I’m Deborah Brunt, blogger at Key Truths

I was born and raised in the US Deep South. From an early age, I loved the Lord Jesus, and wanted to follow him.

Also from an early age, I bought into a religious system that I thought was teaching me how to do just that. Mostly, though, it appealed to the baser me – the prideful, soulish, selfish me. I became religious, in an arrogant, self-righteous sort of way.

Not able to see my own stuff, I couldn’t see others clearly either. Especially, I did not see how often people I trusted and loved would puff me up and put me down, in order to use me.

Well into adulthood, I did not see any of the ways the toxic warred with the truth in my church culture, my birth family, my marriage, my life. I did not even begin to see – until the insidious erupted into abuse.

At last,
I’m learning to see what I previously could not.

I’m learning to separate out
what appears Christian, but is toxic –
from what is precious, and truly God.

I’m speaking up to tell what I’ve seen.

Where I’ve been

It’s humbling to realize how very much you haven’t seen.

It’s gut-wrenching to wake up to the ways that you, and generations before you, and people who matter very much to you, have mistreated others and misrepresented the Lord.

It’s frightening to face realities that do not look as you had thought, to press in to change, to go with God where you never dreamed he would lead.

It’s daunting to face backlash from those you least expect, backlash intended to bring you back to the status quo – and also, to silence and shun.

Ah, but it is incredibly good to go with God.

When people and systems become toxic, they control, exploit, dehumanize. Yet also, they can be adept at hiding the evil and conveying goodness and light.

It’s devastating to find yourself getting beaten up and frozen out by your faith community.

Yet what joy to find:

The Lord God has moved heaven and earth
to bring you to himself, to set you free.

Free to know him intimately and to follow him fully.
Free to build real relationships with others.
Free to become the person he created you to be.

When I let go

Much of my life, I identified myself by my achievements. But then, to follow Jesus, I had to let go of everything that might appear to qualify me for “ministry.”

It wasn’t easy to lay down what I had counted gain. But as God gave me grace, I discovered what I would have told you I already knew: My achievements aren’t me. And clinging to them would have kept me from the true gain of knowing Christ.

So how do I tell you about me?

I can link you to posts where I tell more of my story. And I do that below.

Ah, but writers reveal themselves in everything they write. So if you read any of my posts or books with your heart open, you should know mine a little better.

Why I write

Ironically, I’m a private person. Yet I’ve spent my adulthood putting my life “out there” in my writing. I do that, first, because I believe God has called me to it, and my heart’s desire is to honor him.

Second, I write as a way to live out the Lord’s fierce love. I explore key truths I’m still learning, even when it involves shining light on things we Christians may not want to see, including those so-very-deceiving things that masquerade as godliness and deeply divide our hearts.

I write to connect with others who are seeking and traveling the path of life, so we can encourage one another along the way.

What I like

I enjoy and appreciate lots of things, among them: mountains, trees, the songs of birds, good coffee, dark chocolate, soft throws, mellow music, long walks, reading, writing (yes, I actually enjoy it!), mowing the yard (go figure), genuineness and depth in relationships, learning what real love is.

I like being able to talk to God for real – to tell him when I don’t like what’s going on, to ask him questions and listen for his answers, to wait in his silences, to recognize his voice.

I like the knowing in my spirit (that can happen when I least expect it) that God is there, that he takes delight in me, that I am in him, and he in me.

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I revised and updated this page on March 22, 2024.

What I post: An overview of main topics, and links to key posts, on Key Truths.

More of my story

Posts that tell my story are grouped under the Category, My Story. If you want the nitty-gritty in some sort of coherent order, I’d suggest reading these posts first.

• I choose light: Why this choice is central to my life, why it’s so crucial, and why it’s so hard.
• Behind the façade in the SBC: During those seven years, I really began to see.
• Exploited in the church, I’m Leah no more: The day I realized, “I am Leah,” I was desolate.
• This “good Christian girl” is a woman now: I had tacitly agreed to a view of womanhood that was far more Confederate than biblical.
• The dream: How my childhood set me up for everything else.
• Going with God: Where all of the above has taken me.