Jill Biden’s honesty about regaining her faith a lesson in humility

It's tempting for the famous to say what they think people want them to say. But it takes courage to admit to times of despair.

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Editorials

October 19, 2021 - 9:57 AM

From left, President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, and FBI Director Christopher Wray stand for the national anthem at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images/TNS)

First Lady Jill Biden bared her soul at a church service Sunday when she told a South Carolina congregation that she had lost her faith in God after her son, Beau, had died from brain cancer in 2015.

Biden said she never gave up hope that he would live, despite the diagnoses of doctors.

“In the final days,” she said. “I made one last prayer, and it went unanswered.”

Though her husband, President Joe Biden, continued to attend church, she did not.

“I couldn’t even pray. I wondered if I would ever feel joy again,” she said.

But the act of one person, “changed my life,” Biden said, noting the outreach of Robin Jackson in 2019, who invited Biden to become her “prayer partner.” 

Over the past 2½ years, the two have kept to their Wednesday schedule of exchanging texts to say they are praying for each other and the things that weigh on their hearts.

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