One unseasonably warm spring day in Southern California when I was 18 years old, I crammed into a car with 4 or 5 of my closest friends from choir at our Assemblies of God university and drove an hour inland for a concert. We parked in a vast asphalt parking lot surrounded by empty land, … Continue reading Then Sings My Soul
Religious Trauma
Burdens We Weren’t Meant to Carry
https://youtu.be/fKkQMTm0sY0 "Obsessed" from the film Twister (1996, Universal Pictures) I’ve always loved extreme weather. Not the destruction it leaves in its wake, but the wildness and mystery created by our planet’s atmosphere. Probably why the film that the clip above is from was one of my favorite movies when I was a teenager. I can … Continue reading Burdens We Weren’t Meant to Carry
Not Broken
Within evangelical Christianity, people aren’t good at holding opposite truths with tension. Everything exists within a binary, and anything outside or in between is a problem, and often willfully ignored. Usually labeled as sin or at the very least unimportant if the gray area makes the Christian feel too uncomfortable. I’ve been thinking about this … Continue reading Not Broken
Identity is (Not) a Sin
Here we are together at the end of this long journey back in time, processing a set of teachings that has left a visible scar across the landscape of millennials and beyond. If you’ve been reading every week since this began, I hope you’ve found comfort and solidarity knowing you’re not alone. If you’ve just … Continue reading Identity is (Not) a Sin
(Not)That Kind of Girl
Part I: A purity culture prologue. First of all, I want to thank you, dear reader, for coming on this journey with me. When I first announced on Twitter and Instagram that I was starting this series, so many of you responded with your stories and solidarity. If I’m being real with myself, I’ve been … Continue reading (Not)That Kind of Girl
Politeness as a Weapon
Whether they're silencing women or leavers, white evangelicals will do anything to protect their reputation and the patriarchy. “Why are men?” I ask this question no less than fifty times a day on Twitter. But what I’m really asking is: Why are men always demanding politeness from women, and then get defensive when we refuse … Continue reading Politeness as a Weapon
The Perfect Storm
Rachel Hollis and her destructive wake of fake feminism. It’s not the first time author & speaker Rachel Hollis has had negative press in her (relatively short) career thus far, and probably not the last. But on Thursday, the New York Times published an exposé of her wild rise to fame in 2018 that culminated … Continue reading The Perfect Storm
A Seat at the Table
Could one famous pastor use his power for change? This past week’s discourse between ex-evangelicals and Presbyterian pastor & author Tim Keller has left me raw, emotional and resolute. It’s a mixed bag of emotions really. Memories from my past, conversations with pastors or bits of sermons have been floating through my brain as I … Continue reading A Seat at the Table
On Today’s Episode of White Christians With Platforms…
Is Beth Moore really deconstructing? The world may never know. It was once said that white evangelical women are the foot soldiers of patriarchy. They put in the work, let me tell you. They write bible studies and Christian self-help books, they go on tour and preach to millions of women and teenage girls all … Continue reading On Today’s Episode of White Christians With Platforms…
Tackling Core Beliefs: Sin
Something I've been working on in therapy lately is addressing all the negative things I believe about myself. Those pervasive, absolute truths that provide our default way we feel about ourselves, and ultimately how we view the world around us. Being born into Christianity, some of our core beliefs about ourselves are formed by indoctrination. … Continue reading Tackling Core Beliefs: Sin
The Life She Wrote 