25 Quotes & Sayings By Jen Pollock Michel

Jen Pollock Michel is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Man Who Would Be Queen, about her journey through gender transition. She was born Darius Pollock in Houston, Texas, in 1987. As a child, she was often teased and bullied for her effeminate mannerisms and appearance. Her parents sought to protect her from this treatment by sending her to private school in Dallas Read more

At age 15, her mother died in a car accident, and two years later, in 1998, her father died in another car accident. Feeling that she needed to move on with her life, in 2000 she moved in with friends who were transgender women. However, after four years of living as a woman full-time, she realized that she was not ready to live as a woman full-time.

In 2004, at age 18, she changed his name back to Jen Pollock and began the process of transitioning from male to female. In 2011 she published The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Transsexual Exploration of Gender Identity.

1
Dinner is a cacophonous exercise of holy sanctification. Jen Pollock Michel
2
New freedoms surface old habits. I haven't left sin behind, only discovered a new medium for my treachery. My real trouble as a writer isn't trying to mean the words that I write. It's living into the words that I mean. Nonfiction writing can feel like the high art of hypocrisy. Jen Pollock Michel
3
Desire, if it is to be trusted, is to be inspired by a holy vocabulary. Jen Pollock Michel
4
The phrases of the Lord's Prayer, "are words we pray, not always because we believe them, but because we WANT to believe them. Jen Pollock Michel
5
Sometimes God seems to be killing us when He is actually saving us. Jen Pollock Michel
6
We prefer the not wanting and not having to the losing. Jen Pollock Michel
7
Grace has as much to say about endings as it does about beginnings. Jen Pollock Michel
8
Only he who cries out for the persecuted Jews can sing Gregorian chants. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer Jen Pollock Michel
9
How do you fill the space between, "God says it, " and, "I believe it, "? Jen Pollock Michel
10
The Christian story, centered as it is on the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the only story for making sense of desire and loss. Jen Pollock Michel
11
The Bible provocatively evokes desire. Jen Pollock Michel
12
Blessing and obedience do comfortably and mysteriously coexist. Jen Pollock Michel
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Holy desire can be learned. All prayer is part work and part rest. Jen Pollock Michel
14
Kingdom is a signpost to the holy. Jen Pollock Michel
15
Our small group is committed to getting the biblical text under our skin. Jen Pollock Michel
16
After her initial conversion as a teenager, the author writes, "I was sent back into a world that no longer looked familiar to me. I had to relearn how to do everything. Jen Pollock Michel
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I didn't know how faith felt when it grew incrementally. Jen Pollock Michel
18
God is the I AM that I AM not the I AM that we wish. Jen Pollock Michel
19
Struggle is a prerequisite to surrender. Jen Pollock Michel
20
According to Aquinas, effort may not be the best measure of our virtue. Jen Pollock Michel
21
Sticks and stones may break your bones, and words — can cut your insides. Jen Pollock Michel
22
His childhood passed in quiet anxiety. Jen Pollock Michel
23
Believing in the sovereignty of God injects courage in the act of desire. Jen Pollock Michel
24
We all have a tendency to use prayer to dictate to God. Jen Pollock Michel