantlett:

raises lots of spiritual questions, but his conception does too.

Katherine Gantlett:

It's why now, why us?

Katherine Gantlett:

It's, a lot of it is mystery,

Anna Kettle:

isn't it?

Anna Kettle:

Yeah, so much of faith isn't it, in the end?

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

But how, because obviously, you summarised your story beautifully there and so much

Anna Kettle:

like heartbreak and loss wrapped up in it though, prior to having Charlie and, how

Anna Kettle:

does someone overcome that amount of pain?

Anna Kettle:

How does someone survive that amount of loss?

Anna Kettle:

Like, how did you get through it?

Anna Kettle:

What were the things that helped?

Katherine Gantlett:

I think I'd always say But you don't overcome

Katherine Gantlett:

it, but you learn to live with it.

Katherine Gantlett:

So people talk about when you lose someone close in a traumatic

Katherine Gantlett:

way, it's like losing a limb.

Katherine Gantlett:

It's like walking for me, walking around without my arm, but it's

Katherine Gantlett:

just not visible to other people.

Katherine Gantlett:

So there are times where I've learned, to live without that limb and life is good.

Katherine Gantlett:

And then there are other times where I'm really aware that I'm missing

Katherine Gantlett:

that, I'm missing Libby and the other children and also now for Charlie,

Katherine Gantlett:

walking him through that, is complex.

Katherine Gantlett:

But I think for me, so I wrote my book, Walking Through Winter and I

Katherine Gantlett:

use the metaphor of winter, because.

Katherine Gantlett:

The temptation is to hunker down and hibernate, and just go that's it, I'm

Katherine Gantlett:

going to put my head down and hope for spring, or try and force spring myself.

Katherine Gantlett:

And what I learned was that Rather than enduring winter

Katherine Gantlett:

you have to get out into it.

Katherine Gantlett:

So Parker Palmer is a Quaker writer who I love, and he talks, he lives in

Katherine Gantlett:

the upper Midwest where the winters are extreme, and he talks about how

Katherine Gantlett:

the winters will drive you crazy until you learn to get out into them.

Katherine Gantlett:

And I think that's the key message that I learned through our, so our

Katherine Gantlett:

winter season lasted seven years.

Katherine Gantlett:

If you don't face the fears and all the emotion and spiritual

Katherine Gantlett:

confusion it tends to drive your life, but in an unhealthy way.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah, I learned to embrace it, to get out into it, with God and.

Katherine Gantlett:

The other key I learned is not to do it on my own, so obviously that first and

Katherine Gantlett:

foremost is with God, so we can talk about that in terms of how you process

Katherine Gantlett:

that with God but also the importance of community, so you know, we're not meant to

Katherine Gantlett:

do life on our own, and one of my Things that I talk about quite a lot is what

Katherine Gantlett:

it means to be made in the image of God.

Katherine Gantlett:

And we're in danger, I think, sometimes in the church of taking the radical

Katherine Gantlett:

individualistic culture we live in that says you can define identity purely

Katherine Gantlett:

based on your own reference points.

Katherine Gantlett:

But we are made in the image of a relational God.

Katherine Gantlett:

And God is community, therefore, when we image him best, it's in community.

Katherine Gantlett:

So for me, I was very, again, God had gone before I was studying theology

Katherine Gantlett:

as we walked through everything.

Katherine Gantlett:

So I had a really safe community to go and ask all the big questions

Katherine Gantlett:

that loss like that brings.

Katherine Gantlett:

And that was so key.

Katherine Gantlett:

Cause I know lots of people who go through loss it won't be

Katherine Gantlett:

necessarily what we went through.

Katherine Gantlett:

And that, I was really passionate when I wrote my book that anyone

Katherine Gantlett:

walking through loss could read it.

Katherine Gantlett:

It's just that our story was baby loss.

Katherine Gantlett:

But I meet so many people who have left church or walked away from God.

Katherine Gantlett:

Because of the loneliness and isolation.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah that's that's so true.

Anna Kettle:

And I think you're right.

Anna Kettle:

Although not everyone has necessarily experienced pregnancy

Anna Kettle:

loss or baby loss, everyone does experience loss sooner or later.

Anna Kettle:

It's part of.

