T.I. Lowe :: Stories of Grit, Grace, and God’s Redemption from the Dark Places
I have one heck of a power-packed conversation for you with the lovely, hilarious, and always honest T.I. Lowe. T.I. is a born and bred Southern woman, and fiction author with a fiery passion for the Lord, and she shares her story with me of God coming into her life and redefining love and family, and how He can change a life. Her heart to understand the experiences of others led her to take her secret love of writing and breathe life into stories of deep pain and wild Divine redemption. No topic is off limits because no human is exempt from pain and suffering. Her stories run the gamut of spiritual leaders battling major mental health issues, suicide, dealing with abusive relationships, and more, but they are saturated with the real reminder that nothing and no one is beyond the redemption of the Lord.
T.I.’s latest book Indigo Isle is a little bit of “Beauty and the Beast” and the Prodigal Son parable and a whole lot of T.I.’s personal brand of “grit and grace.” It deals with issues so many of us wrestle with like knowing our worth, identity, being held back by our past, sexual abuse, and the deep lies Satan sews to keep us captive from receiving love from others, but most importantly receiving the love of God. This one is a deeply personal one for me because it echoed so much of my personal story, which we talk transparently and boldly about in this podcast. If you are a survivor of sexual abuse, we see you and are with you, but also I want to offer a trigger warning as a sister who has been there. You’re not alone.
The Bible is no stranger to the things that make some feel seen, and others uncomfortable. All of it is real. It is not in God’s nature to shy away from our pain and suffering. He enters in. So we offer you this conversation today so that we can enter in together.
PS:
Personally, the timing of this episode release and me sharing some of the innerworkings of my own heart in the midst of my relational abuse trauma is some wild ordained timing as this week I celebrate almost 20 years of being redeemed from that climax of this particular part of my life this very week, as well as sixteen years of marriage to my own Hudson (T.I.’s hero from Indigo Isle). Thank you, Jesus, for the gift of redeeming love, and that you meant it that there is good to be seen in the land of the living. We are the redeemed of the Lord telling our story. I hope you know today, that no matter where you are, that truth is possible for you too. This is not the end. Hope is real. You matter, and your story matters.
Connecting with T.I.
Books (the current one we discussed at length is Indigo Isle!)
Episode Sponsor: Tony Crabtree of Crabtree Homes with Exit Realty
References:
Lulu’s Cafe (it is free for Kindle Unlimited users btw!)
The #metoo movement (For faith-based conversation here, some of my favorite voices are Tiffany Bluhm and Ash Abercrombie)
“True Love Waits” movement and Purity Culture (I also really appreciate Tiffany and Ash’s voices on this as well. We talk about it a good bit on these episodes, but on their podcast, they have good conversations too)
Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn trauma responses
Learning about various trauma responses (example- there’s an endless well of resources I could point you to! This podcast is another.)
My conversation with the founder of SH, Rachelle Starr
Low Country Boil (we made this recipe last week at the beach actually!)
Scripture References:
Psalm 139:16- He knew me before I was born
Psalm 13- Psalms that depict suicidal ideation
Genesis 21:8-21- Hagar wishing for death
Luke 15:11-32- The prodigal son parable
Genesis 1:27- You are an image bearer
John 4- The Samaritan woman
Joshua 2- Rahab
John 1:1-5, John 17:20-21- We were made by a communal God who does everything in three
Mark 3:13-19-Jesus modeled having a small group of friends
Matthew 17-Then he had even a smaller group of trusted friends
Matthew 14:22-33,Mark 6:45-52,John 6:15-21- He went away to be alone with the Father
Revelation 1:7, Revelation 19:7-9- The Bride of Christ is not going anywhere and Jesus is coming back for her
Luke 15:1-7-Going after the lost sheep
Isaiah 58:12-Mending broken things
Ezekiel 37:1-14- Bringing dry bones to life
Ezekiel 34:16- I will search for my lost loved ones and I will bring them back home safely again
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