About Us - The Story

2020 was a year that not many will forget. People were trapped in their homes as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, with lives and lifestyles changing in significant ways.

Anxiety and fears dictated many people’s lives and among all those people, was my daughter. With college campuses being shut down across the state, loneliness led to anxiety, and distance learning was beyond stressful.

Months go by and time simply slips away into a new daily grind that is relentless. The Fall of 2020 brought a new job for me and a new house so I became wrapped up in a world that just kept swirling by.

How did I become so distracted? I don’t even know how to answer that or where to begin, but my normal routine of Bible reading and spending some quiet time with the Lord became smaller and smaller as time seemed to disappear into thin air.

Without the daily habit that rooted my belief and strengthened me, I was simply living in a fearful place. Depression and anxiety reared their ugly head into a severe case of mental anguish and sitting in the middle of all this chaos, was my daughter.

Realizing the severity of any mental illness is never a fun thing but with the impact on my life, I could find myself doing the only thing I knew I could do… prayer!

Don’t doubt for one minute that Christians aren’t challenged to a breaking point, hard things and sometimes very bad things happen every single day. I truly believe that outside of prayers, we MUST stop and become hyper-aware and grateful for even the smallest things. Let those tiny things ground your belief that there is a light at the end of the tunnel to establish your hope for a new day.

The mental and physical health crisis surrounding me planted a seed and that seed became this gratitude journal. The seed was planted, the scriptures began jumping out to me, and I knew that they were God-ordained for others to hear.

For me to live in gratitude, and to teach this to others, I had to start looking harder than I ever had. Recognizing that no matter how bad something seems; in that very moment, there is always, and I mean always something to be grateful for, even if that is just the ability for you to cry.

Continuing to pray for some answers led me to a group of ladies that without even knowing me, sat down to lay hands on me for my daughter. This same group of ladies invited me to a women’s conference in the fall of 2020 where, in my own conviction, I was forced to take some time to finish this journal.

Christmas of 2020 brought the cancer diagnosis of my oldest sister. Shock and fear didn’t even register on the emotional rollercoaster as flashbacks of my own cancer 20 years ago raced through every waking thought.

How was she going to handle it? Prayer of course!!...and we all prayed for peace, understanding, and healing touch.

New hope came in the new year of 2021, and I felt it was going to be great. The middle of February brings a 50^th birthday celebration and a healing path for my daughter that brought hope to our family.

But wait, it wasn’t over, March of 2021 brought another cancer diagnosis to another sister. How? God truly is the only one that knows that answer. Three of us four girls with rare and/or aggressive cancers seems a little unreal even to me, but the fact that we are all survivors today only strengthens my belief that even in the darkness, the pain, and the suffering God is our healer and protector.

By October of 2021, Covid had hit my family directly with the passing of my very young niece. Anyone dying young makes you stop and realize that death knows no number, and just like cancer or mental illnesses you will never be able to understand why something happens, at that time. My heart broke for my brother and her entire family. Once again, all I could do is pray.

With any tragedy, one often takes a deep dive into their life searching for the purpose and striving to find the balance of happiness, routine, and normalcy. Honestly, I don’t believe any of our lives are ever meant to find those answers, and only with searching can we find the purpose that God has given to your life.

In one of those contemplative moments, I was simply looking around a cluttered desktop, I found various “things” that I have purchased in an attempt to control my life. More specifically, I tried to control the little things I could because so much other stuff felt out of control. I had a notebook for everything: one for journaling, one for monthly bills, debt tracking, logging my food and weight each day, you name it, and I probably had a notebook for it.

But the problem became my ability to focus, or lack thereof. The older I get, as time continues to slip by, I tend to start, but not finish many things. The next new shiny object draws my attention, and that good intention is simply gone. The new notebook or binder that I bought simply sits, thrown to the side, and never completed.

The creation of this journal was one of those projects, as I kept altering it to add every aspect of the “things” around me that I had all scattered around me. Trying to tidy up the chaos only lead to me adding more and more to the journal. As I felt convicted more and more to complete it, the need to tell an untold story waxed and waned throughout the rest of 2021, until I finally heard the whisper of “enough”.

January 2022 brings another new job, with renewed hope and faith in the physical and mental healing of my family. February 2022 brought the completion of my journal, now transformed into a physical printed book, that I was able to hold in my hands. Tangible proof that I had finally completed “something”, becoming one of the most satisfying personal accomplishments to my soul.

I hid the creation of this journal from almost everyone that knows me, including my parents, siblings, and closest friends until I received a blessing from my daughter to tell parts of her story. The pages came together with prayers, blessings, and hope that you too can find some peace in your mind and soul. Hoping that you know, understand, and are aware that you matter and are enough.

No matter if it is mental illness, death, changing jobs, buying a house, or relocating, life is meant to be lived and appreciated to the core of your very being. Take some time for yourself, be grateful for the tiniest of things around you. Pray and cry harder than you ever have and let these words touch and heal your heart.