Love and Fear at the Same Table

Some stories are told to us long before we know how to question them.

They come wrapped in reverence, passed down like family recipes. This is what it means to be good, to be faithful, to be enough.

But what happens when your heart feels something else?

I’ve been writing a scene that explores that quiet space. The tension between belief and discomfort. A young girl sits wide-eyed, listening to stories meant to shape her. And they do. But not always in the way the storytellers intended.

What strikes me most is how fear can sit right next to love. How obedience can sometimes cost us our own voice. How sometimes we learn to nod while something inside us whispers, Is this really what God wants?

It’s a subtle thing. That first flicker of dissonance. Not rebellion. Not rejection. Just wondering.

And I think so many of us have felt it. Whether in faith, in family, or in the stories we were raised on.

This book I’m writing isn’t about answers. It’s about naming what’s real. It’s about honoring that flicker. And giving you permission to follow it.

Because growth doesn’t always start with certainty. Sometimes, it starts with a question.

-Jasmine