Human Experience. Holy Ground.

There is grace and sacredness in everyday life. The Beautiful Stories Journal brings that truth into focus through feature stories about real people, actual places, and true experiences. Honest and nuanced, these stories invite readers to see what is familiar with renewed curiosity, imagination, and hope.

Stories

Journal

Contributor: Karen Stiller, Topic: Grief & Loss, Topic: Humor, Topic: Community

Camp Widow

Journal

Contributor: Karen Stiller, Topic: Grief & Loss, Topic: Humor, Topic: Community

Karen Stiller calls herself Bossy Widow. Her friends are Kind Widow and Young Widow. Together, the Wids eat Greek takeout, laugh at the strange things people say in the face of death, remember the men they loved, and discover that grief can hold sorrow, friendship, faith, regret, tenderness, and even a dance floor.

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Journal

Contributor: Karen Stiller, Topic: Grief & Loss, Topic: Humor, Topic: Community

Journal

Contributor: Sarah Billups, Topic: Grief & Loss, Topic: Hope

The Uncommon Gift

Journal

Contributor: Sarah Billups, Topic: Grief & Loss, Topic: Hope

A pilgrimage through Norway becomes an unexpected encounter with grief, faith, and Randy, a physician whose life has carried him from Kenya to Burundi to Seattle. Along the way, Sara Billups discovers his uncommon gift: the ability to hold suffering and hope, the practical and the miraculous, in the same steady presence.

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Beautiful Stories unfolds across multiple forms, each offering a different way to encounter the people, places, and ideas at the heart of the initiative.