There are seasons when life grows so loud you can’t hear your own thoughts let alone God. The calendar fills, the phone pings, the arguments replay in your head, and the body hums with a steady current of fear. You’re holding the family together and fraying at the same time. If that’s where you are, this is for you.

In my latest two-part podcast conversation with Kerri-Ann Luketic, we talk about the kind of healing that doesn’t start in the mind but in the spirit—in the quiet place where we stop running, let our nervous system exhale, and learn to hear God in the noise. If the themes in this article resonate, you’ll love the episode.

You Can Listen Here: 
Part 1 : Uncovering God's Peace in the Midst of Life storms
Part 2 : From Dysregulated to Deeply Rooted

This post is both a companion to that conversation and a field guide for your soul, drawing from my book-in-progress, Unlocked: Choosing Surrender and Radical Obedience to Release Generational Blessing. Chapter 5, “A Map for the Journey of the Soul,” explores an ancient pattern God still uses to lead us home.

“The way to break the power of the world’s loves over your heart is to show your heart something more beautiful.” —Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Exodus Is Your Story, Too

I had read Exodus countless times history, miracle, deliverance. But when my own life collapsed, the Holy Spirit turned the story like a diamond and I saw a map.

• Egypt is survival. It’s where we learned to cope, perform, appease, numb, and endure when love felt far and safety was uncertain.
• The Red Sea is the crossing we cannot make alone. Back is no longer an option; forward is impossible unless God makes a way.
• The Wilderness is identity formation. Not punishment rehabilitation. Safety, trust, and belonging are re-learned in the body, not just confessed with the lips.
• The Promised Land is integration. It’s living from identity and attachment to Love where your head, heart, and nervous system move in the same direction. 

Exodus is not a one-time event. We leave Egypt in cycles each time more whole, more free, more rooted in love.

God Parents Us on the Way

God did not simply pull Israel out of Egypt; He stayed with them and re-parented them in the desert.

• The Cloud restored direction and safety guidance that also shielded them from what chased them (Ex. 13:21; 14:19–20).
• The Fire restored clarity and courage enough light for the next step (Ex. 13:21).
• The Manna restored dependence daily bread that trained trust (Ex. 16:4).
• Water from the Rock restored nourishment and hope life in barren places (Ex. 17:6). 

These weren’t mere miracles; they were attachment repairs. God was teaching fearful bodies and fragmented hearts how to live secure again.

Where Egypt Lives in Us

For many of us, Egypt looks like this:

• Voices silenced.
• Needs minimized.
• Pain swallowed.
• Worth measured by performance.
• Self-protection masquerading as strength.

I learned to look impressive when I felt invisible. To achieve when I could not attach. To hold everything together when I was falling apart. That’s Egypt—identity formed by survival rather than love.

There came a day when I could not keep the performance going. I collapsed no mask left. I cried out, and God answered—not with instant escape, but with presence, direction, and people who could stand with me when I could not stand alone. That was my Red Sea.

Your Red Sea may look different: a custody battle, a diagnosis, a loss you can’t fix. If you’re at the water’s edge, hear this: the God who calls you out is the God who carries you through. “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Ex. 14:14).

Wilderness Is Not Punishment

Freedom came before formation. Israel stepped out of Egypt in a day; Egypt stepped out of Israel over years. That is the work of the wilderness, and it is sacred.

Here is what the wilderness sounds like in the body:

• Your chest tightens when love arrives.
• You want to run when things get good.
• You reach for coping strategies that once kept you safe.
• You flinch under kindness because kindness once came with a hook.

This is not hypocrisy or “weak faith.” It is your nervous system asking, “Are we safe enough to live differently?” That question is holy. It’s where God meets you with manna-for-today practices that teach your body a new story.

Integration: When Peace Becomes a Place, You Return To

The Promised Land is not a pain-free life; it’s a re-patterned one. Integration looks like this:

• Your body no longer assumes threat when none is present.
• Your voice comes from belonging rather than fear.
• Boundaries hold because love, not panic, set them.
• Joy doesn’t feel fragile. Hope doesn’t feel naïve. Peace is not something you chase but a home you return to.

This is what we’re after not perfection, but union. Not performance, but presence. Not control, but communion.

A Guided Practice: The “Red Sea Reset” (7 Days)

This is the exercise I wish I’d had when the noise was loudest. It’s simple, repeatable, and designed to shift both your inner world and your outer response. Do it daily for a week.

