Last week I had the privilege of interviewing Pastor Mitchel Lee of Grace Community Church in Fulton, Maryland. It was a conversation that deeply encouraged me. So often, it can be easy to equate life circumstances with the goodness of God. And to wonder how do we connect with and trust God amid life’s trials and brokenness? Pastor Lee recently released a book, entitled Even If, that addresses this exactly. The message has been stirring in his heart for nineteen years.

In his book and in our time together, Pastor Lee helps us learn to be more resilient in the face of suffering and how to live with a daring commitment to engage deeply with God in a broken world. Specifically, he teaches us how the practice of remembering helps us stay connected to God and how dwelling on God’s character and goodness before the storm grounds us, regardless of life’s ups and downs.

Pastor Lee approaches this conversation as a wise and knowing guide, having undergone his share of struggles, including the death of his father, as well as miraculous turns, such as his own birth story. It’s people like Pastor Lee who spur me on in my own journey. He reminds me of the deep and utter goodness of God and that our stories and his goodness are so much bigger than the brokenness we experience.