Plough Publishing

“That night I realized that Opa had always stayed inside me. His once-bright image had receded, as if across a widening chasm, and grown distant and blurred. But now I knew I must retrieve it for good.
As I pieced together his story, amassing what became an unexpectedly vast collection of source material, I began to get answers. Three times I tried writing his life, and three times I had to stop. At one point I felt so confronted by his presence that I could not bear reading what he had written any longer. It was a year before I could begin the project again. This story is still alive. It can get to you.”
― Peter Mommsen, Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold – A true story of faith, forgiveness, sacrifice, and community

“During the nine months I carried Cerian, God came close to me again unexpectedly, wild and beautiful, good and gracious. I touched his presence as I carried Cerian and as a result I realized that underneath all my other longings lay an aching desire for God himself and for his love. Cerian shamed my strength, and in her weakness and vulnerability, she showed me a way of intimacy. The beauty and completeness of her personhood nullified the value system to which I had subscribed for so long.”
― Sarah C. Williams, Perfectly Human: Nine Months with Cerian

“When I first found out about Cerian’s deformity and made the choice to carry her to term, it felt like the destruction of my plans and hopes. It went against what I wanted. It limited me. But it was in this place of limitation that God showed me more of his love. Up until this point, the clamor of my desires and wishes had made me like a closed system centered in on myself, on my needs, flaws, and attributes. My life, even at times my religion, had revolved around achievement, reputation, and winning respect and approval from others.”
― Sarah C. Williams

“He wasn’t famous. Yet just because he wasn’t famous, in the same way most of us will never be, we want to ask him a few questions. Embarrassingly basic questions, such as, “What am I here for?” “How can I relate to others?” “What matters in life?” “What about God?”
― Peter Mommsen, Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold – A true story of faith, forgiveness, sacrifice, and community