Each week, I plan a theme for my writings. The schedule is made out weeks in advance. Lately, however, I’ve been adjusting the teaching themes based on the most common questions and challenges facing those who follow me and seek my counsel.
Such is the theme for this week — for within the thousands of comments on my posts and videos and hundreds of messages in my DMs and email inbox are humans whose souls are hurting and whose hearts are breaking. My inbox is flooded with story after story of people who are reaching for the ray of hope they see in my message of compassion and understanding.*
Humans are desperate for connection — to be seen and accepted for who they are without having to deny elements of their authenticity or being forced to jump through hoops for acceptance. This is true inside a religious community as well. In order not to be alone or be judged, they try on a facade to fit in. But what eventually happens is that the burden of hiding one’s true self or belief becomes too much, and the call to be who they are rises up from deep within, demanding to be seen and loved.
It is here that humans have a choice: stay silent and accepted, or step out into the cold, dark unknown where isolation and persecution will define their existence. If the latter wins, those first few steps into the abyss can feel terrifying — even if it wasn’t said, there is a deep, inner knowing that there is no going back.
I have been where they are, and my own experiences give them hope that someone understands. That is what my writings and my videos are — a lifeline to unconditional love and validation they thought would never be theirs.
Spiraling closer to this week’s teaching theme of “leaving church: finding God,” the data proves what I’ve intuitively known for some time. People are rapidly leaving organized religion. Yet their religious heritage muddies the waters of spirituality, and they assume that without church they are detached from God.
They are not.
God is as close as their next breath because God belongs to the world, not to one religion.
A few weeks ago, my teaching theme was on why it was okay to be spiritual but not religious. That teaching theme and my videos debuting on TikTok exploded my platform to over 100,000 followers in just a few weeks — no small feat for any social media influencer, unless you’re Beyoncé.
What is clear is that many people have given up hope in finding a spiritual path to God outside of organized religion. My ministry has given them a spiritual path back to God.
That spiritual path to God was never severed.
Leaving religion is not always an easy journey. It’s paved with self-doubt, regret, loneliness and questions — oh so many questions. In order to help those traveling on this path find firm footing and to help calm their souls, I will be focusing this week on navigating spirituality after leaving organized religion.
For now, Beloved, know this.
God is where you are.
You are not alone.
You are seen, known and loved.
Trust your journey, and God will meet you right where you are.
I’m honored to be on this journey with you,
Rev Karla
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A gentle warning: In this writing I share a story about a newborn puppy that was actively dying. For anyone who has held the space of a loved one while they were taking their last breaths, you will discover there is nothing out of the ordinary about this story—an animal’s dying process is similar to that of humans. Still, the innocence of a newborn puppy may prove too much for some. If so, this is the writing to pass over. If you are staying, know that I handle this story with the reverence it deserves.
“Chasing the belonging.”
She said those words during our podcast recording. We had just spent the last hour together in a conversation that was so comfortable, as if we’d known each other a lifetime. Perhaps our souls did, because there was an ease in which we navigated heavy topics about the tension that now exists in this country, the challenges of peeling away indoctrinated layers of belief, and the desire to find ‘your people’ when you’ve lost your spiritual community.
Ken Powe
April 05, 2022
Thank you for putting this out there. I agree with your opinion and I hope more people would come to agree with this as well.
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