Anna Kettle:

life in this fallen world, isn't it?

Anna Kettle:

We all, we will all grieve.

Anna Kettle:

And so I think, I've read your book, Walking Through Winter,

Anna Kettle:

and it is really beautiful.

Anna Kettle:

And I think what's really helpful about it is written in that way.

Anna Kettle:

It's written, yes, it's about It's not just about your specific journey,

Anna Kettle:

but it's also about how you weather grief and the storms that come in

Anna Kettle:

life, which we all experience and I think those two keys that you mentioned

Anna Kettle:

there around not doing it on your own, because grief can be so isolating and

Anna Kettle:

also that whole area of Learning to be honest and real with God, and you

Anna Kettle:

touched on lament there, didn't you?

Anna Kettle:

I wonder if you can just, for anyone who's listening and maybe doesn't

Anna Kettle:

quite know what that involves or how that looks in practice, I just

Anna Kettle:

wonder if you can unpack that part a little bit more what is lament?

Anna Kettle:

How do you do it?

Anna Kettle:

Where do you begin?

Katherine Gantlett:

Lament, one of my favourite theologian is,

Katherine Gantlett:

lament is worship in a minor key.

Katherine Gantlett:

I love that.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah,

Anna Kettle:

it's good, isn't it?

Anna Kettle:

But

Katherine Gantlett:

the key is that it's.

Katherine Gantlett:

Sadaf Beynon.

Katherine Gantlett:

It's still communicating with God, but it's being honest, so I think we too

Katherine Gantlett:

easily label emotions good or bad, so fear and anger and disappointment, they're bad

Katherine Gantlett:

emotions, and joy contentment and peace, those are good emotions, and I think

Katherine Gantlett:

we can be in danger of spiritualizing.

Katherine Gantlett:

That, if we're feeling anger, or resentment, or pain, or whatever it

Katherine Gantlett:

is we need to try and reframe that to find joy but Lament says that

Katherine Gantlett:

before you can turn towards praise and joy, you need to have got out.

Katherine Gantlett:

Those feelings that are neither good nor bad and, but you do it before God.

Katherine Gantlett:

So if you look at the Bible, the Psalms, for example, different people have

Katherine Gantlett:

different estimates of how many of the Psalms are lament, but a conservative

Katherine Gantlett:

estimate is 50% some would say.

Katherine Gantlett:

Have element of lament in them and what is a pattern.

Katherine Gantlett:

The psalmist complaining, so being really honest about what the problem is David in

Katherine Gantlett:

some of his psalms says, basically, I'm going to die if you don't sort this out.

Katherine Gantlett:

An appeal to God and his character.

Katherine Gantlett:

So I think we can make the mistake of thinking that lament isn't.

Katherine Gantlett:

Faithful, because we're complaining about a situation and we're, expressing

Katherine Gantlett:

how hard it is, but when you look at the Bible, the most faithful people lamented.

Katherine Gantlett:

So you've got David, who's called a man after God's heart.

Katherine Gantlett:

You've got Jeremiah, who wrote Lamentations.

Katherine Gantlett:

You've got Job, obviously, most famously but actually Jesus laments from the cross.

Katherine Gantlett:

He quotes a laments psalm from the cross.

Katherine Gantlett:

Actually it's one of the most faithful things we can do in the face of

Katherine Gantlett:

disorientation to go, do you know God, I know who you are, I know that you're

Katherine Gantlett:

good, I know that you're loving, but my life, there's such dissonance.

Katherine Gantlett:

Between that and my lived experience, so where are you?

Katherine Gantlett:

So appealing to his character and then stimulating him to action.

Katherine Gantlett:

So saying, because of your character, I need you.

Katherine Gantlett:

To work on my behalf and obviously in the Old Testament and for us now,

Katherine Gantlett:

that comes from covenant relationship.

Katherine Gantlett:

So it's like marriage.

Katherine Gantlett:

So if you think about marriages, a marriage that's in danger is one where

Katherine Gantlett:

the couple have stopped communicating.

Katherine Gantlett:

As long as they're still communicating they're in a relationship and

Katherine Gantlett:

the covenant allows each partner to hold the other to account.

Katherine Gantlett:

And it's the same in our covenant relationship with God because he has

Katherine Gantlett:

promised to be in relationship with us.

