Can we talk about the negative effects of Purity Culture for a bit? As a recently married woman who grew up in the height of the modern Purity Movement and choose to remain a virgin until marriage, I am beginning to see even more reasons why this culture and its...
Today I want to share an excerpt from a new memoir I happened upon last week written by cult survivor Charity Rissler titled “Where the Willow Weeps: The Inside Story of Growing Up in a Cult, and how I Found Freedom in Christ.” I’d never heard of this cult called “The...
Freedom Day 2020 Five years ago today, I began my journey out of a cult. I walked into a counselors office for the first time in my life and asked for help. I didn’t fully understand what kind of trauma I had endured; after all, it was my “normal.” I began the...
I woke up just a touch nervous today. This morning a podcast episode has been released where I talk quite frankly about the messy details of my trauma story. A few months ago I received an email from a group of three sisters who run a new podcast called The Modesty...
"He will rescue the poor when they cry to Him; He will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the week and the needy, and He will rescue them. He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious to him." —Psalm...
1,604 Days That’s how many days I have been fighting in a court for legal justice against my ex cult leader, Bill Gothard. One thousand, six hundred and four long, exhausting, treacherous, grief-filled, gut-wrenching, heart-stopping, healing, redemptive, beautiful,...
“Your courage was not wasted or in vain.” Today I received this beautiful, hand-crocheted lavender lap blanket and encouraging letter from a woman I have never met. Her sentence quoted above instantly brought tears to my eyes. This is not the first gift I’ve received...
One year ago today I gathered every ounce of courage I had and did something that would forever change my writing and public story. I went live on NPR and for the very first time, publicly named my second sexual abuser — my father. Until that day I had been very open...
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmond Burke One year ago today seven courageous women said “no more”. No more would we be silenced. No more would we remain victims. No one would we stuff away the past. NO MORE. On...
Freedom Day 2019 Four years ago today I took my first step away from the cult that had held me prisoner for most of my life. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea what was normal. I had no idea the lies I was believing and living. I didn’t know what I didn’t...