We Didn’t Just Need the Book. We Needed Each Other.
When my wife first handed me Guiding Families, I knew it was time for us to dive in and learn together.
We had just walked through our daughter’s suicide attempt and coming out to us as gay. [Read: Mom, I Think I’m Gay] In that troubling season, we decided to absorb as much of the book as we possibly could — reading it together, as a couple, every day. We’d open it up, flip through the pages, read the stories, read the teaching, and sit with some of the gut-wrenching questions every parent in this position has to walk through.
While reading, we realized something else: we didn’t have any support.
When your child comes out of the closet, you as a parent go into one. That’s exactly what happened to us. We looked around at our community and weren’t sure who we could trust with what we were carrying. We didn’t want to “out” our daughter. And even if we had, we weren’t sure how our peers would take the news.
Finding the Reading Group
Shortly after we finished the book, we found out Posture Shift offered a reading group, and we decided to join.
That first meeting was a little unnerving — we didn’t know a single person on the call. But almost as soon as it started, we realized we all carried the same weight for our kids. Some parents were navigating a child leaving home. Others were surprised to learn their child had a same-sex wedding without telling them. Others were walking alongside their young teens who were wanting to transition.
It was in that group we discovered we weren’t alone. Those Wednesday meetings provided people to lean on, to share our story with, and to be encouraged. The group reminded us that God loved us — and loved our daughter — and that He would make a way for us to hold onto our relationship with her.
What Stayed With Us
We’re so thankful for the time we spent in that reading group. We have cherished the relationships we built there for the last couple years. Even when the group officially ended, we actually kept our WhatsApp group calls going for many months afterward.
I’m grateful the Guiding Families book exists as a resource, but it was the group that helped us realize we were not alone. It hasn’t been an easy journey, but God has entrusted it to us. I want to walk it with love and sincerity, as best I can.
I can’t recommend the Guiding Families book enough, and to pair it with a reading group will change your life forever.
Join the Next Guiding Families Reading Group
If any part of this feels familiar — the isolation, the unanswered questions, the not knowing who you can trust with what your family is walking through — you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Guiding Families Weekly Reading Group An 8-week learning and support group, meeting weekly via Zoom.
- Dates: Tuesdays, August 4 – September 22
- Time: 7-9pm ET / 4-6pm PT
- Required resource: Guiding Families: Fifth Edition
- Format: Confidential, cameras on/off — this is a real space to process with people who share empathy, not a video class to sit back and observe.
- Registration: Closes as late as August 11 — space is limited.
Grab a copy of the book at a discount while the offer is still available. Use code: GF25 at checkout.
Just click the image to register for the reading group and use code: GF15 at checkout.
You don’t need to have finished the book to start. You just need to be ready to start on August 4th.
