By: redtentwomen July 30, 2022 Day to Day, Monthly ThemesMonthly Themes, Theme to consider: Balancing ActLeave a Comment

August theme to consider: Balancing Act

For the month of August the women of Red Tent Living will be considering the theme “Balancing Act”. We invite you to join us by reading along, and also by hosting some women in your own community to share stories around this theme during a Red Tent Dinner.

Our Story

The idea for Red Tent Living started more than a decade ago with a book by the same name. The Red Tent, the best-selling historical fiction novel by Anita Diamont, retold the story of Dinah from the book of Genesis.

Writing Guidelines

Red Tent Living is a community of women from across the world reading, writing, reflecting, and responding to one another daily as we reframe what it means to be feminine. We welcome you to join in the conversation and submit your own work!

Hosting a Red Tent Dinner

Purpose: Once a month gatherings for 6-8 women that include enjoying a meal together and taking time to share pieces of their lives with one another. It is a place where believers and non believers in Jesus can experience community as they find connection in unexpected ways with one another.

Drawn to Grace

By: redtentwomen August 15, 2022July 20, 2022

Faith, Monthly Themes, relationshipsChurch, denominations, Grace, Maryhelen MartensLeave a Comment

In early 2020, while Covid and civil unrest engulfed our country, an ongoing conflict with an abusive pastor came to a climax when my husband and I were shown the door at a church we had served for over fifteen years. I was untethered, wondering what life in the world would look like in the…

Falling

By: redtentwomen August 12, 2022July 17, 2022

Faith, Monthly Themesillness, Recovery, recovery from illness, Trauma Recovery, Wendy Lipham3 Comments

“I’m dying. I don’t know how to do this!” Laying on the bed in the dark, these words played over and over in my mind. I had felt a little off for some time, but there was nothing I could put my finger on. My family urged me to go to the doctor, but what…

Treading Water

By: redtentwomen August 10, 2022July 19, 2022

Day to Day, Intentional Living, Monthly Themes, relationships, The HomeExhaustion, Kindness to self, Lyndsey Ribble, Motherhood, Mothering small children, Wednesday in the Weeds2 Comments

Tread water, get pulled under, push to surface, gasp for air, tread water, get pulled under, push to surface, gasp for air. Slowly drowning has become my way of life. There is a rhythm to it, one that is familiar. A pattern that should probably feel scary or dangerous instead feels like home. So even…

Inside Out

By: redtentwomen August 9, 2022July 17, 2022

Day to Day, Femininity, Monthly ThemesEmbodiment, Grief, Healing from trauma, Integration, Maggie Hemphill, physical pain, Poetry1 Comment

It’s a blurry line really, A delicate balancing act: Holding you, holding me. I’ve ignored you And denied you. Pretended you were someone else.

Complicated Love

By: redtentwomen August 8, 2022July 14, 2022

Faith, Intentional Living, Monthly Themes, relationshipsGod's Love, Grace, Jill English, Parenting4 Comments

When I was young, my faith was expansive. I listened as friends told desperate stories of an unplanned pregnancy; of the fear of deportation; of the explosive anger of a boyfriend she couldn’t stop loving; of the courage it took to tell parents of a same-sex attraction. I shared my own fears, desperations, and foibles,…

Bolus of Change

By: redtentwomen August 5, 2022July 29, 2022

Faith, Intentional Living, Monthly Themes, relationshipsChange, Grief, Henri Nouwen, Legacy, Life Change, loneliness, Maureen Gebben, Steven Curtis Chapman3 Comments

In honor of the tenth anniversary of Red Tent Living, we are featuring a monthly legacy post written by one of our regular contributors from the past decade. Maureen Gebben was one of the original Red Tent Writers; this post originally appeared in September 2013. I’ve had a bolus of change in my life with…

Release

By: redtentwomen August 3, 2022August 2, 2022

Intentional Living, Monthly Themes, relationshipsAdult Siblings, Christine Browning, Healing, Loss, processing grief, trauma, Wednesday in the WeedsLeave a Comment

I finger the three separate baggies in my hand. They contain the remains of my father (age 95; died February 16, 2019), my mother (age 96; died July 22, 2020), and my youngest brother, John (age 64; died February 19, 2022). My two older sisters and I gather on the Oregon coast to celebrate the…

Goodness and Grief

By: redtentwomen August 1, 2022July 22, 2022

Faith, Monthly Themes, relationshipsGrief, Letting Go, Loss, Sandhya Oaks, Saying Goodbye2 Comments

I am not ready to let go. The tears and memories still come to the surface, far too quickly, and for this I hold immense gratitude. I am still holding the glorious faces, stories, words, and brilliant questions of those who went through our institute. The beautiful work was done in partnership and communion alongside…

Inside of His Arms

By: redtentwomen July 29, 2022June 23, 2022

Faith, Intentional Living, Monthly Themes, relationshipsAddiction, Community, crisis, Jean Masukevich, solitude, Suffering and the Heart of God2 Comments

I sit on my front porch alone. Although I was invited to the graduation party, I simply cannot go. My heart simultaneously longs for connection and dreads the pain of showing up in community. Our family has been navigating acute crisis for more than a year. I am battered and bloody and desperate for care.…

At Home with Myself

By: redtentwomen July 27, 2022July 24, 2022

Faith, Monthly Themes, relationshipsArtificial grass, grounding, Mallory Redmond, sense of self, Wednesday in the WeedsLeave a Comment

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been a sucker for artificial grass. (Clearly it didn’t take much to thrill me!) I was mesmerized by it—so green and life-like! I called it “inside-outside grass,” and I wanted it everywhere, both in and outside of my childhood home. Thankfully, my parents politely declined my…