Why I Chose Oregon
Why I Chose Oregon — Foundation, Freedom, and Doing Things Correctly
In Oregon, God has put me in positions and places where I have seen how individuals not rooted in Oregon’s foundation can create opportunities for others without having a solid foundation themselves.
I’ve watched it. People come here from somewhere else and start nonprofits, start ministries, start movements. But they don’t know the soil. They don’t know the history. They don’t know what it means to be from here. And without that foundation, the buildings they build for other people eventually crack.
I was born in Oregon. I had a reason for coming to Oregon. I didn’t just say “I think I will go to Oregon.”
Coming to Oregon was better than staying and taking crumbs in California. I chose to be in Oregon. I chose to work the process and I chose to do things correctly.
I know about criminalization. I know about mental health. I know about substance abuse. Not from a textbook. From living it. From swimming in a pool and getting picked up for not doing anything. From making a pool on the floor of a jail cell with spilled water while my life flashed before my eyes. From watching the sheriff be kind when the system was not. From hearing “demons” when the word was “diagnosis.”
I also attend college online in the PhD program. Because education matters. Because if you’re going to talk about issues/, trauma, religion, mental health — you need credentials and lived experience. I have both.
I chose to remain single. I chose peace and independence because that enables me to be free.
Free from relationships that would pull me back to ashes. Free from churches that are cult-like and filled with idols and confusion. Free from social media ruling my life. Free from crumbs. Free from California cities where I was taking less than I deserved. Free from people who want me to be a counterfeit version of myself instead of looking within.
Oregon gave me that. Not because it’s perfect. But because I’m rooted here. Because I understand the foundation. Because I chose it, and I worked it, and I didn’t skip steps.
I see people come here and try to shortcut. Try to lead without living. Try to help without healing themselves first. That’s not foundation. That’s façade.
God put me here to see that. To be a witness. To write it down. To build From Ashes to Office on solid ground, not on sand.
I was born for Oregon. I came back to Oregon. I chose Oregon.
And I’m doing it correctly — with law, with order, with trade skills, with education, with therapy, with meds, with boundaries, with peace.
Ashes to cocoon to butterfly.
But butterflies need solid ground to land on.
Oregon is mine.
Cathryn M. Murray
Salem, Oregon | August 1, 2026
