I love sharing about the transforming power of Jesus, to see people’s trials turn into magnificent triumphs. Ah, that’s what makes my heart come alive. If you’re interesting in having me speak at a retreat, keynote, or breakout, please email me here: maryedemuth@sbcglobal.net

New Speaking Topics: Healing from the Past

Thin Places

What if you could go back in your life and retrace the places God came near? Mary looks back on her childhood, fragmented by death, sexual abuse and neglect and finds God there. She helps listeners no longer feel alone. She points to Jesus, the only One who can transform trauma. Audiences will experience a fresh picture of redemption, and they’ll begin to hope for healing.

Do you want to get well?

Taken from Jesus’ interaction with the paralytic, Mary asks the question Jesus asks: “Do you want to get well?” She unpacks Israel’s rebellion and the woman at the well’s interaction to help listeners understand how important it is to chase healing, to really run after it.

Tell the truth

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and the devil’s greatest weapon is lying. To you. To others. If he can keep you believing the lies he whispers in your ear, he will prevent you from finding the true freedom Jesus offers. Mary explores several Scriptures that deal with truth telling, and she offers practical ways you can begin saying and believing the truth.

The Weakness Paradox

Most of us see our painful past as a weakness to overcome instead of an opportunity for God to display His strength. Mary shares a theology of healing based on 2 Corinthians, camping on the importance of embracing weakness to understand His capability. She encourages you to be counter-cultural–to forgive, to let go of “why me?” and to choose to run after Jesus.

Freeing Forgiveness

Forgiveness, it’s been said, is “giving up all hope of a different past.” Mary teaches what forgiveness is not and what it is. She shares stories from her own life and those of others involving radical, freeing forgiveness. She helps audiences grapple with the power, pain, and beauty of forgiveness.

No More Abuse

Folks who are abused either find healing or they abuse, or fill their emptiness with addictions, or abuse themselves. Those not healed prefer the chaos of the past to the risk of living healed. And they fear community. Mary shares the importance of breaking free from destructive thoughts, patterns and habits, and she encourages you to heal in community. She asks, “What do you gain from staying stuck in the past?”

The Irresistible Future

There is an irresistible future to you who chase healing, who dare to figure out why God brought you along the journey you walked. God has a purpose for all that pain. Discover it in this session. Find your ministry. Use the pain from the past as a platform to help others find healing.

Parenting Topics

Building the Christian Family You Never Had

Do you long for a family that laughs together, prays together, and is open and honest with each other? Do you long for the type of family you never had growing up?

I love teaching parents:

• How to break generational cycles.
• How to parent differently than they were parented.
• How to protect children from the negative influence of family members while still preserving the relationship.
• How to find parenting mentors.
• How to move from a rule oriented, prescribed method of parenting to parenting from the heart, parenting from the inside out.

If you read my testimony, you know I had an excruciating journey through childhood. But it’s also a story of triumph. I talk about how I learned to forgive, how I found healing–and how you can to.

We’ll talk about tapping into God’s strength when you have nothing left. We’ll talk about facing our inadequacies, forgiving ourselves and how to ask for forgiveness when we make mistakes. And we’ll explore the ways to build a legacy that will stand for generations.

Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture

Do you understand the postmodern culture we live in? It’s vastly different from the world you and I grew up in. We need tools to equip our children to not only survive, but thrive in a world that calls truth a feeling. During this talk I:

• Explain postmodernism so you can walk alongside your children with understanding and confidence.
• Show you ways to have surprisingly open conversations, the kind that rebel-proof kids.
• Teach how to make your home a haven so your kids are wildly enthusiastic to come home every day. Really!
• Demonstrate how to coach your kids to make wise choices.
• Show how utilizing art can help you understand your kids better.
• Explain how to model authenticity to your kids in ways that will stay with them long after they move out of your home.

Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God

No one is a perfect mom, me included. But God is perfect. And his grace and wisdom certainly are extraordinary. During this talk we’ll discover how to:

• View motherhood as a daily adventure of impacting your children’s lives for today and eternity.
• Slow down long enough to realize how good life is.
• Find God’s wisdom and direction in every moment.

Being a mom means being in the trenches! My kids, Sophie, Aidan, and Julia, have given me enough stories to fill a library. I’ll tell you a few, and we’ll hear a few of yours as well.

We’ll figure out how to stop long enough to experience God’s strength. We’ll talk about reflecting on God and His wisdom even in the midst of laundry, meals, and driving our kids everywhere. We’ll explore finding deep, refreshing joy in the middle of your crazy-busy life.

I am also available to speak at writers conferences about point of view in fiction, query letter writing, non-fiction and fiction book proposals, marketing and the writer, the spiritual life of the writer, and a how-to-write fiction series.