Katherine Gantlett:

It means that we can call on him and say, come on.

Katherine Gantlett:

And also one of our prayers when we were going through it all was, we've

Katherine Gantlett:

got all these people watching us who are not Christians that wouldn't say they

Katherine Gantlett:

had a faith and they're looking at us going these guys are Christian people

Katherine Gantlett:

and they're going through all of this.

Katherine Gantlett:

So it's come on, God, we need you to act, to show who you are

Katherine Gantlett:

to other people, to stimulate.

Katherine Gantlett:

All of the lament Psalms, with the exception of maybe one or two, end with

Katherine Gantlett:

an expression of trust in God, that if you think about Lamentations, the famous

Katherine Gantlett:

verse that we pull out about God's mercies anew every morning say, Lamentations,

Katherine Gantlett:

So you've got a complaint, an appeal to God's character, stimulation to

Katherine Gantlett:

action, and then an expression of trust.

Katherine Gantlett:

So you can use the psalms to pray with, but when I run retreats and workshops on

Katherine Gantlett:

lament I encourage people to write their own laments using that cast mnemonic.

Anna Kettle:

That's such a helpful way of remembering it,

Anna Kettle:

cast, just those four sections.

Anna Kettle:

It's like a really practical thing you can do and like you say, you can do

Anna Kettle:

it verbally, you can write it down.

Anna Kettle:

It's just, I think that's you know, something that everyone

Anna Kettle:

should have a go at doing.

Anna Kettle:

It's just, it's a really practical tool, I think.

Anna Kettle:

And yeah, you're so right.

Anna Kettle:

It's like almost a kind of long forgotten sort of side of faith, isn't it?

Anna Kettle:

It's so there in the Bible and yet we don't often do that very well

Anna Kettle:

in our kind of modern evangelical charismatic kind of Western churches.

Anna Kettle:

We've lost some of that art because we sometimes lean

Anna Kettle:

quite heavily into the sort of.

Anna Kettle:

positive side of praise and worship, don't we?

Anna Kettle:

And we forget that's there as well, but of course it's there in life.

Anna Kettle:

So it does leave this kind of reality gap sometimes for people

Anna Kettle:

who are grieving and are struggling.

Anna Kettle:

So I think that is so useful.

Katherine Gantlett:

It's not just for people who are struggling or going

Katherine Gantlett:

through loss, lament is a really powerful way of standing in solidarity

Katherine Gantlett:

with those who are going through loss, but also in global situations.

Katherine Gantlett:

So When I've run workshops, I've had people write really powerful

Katherine Gantlett:

laments about world situations.

Katherine Gantlett:

It's an art that we need to regain, particularly in the

Katherine Gantlett:

charismatic evangelical church.

Katherine Gantlett:

And a community, yes, you can do it on your own, but there's something

Katherine Gantlett:

really powerful again, about community and doing it in community.

Katherine Gantlett:

So I would love to see more worship led from lament and actually there is.

Katherine Gantlett:

There's some more worship music now that helps with that, see.

Katherine Gantlett:

If people are interested, the Porter's Gate have a whole album called Lament

Katherine Gantlett:

Songs, and their latest one, Sanctuary Songs, is about helping people face

Katherine Gantlett:

the reality of life with faith.

Anna Kettle:

Fab, that's really good, and all of these references

Anna Kettle:

that we're thinking about.

Anna Kettle:

discussing and the books and stuff throughout the discussion just to

Anna Kettle:

say we'll add them to the show notes at the end so people can find those

Anna Kettle:

links and stuff if you are interested in digging deeper on anything we

Anna Kettle:

talk about in this session actually.

Anna Kettle:

Now I know we could go on and on and we could talk on and on about lament

Anna Kettle:

because it's such a fascinating area but I suppose just bring it

Anna Kettle:

back to your story a little bit.

Anna Kettle:

How do you feel that whole, journey you went through over six or seven years of

Anna Kettle:

loss has shaped or changed your faith?

Anna Kettle:

You've touched on some of that there, you talked about, the things you learn and

Anna Kettle:

you write about in your book, but how do you, feel it shaped you personally and

Anna Kettle:

your walk with God, your faith journey?

