Our Story

The Dream

Years ago, while still in Ireland, Rejini Samuel had a dream—a piece of land divided by a winding road. On one side, an animal sanctuary. On the other, a home. A place where people could rest, remember, and create.

That vision rooted itself across continents, and after many moves, many losses, and a leap of faith, it took form on eighteen acres between Conyers and Lithonia, Georgia. What began as a personal refuge became something more: a living sanctuary where humans, animals, and the land come together in sacred relationship.

I've built small businesses. I've written books. I've coded complex systems and survived deep heartbreak. But nothing compares to the feeling of standing on this land, hearing the wind in the trees, and remembering: I am home. This space healed me when I thought I couldn't be healed. Now I offer it to others.

— Rejini Samuel, Founder & Minister

What Wild Grace Became

Wild Grace Sanctuary is now a Georgia nonprofit religious organization—a spiritual center and animal sanctuary woven together. We integrate services, creative practices including writing, music, and improvisational arts, animal sanctuary ministry, and environmental land stewardship as paths to spiritual connection and transformation.

This isn't about marketing a lifestyle. It's about offering people a place to bring their full selves—grief, joy, creativity, and all—and to be met by something real, something alive. The land itself is medicine.

Currently home to seventeen rescue cats and one beloved dog, the sanctuary is a place where the deepest healing often happens in silence—sitting beside a cat who simply is, walking the forest paths, watching the light change over the lake.

The Journey

The Dream in Ireland

A vision of land divided by a winding road—sanctuary on one side, home on the other. A place where healing is not something you buy, but something you live.

Walking Between Worlds

Novelist, improviser, technologist, healer—Rejini's path wound through medicine, software architecture, coaching, music, and spiritual direction. Through it all, one vision persisted.

Finding the Land

After many moves and losses, eighteen acres between Conyers and Lithonia, Georgia. A leap of faith. The dream finally had ground to root into.

Building the Sanctuary

Two retreat homes, a barn with fairy lights, outdoor gathering spaces. Over time, a dog and seventeen cats found their forever home. The land began to breathe with new life.

Wild Grace Today

A nonprofit spiritual center organized as a religious corporation under 501(c)(3) and an animal sanctuary. A place where creativity, nature, and spiritual practice converge.

Rejini Samuel

Minister · Writer · Improviser · Sanctuary Builder

Rejini Samuel has always walked between worlds. Her life has woven together many paths—medical doctor, software architect, coach, musician, novelist, improviser, and spiritual guide.

She is the author of five novels published under the pen name RJ Samuel, including the 2018 Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award winner An Outsider Inside. Her poetry collection Write You Away: Love in Three Acts reached #2 on Amazon's poetry new releases chart.

As an ordained minister since 2017, Rejini brings her deep experience in systems, story, and healing work to the land she now calls home. She performs improv with "Invisible" in Atlanta, and facilitates retreats that weave together creativity, spiritual practice, and connection with nature.

But ask her what matters most, and she'll tell you: "These animals. This land. The people who come here seeking something they can't quite name, and find it."