Leila Marie Lawler – Formerly Unchurched

Leila’s mother was a fallen-away Methodist, and her father a fallen-away Muslim.  By the time Leila came along, they were both secular humanists.  Growing up near Princeton without any religion, Leila found herself drawn very much to fairy tales, because she thought that they seemed to capture a spirit of beauty and truth that transcended the world she was living in.  When she encountered the world of Narnia, though, she was confused- not knowing Jesus, she didn’t quite get what Aslan was supposed to be.  Eventually, her quest for meaning took her to the pages of Scripture, and specifically the Gospels- and when she encountered Jesus in them, she knew that she had to believe.

Leila Marie Lawler is the author of “The Little Oratory.”