How To Rebuild Hope After Tragedy | Kay Warren
In this heartfelt episode, we're featuring one of our highest rated sessions from our HIM 2024 Conference. Join us as Kay Warren, co-founder of Saddleback Church and mental health advocate, as she shares her personal journey through unimaginable loss and the rebuilding of hope.
KEY TAKEAWAY: Embracing a Gritty Faith
Life can shatter our ideal of a "pretty faith" that avoids hardship. Instead, we are called to cultivate a "gritty faith" that confronts life's toughest challenges with resilience and trust in God's goodness.
Kay elaborates on "gritty faith," contrasting it with the notion of "pretty faith," which may falter in adversity. Developing gritty faith involves:
Acknowledging Life's Conflicts
: Accept that life will present unanswerable questions and painful trials.Holding on to Hope and Trust
: Lean on scriptural promises and maintain hope despite hurt and despair.Expressing Both Praise and Lament
: Communicating with God honestly, sharing your deepest joys and sorrows.
SCRIPTURES FOR DAILY REFLECTION
Kay finds great solace in specific scriptures that reinforce her hope. Here are a few to meditate on throughout your week:
1 Corinthians 15:43
: Reflects the promise of a future glorious resurrection.
Psalms
: Embrace the contradictions of life while sustaining faith and hope.
Kay Warren
Kay Warren cofounded Saddleback Church with her husband, Rick Warren, in Lake Forest, California in 1980, serving there until Rick’s retirement from senior leadership in September 2022.
After the death of her son Matthew, who lived with serious mental illness most of his life, she founded Saddleback’s Hope for Mental Health Initiative to support individuals and family members of loved ones with mental illness and suicidal ideation. In 2019, Kay launched BREATHE, a ministry specifically to support parents of children living with serious mental illness. BREATHE events include weekend respite retreats, online retreats, and regular Zoom calls for parents with mental health professionals.
Kay was a board member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention for 8 years and is active in mental health/suicide prevention efforts in Orange County, CA. Her books include Sacred Privilege: Your Life and Ministry as a Pastor's Wife; Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough; and Say Yes to God: A Call to Courageous Surrender. Kay also coauthored Foundations, a popular systematic theology course used by churches worldwide. Her children are Amy, Josh, and Matthew (who is in heaven), and she has five grandchildren.