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K.J. Ramsey Profile picture
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Jun 10 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
#FaithOverFear is a narrative that bypasses the truth that God gave you a good body with good emotions that exist for good reasons. It also overlooks the context in which the command “do not fear” is given in Scripture:
“Do not fear” is most often uttered in Scripture as an imperative statement—but one of comfort, not chastisement. When we detach this command from the context of God’s comfort, we make Scripture into a sword to cut off the very parts of ourselves that most need God’s friendship.
“Do not fear” is a refrain that is repeated over and over to people about to embark on risky endeavors who will endure uncertainty, possible judgment, and danger, predicated on the promise that God will go with them.
The power of the phrase “do not fear” is found in participating in the story where the presence of God goes with and before us everywhere we go, all the days of our lives.
Fear is a facet of being human.

Fear emerges from a physiological state of stress that God made to protect you from danger and bring you to safety.

At its core, fear is not a lack of faith. It is a lack of perceived safety.
Your tight shoulders, pounding heartbeats, and even your panic attacks are all prompts to treat yourself like someone who is truly worthy of safety, love, and belonging. Fear is a physiological prompt to seek safety in the presence of Christ and remember your place in his heart.
I’m ready for you to experience better news than #faithoverfear.

May your faith *include* your feelings. And may your fear become a fuel to treat yourself as one whom Christ calls "friend."
You don’t need
to fight your fears.
You need a Friend
who draws near.

Refuse to do battle
against the parts of you
that need kindness the most.
explore how to live this out in #TheLordIsMyCourage, (lots of this is straight from the book), releasing in just 10 days! preorder today. kjramsey.com/thelordismycou…

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K.J. Ramsey Profile picture
Jun 3
If Scripture was sufficient to heal trauma, why did the Word become flesh + dwell among us? Trauma isn’t healed by memorizing verses a biblical counselor gives as homework. It’s healed thru the embodied experience of restoring safety. Bypassing the body further divides the soul.
Woe to false teachers, who demonize that which Christ has dignified.

Woe to pastors + theo-bros who disrespect the very bodies God so loves that Christ took on human flesh.

Woe to shepherds who are called to strengthen their sheep, but instead stigmatize and shame them instead.
If you have been taught to try harder to believe, but your body still squirms w stress, your chest pounds w anxiety, + your mind is flooded w fear, please hear that God speaks peace over every part of you. Healing trauma doesn’t require you to bypass your body to trust in Christ.
Read 5 tweets
K.J. Ramsey Profile picture
May 18
The body count of believers who have been used and abused in the church is astoundingly high. But so many people hesitate to name their experience as “traumatic.” (For so many reasons).

Here’s some [non-exhaustive] help to name your experience:
Were you overwhelmed by the expectations placed on you?

Did you feel pretty alone as you tried to face the pain of your church situation?

Did you have somatic symptoms during or after? (Panic attacks, more/sickness infections than usual, exhaustion)

Yes? It was traumatic.
Do you avoid visiting the area of town your church was in?

Do you find yourself looking over your shoulder in public to make sure no one is listening?

Are you worried you might see a former staff/church member at the store?

Your body experienced your former church as unsafe.
Read 4 tweets
K.J. Ramsey Profile picture
May 15
After spiritual abuse, my mind wanted to be in church again.

But my body screamed that she didn't feel safe there.
As a disabled woman, I already knew that healing is not a matter of trying harder to believe.

As a trauma-informed therapist, I recognized that being inside the church was pushing my body and her safety right out the door.
So, for the first time in my life, I stopped going to church to give my mind + body a chance to become friends with God again.

Today, with whatever confusion + pain you feel around church, I hope you’ll give yourself space to explore a faith that doesn’t leave your body behind.
Read 5 tweets
K.J. Ramsey Profile picture
May 6
Hello podcasting people! What are your favorite shows that cultivate nuanced conversations around faith, religious trauma, spiritual abuse, deconstruction etc? My new book’s coming out June 21st, and I have been saying no to interviews for so long I don’t know where to begin. 😂
Things this new book is about: Psalm 23, practicing courage even when you feel crushed, nervous system regulation, spiritual abuse, leaving harmful religious communities, finding a new expression of faith + safety with God, healing from religious trauma amzn.to/3w7duPH
So, what podcasts would you like to hear me have a conversation on? What podcast hosts would make tender conversation partners about this? Tag away. Also, I’m gonna not take it personally if no one replies to this tweet. This part of book launching is all kinds of weird. 🫶🏼
Read 4 tweets
K.J. Ramsey Profile picture
May 5
I so want you to know that the parts of yourself that you most hate and blame and hide are the parts that hold great wisdom and the possibility of joy.
Sensitivity is a gift to steward.

But for many years I would have called mine a curse.

In my new book, I decided to share some of my story of shifting from cursing my stress to blessing my sensitivity. Along the way, I realized just how many of us feel like we are too much.
When my therapist named that I am a highly sensitive person, "she saw the one part of myself it seemed that everyone—including myself—had labeled as too broken. And she blessed it instead….The part of me that had been most shamed + silenced was the part of me that was wisest.”
Read 6 tweets
K.J. Ramsey Profile picture
Jan 10
Today the church remembers that *before* Jesus turned water into wine, cast out demons, or healed the blind, the Father publicly named him Beloved.
The baptism of Jesus is the best news for those of us who keep getting stuck in the mud at the riverbank’s shore, hoping our work will give us worth, hoping we can do and be more.
Before Christ accomplished anything amazing, he was named Beloved.

And his baptism didn’t lead him into bliss. Instead, the first place the Spirit leads Christ is into the wilderness to confront Evil for forty days and nights.
Read 5 tweets

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