But people still ask, "what do you believe Stacie?" And I am forced to somehow explain my thoughts. 99% of the time the people who ask me this are those from within western Christianity. They want a map, an outline; a division of my beliefs. My answers always boil down to one word; Love, but that one word to many, is just not good enough. They want to know the lines and the borders. I don't have a lot of those anymore, I left that way of thinking when I left religion.
I thought perhaps I should write this series to explain my faith not to those who ask the question for need of seeing if I am worthy and if I fit in their boxes, but instead, I want to explain my faith for those who are still in religious boxes and are peeking out, beginning to see that Love Himself is beyond the box. I want to speak to those who are questioning everything and perhaps just need to know someone else out there can hear them and been where they are.
I grew up in evangelical teachings and that had been my whole life. I have a story. One that I share pieces with here and there. You can listen to part one of a podcast called MINDSHIFT where I share some of my thoughts. I wrote a book called, "The Resting Traveller, Into The Forest" where in poetry, allegory, metaphors, and stories, you see some of my beliefs and how I see "God" now. (I will touch on this a bit further down as well.)
But my thoughts are constantly evolving, as our my beliefs, EXCEPT for the largest and CORE belief; the one that I learned when leaving religion: God is fully love with no exceptions, no loopholes, no divisions or segregations. He embraces ALL, not just some—with no rules of how that happens.
As my book is finding its way into more and more hands and hearts, as I am stepping out into the world of media and being interviewed, there is need for me to dive in further and share more behind the book and the backstory of my faith. There is need to share "what I believe" not for MY benefit, and honestly, not for the benefit of most people who are reading this. It is for the benefit of all those who are thinking of getting wet and leaving religion, KNOWING deep down there is more than what they have been seeing.
I don't need to defend my position because really, I just don't care anymore. :) But I do need to share so that anyone out there who is where I have been . . . might be brave enough to come along and travel beyond religion into a deep, beautiful relationship that is actually free of yokes; not just in word but in deed.
Those who want the divisions and the boundaries of my beliefs, in order that they can decide if they should "follow me" . . . this that I write isn't for them. Though I am sure it will help them stay clear and tell everyone what a heretic I am. LOL
Some of my beliefs are found in my book. The Resting Traveller is about identity; of ones self and the God of love. It begins outside a forest where the character finds herself in deep suffering facing rejection, abandonment, loss, and loneliness. Great love begins to show Himself to her; allegorical writings that are open to the heart and mind to speak of the wonder of Love Himself.
The character is invited to travel into a mystical forest to discover the truth of her being; by first unveiling the truth of GODS being. It is a healing journey; it is a raw journey. The book ends with chapters that point her towards picking up old dreams and dusting off the treasures she left behind as religion told her they weren't for her. She finds her destiny . . . she is completely unveiled and transformed captured by a new love without the laws of man found in religion.
I have lived in fear for a long time. One of those fears were of the consequences of being my true self in a religion that was so easily judgemental and in rejection of those not found holy and in line with their "truths". My journey Into The Forest was a wandering through my fears to be faced with my beauty. I saw how marvellous the depths of me was, and I am learning to stand in the freedom of just living in the perfection of who we are and in the love that a divine Creator pours over us. I am learning that I need to be more ME, so that more people will see their own beauty.
Part of that, is this blog post and those that will follow. It is time for me to unleash more of my beauty; unleash words that reflect love and ONLY love.
I have this picture of a swimming pool in my head, and I stand on the edge of the diving board. I am scared to dive in, because once I do . . . there is no going back. Diving in, means fully releasing what I see and who I am—diving in means making a big splash that many will feel. Diving in means that I rise from the deep to find faces staring at me; either in applause and gratitude or display and rejection. It means that once I begin to share the depths of my understanding of who God is, I will certainly face harsh criticism and abandonment from certain communities.
Prior to this; I cared a lot about that. Now . . . not so much. It is time to dive in and share the stories of how religion twisted the great message of Love given by Papa God. I can't just write the book and leave it there. I am going to slowly unveil more and more here in the blog.
I now take the leap off the diving board and I choose to dive in speaking my beliefs outright and forthcoming. Not to defend; but to enlighten. To stir the waters; to do a cannon ball into the deep end and know that people are going to get wet.
I am going to show you the core of who I am and what I believe and you as the reader . . . you can take it or leave it. You can stand there as I jump off the board and take the splash with welcome and a desire to get fully wet too, OR . . . you can be disgusted that you got your garments wet with my beliefs and walk away cursing. Either way; I will dive. No matter what; I will rise and breathe in good clean life to my lungs and go under the waters of great Love for all, found in the name of Jesus and Papa. Regardless, I care for you and will not hold ill your decisions in my heart.
So, this is PART 1 of many. Stay tuned, only if you want to get wet.
Stacie Rae
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