Show Notes
Today I’m going to tell you about the last of the three books I picked as the most life-changing for me so far. I was nervous to write this episode because the book is controversial in some circles, and even I was afraid to read it many years ago. I expected to confront all kinds of lies and heresies (this is what I was taught at my church!)
Instead, I found permission to believe in a God big enough, powerful enough, and loving enough to actually win. I found in its pages what it would truly be like to lean into the God I believed in as a child. Key Takeaways: God's love shouldn't come with fine print: Somewhere along the way, many of us were sold "God's love plus a lot of caveats" like what to wear, what to say, who to vote for, and what to read, instead of just love. The people most triggered by God's love are often Christians: whenever I post about God's love on social media, the harshest pushback comes from people who identify as Christian. Fascinating, right? Questioning what you were taught may help you learn new things that take you deeper in your relationship with God. Hopefully our journey is about always learning and growing, not just having all the answers. Judgment can be restorative, not just retributive: What if true judgment is about having everything that was stolen from you (like your dignity, your security, your identity, your health, your dreams, your children) RESTORED to you again. If it’s just about punishment, how is that amazing? People can do that. Can God do more? "I could be wrong about that" is a doorway, not a threat: One of the biggest shifts in my life was moving from certainty to curiosity because certainty closes the door to learning, and humility opens it. Read Love Wins by Rob Bell
🎁 I want to give you a free gift. It’s the audio version of my book, All the Scary Little Gods. It’s a spiritual memoir about healing from religious trauma and toxic programming. You can listen to it FREE by going to scarylittlegods.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.
More from Flying Free
My pastors told me that what I was experiencing for over two decades wasn’t serious enough to be called “abuse.” They said I had to be physically hurt for it to cross the line of “hard marriage” to “abusive marriage.” Their beliefs kept me spinning in a turmoil so great that I thought a lot about ending my life.
Today we welcome back Arizona family law attorney Wendy Hernandez to celebrate the release of her brand new book, Legally Ending Love, and to walk us through exactly what every woman needs to know before they file for divorce.
This is the second in a 3-part series where I’m sharing the top three books that have changed my life. Last week I talked about the book A Failure of Nerve by Edwin Friedman. This week I will talk about Altogether You by Jenna Remiersma. And next week…well, you’ll have to come back then to hear me talk about a VERY controversial book in conservative Christian circles, but WOW did it absolutely do a number on my chronic fear, shame, and anger. But for now - let’s dive into a book that helped me make sense of the contradictory thoughts I struggled with every single day. “I can totally do this!” “I could NEVER DO THAT!”
A lot of people got mad at me when I started to change over ten years ago. They got so mad, they booted me out of my church and my family. In this episode, I’m going to tell you about a book that changed the way I parent, lead, and show up in my own life.
This is a replay of one of the most listened to episodes in the Flying Free Podcast archives, and it’s such a good one, I thought I’d reshare it for our new listeners!