You were made for more…

You belong…

You can take up as much space as you want…

You’re not too much…

You are celebrated…

This is the permission I wish I was given as a child.

Hi, I’m Katherine Penniman. I share my life story through music and media.

I write for those deconstructing religion or healing from trauma and spiritual abuse. I am here for those daring to step into the life they were created for. I explore faith outside the box. Sometimes you’ll find entrepreneurial musings, sometimes writings on Jesus. But always for free thinkers and pioneers. Together, we’re rebuilding wholeness and creating futures rooted in authentic faith. You don’t have to love Jesus to follow along. He is a big part of my story and how I found freedom. But you matter to me, whether or not He’s a part of your story too.

My story:

I spent so many years bound by other’s ideas for my life that I never felt I had the space to be what I felt inside. I made many attempts to be something I wasn’t. Trying to find that space to be myself. I was emotionally trafficked by other’s plans for me.

Because of the toxic things I experienced growing up, I pursued healing for decades. For so long, I thought the weight of what I’d been through always left me an easy target for more struggle. Little did I know that the weight of the beauty I carried inside me also made me an easy target. That was the truth that I couldn’t see. It was like buried treasure. Sea glass… still in process.

One day about 8 years ago I woke up to realize that I was a part of a cult and was experiencing spiritual abuse. This was disorienting and devastating. I grew up in the evangelical church and found much of my safety and identity in the church. Though I already knew Jesus and had started healing from the childhood trauma, this was 100% a turning point in my life. How could I have gotten myself in this place? How did this happen to me? How did I sit there and let a pastor berate me for 3 hours? Why didn’t I leave until 7 months later? Why didn’t I walk away?

These difficult questions led me down a path of discovering just how battered I had been by the trauma in my life. Just how much my true self wasn’t showing up with anyone I knew. And just how much I needed transformation internally to not tolerate environments and relationships that were harmful to me.

I spent the next 8 years healing. I read the Bible front to back with the expectation that God himself was going to reveal to me by the Holy Spirit what His word really meant. I was ready to walk away from the church, but I couldn’t deny what I had experienced my whole life with God. I was so injured by anything having to do with church that I was hungry for God himself to show up. And He did. He washed away religious teachings and mindsets and showed me amazing things. He rebuilt my faith. He revealed who I was. We had many amazing mentors in that time who walked us through healing. They were gifts from God that we couldn’t have orchestrated.

During this time of healing, Craig and I began to dream with God about what our life would look like. We began to feel a draw to Vermont and a love and heart for the people just as missionaries to other countries would. Our heart was to be love to our community with a foundation of prayer and emphasis on worship. We had lots of ideas on how this would happen, but the core was always that our family would BE love to people around kitchen tables and living rooms.

Also during this time of healing I had new talents and gifts emerge that I never realized I had. Turns out I’m a multi-passioned and talented person. I had never been given the opportunity to fully be myself, nor did I feel that freedom in myself. I really wrestled through being a “jack of all trades and a master of none.” Turns out that was a lie I was believing.

We eventually were sent to Vermont as missionaries. In our first 5 years of building relationships and establishing things, we found ourselves still working out our identities. At the end of the 5 years we found our tribe. A community of people who championed us made all the difference in walking things out. It was a catalyst that launched us in to clarity.

Now I share my journey. Through music, media, and story.

Wherever you are in YOUR journey, I want to show you that you were made for more.