Speaking - After the Ashes

Speaking & Events

God is in the business of restoring and rewriting lives, producing overcomers.

Leah’s passion is to inspire people to embrace and live out authentic, victory-laden relationships with Christ that produce significant, God-honoring change, regardless of past hurts, tragedies, and brokenness.

Leah has a unique ability to connect with a variety of groups due to her exposure to many of life’s traumas and difficulties. She loves connecting with women of all ages and uniquely relates to ladies at all phases of their spiritual journey—believers-to-be, new believers, and believers deeply embedded in Kingdom work.

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Speaking Topics

When everything changes, the road ahead can feel overwhelming. Drawing from her 30-day devotional, Leah shares honest, unhurried strategies for anyone beginning again after grief, divorce, hardship, or sudden life changes. This message moves beyond superficial clichés to help women partner with the Holy Spirit across the movements of healing, proving that the pile of ash you didn’t choose is never the end of your story.

Leah prayed for years and years for God to let her have more children. Following the birth of her daughter in the late nineties, Leah struggled with infertility and never succeeded with another pregnancy. However, she knew God called her to parent more children. Leah shares the amazing, divine story of how she went from a mother of one to a mother / stepmother of nine in just under four years through a blended family, international adoption, and foster-to-adoption. God answered her prayer but not in the way she envisioned.

Leah’s testimony of becoming twice widowed: first by her husband’s death by suicide and the sudden death by illness of her next husband. Both journeys into widowhood let her see firsthand the restorative power of a loving, faithful God in drastically different ways.

Did you know God knows the name of every star He created? Did you know He calls them by name, and calls us by name too? Do we go by the name God calls us, or are we living by a ‘name’ we’ve given ourselves? Does that name cripple us or allow us to walk in victory? Learn how to know and listen to the names God calls you, and walk in the truth of His names for us rather than those we’ve erroneously chosen to define us.

Abuse. Broken dreams. Addiction. Divorce. Widowhood. Suicide. Failing to believe God could ever use a woman with such a dark past, Leah hid behind lies the enemy consistently fed her. God’s plans were greater, and the bondages that were broken in Leah now stand as testimony that nothing is impossible with the God of the universe. She delights in sharing with all women that Christ and Christ alone brings lasting deliverance, restoration, and victorious freedom from all chains that bind.

Perhaps no feeling is lonelier than journeying through life as a single parent, feeling “stuck” and all alone. If parenting is hard – single parenting is astronomically harder. Loneliness, burnout, and financial hardship are all part of the single-parent life. With half of today’s marriages ending in divorce, we have churches filled with single parents. Learn how you can come alongside these parents who need to see and feel the body of Christ surrounding them. God calls us to love…not to judge. Having walked this single parent road first-hand, Leah shares proactive and practical ways your women’s group, Sunday School class, and/or church can embrace, surround, and empower single parents with the love and hope of Christ.

How often do we complain, “Is this all there is to life?” Or do you let past regrets dictate your present? Having been there, Leah shares truthfully and transparently that Christ created us to be overcomers! Living with the suffocating capability of past hurts is not on God’s agenda for you, and it’s time to stop believing vicious enemy-fed lies and allow the truths of God’s Word to completely transform our minds. Yes – you were made for more than this – much, much more than this!

Leah is also willing to customize a message to highlight or capture the theme of your particular event, conference, or retreat.

The messages God has given Leah to share are designed for women’s conferences, retreats, workshops, special events, and customized venues. Leah loves connecting with women of all ages and uniquely relates to ladies at all phases of their spiritual journey – believers-to-be, new believers, and believers deeply embedded in Kingdom work.

