Before We Go Further, Is This Space for You?

You have my permission to reevaluate whether you should stick around for a fresh beginning at Authentically Elisa (+ new content coming)

Hello friends,

At least once or twice a week I start taping out what I’m really processing, often ranting, hoping some of this raw material can transform from its rough layer into a diamond. But alas, so far it hasn’t been so.

You belong here if you’re willing to lift your chin to look brokenness in the eye, and still find hope beneath its lashes.

What’s been brewing

After I wrapped up our prayer series from summer—psalms, laments, scripture, listening, the secret place—I began preparing for another series on a topic that is incredibly relevant. I see a lot of talk about Christian Nationalism, but often only in calls of judgement or wide cultural critiques that feel too high and mighty to bring into our just-surviving everyday lives. For those of us searching for wholeness, we need a few more steps to get us from here to there in order to thrive in a world bent on forcing sides.

For example, how can we safely even begin examining our own relationship between faith and nationalism? How do we have conversations about these topics where we can stay regulated—and is that even possible? And, why do we still hold to the paradigms we’re in?

Maybe I’ll still do these series, I don’t know yet. But as I was prepping it, I realized we needed to center first on what we’re even doing here together.

Centering and Renegotiating

Authentically Elisa is a space for me just to write about what needs to be written about, and where I can practice honestly sharing my own stories, which has been a healing balm. But there is the other side of the coin, for this relationship goes two ways. I am also creating a space that serves the people I’m meant to write to.

Somewhere between being a volunteer coordinator and directing nonprofit #2, I learned a truth about people that was hard for me to swallow—we need a chance to renegotiate our commitments. We need to say, “this worked for a while, but now it is a new season. And in it, I need to move on to these pastures, to this calling, to a new space.”

I am giving you the chance to renegotiate your commitment to Authentically Elisa here, and to do so without guilt.

Thank you for how you’ve shown up

I am unsure why you’ve ended up subscribed to Authentically Elisa, and for however long you’ve been around, I am grateful. I hope you found something of value here.

• I am grateful for those are willing to have the type of conversations that don’t always fit neatly in a box.

• I’m grateful that you’ve listened me share my most raw trauma and how I’ve found hope, despite it all.

• I’m grateful you’ve walked with me looking for God in the messy.

• I’m thankful that together, we’ve learned how to hold mystery and meaning

• I’m grateful you join me in loving the world deeply while still caring for our own hearts.

• I’m thankful you value the pursuit of restoration in our actual lives, not only the big spaces.

• I’m thankful for how you’ve shown up.

As my life keeps expanding—between family, community, consulting, coaching, and book writing—I’ve taken some time to pause and reimagine what Authentically Elisa will look like in the next season. As I share this vision, I hope you’ll find the freedom to either unsubscribe or hear this as an invitation to stay and engage.

Does this sound like you?

This is what I know—some of you belong here.

You belong here if you feel the ache of suffering—the kind that lingers after trauma, illness, loss, or burnout. Maybe you carry the scars of medical trauma or chronic illness, as I do. As I struggle against PTSD, recover from pregnancy trauma, and learn to live with lupus—even while caring for a family I do not have capacity for—you find yourself relating in your own way.

I write for those navigating the long road of healing, mental health struggles, and who are grieved about a suffering world. But its more than this—you belong here if you’re willing to lift your chin to look brokenness in the eye, and still find hope beneath its lashes.

Maybe you’re a person of faith who is deconstructing from pain of religion. Maybe you’re like me, who still follows Jesus and values scripture, but is learning to find the presence of God in the mystery. Maybe you’re longing to deepen your spiritual formation and curious about mystical or contemplative ways of encountering God. You want to hear from someone who’s been in ministry and part of the Church for a lifetime—but who also shares your doubts and questions.

You belong here if you hope to find a spiritual balm for your soul.

You don’t have to share my faith, either. You’re still just as welcome here; your presence and perspective are gifts.

Maybe you’re drawn to explore culture, ideologies, and paradigms, and are trying to find your place between them. If you want to expand and to learn to belong in many spaces at once—but while still knowing what to hold dear—I invite you to join me. I hope we will figure that out together.

