A Graduate Course

This is a contribution to @parenting.aftermormonism on Instagram. I recently took this account over, and that means I contribute more and am looking for others to participate by offering content as well.

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I've come to feel a deep reverence as I look back and consider our faith awakening/crisis because I see it as one of THE GRANDEST teaching “tools” for our children of all time. As crazy as it may sound, I do feel thankful for the massively painful layers of transition my children have had to face.

They’ve faced loosing friends, being judged by family and feeling cast off by their once safe religious tribe. All of these experiences, in one way or another, will happen to everyone, in different ways, and at different times. Everyone’s child will have to move through painful and unfair experiences in their lives.

Learning the truth about the church and leaving it has offered a “graduate course” experience for our impressionable children. They have grown in such breathtaking ways

that they NEVER could have otherwise.

In the beginning I was SO angry about how immoral it was that had to grieve, feeling betrayed by an organization that taught and claimed honesty. They cried so many tears of sadness, it still pricks my heart just thinking about it. However, now I can feel thankful for the refining fire that propelled our girls into a higher dimension of awareness and compassion, offering them navigation tools that will help them more confidently and successfully navigate the bumpy terrain of their lives.