I started Faith and Spoons because I was passionate about sharing faith. I was people and community focused. But I also was disabled and chronically ill, so the act of going and doing was not always possible. 

I have always believed that the church should do more for connecting disabled, chronically ill, homebound and those who can't do typical church. Since no one took it as seriously as I did, I decided to do something. 

And so became Faith and Spoons. 

I wanted a space where I could dig into the deep questions, different ways of looking at and living scripture. I wanted a space where I could seek a relationship with the divine. One that would keep me on track, and accountable. 

Where I could explore what I learned in church as well as all the things they don't tell us in church. (As a theology student there is a LOT of that!)  

And maybe, just maybe be a voice in the void for people like me who were looking for the same thing. 

My Story

My faith walk has not always been an easy one. 

The church was not especially kind to disabled people in the 80s and 90s.

I spent my younger years almost never in a church because they were mostly physically inaccessible, and the ones that I could get into often told family not to bring me because people didn't want to see disabled people when they came to church. 

But you can bet those same people would corner my family when we were out doing life, in the wild because they just had to pray over me to ask for a "cure."

Needless to say, I did not have a very favourable view. 

But I had a great grandmother that believed and she lived it even when it meant walking away from the church because I wasn't welcome. 

But walking away didn't mean she stopped believing, growing, or living her faith. 

But she did it in a way that put love, and people first. 

And that is how I learned. 

When the church didn't want me God still did, and he found me in other places. In the forest. In nature, in people, and community that embraced me and allowed me to be. 

Disabled Doesn't Make Anyone Less.. 

I now live with cerebral palsy in a town in Ontario, Canada.  One where I have been lucky enough to find a place that has let me grow and find community and a sense of purpose. Which is not something that all disabled people get to feel.  The world we live in does a good job of forcing disabled people into a small box that they believe we should stay in. 

That box is often  a life of poverty. Of being told to be grateful for what we get and not to demand anything more. 

Except I don't work that way. 

I must have missed the memo because I am the thorn in the side of people who believe that I should be quiet. To not take up space. To exist in and of the world alongside everyone else. 

Jesus, didn't heal first. He LOVED first, and so should we.