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Popular Christian Writer Rachel Held Evans Passes Away at 37

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Rachel Held Evans, a popular Christian writer, passed away at a Nashville, Tenn., hospital on Saturday. She was 37.

Held Evans, the author of New York Times bestseller, A Year of Biblical Womanhoodposted on Twitter April 14 that she was in the hospital with the flu and a urinary tract infection.

"If you're the praying type – I'm in the hospital with a flu + UTI combo and a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotics they gave me," she wrote.

Her husband Dan Evans later posted that his wife had suffered severe seizures. She was in a medically-induced coma in the hospital's ICU as her doctors were trying to find out the cause of her seizures. 

As soon as the word spread about Held Evans condition, several leaders in the faith community rallied together in prayer for her with many using the hashtag "#prayForHRE."

Then last Thursday, came word her medical team had discovered she had a severe swelling of the brain, according to Slate.com

"She put others before herself," her husband, Dan Evans, said in an email to Slate.com on Saturday. "She shared her platform. She always remembered how others had helped her. She enjoyed seeing other people in contexts where they thrived. She didn't hold grudges, would forget as well as forgive. She had little time for pettiness and a big heart for people. And these are all things I wish I had told her more while I still had the privilege to keep her company."

Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Liberty Commission, tweeted:  @rachelheldevans leaves behind a husband and two small children, one 3 and one less than one-year-old.  As many as can, let's please help this grieving your family with the overwhelming medical bills.

In her last blog post, dated March 6, which was Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar, she wrote: 

"It strikes me today that the liturgy of Ash Wednesday teaches something that nearly everyone can agree on. Whether you are part of a church or not, whether you believe today or your doubt, whether you are a Christian or an atheist or an agnostic or a so-called "none" (whose faith experiences far transcend the limits of that label) you know this truth deep in your bones: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return," she wrote. 

"Death is a part of life. My prayer for you this season is that you make time to celebrate that reality, and to grieve that reality, and that you will know you are not alone," Evans concluded. 

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About The Author

Steve Warren is a senior multimedia producer for CBN News. Warren has worked in the news departments of television stations and cable networks across the country. In addition, he also worked as a producer-director in television production and on-air promotion. A Civil War historian, he authored the book The Second Battle of Cabin Creek: Brilliant Victory. It was the companion book to the television documentary titled Last Raid at Cabin Creek currently streaming on Amazon Prime. He holds an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma and a B.A. in Communication from the University of