Laurie's Journal

  A Fall from Innocence to Raging Grit, Redemption and Beauty from Ashes: Moving from “Eve Trauma” to “Mary Magdalene Enlightenment” Life rarely moves in a straight line. We start in a place of untested innocence —a season where the world feels predictable and our hearts are intact. But for most of us, there comes a "fall." It’s the moment the floor drops out, the dream shatters, or the silence becomes deafening. Yet, it is in the wreckage of that fall that the most profound transformation begins. The Shattering: From Innocence to Grit Innocence is beautiful, but it is fragile. It’s a porcelain grace that hasn't yet met the hammer of reality. When life strikes, your eyes are opened and that innocence doesn't just chip; it breaks. But here is the secret: Grit is forged in the furnace of loss. The Fall: It strips away your ownership rights of innocence. The Raging Grit: This isn't just "toughness." It’s a fierce, internal fire that refuses to be extingu...

  The "Perfect" Pew: Finding the Healer in a House of Flaws People, am I right? They are probably about as predictable as the dialogue in a Hallmark movie. You know the drill: small town, big misunderstanding, and a snowy resolution within 90 minutes. Or are they? The thing is that people—even those who maintain seemingly perfect attendance in the hallowed halls of a church—are, well, to give you the "real real," flawed. The Elephant in the Sanctuary This reality has been the very thing keeping people away from church for years. Let’s be honest: getting hurt by someone (or a "someone plural") operating under a pastor or priest's authority is a wound that runs deep. It’s one thing to be snubbed at the grocery store; it’s an entirely different level of pain when the sting comes from the place that’s supposed to be a refuge. We’re talking about ravaging wounds that produce scars that run even deeper than the initial cut. When the people representing the ...

  The Art of Unshakable Peace: Why Other People’s Toxicity Isn't Your Burden We’ve all been there. You’re having a perfectly fine Tuesday until someone drops a comment so sharp, so unprovoked, or so downright depraved that it feels like a physical blow. Your heart rate spikes, your face flushes, and suddenly you’re composing a scathing comeback in your head—one you’ll probably replay at 2:00 AM for the next three nights. But here’s a radical thought: What if you just... didn't care? I don’t mean "pretending" not to care while seething inside. I mean reaching a state of clarity where the vitriol of others simply slides off you because you realize it was never about you in the first place. 1. The Mirror Effect When someone speaks to you with cruelty or depravity, they aren't giving you a status report on your character; they are providing an involuntary tour of theirs . Humans are essentially biological projectors. We can only give away what we have inside. A perso...

  The Audacity of Joy: Why I’m Choosing Happiness (and Why You Can Bite Me) Let’s get one thing straight: if you are waiting for the world to hand you a “Happiness Participation Trophy,” you are going to be waiting until the sun expands and swallows the Earth. The news is a dumpster fire, my coffee machine is making a sound like a haunted chainsaw, and I’m pretty sure the guy in the lane next to me just used a gesture that definitely wasn't a "peace sign." If I relied on external circumstances to dictate my mood, I’d be curled in a fetal position under my desk, surviving exclusively on dust bunnies and spite. Instead? I’m choosing to be happy. Cue the collective eye-roll. The "Must Be Nice" Brigade I know what you’re thinking. I can hear the cynical sighs from here. There’s always that one person—let’s call him "Debbie-Downer-Dave"—who hears the word "joy" and reacts like you just suggested he eat a bowl of rusted nails. "Must be nice to...

  Finding the Calm: Miracles and Blessings Amidst the Storm We often think of miracles as parting seas or sudden flashes of light—grand, cinematic events that change the course of history. But when the sky turns gray and the winds pick up, we learn that the most profound miracles are often much quieter. When a storm hits (whether it’s a literal hurricane or the metaphorical tempests of life), our first instinct is to batten down the hatches and hide. Yet, it’s in that very vulnerability that we often witness the extraordinary. The Miracle of Connection In the modern world, we’re often "connected" but deeply isolated. A storm has a strange way of reversing that. The Shared Struggle: There is a unique blessing in the way a neighborhood wakes up after a storm. Suddenly, fences don't matter. Everyone is outside with a chainsaw or a rake, checking on the elderly couple down the street or sharing a generator. The Unplugged Moment: When the power goes out, the "miracle...

  The Pink Ribbon Policy: Choosing Joy Over Bitterness We’ve all had that "glass-shattering" moment—the second you realize a story you’ve believed about your life, your family, or your identity was actually a carefully constructed fiction. Discovering that things aren't what they seem is a universal human experience, but the real challenge isn’t the discovery itself. It’s how you choose to walk away from the wreckage. Do you let the false narrative define your future, or do you decide to love your life in spite of the lies? The Goodman Brown Trap In my late teens and early 20s, I encountered Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown . If you missed that day in lit class, here’s the gist: A young man leaves his wife, Faith, to run an errand in a dark forest. While there, he witnesses a nightmare: his pious neighbors and even his beloved Faith are participating in a dark, sinful ceremony. As he sees his wife’s pink ribbon flutter down from the sky, he cries out, “My Faith i...