“My prayers have never felt right as a formal affair. The most meaningful discussion I’ve ever had with God happened in two words and a feeling, tucked into bed in a pitch-black hotel room. The air conditioner whirred like sacred droning, and with sudden insistence, Something in me coalesced to proclaim:

I’m trans!

A warmth of assurance spread through my entire figure, like sunlight spilling to fill a room. It felt good. And every time I think back on it, the same phrase comes to me: I know it, and I know God knows it, and I cannot deny it.”

—(from the author’s essay “I Give You A Name (And This Is My Blessing)”