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Share a time when you felt spiritually abandoned
3 days after Christmas 2011, my husband was arrested for a DUI while pulled over on the wrong side of a curvy, highway on-ramp with heavy semi-truck traffic…wait for it…with 2 of our beautiful, priceless, IRREPLACEABLE babies in the car. This wasn’t his first incident with alcohol, BUT this was the first time the lives of my kids were about 2 feet and a TDOT worker from being taken from this earth. Forced by an ultimatum, he enrolled in a year-long, Christian-based rehab facility. I saw his life changing, I saw him seeking God, I saw him helping others; I saw him lift his hands in worship! This was a huge deal. At that moment, I KNEW God had heard all my prayers, seen all my tears, and was going to work it out. He wanted to enroll in seminary school and become an evangelist! In my mind, I had already written the testimony to come… “Marriage on the rocks, plagued by infidelity, physical abuse, and alcoholism miraculously restored. Family finds peace and hope in Jesus using their testimony to lift others.” I began to open up about the struggles, I started my blog, made moves toward the bigger purpose I knew God had been calling me to and really got plugged in at church. But like being blind-sided by a Mack Truck running a red light, the breath of life was knocked out of me and I found myself lying completely on my back. It wasn’t sincere…not one bit of it. He was still drinking, still angry enough to hit me, still having affairs, and this time she was in our home…my home. How could God do that to me? How could he show me the marriage I always dreamed of, the family I longed for, the husband I desired, just to snatch it right out of my hands? Why would he make me endure the misery and then get my hopes up that things were changing for nothing? Maybe he didn’t hear my prayers; perhaps all the tears were in vain. The last day I saw my husband was June 5, 2012. I filed for divorce on our anniversary in July and settled into a life of being a 26-year-old divorcee with 3 kids just trying to make it through each day sanely. Little did I know, everything that I thought I was losing was the very beginning of Him giving me everything I ever needed, the very best of what He desired for me…His daughter
Share a time when you felt broken
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthdays, seeing happy couples holding hands, kissing, looking dreamily into each others eyes; During the “Forever” Series at church on how to have a marriage that goes the distance. The looks I get when I walk into the grocery store with 3 kids and no wedding band (and I usually only pass for about 16). The awkward moment when someone mentally calculates that there is only 17 years between the age of my oldest daughter and me and gives me another look. Long days of fussing, fighting, screaming, kicking, biting; Endless nights of sweeping, mopping, cleaning, washing, folding. Lying in bed by myself at night remembering that there used to be a person who could legally lay there, a person I did life with. Trying to remember what it felt like to be genuinely loved, touched, held, kissed and fighting daily to quiet the mental noise that tells me I’m alone, broken, damaged, unworthy.
Share the moment when you discovered your purpose OR the moment you received a revelation of what your purpose might be
I heard my God sister talking about me to someone else. I heard her telling my story. I heard her expressing how proud she was of me. At times she was excited, at times she was choking back tears. At the end of the story, she said, “I know that God has a calling on her life. I know there is a ministry in her. She just has to tell her story.” I never looked at my story as “a story.” To me, it was just life: wake up, fight the demons, go to sleep, repeat. But at that moment, I could see it. I could feel it. I decided that I would no longer be embarrassed; I would no longer try to hide my past or conceal my flaws. I would unashamedly embrace me, transparent and unfiltered, with the one goal of glorifying His Name! My heart breaks for women struggling through the identity crisis because I had to learn that my identity, self-worth, strength, and validation come from Him and Him alone. My purpose is to providing positive encouragement that through Christ, we are more than our sins, mistakes, failures, and shortcomings by sharing my story.
When you are hardest hit how do you motivate yourself to press on?
I count my blessings and remember what He has done. I know people say it in passing and sometimes it seems trivial but when you really sit down and take inventory of who He is and what He has done, the question of “what can defeat me” becomes quite silly. He is the God who created everything in 6 days, parted the Red Sea, and raised Jesus from the dead. But I’ll admit, since I wasn’t there for all that, sometimes it seems too far away. I have to then remind myself He is the God who woke me up this morning, gave me breath, a job, house, car, kids, and health. On the really hard days, I have to go to the list. The list of every, single time He blessed me, spoke to me, saved me, and kept me…BIG and small. If He got me through all of that, getting me through this (fill in the blank) obstacle will be a breeze. Sometimes you just have to read your own testimony!
***Make a list! It is absolutely mind-blowing to look back on things years later, things that seemed impossible, heart-breaking, life-ending, and see how far we’ve come***
What have you learned in this season of your life?
“I am more than…”
Every time I think I hit rock bottom, God can’t or won’t save me, and I have really messed up big this time, He shows me that through Him, I AM MORE THAN any snare or trick of the enemy. In my life, I have had to stand against some large obstacles. Some were involuntary but most were self-invoked. Even though there was some suffering as I learned very valuable lessons, God never failed me, He never left me, and He never let me fall.
After I accepted Jesus into my life, my only description that matters to God is that I am His Daughter. God has never failed to be the compassionate daddy that He is. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I can do to make Him abandon me. I can't "sin" myself out of His Grace, no matter how bad it seems. He always shows me that I AM MORE THAN my worst sin and my biggest mistake. Satan has no authority to destroy my life, and He, my Heavenly Father, continues to step in to save me every single day. It's who He is (Romans 8:1-4).
What advice would you give to those who feel like their story is over?
Make friends! Not just any friends, but Girlfriends who are God friends! My saving grace; I can’t even began to count how many days and nights my God friends have saved me from jumping off the cliff. Never mattered whether it was 1 AM or 5AM, lunch breaks or dinnertime, middle of the work day, they were there no questions asked; ANGELS! They reminded me that God has a purpose for me, put my pain in perspective, and highlighted the GREAT things in my life that were being overshadowed by my losses.
Friends – true, 100%, have your back, hold your hand, sit while you cry, keep your secrets, jump in the car and drive for hours just because I say I need you, “Did you read your Bible?,” “Let’s pray together, ”God told me to tell you ____” friends – are rare! Seek those women who are seeking God. Seek women whose lives are a reflection of Him and a reflection of who you are striving to become. They are not perfect by any means, but they are in pursuit of the Father. And remember, the key to it all is to be the friend you want to have!
Send me a picture of your favorite pair of heels and let me know why they are your favorite!
Sometimes during
the hustle and bustle of life, we forget to embrace what it means to be
women. Beautiful, classy, feminine women. And well hey...what girl
doesn't like sparkly, shiny things?! ;-) 
By: Danielle Mitchell
