When I was twelve, I first read Hebrews 4:13: “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Something about it both terrified and thrilled me. Even then, I longed – and feared – to be fully known. But I quietly dared to hope I could be seen and still deeply loved. That ache led me into years of searching, first for human intimacy, and later for divine intimacy.

As I grew older, that longing found early expression in same-sex relationships during my time spent living as a lesbian. For a while, it seemed to soothe the ache of wanting to be fully seen and accepted. But even then, I was still yearning for something deeper, something no relationship, label, or identity could fully satisfy.

In time, God gently drew me back to himself; not with shame or condemnation, but with an invitation to the intimacy I had been seeking all along: the intimacy of being fully known, fully exposed, and yet still fully loved by him. That experience changed everything.

Serving in the messy middle

Fifteen years ago, I stepped into the intersection of sex, sexuality, gender, identity, and faith with the Strength in Weakness Ministries (SIW). Since then, I’ve walked with hundreds of people and churches who want to stay connected to God and one another, while remaining anchored in what I call “the messy middle” – the space where truth and grace meet. It’s a space to hold unwaveringly to biblical truth while embodying Jesus’ scandalous love for all, no matter what.

Today, I serve as SIW’s Chief Operating Officer and help co-host The Strength in Weakness Podcast, offering practical, Spirit-led guidance for these tender conversations.

Bridging faith and psychology

Throughout this journey, in an effort to better understand my own story and serve others more effectively, I became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC). The insights I’ve gained from counseling LGBTQ+ individuals, Christian parents, pastors, and everyday believers shaped my book, Love Covers Over: A Guide for Christian Parents Raising Kids in an LGBTQ+ World – a small thank-you to those who trusted me with their most vulnerable moments.

Working with Christian parents whose child had come out, I found myself helping them do the same essential things again and again:

  • Leaning into personal refinement
  • Grieving the fallenness of this world and their lack of control in it
  • Practicing surrendered stewardship, even in fear
  • Staying near to God, even in confusion
  • Identifying primary emotions beneath reactions
  • Pledging a clear conscience before God, even when loved ones’ emotions pulled hard
  • Communicating hard decisions in ways that kept the door of connection open

As my work expanded beyond LGBTQ+ conversations, I saw those same themes – grief, surrender, shame, belonging, intimacy with God, and hard-but-loving communication – arise in many other non-LGBTQ+ areas: marriages, parenting, friendships, and everyday discipleship. These aren’t niche issues; they’re human ones.

Heart Set Above: A broader reach

That realization led to Heart Set Above (HSA), a nonprofit helping Christians deepen relationship with God, self, and others in a world far from Eden. My aim is moving people from knowing about God to knowing God – experientially and relationally – and letting that intimacy shape every part of life. Today I do both: I continue my focused work with Strength in Weakness, and through HSA I help believers apply the same grace-and-truth practices to parenting, marriage, grief, conflict, and every day spiritual living.

My favorite passage, Colossians 3:1-3, reminds us: “Set your hearts on things above… for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” It’s where HSA gets its name: a simple nudge to zoom out and see through a heavenly perspective, even in hard moments.

Under HSA, I co-host The Heart Set Above Podcast with Georgia, a Christian and provisionally licensed therapist in the UK. Together we bring biblical perspective and clinical insight to real-life topics, like grief, surrender, identity, forgiveness, anxiety, intimacy, parenting, and conflict. We’re not chasing hot takes or quick fixes; we make room to wrestle honestly and to practice skills that keep people connected while they do.

How I serve individuals and churches

Whether I’m teaching in churches, meeting one-on-one or with small groups, or hosting a podcast, I work in two lanes:

  • LGBTQ+ topics – Helping Christians navigate LGBTQ+ topics with both conviction and compassion
  • Everyday Christian living – Walking with believers through grief, surrender, communication, marriage, parenting, and the “messy middle” of real faith.

In both, my aim is the same: to help people face the ache of life outside of Eden, to experience God’s nearness, to keep a clear conscience before him, and to build relationships that hold both love and truth together.

If you’d like to explore some of these topics further or find support for your own journey, there are several ways to connect:

No matter the topic, my work is about helping people return to the One who sees them fully and loves them still; to live with hearts set above, even when life on earth feels fractured. Whether our paths ever cross or not, may you rest in the comfort of God’s nearness and the deep peace of his presence.