Feeling Lost or in Transition? You Might Be Experiencing a Spiritual Rebirth
- Sam Franklin
- Apr 24
- 4 min read
We die and are born again, over and over.
Not just once, when we come into this world, but many times—both as souls and as humans. These cycles of death and rebirth might not always look the same, but the core of the experience is familiar. In these moments of transformation, we often:
Feel lost
Grieve or feel angry
Let go of old ways, relationships, thoughts, behaviors, or patterns
Learn something new
Grow in unexpected ways
Get woken up—shaken, stretched, or invited into a new way of being
Step into the unknown, the unfamiliar, the uncertain
Begin to feel alive again
See the world differently, sometimes as if for the first time
This process can feel disorienting, even overwhelming at times. But it’s also where spiritual rebirth takes place. A deep transformation that offers us the chance to emerge anew. After each period of loss, grief, or change, spiritual rebirth invites us to embrace new beginnings and step into a fresh chapter of our lives.

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on this cycle deeply. It’s been showing up in my life in different ways. I was given a writing prompt at a poetry open mic I attend each month—a space where I’m reconnecting with and reclaiming my voice. The prompt was simple: “Tell your birth story.”
But what poured out of me wasn’t just the moment I was born into this world. It was all the other births I’ve experienced in this life—times when I shed an old skin or stepped into something new, whether by choice or by circumstance. Like...
When I was baptized in the Catholic Church
When I realized I was gay and spoke that truth aloud for the first time
When I became a therapist
When I chose sobriety
When I stepped into my spiritual awakening and embraced my soul’s gifts
Some of these were chosen by me, and others felt like they were chosen for me. But maybe, all of them were chosen by my soul.

Because we don’t just live one life. We live many. Sometimes within the same lifetime. Each death. Each rebirth. Each moment of unraveling or becoming is all part of our soul’s evolution.
We come into this world with things we long to remember, lessons we’re here to learn, and people we’re meant to walk beside. And through every ending, something new begins. Whether we feel ready or not. A new self. A new way. A new truth.
So, I want to share the poem that came through me in response to that birth story prompt. It’s a reflection of all the ways I've been born, not just once, but many times.
The Tides of Rebirth
How many times
have I been born as a soul?
I’ve walked down the hallway,
filled with many doorways to other lives.
So, how many?
It sure feels like a lot.
But, I’ll probably never know.
At least not while I’m still here,
in this body.
But I can tell you,
how many times
I’ve been born in this life,
And, surprise!
It’s more than once.
Yes, I came into this world
crying and screaming
at precisely 4:44 in the morning,
where I was marked for life as a triple water sign.
“You squeezed through a very specific
place and time in the universe,”
At least that’s what an astrologist once told me.
I guess that birth
was setting me up for the rest.
I was less than a month old
when I was born again.
This time the water that cleansed me
was holy–or so they said,
I cried then too.
That life only lasted 16 years
until I was forced to leave behind
what I once thought was true
in exchange for my freedom.
My new life as a baby gay began,
I cried then too.
As I sat waiting
for my first ever client
clinging to my schooling
that taught me how to
tuck away my humanity
for a blank slate,
I wanted to cry,
But I didn’t.
After all there is no space
for my emotions
in this new world calling being a therapist–
or so they said.
The crying that happened
sometimes with little prompting
when I chose to clumsily step into
a new way of being
called sobriety,
wasn’t always comfortable.
But it was necessary to breathe new life
into one I had been shortening,
and playing God with.
I wouldn’t fully realize how much
I had lost touch
with my spirit and deeper purpose
until my most recent birth.
A brutal one coming out of
someone else’s death,
as one soul left their physical body
my soul returned to mine.
A spiritual awakening they called it.
I called it coming back home.
Boy, did I cry then too.
All those tears could have filled
a new place to be baptized,
except it would be no where near a church,
but perhaps, closer to what I consider God.
This birth connected to my first,
where I arrived at 4:44am,
and only now am I understanding
what that all really means.
It’s not just a time,
But a purpose, a mission,
Something greater than myself.
Yet only a snapshot of one of many births.
Of one of many lives.
Of my time, as a soul.

If this speaks to you—If you’ve been feeling like you’re in the middle of an ending, or a beginning you can’t quite name yet, know this: you are not alone. Your angels and guides are with you, offering support with every step. You’re in a sacred cycle. One that’s asking you to trust the process, honor the grief and the growth, and let the light of who you are becoming lead the way.
If you’d like support as you navigate your own death-and-rebirth moment, I’d be honored to walk alongside you. Let’s connect.
You are not lost. You are becoming.
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