Simply Stories Podcast: Episode 164 :: Patricia Raybon :: Stories of the Power of History, Heroines of Color and Listening to Learn and Love

Episode 164 :: Patricia Raybon :: Stories of the Power of History, Heroines of Color and Listening to Learn and Love

Sep 15, 2023

Today I get to share with you my conversation with Patricia Raybon. Patricia is a woman who wears many hats as a writer of both nonfiction and fiction. She shares with me what it was like for her to grow up under Jim Crow segregation and how that informed her identity from a young age, and how writing out stories helped her to make sense of what she experienced from the culture at large while her faith bloomed in her own soul. As an adult, in her journalism career, she cultivated the art of listening and understanding people’s history to help her wrestle with forgiveness, the effects of racism on her life, learn to love when things got hard, and writing it all down so that the Lord could reveal Himself to her, and ultimately others, in that journey.

Most recently she burst into the Christian fiction scene with her award winning debut novel All That is Secret is the first book in the Annalee Spain trilogy which follows a young Black woman in 1923 working in higher ed as a theology professor, as well as writing as a journalist. Annalee finds herself in the midst of a mystery in the wild west of Colorado, where the second wave of the Klu Klux Klan is flexing its power, and willing to do anything to keep secrets hidden. Patricia shares with me the inspiration for her female professor turned detective, the realities her story is based on, and the resilience and heart of Black women that beats through each page.

She shares a little bit about the topics that come up in the rest of the trilogy such as interracial marriage, Black women’s roles in society historically, female detectives as a whole, but mostly, we talk about the realities of what many people continue to face day in and day out and yet still have to persevere in their days. When we listen to the stories of others to better understand their experience, not to pass judgement, even if it makes us uncomfortable, we have such a rich opportunity to encounter God, learn more about fellow image bearers in the Kingdom of God, and consider life from a perspective we may not have had a chance to otheriwse. Patricia has such a sweet spirit, but a fiery tenacity that I know you are just going to love. I cannot wait for you to spend time with us today.

Connecting with Patricia:

Episode Sponsor: Tony Crabtree of Crabtree Homes with Exit Realty

Scripture References:

John 15:18, 16:33- The world may hate you, but it hated Jesus first, take heart

John 3:16- God loves you (among a thousand other verses!)

Zephanie 3:17- God sings over you

Colossians 3:12, 1 John 4:7-God calls you beloved

Psalm 116:15, Psalm 139:13-16, Jeremiah 31:3, Ephesians 2:10- You are precious in the Lord’s sight

Jesus’ parables (his stories)

Galatians 6:4- “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.” (NLT)

References:

Jim Crow Segregation

Internalized oppression

The Denver Post

United Methodist Publishing House