Ep.047 - A Perfect Brightness Of Hope (The Story Isn't Over!) With Vanessa Quigley

What happens when you do everything you thought you were supposed to do—and life still doesn’t turn out the way you expected?

Vanessa Quigley is the founder of Chatbooks, a mom of seven, and a woman who has spent the last several years wrestling with that very question.

She “ran the playbook.” Family home evening. Scripture study. Seminary. Scouts. Church. Temple worship. She even memorized The Living Christ with her family. And yet, three of her children eventually stepped away from the Church.

In this honest and deeply vulnerable conversation, Vanessa and I talk about what happens when the blessings we thought would come from our faithfulness don't look the way we expected them to.

We talk about agency, disappointment, certainty, the danger of turning our relationship with God into a transaction, and what it means to keep showing up when we don't have answers. Vanessa shares how her wrestle with God eventually led her to a deeper understanding of Jesus Christ—and to a kind of faith that doesn't require certainty.

We talk about the lessons our hardest experiences can teach us, how suffering can make us more capable of recognizing and ministering to the suffering of others, and why we don't have to maintain the veneer of the “perfect family.” And then Vanessa shares a beautiful experience in the temple that gave her a phrase she has carried ever since: “A perfect brightness of hope.”

If you've ever wondered what you did wrong, if you've ever watched someone you love make choices you wouldn't have chosen for them, or if your life simply isn't unfolding according to the plan you thought God had for you, I think you'll find something here.

Because sometimes faith isn't about knowing how everything will work out. Sometimes it's about trusting that God knows how to make it right—and continuing to show up. Vanessa's story is a beautiful reminder that the story isn't over simply because it doesn't look the way we thought it would.

And maybe that's where the real rising begins.