The Sacred Yes: Jen & Tyler Merritt on Choosing Your Body

About this sermon

Some yeses cost us something. Some of them save us. Jen sits down with her partner, actor, author, and speaker Tyler Merritt, hours after his chemotherapy infusion. Tyler is midway through treatment for colorectal cancer, his second diagnosis in six years, and the two get honest about making thoughtful decisions when your body is calling every shot. They talk about the yes Tyler gave in the middle of radiation: booking a brand-new theater tour that opens seventeen days after his last chemo, a yes he says he "arguably shouldn't have" given, made so he'd have something beautiful to walk toward. Jen turns the lens on her own year and the yes she almost took back: getting on the plane to Me Camp after a hysterectomy, a brutal spring, and a boyfriend in chemo two thousand miles away. Tyler also flips the mic and asks Jen whether she regrets writing AWAKE. Her answer is about closure, discretion, and the two longest weeks of her life waiting to hear what her daughter thought of the book. Plus: how to tell your intuition from everybody else's fear; Jen's top three Me Camp TV experiences; one Enneagram argument; and the one yes Tyler is still too scared to say out loud. Thought-provoking Quotes: "There is something absolutely sacred in choosing your body in a time period where it may not be convenient." — Tyler "Rest is the thing that I choose. Rest is my sacred yes." — Tyler "It's not a yes that feels obligated. It's not coerced. It isn't even careless. It's thoughtful. It is baked in with wisdom." — Jen "In the midst of the fire, I made the decision to do something that would be difficult if I was just healthy." — Tyler "What AWAKE actually gave me wasn't just success. What AWAKE actually gave me was closure." — Jen "The second I deleted that word, my shoulders relaxed. That was my body telling me that was the right yes." — Jen "When someone else puts their caution on your yes, that can be a real governor on forward progress." — Jen "The sacred yes I'm afraid to say out loud is that I'm going to be okay." — Tyler Resources Mentioned in This Episode: AWAKE by Jen Hatmaker I Take My Coffee Black by Tyler Merritt Tyler's new theater tour, opening August 28 Me Camp, the Enneagram, and Jeremy Pope John Candy: I Like Me, Widows Bay, The Bear, The Five-Star Weekend Guest's Links: Website - thetylermerrittproject.com Instagram - @thetylermerrittproject Twitter - @TTMProject Facebook - The Tyler Merritt Project Youtube - The Tyler Merritt Project Connect with Jen! Jen's Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen's Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker Jen's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen's Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker Jen's YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.