Why blog?

My name is Shaye. At least, that's how my friends know me. A couple years back, I went through a dramatic life change; after that, this is how I prefer to be known.

The purpose of this blog is to share my story.  I hope it will bring healing to myself and to you.

In my thirty years of life, I have:

 - Been raised independent fundamental baptist (ifb)

- Been a preacher's kid

- Graduated from seminary with a missions degree

- Interned for 6 weeks with missionaries in africa

- Visited an orphanage in africa with the intent of working there

- Returned to seminary for a 2nd degree and ended up working there on staff

- Been diagnosed with food allergies to milk and seafood

- Gone through depressive periods bordering on suicide

- Lost my faith and turned atheist

- Resigned at the seminary and started a new life in a new city with a new name

- Found sanctuary in a liberal unitarian universalist (uu) church

- Came out as a lesbian

- Met and become hand-fasted with my life partner

- Become heartbreakingly estranged from my parents

- Sought psychic help for what I understand is emotional empathy

- Regained my faith in spirit, if not in god entirely

- And embarked on the experiement of a lifetime to see where spirit takes me

Finding support for my particular background and situation is difficult. For instance, there are support groups for former ifb's who remained christian. There are support groups for former christians turned atheist. There are support groups for allergies and depression and homosexuality. And, somewhere offline, there are support circles for individuals just opening to psychic experiences.

If you have similar difficulties, or you don't know where to find a support group that fits you, I hope that you can connect to experiences that we share.

Feel free to comment or contact me to share how a particular post has connected with you. If you find that you disagree or have had a different experience, I respect that. You too are welcome to comment or contact me; however, please remain kind and respectful. I will delete any comment or email that is hurtful or disrespectful.

The stories shared in this blog are merely my point of view on my life experiences and should not be taken as general statements regarding the ifb, christianity, homosexuality, or any other group or subject.  Names of people and places have been changed to protect privacy.