Oh I'm so excited to be going on this journey with you Lesley! Your words on paper and in person are healing and nurturing. What a gift you have! Please. Write on!!!
It’s quite amazing how necessary the encouragement of others can feel at times; amazing how powerful our encouragement can be in pushing back fear. So much learning there for me at the moment.
Wow this could have been written by me, almost verbatim! How beautifully and potently you've put voice to my very similar journey of the last year or two! I relate so much to being a "colour inside the lines" girl my whole life, but finding myself in a place of breaking out of that and finding a big wide world of freedom, mystery, diversity, beautiful paradoxes, nuance, grey areas ... the "both, and" of it all!
I found myself looking at "the church" and what "christianity" as become ... then looking at Jesus and seeing quite a different picture altogether!
I love how you put this ...
"I am both full of faith and plagued by doubt, usually simultaneously. I am making peace with this paradox because my God is box-defying mystery."
Looking foward to hearing more of your thoughts and your journey!
You write beautifully yourself and your line, "finding myself in a place of breaking out of that and finding a big wide world of freedom, mystery, diversity, beautiful paradoxes, nuance, grey areas ... the "both, and" of it all!" really resonates with me. (Is the "both, and" from Madeleine L'Engle at all?!?) I was talking with my sister on Friday about all the gifts that doubt has given me, and less fear, more freedom are right up there.
Finding kindred spirits, especially in this tricky wilderness-place of faith and doubt, is such a taonga/treasure. You are taonga to me.
So true. I'm thankful to be starting to connect and find people who are on the same track as me...experiencing that "resonance" is quite special and unique.
"both - and" wasn't taken from Madeleine L'Engle - that I know of. However it is no doubt something I have gleaned from somewhere ... so who knows!
I have that same phrase knocking around in my mind. I totally attribute it to Saint Madeleine, but have just rifled through my books and can't find it underlined or bookmarked anywhere so who knows? It's such a goodie, though!
Welcome, Jessica! You are so very welcome and wanted here. Just as you are- with all your doubts and questions and hurt and wandering and new beliefs and not-knowing. All of it.
And you are very much not alone.
Thank you for your vulnerability in sharing your story.
As wrung out as this wilderness journey can leave one feeling, I truly believe now that there is a richer, deeper, more meaningful and impactful faith waiting for us out here in the wilderness. I find myself so at home here now; I don't want to find a way out as I initially intended. Rather, I want to make my home in the wilderness where my questioning and my lack of certainty can lead to a humility and a compassion that will take me closer to Love, and help me to more fully live a life that looks like Love.
Looking forward to doing wilderness life with you x
Oh I'm so excited to be going on this journey with you Lesley! Your words on paper and in person are healing and nurturing. What a gift you have! Please. Write on!!!
Thanks, Kirst.
It’s quite amazing how necessary the encouragement of others can feel at times; amazing how powerful our encouragement can be in pushing back fear. So much learning there for me at the moment.
Thank you for encouraging me and believing in me.
(And thanks for sharing the love with Melodie!)
Wow this could have been written by me, almost verbatim! How beautifully and potently you've put voice to my very similar journey of the last year or two! I relate so much to being a "colour inside the lines" girl my whole life, but finding myself in a place of breaking out of that and finding a big wide world of freedom, mystery, diversity, beautiful paradoxes, nuance, grey areas ... the "both, and" of it all!
I found myself looking at "the church" and what "christianity" as become ... then looking at Jesus and seeing quite a different picture altogether!
I love how you put this ...
"I am both full of faith and plagued by doubt, usually simultaneously. I am making peace with this paradox because my God is box-defying mystery."
Looking foward to hearing more of your thoughts and your journey!
Hey Melodie- welcome! I *love* that you're here!
You write beautifully yourself and your line, "finding myself in a place of breaking out of that and finding a big wide world of freedom, mystery, diversity, beautiful paradoxes, nuance, grey areas ... the "both, and" of it all!" really resonates with me. (Is the "both, and" from Madeleine L'Engle at all?!?) I was talking with my sister on Friday about all the gifts that doubt has given me, and less fear, more freedom are right up there.
Finding kindred spirits, especially in this tricky wilderness-place of faith and doubt, is such a taonga/treasure. You are taonga to me.
So true. I'm thankful to be starting to connect and find people who are on the same track as me...experiencing that "resonance" is quite special and unique.
"both - and" wasn't taken from Madeleine L'Engle - that I know of. However it is no doubt something I have gleaned from somewhere ... so who knows!
I have that same phrase knocking around in my mind. I totally attribute it to Saint Madeleine, but have just rifled through my books and can't find it underlined or bookmarked anywhere so who knows? It's such a goodie, though!
Welcome, Jessica! You are so very welcome and wanted here. Just as you are- with all your doubts and questions and hurt and wandering and new beliefs and not-knowing. All of it.
And you are very much not alone.
Thank you for your vulnerability in sharing your story.
As wrung out as this wilderness journey can leave one feeling, I truly believe now that there is a richer, deeper, more meaningful and impactful faith waiting for us out here in the wilderness. I find myself so at home here now; I don't want to find a way out as I initially intended. Rather, I want to make my home in the wilderness where my questioning and my lack of certainty can lead to a humility and a compassion that will take me closer to Love, and help me to more fully live a life that looks like Love.
Looking forward to doing wilderness life with you x