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Donate today at Latterday Struggles.com. As we were planning the episodes for the book Braving the Wilderness by Bernie Brown,

this story showed up on my feed about Valerie and the decision she had to make to resign from her membership of her faith

because she was being threatened of excommunication and chose to make that decision on her own

terms. As I thought about and was reading the book, this journey of hers was the epitome of

this braving the wilderness and learning to

belong to yourself. So I reached out to see if we could have a conversation because I think this

is something that touches a lot of us. We have a belief system, whether that's a formal religion

or not that we hold to. Some of us, this happens politically where things shift

in someone's thinking, and it causes a disruption in the relationship. And that was something that

Valerie has been trying to work with couples and people, individuals, to keep their relationships

intact, centering around her relationship with

her faith. I hope you enjoy this conversation. I think it's relatable on all levels. We talk about

some things that get in the way of relationship and that get in the way of the real reason that

maybe we're here walking the earth is to develop.

Whether it's mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, we are here to grow and learn.

And that doesn't look the same for everyone.

I really hope you can identify with some things in her story and bring them into yours.

I struggled a little bit earlier on in my, in my young adulthood, mostly because it

was hard for me to feel like I had sort of found myself or found my place. And being a very

traditionally believing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, To me, it felt like I didn't really have a choice, but I, and so I kind of proceeded

...