1) Name your Egypt (2 minutes).
On paper, write one sentence that captures what’s pressing on you today. Be specific. “I’m afraid I’ll lose my child’s heart.” “I feel powerless in this conflict.” Truth ends the inner war of pretending.

2) Cross the Sea with your breath (3 minutes).
Sit with feet on the floor. Inhale slowly through your nose for a count of four. Hold for two. Exhale through your mouth for six. Repeat for three minutes. As you exhale, imagine the waters parting. You are not fixing; you are following.

3) Gather manna—just for today (4 minutes).
Ask God one question: “What is my ‘next faithful step’ today?” Not 10 steps. One. Write what you sense—often it will be remarkably small and precisely enough.

4) Stand in the cloud (2 minutes).
Pray this aloud:
“Father, place Your cloud between me and what chases me—fear, accusation, the need to prove. Lead me in front; shield me from behind.”

5) Light for the night (1 minute).
Close your eyes and picture a pillar of fire at your right hand. Whisper, “I have enough light for the next step.”

6) Drink from the rock (1 minute).
Place a hand on your heart. Thank God for one unexpected provision in the last 24 hours, however small. Gratitude softens survival and invites attachment.

7) Speak your identity (1 minute).
Out loud: “In Jesus’ name, I renounce the lie that I am on my own. I agree with Your truth: I am seen, led, and loved.” Repeat daily for seven days. Notice what shifts—first in your body, then in your words.

If you want to extend this practice with Scripture, camp in Exodus 13–17 for the week. Trace the cloud, the fire, the manna, and the water. Ask, “How are You doing this for me today?”

An Excerpt From Chapter 5 of Unlocked: “A Map for the Journey of the Soul”

What follows is a condensed window into the chapter I referenced above, written for anyone who needs a theologically grounded, trauma-informed picture of transformation:

Exodus is not only a story of people leaving slavery. It is a roadmap of the soul to leave behind the things of this world and return to the promise of who we are in Christ.

Egypt represents the places in us shaped by survival—where we learned to cope, function, and endure, even when our hearts were breaking. The wilderness is where God teaches us a different way of being—how to trust, how to hear Him, how to walk in relationship rather than self-protection. The Promised Land is the place where we live from identity, safety, attachment, and love—not just intellectually, but in the nervous system, in the heart, in the way we relate and receive.

Between Egypt and the wilderness, there is always a Red Sea—the place where the way forward looks impossible, and the way back is no longer an option. It is the place where God steps in and makes a way where there is no way.

In the full chapter, I trace how God parents us through each movement; how justification, sanctification, and glorification mirror the Exodus pattern; and why nervous system work is discipleship, not a detour. When a body that learned to brace begins to breathe, that is not self-help—it’s surrender. When a heart that learned to numb begins to feel, that is not indulgence—it’s worship. And when a parent who learned to control begins to love without fear, that is not passivity—it’s power.

Read the Full Chapter : A Map for the Journey of the Soul

Next Step: Begin the Journey Toward Steady, Sacred Parenting

You don’t have to have it all figured out.
You only have to begin.

If you are parenting through trauma, conflict, or emotional overwhelm — or if you are simply ready to break the cycle of fear and reactivity in your family I would be honored to walk with you.

Sacred Presence is a free 6-week transformational journey that will help you:

• Regulate your nervous system in real time
• Create emotional safety for your children
• Respond instead of react
• Heal your own wounds with compassion
• Become the steady, grounded leader your home needs

This is not about doing more.
It’s about becoming rooted.
Learning to breathe again.
Rebuilding connection where fear once lived.

Sacred Presence: A Trauma-Informed Parenting Journey

January 22 – February 26, 2026

Group Sessions (Live):

• January 22, 2026 — 7pm EST / 6pm CST / 4pm PST
• February 12, 2026 — 7pm EST / 6pm CST / 4pm PST
• February 26, 2026 — 7pm EST / 6pm CST / 4pm PST

This journey is free because healing was never meant to be inaccessible.

But it will ask something of you: presence, honesty, willingness.

Not perfection.
Just a yes.

Your healing becomes your children’s inheritance.
Your peace becomes their home.
Your courage becomes their beginning.

If your heart is stirring that is the invitation.

Enroll Here