When the things you’ve believed your whole life no longer feel solid, it can be unsettling. Fear and isolation can set in, especially when the people around you don’t understand your questions, or worse, shame you for them.
Lauren Cibene grew up in the evangelical church and all her life had heard about people experiencing “peace beyond understanding” or “God’s presence” in their moment of crisis. But all she felt in the midst of tragedy was abandonment.
In her late twenties, Lauren’s marriage was in shambles, her career was a joke. And that’s when an unforeseen, traumatic event shattered anything that wasn’t already broken. She was reeling with severe anxiety, agoraphobia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Like Pi, from Yann Martel’s novel, she was drifting in a lifeboat, away from humanity, faith, and the person she thought she was.
On a whim Lauren decided to go to India: a whole new foreign world that would aggressively rub up against some of her most tender wounds. This is the story of how, with a palpable fear and a thousand reasons not to, she decided to trustfall into the arms of humanity.
Post-evangelicals need voices. They need signposts. They need stories from people who, like them, are swimming somewhere between deconstruction and what comes next.
I hope you’ll watch for updates on this new book coming in 2025 from Lauren Cibene by subscribing to her newsletter or following her on Instagram.
David Morris, Publisher
