Category: personal journey

  • Part 2: How Environment Shapes Us—From Worm Theology to Finding Ourselves

    How can I know what parts of me are shaped by my environment? And what parts of me are who I really am? As an adopted child who later joined an evangelical church, I’ve learned that worm theology doesn’t just teach you about God—it teaches you who you’re supposed to be. And unlearning that is…

  • Understanding Spiritual Trauma and Its Impact

    When the ground you thought would always hold becomes unstable—that’s spiritual trauma. After a decade of trying to heal in places that retraumatized me, I learned what survivors actually need. It’s not what most churches think.

  • LOVE VS. CONSUMPTION: I DIDN’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

    I used to think being valued meant being loved. I didn’t know someone could see my worth and still devour me whole. Here’s what I learned about the difference between love and consumption.

  • Breaking Down the Barriers to Love

    “I spent almost half a decade looking into the mirror and seeing someone else. Who did I see? Someone who everyone else expected me to be. People-pleasing doesn’t give your true self the opportunity to be loved—and it doesn’t give someone else the opportunity to be loved by your true self.”

  • When the Shell Cracks: Finding Truth Beyond Religious Performance

    Truth always finds a way to surface. Our ego tries to keep everything together, but eventually the shell cracks and what’s inside starts leaking out. If we’re brave enough to look at what seeps out instead of frantically patching the holes, we might find what we’ve been searching for all along.

  • When Authority Becomes the Enemy of Truth

    “Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” — Albert EinsteinThe ambulance lights cut through the darkness at the convenience store. Someone had played Russian roulette and lost. As I drove past that night, seventeen and heartbroken after my boyfriend left me for my best friend, I looked up at the empty sky…

  • You’re Not Crazy: Psychology Finally Recognizes Religious Trauma

    “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson For years, those of us who walked away from toxic religion were told we just had a ‘bad church experience’—but a groundbreaking American Psychological Association article is finally validating what we’ve known…

  • Being Yourself in a World That Doesn’t Want You To

    Last night I watched the movie Sinners, and it left me thinking about the true power of our emotions. This film ranks among the best I’ve seen in a theater recently. If you enjoy vampire stories with rich storytelling, beautiful mythology, and deep historical context, you should definitely see this movie. What struck me most…