Another episode of the Redbud Hyphen is up on #Substack and #Spotify! Redbud President @dorinagilmore welcomes author, mentor, and pastor April Yamasaki to chat about the journey of grief, her new book Hope Beyond Our Sorrows, and more.
You won’t want to miss listening to this conversation. We pray that April’s wisdom, vulnerability, and insights encourage you today.
A few of the things Dorina and April discuss:
The lingering nature of grief
When waiting isn’t procrastination but preparation
Publishing twists and turns
April’s journey to becoming a spiritual formation mentor and what you should look for when seeking a mentor
I had read somewhere . . . the analogy of grief being like molasses, and I thought of that in my own journey, my three movements I call early grief and middle grief and present grief. So early grief is that sudden plunge into molasses where I felt like I couldn't breathe or I couldn't move. I was stuck. That was early grief, a broken heart.
And then the second part of the book is a middle grief, a hard path. That's the struggle to get unstuck, starting to go past those first things, the first Christmas, the first birthday, the first wedding on his side of the family, all of those things, that's the middle grief.
And then present grief, I thought of as where I am now. And that came because someone had asked me early on, maybe it was about two years after his death, “Well, how did you deal with your grief?” And I immediately translated to the present. How am I dealing with my grief? Because, you know, grief clings to us. We're no longer plunged into molasses where we can't move. We're more or less unstuck and we're moving forward.
But you know how molasses just clings to you? Well, grief clings to us too.
—April Yamasaki
Order a copy of HOPE BEYOND OUR SORROWS for yourself and a friend today.
Share in the comments any takeaways or other highlights from this episode or questions about the guild.
More about April Yamasaki:
April Yamasaki is an ordained minister with over twenty-five years of experience in congregational ministry, an editor, a spiritual formation mentor, and author of Sacred Pauses, Four Gifts, On the Way With Jesus, This Ordinary, Extraordinary Life, and other books on living with faith and hope including her 2025 release Hope Beyond Our Sorrows.
She currently serves as resident author with Valley CrossWay Church, which is a liturgical worship community; edits the daily devotional magazine Rejoice!; has a new role as a spiritual formation mentor; continues to write both online and in print publications; and often speaks in other churches and settings. She blogs on faith, life, and ministry at AprilYamasaki.com and WhenYouWorkfortheChurch.com.
April holds a Master of Christian Studies from Regent College. She was happily married to her high school sweetheart until his death in 2022 from cancer-related complications. Though grieving, she is grateful for a wonderfully supportive family and church community, good work, good friends, and God’s mercies new every morning.
The Redbud Hyphen podcast hosts conversations with writers, agents, editors and publishers about the intersection of culture, faith and writing. We hope you will enjoy listening in on these conversations and learning alongside us.
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