Tribute to Rachel Held Evans

I love “project books” in which the the author undergoes a project for a certain amount of time. Ex. Gretchen Rubin and her happiness project. Or A.J. Jacobs who did a hilarious book called The Year of Living Biblically. Rachel Held Evans wrote A Year of BIblical Womanhood which is a little similar but alot different since its from a womans perspective. She does things like rent a robot baby to care for since she doesn’t have any children yet (yes, you can rent a baby, Our school used to do that to us. #Catholic) or camp out in the yard when she has her period. I was halfway through the book when I googled her to see if she wrote any other books.

You see, Rachel has taken me back to a text that is both foreign and familiar to me: the Bible. She includes stories from the Bible about women and I am both inspired, a little horrified and awed. I tend to like feeling this way. And then my heart plummeted when I entered her name into Google. Rachel had passed away in 2019 from a brain infection at 37. She left behind a son and a daughter. She died two weeks before her daughters first birthday. I was speechless. Surely, the carefree funny engaging woman who had been keeping me entertained for the past few days couldn’t be dead? 

But she was. Apparently, she had an allergic reaction to antibiotics, ended up in a coma and then passed away. That didn’t seem fair. She had written five books about God and spirituality only to die in the prime of youth? I wrote in my God journal this morning. I politely voiced my confusion. There was no answer but maybe if I continue to read her books I’ll find it. After all, she had taught me so much else.