tell your story true // Truth Tribe interview: Noelle Juday
What stories have shaped your life? What script are you following, without even realizing?
Phoenix, it's time to claim the manuscript of You. Scribble, strike through, erase, scrawl arrows and hearts and question marks. Rewrite. Rewrite.
This is YOUR story.
Noelle Juday dared to tell her story true, seeking startling revelation and revision in her recent memoir, One Slender Thread. After a decade devoted to "very conservative, fundamentalist Christianity," Noelle's whole life fell apart. She found herself "silencing questions, wrestling with depression and dissatisfaction, and wondering if this was it."
I'm honored to welcome Noelle as our latest Truth Tribe member. Her interview in The Phoenix Soul: LEGACY is vulnerable yet strong, showing that when we dare to give voice to our own story, "we find the truth of who we are and what this life is all about."
Noelle's foundation crumbled in a short span of time, including these devastating events: moving to Thailand to work with a local church, only to be betrayed and left adrift; enduring a failed adoption; losing a beloved family member; and eventually, releasing the familiar faith she once held dear.
Her saving grace? Storytelling. She bravely began to embrace her questions, undergoing an intense and thorough examination of herself, her faith, and her way of life.
“I had always thought of my questions and doubts and wanderings in a very negative light, trying constantly to stuff them away and fit myself within very certain, structured faith systems. For decades, mystery was synonymous with a lack of faith. But the truth all along was that Mystery was pulling me, and it took me years to realize that Mystery was the Truth––it was the very Divine presence I had been trying to please by not asking all the questions or voicing all the dissenting thoughts . . .”
I had the pleasure of being an early reader for One Slender Thread. My favorite part about Noelle's memoir? She shares her own vulnerability and exploration, yes--but she also encourages us, the readers, to ask our own questions. To write and rewrite our own life-stories until we discover our own evolving truth. To love the mess of authentic expression.
Phoenix, is it time to tell--and retell--your own stories? What would change if you allowed your truth to emerge, even/especially when it looks different from what you've always known?
Dare to ask. Dare to tell and retell and scratch and scribble and sing out.
We're listening, phoenix.
with deep love &
immense respect,
Amanda
Step into your safe space, your sanctuary of vulnerable truth. The Phoenix Soul: LEGACY is your guide, your companion, your lantern in the dark. 60 vibrant pages of art, poetry, essays, creative prompts, & more, all designed to spark your phoenix soul.
