My Story

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Hab 3:18

 

When people meet me in current chapter of my life, they are shocked to hear about some of my previous personal challenges:

I had to make a decision. Ultimately, I realized that I could continue to choose to "just" survive or be made whole.

My Road to Growth 

The dysfunctional chapters of my life looked very different from the one I live now.

Instead of handling things in spiritually healthy ways, I relied on a multitude of unhealthy tools at my disposal...like:

  • Distracting myself instead of addressing issues
  • Denying, repressing, and hiding my emotions 
  • Running from circumstances and people instead of communicating
  • Seeking relationships, friendships, things, and food instead of God.
  • People-pleasing and performing for acceptance and approval
The Path Forward

None of these approaches helped me to prosper in my spiritual growth or healing.

In the end, they only made things worse.

Once I decided to move forward, I knew that I had to declutter my mind and soul.

The process was more involved and more difficult than I ever could have expected.

I had to prune people, thinking patterns, habits, and behaviors. I chose to discard my worldly wisdom and seek God's truths.

Growth and Healing Are a Process

During the growth and healing process, there will come a point when we understand that what used to protect us, no longer serves us. Even with this knowledge, the transition to healthier functioning is hard.

Growth can be uncomfortable, painful, frightening, and even isolating at times. Growing requires movement beyond our current environments— and means that we have to develop the strength to push through what is confining us.

Neither growth nor the healing process  feel like an amazing adventure...so staying in place can feel safe and sensible.

But, we have to understand that healing is about growing forward—not staying the same, in the same environment, with the same people, thinking the same thoughts, and doing the same things. That is stagnation.

When we are truly experiencing growth, there is an excited anticipation about the future and our next steps. There is an excitement that outweighs any fears that we may have.

Recognize the role of your past. Thank those that have helped you along the way. ....understand where you have come from. Just don’t stay there.