I’d endorse this book for the prologue alone. Our stories are important. Natalie’s story will help people who are looking for an empathetic witness, needing to find their voice, seeking to gain an understanding of the emotional and spiritual abuse they are under, and asking who will rescue them. Others need to ask what about Natalie’s story disrupts their own? Ultimately, the reader will be faced with this question: Why is the Church full of anemic lovers?

During an epidemic of spiritual trauma and abuse, many women are noticing the impact and taking steps toward healing and growth. Natalie Hoffman offers an authentic and informative approach through her journey of trauma and working out her faith with vulnerability and genuineness. She openly and bravely sits with the pain and internal struggle while offering hope and support through the deconstruction process with the desire to come alongside other women to help them fly free in their journey with God. I recommend this book for those who are longing for camaraderie and support in the excruciating journey of healing from spiritual abuse and trauma through holding an empathetic witness to each other’s experiences.

Natalie’s story is not for the critics; it is for the prisoners. Sadly, the critics don’t know that they are also prisoners. So, for those who know they are prisoners, please, please read her book! Natalie has one of the clearest and most powerful voices in the world of helping people find freedom. While many people who have labored under spiritual abuse turn away from the trappings of religion, Natalie ran toward the Life-Giver and His ways of giving life. In the process, she has made a way for others to do the same. I met Natalie because of her voice, her integrity, and her love for finding life and truth in the Scriptures. She has become a colleague and an ally for all those same reasons. If you have lived in fear, shame, or the pressure to perform to make a mad God happy, then you will find a new way to think and live in these pages!

For every woman whose voice has been silenced, Natalie Hoffman wants to let them ROAR! In this poignant memoir, Natalie gives voice to the little girl who was told again and again that she had to be smaller, less than, and not take up so much space. She gives voice to the young woman desperately trying to follow Jesus and do the right thing, yet at the same time feeling used, neglected, and abused by those who were supposed to be her protectors and advocates. For those hurt by parents or spouses and having that hurt compounded by churches and counselors, Natalie shows how you can rise above your programming and learn that you have a voice. That you matter. And, most of all, that you are truly, deeply loved by the One who sees every time you are silenced—and who wants to give you back your voice.

Natalie is gifted with a thought-provoking ability to be candid and relevant in her storytelling about her own life, beginning in early childhood. Her insights and discoveries will help any reader—victim, survivor, people helper, family, and friend—to best understand the necessity to question and change our entrenched beliefs and programming if we are to find the path to self- acceptance and healthy love for self and others. This book provides the road map to healing for all those who have been harmed, and I truly hope every therapist will read this life-changing work.

With vulnerability and insightful reflection, Natalie shares her journey of healing from a fundamentalist culture fueled by toxic theology. All the Scary Little Gods is a memoir that gives voice to those who have felt isolated by spiritual abuse. Natalie reminds readers that there is a path forward toward authentic faith and that our grief-filled steps toward God sometimes lead us away from communities and traditions of our youth.

Natalie offers the reader a uniquely personal window into the world of a survivor’s heart who has done years of exceptionally difficult and detailed inner-healing work. Natalie not only shares with us a clear understanding of her past trauma in poignant and sometimes even humorous vignettes, but she then brilliantly pairs those alongside her present view of God in a safe, inviting, and therapeutic method; this book is like a therapy session in a memoir.