The only time I remember being taught about emotions in youth group was when they were related to hormones. I never remember being taught how to handle the ‘darker’ emotions. Years of being in church didn’t teach me how to interpret them. There were no Bible studies about coping mechanisms when living in dysfunction….
Posts Tagged
church
Looking For Trampoline Faith
The first metaphor to challenge my theological views was one of brick walls and trampoline springs. I find myself, all these years later, still longing for springs on a Sunday morning. Churches usually don’t acknowledge different perspectives and interpretations (unless it’s to say how wrong they are), let alone teach them. When you discover…
I’m Coping, Not Healing. (and maybe that’s ok.)
My journey from fundamentalism to freedom has been one of community to isolation, no matter what the church signs say. I’ve gone from being the poster child to a minority. And it’s hard. It’s scary and lonely. Often painful. 6 years of wrestling have mostly been ones of isolation and frustration, because I’m thinking…
It’s Sunday Morning – Time To Wake Up, God
My story is rooted in whispers, conversations behind closed doors, arguments, struggles, isolation, and above all, a certainty that there is only one right way to be a real Christian. My parents came of age in the Shepherding movement, which resulted in their arranged marriage. We stayed in that church until I was 10,…
Fasting….a Capitalistic Venture?
Pursuing Vocation Alone?
On Growing A Woman
I look at my 2 daughters and I just sit and watch, amazed. I watch my oldest, who is a mini-me, and I look at what she accomplishes, and I think, where did she get this? She builds amazing contraptions, her engineer father’s genes apparent. She loves to paint and cut and collage. She has…
can we have an honest journey?
Why do I even care about spiritual journeys and how the church is using this analogy? Why bother detailing the specific issues I have with how the church guides you towards maturity? Is it just because I want something that makes me feel good? It’s not that I don’t like the idea of journey for…
Who Decides Christian Maturity?
I was handed ‘A Personal Guide to Your Spiritual Journey’ pamphlet the other day. As I prepared to open it, I wondered what kind of insights it would have into where I was, or where I should be in my faith. I struggle with feeling like a very odd duck in church culture. Our current…
a 36-hour road trip and some churchy thoughts
Journey. Spiritual Journey. When churches talk about being on a spiritual journey, what are they really talking about? ******************** During our first summer of being married, my husband and I decided to take a road trip. We didn’t have the money or vacation time to take a real vacation, so the question was, what can…