Daily Dose of Wisdom: Kyla Gillespie’s Journey from Transition to Faith

**Brandon McGuire** (0:01)
When questions of identity, faith and belonging feel impossible to untangle, Kyla Gillespie's story cuts through the noise with honesty and hope. In this episode of Daily Dose of Wisdom, Brandon McGuire speaks with Kyla, author of Transformed, about a life shaped by childhood confusion, addiction, transition, and finally, a return to Christ.

**Kyla Gillespie** (0:26)
Kyla's story begins with a Christian childhood on Vancouver Island, but even those early memories carried a sense of not fitting in.
Figure skating, hockey, being the only girl in some spaces, all of it helped form an inner question that lingered for years. Why does this feel so different?

**Brandon McGuire** (0:46)
And as a teenager, that sense of difference deepened into same-sex attraction and shame. Kyla says church was present, but there was little language for what she was experiencing. She feared rejection if anyone knew. So instead, she poured herself into sports and tried to outrun the pain.

**Kyla Gillespie** (1:06)
That's when alcoholism entered the picture. Kyla says it began at 19 as a way to numb the pressure of gender confusion, faith, and disappointment. By 23, she came out as gay.
And by 2011, everything had collapsed. In that broken state, she told her childhood pastor, I am gay and I am going to transition from female to male.

**Brandon McGuire** (1:31)
What's remarkable is that the pastor saw the deeper issue first, alcoholism. He pointed Kyla toward a Christian recovery home. And there, transition began.
She changed her name to Bryson, started testosterone, and lived as male for years.
But even after surgeries and the effort to become more masculine, the promised peace never arrived.

**Kyla Gillespie** (1:58)
So what changed? Kyla says the turning point came through ordinary faithfulness. BJ and Jess, a pastor and his wife, welcomed honest conversation instead of fear. When Pyla finally told them the full story, their response stunned her.
Bryson, we love you even more.
That love became the beginning of real healing.

**Brandon McGuire** (2:24)
After a year and a half of wrestling, prayer, and scripture, Kyla reached a desperate place in 2017
In that moment, she says, God met her with a simple command. Kyla, return to me. She describes that moment as the first real sense of home she had felt in years.

**Kyla Gillespie** (2:47)
From there came detransition, repentance, and a new understanding of identity.
Kyla says, I am not transgender, and I am not gay. I am a child of God.
She argues that self-autonomy is a ruthless lie, and that true freedom comes from submitting to God's design, not inventing our own.

**Brandon McGuire** (3:11)
And Brandon and Kyla widen the lens beyond transgender issues. Kyla says, every person is broken. Every person longs to belong, and every person needs grace.
Her message to skeptical listeners is simple and direct. Be curious, ask questions, and bring your burdens to Jesus.

**Kyla Gillespie** (3:35)
The closing note is not perfection, but perseverance. Kyla says, sanctification is real, suffering is temporary, and the church matters, because people are not meant to walk alone. Her testimony lands on a final conviction.
No one is too far gone from God.