Catholic, Southern, and Wild: S.L. Linton on Writing With God in Dark Places
"You can't box in God... Grace erupts in strange, wild places."
"You can't box in God... Grace erupts in strange, wild places." What if God’s wildness wasn’t just found in the ancient hills of Ireland or the cathedrals of Europe — but in your backyard?
shares her journey from a Southern Baptist upbringing to Catholicism — and how that earthy, sacramental faith led her to discover grace erupting in the strangest of places.From American saints and local apparitions to the monsters and folklore of the low country, she shows how stories rooted in place can reveal a God who defies all boundaries.
This isn’t about a tame, distant deity — it’s about a God who gets dirt under His fingernails, who meets us in the grit of daily life, and who shows up in the wild and weird corners of our world. It’s a reflection on writing, creativity, and calling: how the Catholic imagination can hold both the darkness and the light, both mystery and truth.
For anyone who’s ever wondered if their small town stories or strange local legends have anything to do with faith — this conversation shares that they do.
Read the post that sparked this convo:
Key Takeaways
ROOTED IN PLACE MATTERS
Knowing your hometown’s history can deepen your faith connection.
Local folklore reflects divine mystery in unexpected ways.
God’s presence isn’t limited to European stories — American soil is sacred too.
EMBODIED & EARTHY FAITH
Catholicism invites us to encounter God in the tangible: bread, wine, incense, the land.
The Incarnation teaches us it’s good to be human — desires included.
WRITING AS A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
Writers are prophets — called to speak truth, even in dark places.
Creativity is like a well — filled by stories, experience, and wonder.
Discipline and routine fuel creative output more than waiting for inspiration.
THE MYSTERY OF GOD
Apophatic (negative) theology teaches us God is beyond definition.
Folklore and mystery creatures symbolize the unexplainable nature of grace.
God meets us beyond the edges of our maps — in the weird, the wild, and the unknown.