Belonging to a church community used to mean everything to me.It was structure, predictability, and purpose...a place where I felt seen, even if the version of me they saw wasn’t entirely real.I told myself this was the price of love.That obedience was faith.That questions were rebellion.That doubt made me dangerous. So I became someone palatable. Agreeable. Reliable. The woman who showed up with casseroles and silence.The one who never let her grief get too loud or her curio

There’s a difference between being a partner and becoming someone’s care plan. This is the moment I realized how deeply I’d disappeared into emotional caretaking—and how I found my way back to myself.