🌟 Our Journey to Healing

We Know What It Costs to Wake Up

Leaving the organization doesn’t just disrupt your routines.
It rips through your heart, your family, your trust in yourself — and sometimes, almost your life.

We know.
Because we lived it.

We didn’t just walk out of a Kingdom Hall one day.
We survived years of trauma — and the deeper betrayal of realizing the place we were taught to trust had been part of the pain all along.

Shannon’s Story

Shannon Avery Briggs grew up breathing Jehovah’s Witness teachings before she even had the words to question them.

Holidays weren’t celebrated. Flags weren’t saluted.
Joy was always second to vigilance.
Obedience equaled love. Fear equaled faith.

When her father’s cancer diagnosis shook their family, the meetings became unavoidable. Heavy.
At home, emotional abandonment carved deep wounds.

When the congregation offered safety, Shannon reached for it — but it wasn’t safety she found.

In her first JW marriage, Shannon faced domestic violence that bruised her soul even more deeply than her body.
When she turned to the elders, she was met with coldness, blame, and silence.
No protection. No intervention.

Desperate to escape, she chose the only exit their world allowed: adultery.
Leaving for survival was forbidden.
Leaving through "sin" could at least end the nightmare.

After being disfellowshipped and shunned, she tried to rebuild — but the indoctrination ran deep.

When her counselor — who had shown her real compassion — died by suicide, terror pulled her back to the organization.
Not out of faith.
Out of heartbreak.

Trying once again to fix what was broken, Shannon wrote directly to Watchtower headquarters, pleading for education about domestic violence.

The response was clinical, cold, and clear:
There would be no change.

It was another wound.
But still, she stayed. Still hoping.

John’s Story

John D Briggs Jr. was born into the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1966.
By five years old, he was hearing graphic descriptions of Armageddon instead of dreaming about his future.

At home, physical abuse and emotional isolation were constants.
Inside the congregation, he was quietly labeled "bad association" — cast out by the very people who claimed salvation.

By 14, rejection and shame were deeply rooted.
By 16, alcohol dulled the pain.
Methamphetamine followed — not because he didn’t care, but because it was the only thing that made the fear disappear.

Even while using, he still believed the teachings:
That Armageddon was coming.
That he was condemned.
That God hated him.

Homelessness, crime, and prison followed — but the most brutal part wasn't the bars.
It was the belief that he was unworthy of love, grace, or healing.

In 2005, inside prison, John tried to reconnect with the Witnesses, clinging to a desperate hope for redemption.

He was released from solitary confinement in 2008.
Three days later, he walked into a book study — where he met Shannon.

They married less than five months later.
But John was still battling invisible wars.

Addiction. Trauma. Fear.

The early years of marriage were survival — not victory.

Today, John stands sober — over 12 years clean.
Not because the organization saved him.
Because he chose life.
Because he chose healing.

Our Battles While Still Inside

Before we woke up fully, we survived:

• Shannon’s battle with breast cancer

• John’s broken back and traumatic brain injury

• Addiction battles and recovery

• Financial, emotional, and physical devastation

• The heartbreaking loss of John’s son, Tomas

We clung to the organization for hope —
but it was love outside the walls, and truth inside ourselves, that finally set us free.

The Cracks Grew Bigger

We saw loyalty demanded over love.
In 2013, when the organization warned not to question direction, it felt like a slow march toward another Jonestown.

We saw love FADE.
Dear elder friends faded. Family faded.

We saw grief ignored.
After John’s son Tomas was murdered, the elders' only response was a cold email:
"Sorry to hear about that."

No shepherding call.
No support.
No true love.

The Awakening

Researching the Australian Royal Commission.
A simple Google search for "607 BCE."
Realizing the entire foundation was built on shifting sand.

Looking back, it was like The Sixth Sense —
The signs had been there all along.
We just hadn’t seen them.

Why We Created Luminous Connections

We didn’t create Luminous Connections because we figured it all out.

We created it because we know what it’s like to be broken —
and choose to heal anyway.

In our lives, we all have broken pieces.
By healing and filling the cracks with love, we become stronger, more beautiful, and more alive.

Not pretending the cracks never happened —
but honoring them.

Our cracks became gold.

✨ Welcome to Luminous Connections.
A place to heal.
A place to become.