Shemaiah Gonzalez

Shemaiah Gonzalez is a writer with degrees in English Literature (B.A.), Intercultural Ministry (MAPS), and Creative Non-Fiction Writing (MFA). She thrives on moments where storytelling, art, and faith collide. Her work has appeared in Busted Halo and America Magazine, among others. Her essay collection, Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight, was published with Zondervan/HarperCollins in 2025. A Los Angeles native, she now lives in Seattle with her husband and their two sons.

Hope for 2021 and the Love of God

What is your hope for 2021? Maybe it’s that life will go back to normal. Maybe your hope is to return to an “in-person” life. Maybe your hope is for...

Permission to Notice

When I was in Kindergarten, I took the school bus home. The driver dropped me off three blocks away from my house. Since my mother was home with my...

Everything Is Precious

On errands, during a clear Seattle afternoon, I look out my car window to see an East African mother carrying groceries home with four children, all under ten. The...

Receive My Memory

Memories are important to me. They are the building blocks of the stories I tell myself, my children, and new acquaintances. I attended elementary school 20 miles outside Los Angeles....

Prayers Before Zoom School

My children, like so many in COVID times, are in Zoom school. Each morning we take our laptops to separate parts of the house to work, but before that...

Summer Prayer

My Sweet Lord, The rain in the Northwest has ended. Summer has arrived. Our days are once again filled with glorious sun. We need this. We need to be able...