For our Summer of Stories, I got the pleasure of interviewing a dear friend Rachel Faulkner Brown about her incredibly hard and beautiful life. In the first half of this episode, we talk about her journey with losing two husbands and walking that grief journey twice. She shares so much wisdom for other widows as well as practical tips for all of us enduring life’s toughest pain. In the second half of our chat, Rachel bravely shares about their family’s most recent struggle - an eating disorder that quickly took a grip on her daughter. She provides invaluable insight and practical advice from the deeply painful journey they have walked. My favorite part of the interview is when she shares honestly about the shame we can feel as mothers. As she watched her daughter walk through the hardest season of her life - she was also faced with a choice to hold onto that control or release her to God. We all have these moments in parenting and we can learn so much from Rachel’s incredible faith journey. I’m so thrilled for you to get to know Rachel. She is a dear friend and a woman that has experienced God’s goodness throughout some of the deepest pain in her life. You will be inspired by her calling to pass on the love of God and hope to others’ in their darkest days. In this episode, we chat about: How to practically move forward when you lose your spouseHow to wrestle with God when horribly hard things happenHow to lean into God when life is upside downHow to love our kids when it’s hard and you must release controlHow to parent a child with an eating disorder Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 10:46 The Importance of Honesty and Community 30:28 The Need for Aggressive Treatment 39:07 The Healing Journey and Future Hope 48:17 Prayer and Encouragement for Mothers Connect with Pardon The Mess: Christian Parenting Pardon The Mess  Courtney DeFeo Resources from today’s show: Never Alone Widows  Father's House Bible Study There is More podcast  Podcast with Rachel’s daughter about her eating disorder - Part 1 Podcast with Rachel’s daughter about her eating disorder - Part 1 Reverend Joanne Moody St. Teresa of Avila Quote Healing prayer - resource 1 Healing prayer - resource 2 Our Sponsors: * Check out Seed and use my code 25MESS for a great deal: seed.com Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy