Welcome to my Substack world!
I’m Grace Song. By way of introduction, I am the Executive Director of The Usuli Institute, a 501c3 education non-profit focused on elevating ethics, critical thinking, beauty, and humanism in the Islamic intellectual tradition. Seem like a tall order? It is. But it is my passion and blessing. I am also a 29-year convert to Islam, wife to Superman, and mom to 2 humans and 50+ rescued dogs over the years.
I write love letters to God that most people would not recognize as love letters. They are my testimonies to God about what is happening around me.
Maybe it is silly because of course, God already knows what’s going on. But I don’t. These are the things I want to tell other human beings, knowing full well that God is listening. It is what I want to tell God, complain to God about, and thank God for when we meet one day. For now, I send love letters in anticipation.
And what is the point of writing if it is not for a purpose? And what greater purpose is there than to take someone with you through words, thought, and ideas, towards a divine purpose?
My love letters are actually not to God, but for God. In favor of God. God answers my letters all the time. I write to find God’s letters back and how to understand them better.
They are always written in love.
Why this, why now?
Ten years ago, I told God I wanted to “be a writer.” I bought Julia Cameron’s book, The Right to Write, and it lit my fire. I started a WordPress page and only managed to publish one piece aside from the About Me. It was not my time.
Then in December 2017, Superman and I launched The Institute for Advanced Usuli Studies (a.k.a. The Usuli Institute) and held our first gathering where I shared a little bit of my story. It went well. Too well. After that, I opened every session with my own introduction. It had never been part of the plan. In the beginning, I would literally write down every single word I wanted to say. I would be nervous the whole week prior. We plan and God plans… Now, hundreds of talks later, I can easily get up and start speaking without fear.
The same happened with my writing. Around the same time, I created a weekly newsletter, writing short catchy updates. Over time, I added anecdotal stories. Stories turned into reflections, which grew over time into long-form essays at times. As Usuli matured, so did my writing.
Again, it was never part of the plan, but just from writing religiously (maybe pun intended?), with every weekly installment, I became a writer. Ten years after I told God I wanted to be a writer, I find myself honored with a regular writing commitment to a community of critical thinkers, who similarly are seeking the divine through beauty, reason, knowledge, and humanism. God answered my love letter.
In my Substack world, God is loving and loves beauty. God cares, intimately. In the outside world, people don’t like to talk about God or think about God. They believe the reality of God is unclear or unknowable. Or they think God doesn’t care.
Here, God is front and center, and like modern apps, can also run in the background. God never gets tired, never gets bored, and in my experience, is always ready to receive my letters. I know that one person, with God, can do anything. You just have to ask, with love.
Why subscribe?
In this space, I plan to share my favorite previous love letters to God and also write new ones. If you want to get notified whenever I post a letter, just subscribe! It’s free!