Anna Kettle:

I know it's not a story you would have chosen, but, Yeah,

Anna Kettle:

how has it shaped your life?

Katherine Gantlett:

So I remember saying to John, my husband, not long

Katherine Gantlett:

after Libby died, that I don't mind if people say John and Katherine were

Katherine Gantlett:

never the same after this, but it ultimately has to have a positive.

Katherine Gantlett:

Partly because as Libby's mum, I don't want her associating just with sadness.

Katherine Gantlett:

And I was reminded today out on a walk of the term Bright Sorrow, so

Katherine Gantlett:

what that means is that Joy coming from really hard, really sad times.

Katherine Gantlett:

And so everything we went through has had a totally transformative

Katherine Gantlett:

effect on who I am, who John is.

Katherine Gantlett:

But I think because we chose to do it with God.

Katherine Gantlett:

That transformation has been life giving and I don't say that lightly,

Katherine Gantlett:

but in a heartbeat I would trade what we went through to have our

Katherine Gantlett:

daughter and other children with us.

Katherine Gantlett:

But I know that I am a more compassionate person I have the privilege now of,

Katherine Gantlett:

Walking alongside others who are walking through really hard times and bearing

Katherine Gantlett:

witness to their stories and it has shaped what I do work wise one of, there are lots

Katherine Gantlett:

of big questions that come out of Seasons of Loss obviously, It does God exist,

Katherine Gantlett:

first off, and if he does, what's he like?

Katherine Gantlett:

But then, very related to that, who am I?

Katherine Gantlett:

And so everything I do work wise now is about helping people

Katherine Gantlett:

go deeper into who are they?

Katherine Gantlett:

And actually the intertwined question of who is God.

Katherine Gantlett:

So yeah, it's shaped me as a person in really profound ways.

Katherine Gantlett:

It continues to be hard and there are times where I feel like I'm

Katherine Gantlett:

back in the raw grief again.

Katherine Gantlett:

But from a faith point of view, it's grown a passion for emotional

Katherine Gantlett:

agility, so emotional health.

Katherine Gantlett:

So what we talked about with lament and.

Katherine Gantlett:

And also a greater comfort with mystery, that I'm an academic at heart.

Katherine Gantlett:

I love questions.

Katherine Gantlett:

I love digging.

Katherine Gantlett:

I'm curious.

Katherine Gantlett:

But actually, when we're suffering, we often go to the Bible for answers.

Katherine Gantlett:

So we go to Job and we go explain why I'm suffering.

Katherine Gantlett:

But actually Job doesn't do that, the Bible doesn't do that what the Bible does,

Katherine Gantlett:

I mean it's wisdom literature, so it shows us how in those seasons to live well so

Katherine Gantlett:

you know I still have an awful lot of questions, but I have experienced God in

Katherine Gantlett:

the middle of it and I think that's the one thing that I want people to take away

Katherine Gantlett:

is if you try and look for spring or you hunker down, you miss Meeting God in the

Katherine Gantlett:

middle of, or the messy middle, the pain.

Katherine Gantlett:

And some of my most profound encounters with God have been

Katherine Gantlett:

in the times of greatest pain.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah that's really interesting to hear.

Anna Kettle:

It's so profound.

Anna Kettle:

'cause everything in our natural human instinct says

Anna Kettle:

run away from pain, doesn't it?

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

And yet you are saying like.

Anna Kettle:

God's right there.

Anna Kettle:

And of course that figures because the Bible talks about

Anna Kettle:

He's the God of all comfort.

Anna Kettle:

So of course, He's there in the pain and that's those encounter moments.

Anna Kettle:

And but yeah it's not something that comes natural.

Anna Kettle:

And it's something that, as you say, you wouldn't choose as your story, but you've

Anna Kettle:

so clearly learned that in your life.

Anna Kettle:

And it's really inspiring to hear about.

Anna Kettle:

And, it's clear that you formed a deeper faith and, Almost reshaped

Anna Kettle:

your life around this experience and that's really inspiring that

Anna Kettle:

something devastating doesn't have to devastate your entire life.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah, I think that's probably really encouraging for anyone who's going

Anna Kettle:

through something right now that's similar or maybe quite different,

Anna Kettle:

that the devastating thing doesn't have to cause just devastation.