I want you to know you belong here if you’re curious about the intersection between justice and everyday life. If you want to learn from my perspective as a leader in changemaking and activism spaces. I hope you stay if you also long to make the world better.

You might be a writer, or a creative of any kind, enjoying the synergy of someone else’s creative process as fuel for your own innovation. But even if you don’t typically tap into the right side of your brain, I hope you’ll stay if you aren’t daunted by long-form woven essays, the occasional poem, and the fiction short stories that sneak their way into my reflections.

Perhaps you’re a parent, or part of the sandwich generation, juggling your concerns for your kids and aging parents at the same time, while still wanting to pursue life to the fullest.

You might enjoy following the adventures and share a love for nature as these themes wind their way through my writings about healing, faith, and justice.

Maybe you’re here because you love books and stories that unfurl—the kind that make you escape the moment to find yourself in a totally different experience.

Ultimately, regardless of which specific reason you’ve found yourself reading this, you’re someone who wants to live authentically and who longs for restoration. You dream of a world, a body, a mind, and a heart made whole.

If you found yourself between these lines, my friend, please stay because we need each other.

Which of these do you relate to most? Tell me one reason you belong:

🌿 The new “Behind the…” section for everyone

Ready for what’s new? Most of my emails will now include a short snippet that reveals something of value behind the curtain in my life that I believe might also serve you. These are some of the areas that will show up: Behind the Coaching, Behind the Writing, Behind the Parenting, Behind the Book, Behind the Adventure, Behind the Creativity, etc….

These will be small windows into what’s helping me, inspiring me, stretching my worldview, or where I’m discovering wonder. I hope they will connect you to a place, a story, a book, or an idea, ushering you to make your own discoveries.

“Restoration Practices” for paid subscribers

For those who support Authentically Elisa as paid subscribers, let me make sure you know that you are a gift! I often must choose between writing and responsibilities where I get paid. Guess what usually takes precedence?

I’d happily write for free if I could pay my bills, or even just cover childcare and my “office space” at whatever local coffee shop is closest. But paid subscribers help remove this tension from me, giving me the space to freely write and get better at serving you through writing.

So far, I feel like I haven’t come up with the best way to thank paid subscribers. In the last year, I gave an hour of my time through an extra free coaching session (in addition to the free discovery call) to each person who has been a paid subscriber.

• If you haven’t taken advantage of that perk and have been a paid subscriber, schedule with me here.

  

This year, I am transitioning to something more sustainable and useful for my paid subscribers. I’ll be sharing Restoration Practices every second and fourth Wednesday of each month—short, simple equipping tools or reflections for grounding your spirit, healing your story, and leading you to authenticity or wholeness in your everyday life. Each one will include a short video or written guidance, and one actionable tool, step, prayer, or question to help you reflect and nourish your soul.

Become a paid subscriber to receive bi-monthly “Restoration Practices”—to launch these, anyone new who subscribes annually this October is being gifted 20% off.¹ Please share!

Should You Stay or Should You Go?

I hope my new additions will serve you, paid subscriber or not. I’d rather have a small circle who want to be here than pushing content to a long list of ghosts who’ve already left.

If you read the section about who I’m writing to, and it describe you, I’d love for you to stay, read, and engage (through hearts, comments, and email replies with your own thoughts). I pay attention to your responses—you help me know where to go next.

But if your season has changed, that’s okay, too. Please unsubscribe (there is a small print link in the bottom)—I bless you as you move forward! Thank you for walking this far with me.

Here’s to a new rhythm at Authentically Elisa, full of honesty as we pursue wholeness together.

Love much,

Elisa S. Johnston

Random pic of me at Gull Lake in the Mammoth Mountains this summer

If you’ve decided to stay, can you share this publication with someone else who you think might resonate with it? Thank you!

1. As always, if you aren’t sure if you can afford this, no worries. If you’d be blessed by the Restoration Practices and don’t have room in the budget these days, just let me know and I’ll upgrade your subscription—no questions asked. I get it. I can only afford a couple paid subscriptions myself!