Nicole Shanahan was the running mate of RFK Jr. until he suspended his presidential campaign in 2024. A few months later, her life took a significant turn.
Having a childhood marred by poor parenting didn’t prevent her from becoming an attorney and a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur. It did launch her into an ongoing quest for meaning and truth. She practiced meditation and other forms of spirituality, and participated in the Burning Man festival.
This annual Labor Day festival in the Nevada desert promotes radical self-expression. Shanahan describes it as a spiritual and sensory experience with constant orgies, illegal drugs, and occultic ceremonies. She invokes C.S. Lewis’ words, “The safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” This describes her Burning Man journey. “There were no sudden jolts, no dramatic crossroads, only a slow descent,” she said. “Before you realize it, you become an empty vessel – lost, pretending, unable to find joy, and unable to find God. I was not just on the road to hell; I was already living it.” Hers is an ancient, cautionary tale. “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
Soon after the political campaign, Shanahan almost lost her life when she miscarried at 20 weeks. While recovering, she reached out to a Christian friend who explained that Jesus can wash away sins and defeat the darkness. “It took the pain of that moment to finally break through the last, most stubborn skeptic in me,” Shanahan admitted. “I said yes to accepting Jesus as my Savior.” Life took a significant turn toward hope and light. “It took waking up from a near-death experience to see the truth finally, and to find the courage and humility to come to Christ for all the things I once went searching for at Burning Man.”
Shanahan offers a challenge. “For those who are searching, who feel the same longing I once did, I can only say this: keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Faith is not about having all the answers but about trusting in the One who does. And when you find Him, you will know you are finally home.” In January 2025, Shanahan received baptism as her public declaration of faith in Christ.
If your story, like hers, includes spiritual searching, personal trauma, and trial by fire, Jesus offers truth, healing, and hope. As a believer, trials become proof of your faith. Peter knew this only too well. “You have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6).