Anna Kettle:

And That's I don't know, I find that really inspiring wherever

Anna Kettle:

I see a story like that and yours is definitely one of them.

Anna Kettle:

And that's why I loved reading your book as well.

Anna Kettle:

And I wonder, could you tell us tell us a little bit more about it?

Anna Kettle:

I know you touched on it, but where do people get it?

Anna Kettle:

How can they get a copy?

Anna Kettle:

What can they expect in it?

Katherine Gantlett:

In terms of what you can expect, I read a lot and so I

Katherine Gantlett:

read a lot of books after we lost Libby and I was like, I'm going to write

Katherine Gantlett:

the book that I don't think is there.

Katherine Gantlett:

So it's a mix of personal reflection, deeper theological unpacking of some

Katherine Gantlett:

of the big questions about God, our identity and meaning and purpose.

Katherine Gantlett:

And then.

Katherine Gantlett:

Practical application, okay I find myself in winter, how do I embrace the season?

Katherine Gantlett:

Jesus, when he talks about, taking up your cross I love how Eugene

Katherine Gantlett:

Peterson translates it in The Message, he has Jesus saying: don't

Katherine Gantlett:

run from suffering, embrace it.

Katherine Gantlett:

So it's what we were talking to say, I use the Danish practice of hygge, which,

Katherine Gantlett:

so the Danes have some of the longest winters, but they often rank really

Katherine Gantlett:

high in global happiness scales, and part of the reason is around hygge, so

Katherine Gantlett:

I unpacked some practical habits like community, for example gratitude, which

Katherine Gantlett:

sounds really hard when you're in the middle of something really tough and also

Katherine Gantlett:

the importance of refuge in the middle of winter, so I'm all for getting out

Katherine Gantlett:

there in the elements, the lament side of things, but we do also need So yeah,

Katherine Gantlett:

it's a mix of personal story, theological reflection and practical application for

Katherine Gantlett:

anyone going through any form of loss.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah.

Katherine Gantlett:

And you can get it in anywhere that you would get your books.

Katherine Gantlett:

So Eden, Waterstones, Amazon, my website, which we can link to.

Katherine Gantlett:

Yeah.

Katherine Gantlett:

So yeah.

Katherine Gantlett:

And there's paper and a Kindle version.

Anna Kettle:

Brilliant.

Anna Kettle:

So definitely a resource well worth checking out.

Anna Kettle:

I highly recommend it myself.

Anna Kettle:

So yeah, really useful on that subject.

Anna Kettle:

So tell us, Katherine then.

Anna Kettle:

In sort of reflection on some of what we've been talking about today and

Anna Kettle:

your journey thus far, what's one key lesson or learning point that you've,

Anna Kettle:

I know it's really hard to ask anyone to distill it down to one thing because

Anna Kettle:

I'm sure there's so many, but if you could sum it up in one sentence.

Anna Kettle:

One phrase or sentence or perhaps one idea, what is that key thing that you

Anna Kettle:

feel like God's taught you or that you've learned through your journey?

Katherine Gantlett:

I had to think about this quite hard, but going back

Katherine Gantlett:

to image of God and how we image God.

Katherine Gantlett:

I think the key thing I've learned is that God is a God of vulnerability

Katherine Gantlett:

and, the incarnation is God at his most vulnerable, coming as, we've just

Katherine Gantlett:

celebrated Christmas, so God became a baby and, was fully reliant on his parents.

Katherine Gantlett:

And we want a God who's in control, a God who's powerful, victorious, all of that.

Katherine Gantlett:

And obviously, in the risen Jesus we have the promise of them.

Katherine Gantlett:

That's where our hope is anchored.

Katherine Gantlett:

But for a lot of people we live most of our lives in the middle.

Katherine Gantlett:

And so knowing that God is a God of vulnerability who walks alongside

Katherine Gantlett:

us, what I've learned is the power of being vulnerable myself.

Katherine Gantlett:

And the most vulnerable thing I can do is open up my story

Katherine Gantlett:

to others and say this is me.

Katherine Gantlett:

This is me.

Katherine Gantlett:

This is how God has worked in my story.

