Emily Shepherd

REST: Recovering from Spiritual Trauma

Religion EN ↓ 32 episodes

Spiritual Trauma has been defined as occurring when a person's religious experience is stressful, degrading, dangerous, abusive, or damaging. I am a mother joined by my adult daughter as we discuss our family’s story of recovering from spiritual trauma. In each episode of REST we will share our experience of 17 years in a church community with a high-control culture within the denomination of the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church). Thankfully we are now on a journey toward true soul rest. We welcome your feedback and stories. You can reach us at the.rest.podcast.info@gmail.com

Author

Emily Shepherd

Episodes

"Is it all in my head?" 30.03.2024 29:04

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss the uncomfortable feeling of cognitive dissonance we experienced in our high control religious culture. Intense self doubt and feelings of confusion characterized many of our years there as the black-and-white teaching collided with what our gut was telling us. We had a choice to make, and it wasn't easy. As always we love to hear from our listener...

Roles of men & women | Patriarchy 05.03.2024 44:02

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss the roles of men and women in the church as well as the presence of patriarchy. As always, we welcome your comments and feedback at: the.rest.podcast.info@gmail.com

Education & Homeschooling | Part 2 16.02.2024 24:00

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we pick up where we left off from Episode 4 discussing Education & Homeschooling (Part 1) . The perspective of a child raised in a high control church culture is again insightful, rare, and essential. We would love to hear your stories of being homeschooled, good or bad. You can contact us at: the.rest.podcast.info@gmail.com

Education & Homeschooling | Part 1 06.02.2024 27:34

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we will be discussing how our church's high control culture affected how families educated their children. The perspective of a child growing up in this environment is particularly critical to know, as it is often overlooked when considering educational choices. We will continue this story in Part 2 ~Episode 5. We would love to hear your stories of growing u...

A typical Sunday morning at church 22.01.2024 36:43

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we discuss the format of our church's Sunday services, Sunday School, and style of worship music from the perspective of a child- one that is often overlooked and dismissed.

Our struggle with the Sabbath Day 13.01.2024 31:31

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we discuss the immense struggle our family faced surrounding the way our church viewed Sundays. Here are links mentioned in the episode for further exploration of this topic: Instagram page The Sabbath Debate on YouTube A helpful book entitled From Sabbath to Lord's Day

Introduction to our story 08.01.2024 31:37

Send us Fan Mail In this first episode, we share an overview of our experience in a high control church culture. We begin to focus in on some of the definitive experiences that began to reveal themselves as potentially damaging. *Correction: In the podcast it was incorrectly stated that the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) mentions bookending the Lord's Day; it should be clarified that...