The Beginning

I stopped officially performing February 2017. My small EP released only months earlier on mom’s birthday, December 4, 2016. She died January 8, 2016.

Cristy, my sister, began working for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in 2014. I started implementing some of the trauma informed care I learned from her into my middle school classroom, which laid groundwork for the porch in June 2017.

Sexual assault. Why was it the topic of conversation that afternoon? I can’t remember. I asked what I should do if someone disclosed abuse to me. I learned about GRACE for the first time, an organization whose name stands for Godly Response to Abuse in a Christian Environment. I asked more questions. We fell silent. I mentally continued the conversation. It went exactly like this:

“I wonder what the church’s role should be in all this? I wonder how my own church addresses the need? If I don’t know how we address it then people who need it may not know. I wonder if I should be involved. I’ll pray about it.”

The next moment was one of absolute clarity.  I didn’t have to pray about it. I was supposed to begin. I didn’t know exactly what that meant but I knew I couldn’t look away.

Two years later, as of this writing in July 2019, I wonder at the timing of it all. I imagine sorrow increased my empathy for those who suffer. Certainly surrendering music made room for trauma advocacy. Some argue I could do both, but I’m called to something different.

I was blind. Now I see. I’d like to help you see, too.