Katherine Gantlett:

And the power of that is that, it takes courage to do that, but you

Katherine Gantlett:

then, there's an invitation for others to open their home, essentially of

Katherine Gantlett:

their lives and share in an authentic, vulnerable way their lived experience.

Katherine Gantlett:

So I think the vulnerability of God is something that.

Katherine Gantlett:

I've learned powerfully.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah, that's such an interesting way of looking at it and

Anna Kettle:

yeah quite humbling really, isn't it?

Anna Kettle:

That God made himself vulnerable and therefore sets the mold almost for us to

Anna Kettle:

do the same or to be able to do the same.

Anna Kettle:

We're we're so grateful that you have made yourself vulnerable and

Anna Kettle:

been open to sharing your story and glad that you've podcast as well.

Anna Kettle:

I, I'm personally grateful because.

Anna Kettle:

We have similarities in our stories but tell us before you go just tell us a

Anna Kettle:

little bit more about what you're up to right now, what you're working on, what

Anna Kettle:

your hopes for 2024, have you got anything else in the pipeline, what's coming up?

Katherine Gantlett:

So as you mentioned at the beginning, I'm training as a

Katherine Gantlett:

spiritual director, accompanier, so I'm leading retreats based out of Walking

Katherine Gantlett:

Through Winter, I'd love to do more of that, and I was a contributor to a book

Katherine Gantlett:

called Praying Through Infertility, which is a 90 day devotional book, 36

Katherine Gantlett:

different contributors, so a range of voices, because obviously infertility

Katherine Gantlett:

that is published on the 15th of February in this country, so people will pre

Katherine Gantlett:

order that they can go wherever they get books for that but, yeah, I'm just

Katherine Gantlett:

continuing to accompany people through what I write, workshops and retreats.

Anna Kettle:

Sounds brilliant loads coming up then, and is the book,

Anna Kettle:

has it been pulled together by?

Anna Kettle:

Sheridan Voisey, yeah, who's a great author on this subject as well if

Anna Kettle:

anyone's interested in anything more around childlessness and infertility,

Anna Kettle:

but yeah, again, we'll share that in the show nights because it's a great

Anna Kettle:

resource that's about to be launched.

Anna Kettle:

Finally, just tell us, people have enjoyed listening to you today, have

Anna Kettle:

enjoyed hearing a bit about what you do, about what you teach about,

Anna Kettle:

how do people connect with you?

Anna Kettle:

How do they find out more, your website, social handles,

Anna Kettle:

tell us where we can find you.

Katherine Gantlett:

My website is katherinegantlet.

Katherine Gantlett:

org and I'm on Twitter as @KGantlett and Facebook as katherine.gantlett the

Katherine Gantlett:

advantage of having an unusual name.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

You don't need to be like 2004 or anything like that.

Anna Kettle:

Yeah.

Anna Kettle:

Perfect.

Anna Kettle:

If you find Katharine Gardner, you've found me.

Anna Kettle:

It's probably you.

Anna Kettle:

Brilliant.

Anna Kettle:

We will, again, we'll add those all to the show notes so that

Anna Kettle:

people can find you easily.

Anna Kettle:

And yeah, please do connect with Katharine if you're interested in

Anna Kettle:

this subject, if you want to connect with her more, if you want to learn

Anna Kettle:

more about her retreats or her book or anything else that she's doing on this

Anna Kettle:

subject, because it really is brilliant.

Anna Kettle:

That's probably all we've got time for today, where the clock is ticking on.

Anna Kettle:

But Katherine, thank you so much for joining us today on What's The Story.

Anna Kettle:

It's been so generous of you to share a bit of your story with us today.

Anna Kettle:

So thank you for being here.

Anna Kettle:

Oh, it's

Katherine Gantlett:

been an absolute pleasure.

Katherine Gantlett:

Thank you, Anna.

Anna Kettle:

And thank you also for being here, listeners.

Anna Kettle:

We wouldn't be anything without you.

Anna Kettle:

So we will catch you very soon on What's The Story.

Sadaf Beynon:

And just like that, we've reached the end of

Sadaf Beynon:

another fascinating conversation.

Sadaf Beynon:

Remember to check out Crowd Online Church at www.

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Don't forget to subscribe to What's the Story on your favourite podcast app.

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Sadaf Beynon:

What's the Story is a production of Crowd Online Church.

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