Spiritually Homesteading | How to Lose Your Religion & Keep Your Jesus

What happens when you deconstruct Christianity but still hold onto your relationship with God? In this episode of Spiritually Homesteading, Laura shares her personal journey through a 10-year deconstruction process and explains why her faith survived even when institutional Christianity didn’t. This episode explores the tension of feeling “too Christian for atheists and too atheist for Christians,” the importance of personal spiritual experiences, and why healing—not conformity—is the real goal of deconstruction. Laura also shares a humorous story about asking God for a deeper spiritual experience… and unexpectedly encountering “ginger Jesus.” If you’ve been questioning church culture but still feel connected to Christ, this conversation offers honesty, encouragement, and permission to rethink faith on your own terms.

#progressivechristianity #deconstructingchristianity #christianpodcast #christianfaith #christianfaith #christianityexplained #deconstructingfaith #deconstructedchristian #exvangelical #leavingchurch #reconstructingfaith #christianityexplored #faithcrisis #faithhabits #faithquestions #christianyoutube #christianyoutuber

What happens when the people who reject religion start mirroring the very behavior they criticize? In this episode, Laura takes an honest and even handed look at the surprising similarities between fundamentalist Christianity and hardline atheism, from moral superiority to dogmatic certainty. This is not an attack on either side. It is an invitation to ask ourselves the question we all avoid: am I genuinely open to being wrong? Thought provoking, fair, and a little uncomfortable in the best possible way.

#progressivechristianity #deconstructingchristianity #christianpodcast #christianfaith #christianfaith #christianityexplained #deconstructingfaith #deconstructedchristian #exvangelical #leavingchurch

Have you ever walked into a room and felt completely out of your league? In this episode, Laura shares a personal story about being placed in a class she was not ready for and how it quietly killed her confidence. Through a vulnerable conversation with her daughter, she unpacks what it really means to be surrounded by people who are better than you, and why that is not a reason to quit. If you have ever felt like the smallest fish in the pond, this episode will remind you that you are not in the wrong room. You just have not finished training yet.

#progressivechristianity #deconstructingchristianity #christianpodcast #christianfaith #christianfaith #christianityexplained #deconstructingfaith #deconstructedchristian #exvangelical #leavingchurch #reconstructingfaith #christianityexplored #faithcrisis #faithhabits #faithquestions #christianpodcast #christianpodcaster

Back in April, I had the privilege of sitting in on a Religious Trauma Symposium hosted at Harvard Divinity School. Chaplains. Professors. Survivors. Researchers. All in the same room, talking about something that most churches will not touch with a ten-foot pole — the real, measurable, documented harm that religion can cause to the people sitting in its pews. In this episode we will talk about what was discussed and how those who are hurt can find help

Link to resources here

#churchhurt #religioustrauma #progressivechristianity #deconstructingchristianity #christianpodcast #christianfaith #christianfaith #christianityexplained #deconstructingfaith #deconstructedchristian #exvangelical #leavingchurch #reconstructingfaith #christianityexplored #faithcrisis #faithhabits #faithquestions #christianpodcast #christianpodcaster

How many years have you been going to church and are you actually different?

It's the question nobody wants to answer honestly. Because the truth is, a lot of us have been showing up, sitting down, receiving, going home, and calling it a relationship with God. And when that system breaks down, when the pastor falls, when the church hurts you, when Sunday stops being enough...we're left with nothing. Because we built our entire faith inside someone else's house.

In this episode, Laura makes the case for self-discipleship: taking radical personal ownership of your spiritual life, not because church is bad, but because no one else can do this for you. She traces how Moses, David, Paul, and even Jesus himself built their most significant spiritual breakthroughs not inside religious institutions, but in deserts, caves, and quiet places far from the crowd.

You'll learn what self-discipleship actually looks like in real life (no theology degree required), why spiritual stagnation is silent until it isn't, how to build one small daily habit that will do more for your faith than another year of Sundays, and the 30-second morning question that turned Laura's entire ordinary life into a spiritual practice.

Your faith should be able to survive a Monday. This episode helps you build one that can.

#progressivechristianity #deconstructingchristianity #christianpodcast #christianfaith #christianfaith #christianityexplained #deconstructingfaith #deconstructedchristian #exvangelical #leavingchurch

The church told you jealousy is a sin to be confessed and buried. But what if it's actually one of the most honest prayers you'll ever pray?

Jealousy doesn't lie. It tells you exactly what you want, and exactly what you don't believe you're allowed to have. And when you stop trying to kill it and start getting curious about it, it becomes one of the most powerful tools for spiritual growth you've never been taught to use.

In this episode, Laura shares a personal story about sitting across from a woman living the life she wanted, and the spiral of comparison, self-doubt, and buried belief that followed. Instead of letting it consume her, she used it. And what she discovered changed her prayer life, her self-perception, and her relationship with God.

You'll learn how to decode the beliefs hiding inside your jealousy, why Brené Brown calls it "fear in disguise," how to use it as a mirror instead of a weapon, and how God used a baby gate and a dog to show Laura something she'd been missing about her own life.

Jealousy isn't a sickness. It's a symptom , and it's pointing you somewhere important. This episode shows you where.

#faithcrisis #spiritualcrisis #doubtisnottheenemy #leavingchurch #churchtrauma #religioustrauma #deconstruction

What if your spiritual crisis isn't the end of your faith, but the beginning of a real one?

Nobody in a church will say this from a pulpit, so Laura will: the moment everything falls apart might be the most spiritually significant thing that ever happens to you. The doubt. The questions. The feeling that the God you were handed no longer makes sense. That's not a sign you're broken. That's a sign something is finally waking up.

In this episode, Laura unpacks what a spiritual crisis actually is, why it has to happen to every person who takes their faith seriously, and (most importantly) how you know it's working. Drawing on the wisdom of Richard Rohr, Barbara Brown Taylor, Thomas Merton, and Howard Thurman, she maps the terrain of spiritual darkness that nobody gave you a guide for.

If you've been white-knuckling your way back to a faith that already failed you, or you're wondering whether to walk away from God entirely...this episode is for you.

Your crisis is not a mistake. It's architecture. And Psalm 88, which ends in total darkness with no resolution, is still in the Bible for a reason.

#faithjourney #spiritualgrowth #christianpodcast #faithpodcast #spirituality #authenticfaith #faithanddoubt #spiritualpractice #questioningreligion #faithoverfear #christianwomen #womenpodcast #faithandmentalhealth

In this SECOND season premiere we move beyond deconstruction and focus on rebuilding a genuine, sustainable spiritual life, brick by brick, practice by practice. Expect real stories, practical tools, honest conversations, and monthly encouragement to help you cultivate inner peace and a faith that fits. This is the blueprint for the new season and a new YOU. 

You don’t need to have all the answers—just be willing to show up for you. Welcome home; let’s build together.

#spirituallyhomesteading #faithdeconstruction #deconstructingfaith #churchhurt #exvangelical #faithrebuilding #spiritualhomesteading #faithoutsidechurch #unchurched#selfdiscipleship #deconstructionjourney #laurafarhy

After years of deconstructing my faith, I stopped asking what I should add and started asking what I could let go of. What I was left with was simple: Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible as a tool — not a rulebook, not an idol, but a tool. In this episode I share why these three things became my non-negotiables and how stripping everything else away actually made my faith stronger.