Danielle experienced deep friendships in a church community for twenty years, and then moved away into a relational wilderness where she would experience deep loneliness. Her experience of church community wasn’t just all goodness and friendship, though. It was also an “abusive church culture”, which has made it all the more challenging to build trust in new relationships. Her personal history includes devastating losses of control, from abuse and assault, to natural disaster, to chronic illness. Sometimes, she’s tempted to regain control of her life in unhealthy ways, like in her relationships with her husband or children. Danielle tells us a story of trouble after redemption—the long walk through the wilderness.

Music credits: “Mountain Drive” by Sea Sheperd, “Road” by Stephen Keech, “To realize” by Triads, “Stop Motion” by Triads, “Boxcars” by Brique a Braq, “Make it Ours” by Jonathan Roye, “Dovely” by Adrian Walther, "The Slow Train" by Finn's Fandango, all courtesy of Soundstripe.