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What Others Are Saying

“When Leah shares her story, the emphasis is on the redemptive work of The Lord Jesus. You’ll feel like you are sitting down for coffee with a wise and trusted friend. Leah’s story will carry you through the steep valleys she has traveled. But her wit, charm and humor will set you at ease. Before you know you, you realize you are captivated by her contagious love for the Savior who called her out of deep waters.”
Lori Frank
Wife of Dr. Bruce Frank, Lead Pastor of Biltmore Church, Arden, NC
“Leah is a woman who loves Jesus and shares that love with a warm and welcoming smile to others. She has a gift of painting word pictures that captures your attention and inspires you to want to know more.”
Alice Knighten
Former General Manager, Blue Ridge Broadcasting (radio ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)
“Leah exemplifies a woman desiring to follow God’s leading in all she does and says. I’ve known Leah for many years now and have witnessed her true faith and trust in our Lord, Jesus Christ; something that is not seen in most women today. There is no telling the extent to which God will use her in days to come.”
Jill Owenby
Calvary Fellowship, Mills River, North Carolina
“Leah has a deeply moving story to tell born out of unimaginable suffering. I’ve watched her travel through deep waters with a raw dependence on Christ, and the result is that she radiates His sufficient grace. Because of her nearness to Him, Leah is full of hope and peace. She is one of those rare people that everyone should have the blessing of knowing. She trusts God; she loves His Word, and has clung to it at a time when lies could have cast her down. I believe God has gifted her to speak so that He can use her to bring hope and healing to many broken hearts. Her powerful story is one that everyone should hear.”
Jill Toth
Founder, Maker’s Bo
“Leah’s story reveals the sufficient grace of God, as she has experienced the trials and tribulations of life with unwavering faith in the plans of God for her life. Leah is uniquely gifted to speak words of life and hope into the lives of the broken-hearted and wounded souls. She proclaims boldly that joy, hope and peace are found in Christ alone.”
Kelvin Moseley
Staff Care & Pastoral Care Pastor, Biltmore Church, Arden, NC
“Leah is a speaker that doesn’t SPEAK TO you, but SHARES WITH you. She is naturally able to engage the audience by putting her listeners at ease and challenging them at the same time. Being comfortable in front of women, Leah speaks without anything detracting from her message, this message always being one that glorifies God. She balances professionalism with relatability, and it is a joy to hear her speak…or SHARE.”
Lindsey Feldpausch
Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks graduate
“Leah’s passion for prayer and her knowledge of God’s Word stem from a heart that seeks to serve Christ daily. Her personality is warm, transparent, and refreshingly real. When Leah takes the stage, her personal testimony and life experiences give her insight into the lives of women as she shares from her heart.”
Lorie Newman
author of A Cup of Cold Water in His Name, speaker, and orphan advocate and founder of Anointed Life Christian Equipping, Inc.
“To speak truth is one thing, but to live it out is a totally different story. Leah is one of those tenacious gals that gives feet to her faith and clings to truth in everyday living. She is an amazing woman of tremendous faith and courage.”
Carol Davis
Speaker, Writer, Program & Promotions Director and Mid-day Announcer at 106.9 the Light (radio ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)
“Leah has a true and undeniable faith in God. You will be encouraged by her testimony. She is a great communicator and her way of engaging others will be seen each time she speaks. She has, to me, seen that this call is not just a desire of the heart but a direct leading from God. I encourage you to seek out her God given talents as a part of your ministry. You will be blessed. I have come across many individuals over my years of ministry that have passion and faith. In saying that, I can assure you that Leah’s is real and authentic. In what she has endured in her life, she continues to show the value she finds in her faith. What you see is what you get with Leah. What you get is a reflection of God. It is a true reflection of what a child of God looks like.”
Derek Slack
Senior Pastor, Blue Rapids/Waterville UMC, North Central, Kansas
“I first met Leah at the Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks conference in 2010. In our first speaking evaluation class, each speaker was tasked with giving a 3 minute talk to a group of peers…peers you’ve never met until the moment you walk through the door. During this first day of the evaluation, Leah shared her testimony concerning past hurt and how God had never left her in her most desperate time of need. Although some of Leah’s testimony is painful to hear, I found myself leaning in to see how God brought healing into Leah and her daughter’s lives. Leah shared her heart for missions and women’s ministry. I had not yet spoken to Leah and yet somehow I left that room knowing that I had made a forever friend. The following day our talk was to be 15 minutes long and yet again, Leah shared her heart in such raw and transparent ways that I had no doubt that God is the love of her life, her sustainer and provider, and Leah wants to share with others that same love and hope she has found in Jesus Christ.”
Jennifer Cook
Proverbs 31 Ministries She Speaks Graduate, Speaker and Women’s Ministry Leader

Leah’s Official Bio

Leah Stirewalt lives in the foothills of Western North Carolina with her four youngest children (all adopted). She is also the proud mom of one biological daughter, bonus mom to four adult children, and Grandma Leah and Nonnie to four precious cuties, with another on the way.

Twice widowed before the age of 45, Leah knows firsthand what it means to rebuild a life after loss. She wrote through her grief on her long-time blog, Out of Deep Waters, and now writes at After the Ashes, a space for honest conversations about grief, faith, and beginning again.

Leah published her first book, Rescued and Restored, in 2016, detailing her first year as a widow. In October 2026, she released After the Ashes: A 30-Day Devotional for Rebuilding Your Life After Loss, and her podcast launches in November 2026.

Leah shares her story at women’s events nationwide, telling how God reached out, rescued her, and continues to restore her. She has also led women’s conferences in Liberia and the Andes Mountains of Ecuador.

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After the Ashes: A 30-Day Devotional for Rebuilding Your Life After Loss

Leah Stirewalt has been widowed twice and is raising four adopted children on her own. In After the Ashes, she doesn’t offer tidy answers or easy clichés. Instead, she writes as a friend who has sat in the ashes herself, found God near in places she never expected, and watched Him begin to bring beauty from what was lost.

She knows firsthand what it looks like when loss burns through the life you knew, rebuilding feels impossible, and even prayer seems out of reach.

After the Ashes is a 30-day devotional for anyone beginning again after grief, divorce, hardship, or a change they never saw coming. Each day pairs a passage of Scripture with a short, heartfelt reading and a Reflection prompt for your own thoughts. The days unfold across four movements that follow the slow, unhurried work of healing.

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Subscribe for honest writing on grief, faith, and rebuilding after loss—and I’ll send you my free guide, “7 Truths I’ve Learned About Rebuilding After Loss,” as a welcome gift.