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Sweet Speakable Sorrow

the cultivation of spiritual complaint

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#43 My ALS Journey—Need for a Rule Book
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings

#43 My ALS Journey—Need for a Rule Book

January 1, 2024January 11, 2025

A Rule Book By Susan Catlett A Rule Book. That is what I need, something to tell me what to do and how to feel, because I don’t […]

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#42 My ALS Journey—Rude Betrayal
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings

#42 My ALS Journey—Rude Betrayal

January 1, 2024January 11, 2025

Rudely, my body continues to betray me. Rudely, my body betrays me and fatigues me before I am ready. Last night, we were at my daughter’s, having dinner […]

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#41 My ALS Journey—Being Stupid
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#41 My ALS Journey—Being Stupid

December 27, 2023January 11, 2025

“The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of […]

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#40 My ALS Journey—Treasured Moments
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#40 My ALS Journey—Treasured Moments

December 27, 2023January 11, 2025

“Our problems cannot always be fixed, but they can always be accepted as the very will of God for now, and that turns them into something beautiful.” Elisebeth […]

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#39 My ALS Journey—Consumed
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#39 My ALS Journey—Consumed

December 27, 2023January 11, 2025

“The world tries to silence our expression of feelings of hopelessness and despair. This “shushing” breeds shame and an overall feeling that seeking comfort is selfish. As a […]

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#38 My ALS Journey—The Path and the Box
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#38 My ALS Journey—The Path and the Box

December 26, 2023January 11, 2025

This blog of mothers made me laugh out loud, especially her discussion of sitting in the designated handicapped seating area in the church. Mother did not like Boxes. […]

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#37 My ALS Journey—A Good Week
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#37 My ALS Journey—A Good Week

December 13, 2023January 11, 2025

Before my mom was diagnosed with ALS, I would describe her to people by saying she “ran circles around my dad.” Which, actually is saying a lot because […]

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#36 My ALS Journey—Ten to Ten
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#36 My ALS Journey—Ten to Ten

December 13, 2023January 11, 2025

I’ve been considering what it means to be a strong Christian woman. It’s a loaded question in the world of faith. What does that exactly look like? Susan […]

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Hi! I’m Tricia, my mother’s daughter.
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Susan's Steps

Hi! I’m Tricia, my mother’s daughter.

November 25, 2023November 26, 2024

Hi! Welcome to Sweet Speakable Sorrow. My name is Tricia, and I am my mother’s daughter. The day my mom, Susan Catlett, died, I removed her blog, Susan’s […]

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#35 My ALS Journey—Faith Believing
ALS / Family / Grief / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#35 My ALS Journey—Faith Believing

April 20, 2023January 11, 2025

Somedays, my faith waivers, and I don’t always (almost never, actually) understand exactly what that purpose is…other than hanging on for the ride. Susan Catlett Sometimes, accepting the […]

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#32 My ALS Journey—The 2,542 Mile Road Trip
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#32 My ALS Journey—The 2,542 Mile Road Trip

February 18, 2023July 4, 2025

“ALS could curl her fingers and weaken her body, but it could not take her joy.” Tricia   My mother was encouraged and inspired by the book Until […]

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#31 My ALS Journey—The Best Parts of Road Tripping
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#31 My ALS Journey—The Best Parts of Road Tripping

February 9, 2023February 15, 2025

One of my best trips was with my mom to a women’s Bible conference in Anaheim. It was during the time of the Rodney King riots. It was […]

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#30 My ALS Journey—Rectified Reasonable Expectations
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#30 My ALS Journey—Rectified Reasonable Expectations

February 8, 2023February 15, 2025

Susan Catlett was bossy. She’d boss with a smile, which sometimes threw people off. Her bossiness worked well for her as a Sheriff’s Officer, school principal, or superintendent […]

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#29 My ALS Journey—Reasonable Expectations
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#29 My ALS Journey—Reasonable Expectations

January 23, 2023February 15, 2025

“It is God to whom and with whom we travel, and while He is the end of our journey, He is also at every stopping place.” Elisabeth Elliott […]

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#28 My ALS Journey—The Road Trip Adventure
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#28 My ALS Journey—The Road Trip Adventure

January 14, 2023February 15, 2025

Three things struck me about this post. First, my mother loved an adventure.  Second, and this is an important aspect of this blog, SweetSpeakableSorrow, is the ease with […]

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#27 My ALS Journey—My Neighbor the Nurse, and My Ride Around the Block
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#27 My ALS Journey—My Neighbor the Nurse, and My Ride Around the Block

January 12, 2023February 15, 2025

My husband and I, my sons, and my parents were all gathered around our large round patio table in my backyard when my mother shared the news of […]

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#26 My ALS Journey—Special Blessings
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Susan's Steps

#26 My ALS Journey—Special Blessings

January 12, 2023February 15, 2025

It’s storming outside my office window as I write this post.  Looking afresh at my mother’s words makes me feel two things. One of which is reflecting on […]

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#25 My ALS Journey—The Story of a Real Hero
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Susan's Steps

#25 My ALS Journey—The Story of a Real Hero

January 3, 2023February 15, 2025

Whenever I see this picture, it reminds me that someday I will write a book about these two. It would have to begin with an epic first sentence […]

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#24 My ALS Journey—What to Say At the End of the Day
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#24 My ALS Journey—What to Say At the End of the Day

December 29, 2022February 15, 2025

For in grief nothing “stays put.” One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. Am I going in circles, or […]

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#23 My ALS Journey—Cliff’s Exclusive Car Service
ALS / Family / Grief / Jesus / Lou Gehrig's Disease / Outings / Susan's Steps

#23 My ALS Journey—Cliff’s Exclusive Car Service

November 14, 2022February 15, 2025

When I was in the sixth grade, I traveled with my parents to Brazil. We journeyed with a small group from our church to visit missionaries we supported […]

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"Life is unspeakably sad until you recover the lost language of lament. Then it becomes 'speakably' sad and an authentic journey into His presence begins."

Larry Crabb, quoted in A Sacred Sorrow by Michael Card

Welcome to Sweet Speakable Sorrow! If you are here, you may wonder why anyone would want to think about grief or suffering, let alone talk about it. Yet, God is a God who hears us in our sorrow and longs for us to bring our complaints to Him. Sweet Speakable Sorrow is a home where I learned, as taught to me by my mother, to appreciate and cultivate the language of sorrow and give it back to God in praise.

  • #63 My ALS Journey–New Challenges
  • #62 My ALS Journey–Almost Normal
  • #61 My ALS Journey–Tethered
  • #60 My ALS Journey–What Would My Mother Say?
  • # 59 My ALS Journey–Call 9-1-1

"Life is unspeakably sad until you recover the lost language of lament. Then it becomes 'speakably' sad and an authentic journey into His presence begins."

Larry Crabb, quoted in A Sacred Sorrow by Michael Card

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