Hello Empowered Wayers:

More than thirty years ago, I rode my motorcycle through a Texas rainstorm that stripped me down to fear, faith, and forward motion. I didn’t write about it then. I lived it. It wasn’t until last year that I finally put the experience into words, believing I was telling a story about surrender and survival.

But something kept working on me after I published it.

With time and reflection, I realized the storm had been teaching me something deeper all along.

It wasn’t a life or death crisis. Instead, it was an initiation.

When Independence Stops Being a Choice

That afternoon, the rain came down so hard it felt biblical. My glasses blurred, my body shook from the cold, and I couldn’t feel my feet. I wore a half-face helmet—no visor, no protection from the wind or rain.

Bluetooth didn’t exist yet, so I had no way to communicate with my husband or the small group riding ahead. We thought we knew the weather to expect, but no one anticipated this storm. At first, we pulled over underneath an old gas station cover and debated about what to do. Everyone felt confident this storm would pass quickly, so we continued on.

Except it didn’t. Instead of a light drizzle, the rain poured from the sky, the sun hid behind dark, menacing clouds, and lightening flashed all around us.

I had chosen to ride my own motorcycle, craving independence and adventure.

And suddenly, independence wasn’t an idea—it was a fact.

There was no one who could take over for me. No one who could ride my bike.No one who could make the decision for me.

If I stopped, the motorcycle would be abandoned on the side of the road. If I continued, it would be up to me to make it to our destination safely.

Alone—and Not Alone

I was utterly alone.

At first, my mind turned against me, as fear often invites it to do. Harsh self-talk, judgment and very imaginative doom-laden visions. My mind and nervous system searched frantically for an escape, for an out, for someone to come and make it all better.

But no one came.

The moment I realized that no one was coming is when the initiation truly began.

The Moment Sovereignty Woke Up

With no external solution available, I did the only thing left: I turned inward. I prayed. I asked for help, not to be rescued, but to be held.

I surrendered my need to control the outcome and felt something settle inside me.

The fear didn’t disappear immediately, but it loosened its grip. In its place came a deep, quiet knowing:

I can do this.

The rain still fell and the pavement was still slick. My body was still numb and my feet wet from the cold water dripping inside my boots. My reality was still the same, but I wasn’t.

In that moment of surrender to God, something essential shifted in me. I was no longer in control of what happened. Something greater than me had taken over and gave me the strength to keep going.

What I Could Only See Years Later

Years later, when I shared this story on the Mystic Misfits podcast, I heard myself say something I hadn’t fully articulated before:

That night taught me how to live from sovereignty.

Sovereignty isn’t about doing everything alone. It’s about no longer outsourcing your authority. It’s the moment when life stops offering training wheels and instead, invites you to trust the wisdom already inside you.

Initiation Is Not Rescue

Initiations rarely announce themselves as such. They arrive disguised as inconvenience, fear, or impossible circumstances. And they almost always carry the same message:

No one is coming.

Not because you are abandoned, but because you are ready.

When you stop waiting to be rescued, something ancient awakens inside of you. A sense of presence opens as you allow God to be with you. You acknowledge God and He sees you.

In the aftermath of surrender, you discover you know how to listen beneath panic. Presence is chosen instead of paralysis. You learn that you are enough, just as you are in this moment. And your worthiness is already established by your very existence as a human being.

If This Moment Feels Familiar

If you’re facing something right now that feels overwhelming, something where the exits are unclear and the support you hoped for hasn’t materialized, I invite you to consider this:

Perhaps this moment is not here to break you.

Perhaps it is here to claim you.

To initiate you into the part of yourself that knows how to stand, choose, and move forward with grace, even while shaking with fear.

Living from Sovereignty Together

This is the work I now hold space for in the Sovereign Women’s Circle: a place where women gather not to be fixed or saved, but to remember their inner authority, their intuition, and their capacity to meet life as it is.

If you feel the resonance of this story, if you sense that life is asking you to step more fully into your own sovereignty, you are welcome in the Circle.

And if you’d like to hear the fuller conversation about this initiation, fear, and faith, I shared it on the Mystic Misfits podcast. Sometimes hearing a story spoken aloud reveals another layer entirely.

A Blessing for the Road Ahead

Thank you for reading this far. I appreciate the time, energy, and focus you have spent on being here. To thank you, please hear me say these words:

May you trust the moments that ask more of you.May you recognize the initiations when they arrive.And may you discover, again and again, that the wisdom you seek has already chosen you.

With love,Kathryn

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