Why am I writing The Lydia Effect?
I write to discover the answer to this question since God has me on a treasure hun and the story is still unfolding. See if you resonate with the clues I gathered so far:
I want to co-create a supportive community of women who are asking similar tough questions about women leading in faith in times like these.
I want young women who hunger for faith to be welcomed into holy spaces that are safe and don’t undermine their identity and self-worth.
I want us to grow our courage, tell stories, and practice taking action, even one small step at a time.
And I want to share my story of faith as a scientist, Christian mystic, and data and IT person to encourage others.
Plus, I love talking about Lydia. :-)
Me
So that you know the heart of this space, I’ll share a little about me. I am Laura, a single mom, a soil scientist, a data and IT person (recently retired from federal service), and a woman of faith. I wore many hats over my career, from field soil scientist mapping soils in the woods to data innovator and coach, each teaching me more about leadership and teams. Helping others achieve their full potential as leaders is my happy place.
My faith doesn’t fit neatly into any denomination or doctrine, but if I had to use a label, I would say am a Christian mystic. I practice Lectio Divina and imaginative prayer. I read the Bible every day as my faith activation engine, God’s sacred story written for us, filled with Spirit that anchors me in my journey and brings me poems. For more on my faith and practice, see The Mystic and Her Bible.
My deepest beliefs and experience with God exceed the capability of sentences, statements of doctrine, or debate. That is why I write poetry, which I publish on my other Substack, I Am Adamah-Soil.
My Treasure Hunt
I returned to the faith of my childhood after searching high and low for a place that felt like strong, independent women were welcome. This search for belonging explains why finding Lydia of Thyatira in the Bible changed my life.
I will save the whole story for the book, but here’s the trailer.
Since my teen years, I felt a gnawing unanswered question, like something critical was missing from the story of early Christianity, specifically about women. My overactive, nerdy brain would not stop —it felt like a missing puzzle piece in the most important puzzle of my life. So, with my soil scientist instincts, I kept digging.
The excavation continued for years and eventually led me to the discovery of Lydia’s story in the Bible. It felt like a bolt of lightning, right into the middle of my life.
Have you ever been working on a puzzle and the last piece is missing? It’s just gone, like under a couch cushion or under the baseboard heater or something. Finally, one lucky day, you find it and it makes that little ffft soft snapping-in noise when you put it in. Yeah, finding Lydia’s story was like that in my heart.
The summary of what happened is this: her story gave me a vision of bold, independent women (yes, like me!) leading during the earliest years of what is now called Christianity. And writing my story about her story illuminated the blindness in my self-worth and even in my faith, and what to do about it next. More about Lydia here.
Why Did I Call it The Lydia Effect?
I thought it was a fitting name for what happened in the 1st Century, when God opened Lydia’s heart. She took small steps in courage, and it changed her life—for her community and beyond, since her house was a key node in the network.
I also believe the women can do it again. So, The Lydia Effect is also what happens when women today open our hearts to God and take small steps in courage, too.
The full unpacking of all this is the book, but here’s a taste of the elixir I found on my heroine’s journey. The key ingredients are tiny steps forward with faith, courage, and story. More on these and renewal here.
Why Now?
I believe the Spirit is moving and renewal has begun. Beyond the headlines and chatter, I feel something wilder and rawer happening—the sacred hunger rising in the open hearts of women of faith.
Maybe you do, too.
Maybe you want hope in a world of chaos. Maybe you’re longing for sacred community, or a faith that feels both grounded in something solid and also filled with wonder. Or maybe you’re just curious.
So, no matter what brought you here, thanks for stopping in. I hope you subscribe and join the journey — and yes, I would love to hear your story, too.
Let’s see what treasure we find as we step into our stories.
