Gena Thomas's Blog

Ring. Ring.

“Hi Gena. She’s just passed.”

My head sank. We expected this. We had been expecting it for months. But when the world loses someone like Grace, you really feel it.

For those who don’t know Grace, this story sheds light on the type of person she was:
One day, she witnessed an injustice toward an unhoused man who had come in to find respite and sit on a bench at the settlement house she worked at. “Get out!” the director yelled at the man, throwing a paper cup of water on him. The man had ...

This is a short story -- a piece of fiction -- written after hearing that many women are researching if they can actually hide their votes from their husbands.
I’m so glad our polling place got redistricted to the Methodist church around the corner. In 2020, I ended up in a stall so close to Billy, I just felt him breathing on me. There weren’t no way I coulda voted against his candidate without having a panic attack right then and there, worried he’d see and tear me a new one. He’s never hit...

GUEST POST by a friend of Gena's who prefers to remain anonymous

Ever since I became a mother, I have been questioned by strangers regarding my relationship with my kids. People have asked me things like, “Don’t you want to have your own kids?” and “Do you know much about his real parents?” I get these questions more often than other mothers because my children are Black and my husband and I are white; therefore, our interracial family doesn't look like it “matches.”
 
My husband and I adopted our ...

​On Sunday, during church, I just kept thinking about how Jesus chose to appear to women first when he rose from the dead. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I love thinking about this, and the other ways in which Christ uplifted the dignity of women, and knew them all by name: the woman at the well, the woman who was about to be stoned, the woman and her perfume, his mother, Lazarus' sisters, all the little girls that were included in 'let all the children come to me,' the woman who touched hi...

Gina Ruocco, 1927-2022 God bless the life of Gina Ruocco—sister, mother, daughter & grandmother.

God bless the husband of 60 years, and the life and the family, both nuclear and extended that lived in the home. God bless the love between that extended so wide.

God bless the twin brother and sister who shared in so many memories, gave and received so much love, and demonstrated mutual loyalty & support & care & respect despite the very different paths they took. God bless the sister who remai...

From my IG video you can find here.

I have a confession to make. I’ve acted violently against myself in showing up on social media. I found myself comparing my life, my writing, my house, my décor, my makeup, my theology with a lot of others on here, especially on Instagram.

What I often found was jealousy not joy.
Competition not connection.

I was getting so overwhelmed with life, work, and being an author, that I decided it wasn’t good for my mental health. So I cut down my Instagram following an...

This guest post is written by Eliza Stewart. Eliza (she/her) is a young South African with a USA passport taking a year between high school and the rest of her life to do some travelling, learning, and listening.
What does it mean to travel to a place, not to consume it, but just to be there? I don’t want to go somewhere because I feel entitled to because my mom was born within the borders of the “USA” and I have access to it legally because of my passport. I want to think about the places I’m...

Unbelonging uncovers the stepping stones that are invisible in belonging. Every time we are excommunicated, pushed away, pushed out, or told we don’t fit in. Every time we feel angst over the social boundaries we’re told we must abide by, we have begun the journey to see these stepping stones that give us a new perspective of Christ. For Christ, belonging is never transactional. Belonging has always been unconditional.

And this is the most radical, controversial, mind-blowing aspect of Ch...

For workers struggling to find pay, struggling to find consistent work, struggling to move beyond survival, extra stressed by their circumstances, reveal your presence to them so they know they don’t walk alone.
Be their Jehovah Shammah.
Lord, hear our prayer.
 
For those out of work, struggling to find it, feeling underwater as their dignity and identity are so closely connected to the reality of having it, be their Jehovah Bore, Elohim, and remind them that their worth comes from the dignit...

If you struggle during this season to stay focused on Christ and his birth because of all of the distractions of commercialism starting with Black Friday and leading right up to December 25, Covid logistics for get-togethers, the perfect presents for every so-and-so, you are not alone. I used to get so frustrated during this season because it seems to not be about Christ at all (I wrote a blog post in my early 20s called why I hate Christmas.) But then I learned about  Advent — and the ch...