Blessed are the wonderers with the courage to live into the questions.

If you are visiting this page, I imagine that either you have struggled with questions of faith, have heard about deconstruction but are unsure of what it means, or know of someone struggling in this way. 

Whatever brings you here, welcome.

Life can bring so much pain our way. Often, when faith is important to us, we can find solace in its embrace. We pray and feel God's presence. We reach out to fellow believers and feel supported. We read the Bible and discover purpose in the midst of our suffering.  

Sometimes our faith helps, but sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes, despite all of our efforts to connect with God and others, to find comfort through prayer or other spiritual practices, we feel alone and as if nothing is getting better. In these moments, our faith can shift from being a source of support to a source of pain. We can feel that God is absent, or even that God has betrayed us or let us down. We might feel anger towards our religious community for their inability to provide the support we need. We might even start to doubt our faith, question deeply held religious beliefs, or even wonder if life has purpose. If any of these descriptions resonate with you, then you are experiencing what is called a spiritual struggle. 

Spiritual struggle is a term that comes out of the religious coping literature and although similar to deconstruction is more expansive.  Many people experience spiritual struggles without questioning, doubting, or changing their beliefs which is what most people mean when they describe deconstructing their faith. However, many who struggle spiritually do enter into a time of deconstruction. In either case, spiritual struggles are painful and need to be addressed. Not doing so can increase our suffering, showing up as anxiety, depression, or other symptoms of psychological and spiritual distress. 

For this reason, I choose to work with those experiencing pain related to their faith through the lens of spiritual struggle as I find it more robust and helpful. If you are experiencing a spiritual struggle and would like a companion to help you navigate these painful waters, don't hesitate to reach out. 

I have included a definition of the types of religious and spiritual struggles below and provided resources that I hope you will find helpful as your traverse these painful waters.