Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
I may not have chosen what happened to my garden in the past. I didn’t choose the sabotage, the storms, or the weeds that showed up uninvited.
But I do get to decide what happens next.
No, I don’t control the weather. I don’t control where the next weed will pop up. But I do control how I tend to what’s mine.
At some point in the healing journey, we make a powerful choice: We reclaim our role. We stop waiting for someone else to rescue or fix it. We get our hands in the dirt.
I am the gardener of my life. I am the writer of my story.
Want to watch the rest of today's episode of the Flying Free Podcast? Head over to youtu.be/8YhPRj8fq7A
#flyingfreepodcast #healingjourney #traumarecovery #spiritualabuse #christianwomen #divorcedchristianwoman #gardenerofmylife #emotionalabuse
I may not have chosen what happened to my garden in the past. I didn’t choose the sabotage, the storms, or the weeds that showed up uninvited.
But I do get to decide what happens next.
No, I don’t control the weather. I don’t control where the next weed will pop up. But I do control how I tend to what’s mine.
At some point in the healing journey, we make a powerful choice: We reclaim our role. We stop waiting for someone else to rescue or fix it. We get our hands in the dirt.
I am the gardener of my life. I am the writer of my story.
Want to watch the rest of today's episode of the Flying Free Podcast? Head over to youtu.be/8YhPRj8fq7A
#flyingfreepodcast #healingjourney #traumarecovery #spiritualabuse #christianwomen #divorcedchristianwoman #gardenerofmylife #emotionalabuse
![Stop Calling Him a Narcissist (Use This Word Instead) - The Narcissism Trap Series Part One [366]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pBFvLMNT3xk/mqdefault.jpg "Stop Calling Him a Narcissist (Use This Word Instead) - The Narcissism Trap Series Part One [366]
In this kickoff to a powerful new series, The Narcissism Trap, Natalie Hoffman challenges a popular narrative in abuse recovery: labeling an emotionally abusive partner as a “narcissist.”
While that term may feel validating at first, Natalie explains how it can actually work against your healing by keeping you locked in the wrong story.
If youve been Googling “narcissist” at 2 a.m. to make sense of your painful marriage, this episode is for you.
🎯 Key Takeaways:
-Stop giving the abuse a medical label. Narcissism is a clinical diagnosis that can distract from the very real pattern of covert oppression you’re living in.
-Start calling it what it is: oppression. This isn’t about someone who’s mentally ill or just struggling. This is about power, control, and silencing your voice.
-Shifting the language helps you shift your mindset. When you stop analyzing him and start focusing on your own story, healing becomes possible.
-Youre not crazy or overreacting. Youre likely experiencing strategic emotional abuse often invisible to outsiders but deeply damaging inside your home.
Get Today’s Free Resource:
🧐 Are you wondering what is happening inside your own painful and confusing marriage? I wrote a book just for you called Is It Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage. Get a free chapter by going to isitmebook.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.")
![4 Types of Trauma Bond Withdrawal Symptoms You Need to Know [386]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qeO6s-Ck_w0/mqdefault.jpg "4 Types of Trauma Bond Withdrawal Symptoms You Need to Know [386]
If you are stepping away from an emotionally or spiritually destructive marriage and suddenly feel hit by severe anxiety, physical illness, obsessive thoughts, or a desperate urge to run back, you may be experiencing trauma bond withdrawal.
When a relationship alternates between unpredictable emotional mistreatment and periods of seeming “niceness,” your body builds a biological and neurochemical dependency on that cycle. Breaking free triggers a physical and emotional detox.
Today’s episode is a faith-informed, clinically grounded guide to understanding trauma bond withdrawal symptoms, dismantling weaponized scripture, and restoring your nervous system.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
-The Grey Rock Method for Emotional Abuse Victims (https://www.flyingfreenow.com/lets-learn-the-duck-duck-grey-rock-game/)
-Flying Free Kaleidoscope Program (http://joinflyingfree.com)
Get Today’s Free Resource:
🧐 Are you wondering what is happening inside your own painful and confusing marriage? I wrote a book just for you called Is It Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage. Get a free chapter by going to isitmebook.com
I will also send you my weekly Hope Letters for Christian women in emotionally and spiritually abusive marriages.")
