Has God really experienced the same pain and suffering we have? Speaker, author, and trauma counselor Sheila Wise Rowe asked herself this question as a child in post-segregated America, and the answer inspired her to later live and work in post-apartheid South Africa. Hear her story in this episode of VOICES’ Where Ya From? podcast.

Guest Bio:

Sheila Wise Rowe is a graduate of Tufts University and Cambridge College with a master’s degree in counseling psychology. For over 25 years she has counseled abuse and trauma survivors in the United States. Sheila ministered to homeless and abused women and children in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she also taught counseling and trauma-related courses for a decade.

She is the cofounder of The Cyrene Movement, an online community for people of color seeking healing for racial trauma. She is the author of Young, Gifted, and Black; Healing Racial Trauma; The Well of Life: Heal Your Pain; Satisfy Your Thirst; Live Your Purpose; and The Wonder Years. She lives in the Boston area, where she is a writer, counselor, speaker, and spiritual director.

Notes & Quotes:

  • “God meets us in those places of pain and . . . He grieves with us.”
  • “The Lord is inviting us to come to Him with that and . . . He will give us what we need.”

Links Mentioned:

Verses Mentioned:

  • Psalm 56:8
  • Matthew 11:28–30
  • John 14:25–27

    From Our Daily Bread Ministries in partnership with Christianity Today.