A Love Story of Grief, Trauma, Healing & Faith.

Tony Rodriguez was a compassionate and well-respected trauma therapist who devoted his life to helping survivors thrive, until his life was cut short in a tragic accident. Traumatized by the sudden loss of her husband and overwhelmed by the impact of his untimely death on their two sons, Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez was determined to blaze a path toward healing.

From the excruciating days immediately following his death, to navigating the bewildering labyrinth of young widowhood, to forging a new life for herself and her sons, A Time to Mourn & A Time to Dance chronicles her story with unabashed honesty and deep vulnerability, blended with authentic faith and teeth-clenching determination to do the hard work of healing.

Ohman-Rodriguez retraces her own steps out of trauma’s grasp from the depths of despair back to the joy of living. This book is infused with Jennifer’s heartfelt prayers, real-life applications of somatic and spiritual healing practices, and the kind of profound and practical wisdom that only reveals itself in life’s moments of truth.

About the Author:

Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez, MDiv, MEd, recently graduated from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota with a Master of Divinity degree. During the height of the pandemic she served as Vicar and sole pastoral presence to the congregation of St. Andrew Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Currently Ohman-Rodriguez is in the first call process in Word and Sacrament ministry in the ELCA.

Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez’ extensive work in faith formation curricula, devotions, and worship resources is published by Augsburg Fortress, Sparkhouse, and Westminster John Knox Press in the resources of Fed and Forgiven, Sundays and Seasons, Christ in our Home, Spark, Whirl, Frolic, Feasting on the Word Curriculum, in leader sourcebooks accompanying the work the Dan Erlander, and used as prayers in the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

Since 2016 much of Jennifer Ohman-Rodriguez’ writing focuses on the intersection between faith, traumatic experiences, and trauma recovery. Her first book A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance: A Love Story of Grief, Trauma, Healing, and Faith is published by Chalice Press.  Her magazine articles and essays appear in Gather, The Christian Century, Young Children, Young Children and the Creative Arts, QC Family Focus, The Lutheran, The Lutheran Digest, Zoay, Books Make a Difference, The Living Lutheran, Faith+Lead as well as The Little Lutheran and The Little Christian. Ohman-Rodriguez also curates the Trauma Recovery Page at Compassionate Christianity.

Prior to ministry, Ohman-Rodriguez worked in the early care and education field for twenty years. In 1993 she earned a Master of Education degree from the Erikson Institute for Advanced Studies in Child Development in Chicago, Illinois. During her career she taught in a variety of settings including childcare, traditional preschool, Head Start, and at the college level. She also directed a preschool program, worked as a teacher trainer, and developed an inclusive arts program for preschool-age children in Wisconsin. She is the co-creator and served as the first coordinator of Quality through Accreditation, an early care and education quality enhancement program based in the Illinois and Iowa Quad Cities. Along with two other professionals she presented ideas for raising early care and education quality at the National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference (NAEYC) in 2007.

Before becoming an educator, Ohman-Rodriguez was a professionally trained musician with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.