When I was a child, we traveled every summer to my grandmother's house on a lake in Michigan. I didn't have a perfect life - no one does - but I can tell you those Michigan summers were absolutely idyllic, cousins everywhere, in and out of the water all day long, the soft Michigan grass …
I didn't spend much time with the news this weekend. In my life, I have never experienced such widespread hate. From the dehumanization of our transgender community to the murders of two black people in Kentucky - after the gunman was thwarted by locked doors in a local black church, - to calculated hate and …
" We don't need to call everything we are doing ministry. Just call it Tuesday. That's what people who are becoming love do." - Bob Goff It continues to be a surprise to me whenever I realize a new sense of freedom. One of the insidious traits of emotional abuse is its subtlety. Power and …
So the question becomes what now? What's next after this round of Awakening? Sharing the story, albeit the short version, of my journey with church and fundamental evangelicalism is an important part of my healing. But I don't want to stay a victim, only talking about what happened and how it broke me, only focusing …
A few weeks ago, I planned to drive to Nashville to visit my family. I've been in a new-to-me car since the summer, and this was our first road trip together. Unfortunately, the traffic was horrific, including a closure of the major interstate I needed to get home. Fortunately, GPS directed me, and everyone else, …
This post is part 3 in a series. Read part 1 and part 2. "How you do anything is how you do everything." ~ Richard Rohr Divorcing church is a messy business. They get to keep the moral high ground and we get mimosas on Sunday morning. I actually wish it was that easy. Divorcing …
Read part 1 of the Awakening series here. ...And then I woke up The cracks were already forming, of course. I simply hadn't acknowledged them. The event which finally woke me wasn't terribly difficult or dramatic. It was small, and a little petty, and strangely enough had nothing to do with the on-going emotional abuse, …
Before reading this post, you may want to see this post and also this one to understand more of the story. Looking back over the last few years, I feel as though I've undergone a series of awakenings. When we were at Rob Bell's show last weekend, he said, Once you've seen, you can't unsee. He's not …
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” ― Anne Lamott Hurricane Michael blew through earlier this week, although by the time it arrived, it had blown most of its fury out. Still, when we saw the nightmare roaring ashore in Florida, we began to do …
Yesterday my daughter shared some of her feelings about how abused women are treated by our patriarchal culture. I'm so proud of my daughters when they share, and also terrified. I'm terrified because I know how the response in times I have shared has affected me. Deliberate transparency has been a tool used against me …
