Raised to believe my life’s purpose was to please God and everyone around me by dying to myself and my own needs,  I was a religiously programmed “good girl” who needed to grow up to confront all the scary little gods in order to break free from an abusive marriage and religious community.

Join me as I creatively take you on a spiritual quest from the perspective of the different parts of my psyche. Witness my sometimes confusing, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes humorous attempts to be loved by being as good as possible. When my house of cards crumbles around me, I finally let go only to discover that while I would never be perfect, I would always be perfectly loved.

“All the Scary Little Gods is an achingly beautiful and wonderfully creative glimpse into a healing self-awareness where we meet with our earlier selves in empathy and converse with them in kindness.”

—Rick Pidcock, Religion Writer at Baptist News Global

“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.”

—Emily Elizabeth Anderson, Founder of Thriving Forward

“Natalie’s writing is vibrant and deeply intimate. The innocence, honesty, and humor (seriously, she is so funny sometimes) that Natalie breathes into her storytelling makes All the Scary Little Gods both deeply personal and remarkably universal. If you have struggled with reconciling the harmful ways that twisted theology has entrapped you while simultaneously struggling to embrace the beautiful and freeing parts of your faith, this book will guide you.

—Tiffany Yecke Brooks, PhD, Author of Gaslighted by God: Reconstructing a Disillusioned Faith