Today, Megan and Callie are interviewing Tresta to discuss the journey of writing her debut book More Beautiful Than Necessary: Finding God's Goodness in a Life Beyond My Control. We are exploring themes of grief, beauty, and trust in God's goodness even in the middle of life's uncertainties, as well as discussing the process of crafting a memoir that embraces mystery and the messiness of life.

Join us on Substack at https://necessarytroublepodcast.substack.com/ to watch the video version of this episode, and to find links to our work.

Tresta's book is available here:

Callie starts off our episode on Sharing Stories with this gem:

"Stories are how I breathe, how I live, everything I think, everything I do. As long as I have a story for it, I can keep going."

McEntyre says stories equip us for living and even for survival.

“At their best, if they are doing what they are meant to do, stories take us places we might not otherwise consent to go.”

Join us as we discuss the stories we share through literature and around the table with family, and the ways story complicates and enriches our lives.

“Our Shared Language,” by Tresta Payne

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McIntyre
• Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger
• Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi
• the Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer
• always Flannery
• Tresta’s essay “Sometimes He Gives Scars”, at Cultivating Oaks Press

• Megan: Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
• Callie: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David Sedaris
• Tresta: Uprooted by Gracie Olmstead

Visit us at https://necessarytroublepodcast.substack.com/ to read the revised essays from each episode, find links to each of our websites, and more.

McEntyre calls conversation “an exchange of gifts.”

“We come into one another’s presence bearing whatever harvest of experience the day has offered, and we foster relationship by making a gift of what we have received.”

This episode is all about the art of staying in conversation, the power of dialogue, and how meaningful exchanges can build community and foster self-awareness. Join us as we discuss insights from Marilyn McIntyre's Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, plus some practical tips for writers and conversationalists.

Trouble Seat:

“Stay in Conversation,” by Callie Feyen

Mentions in this episode:

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McIntyre
• Everything is Copy, a film about Nora Ephron, title from one of her most famous quotes
• Friendship in the Lord, by Fr. Paul Hinnebusch
• When We Swung from Church Bells, by Callie Feyen
• Flannery O’Connor: everything she ever wrote

What we’re reading:

• Megan: Terms of Endearment, by Larry McMurtry
• Callie: Middlemarch, by George Eliot (Book Two: “Old and Young” Essentialism, by Greg McKeown
• Tresta: Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite

Visit us at https://necessarytroublepodcast.substack.com/ to read the revised essays from each episode, find links to each of our websites, and more.