The Woman: Your Story Doesn't Have to be Perfect. It Just Has to be Heard...

A friend (and Soror) of mine, Torrie Chatman, founded the women's ministry Beloved. She called me back in November and asked if I would share my story in January for their Remove The Makeup series on the topic of the impact witnessing Domestic Violence has on children. Before she called, God told me that I would be sharing this story but I would have to go deeper than what I've done before. I didn't know why he was giving me this "heads up" but when she called I knew I needed to say yes. Of course after we hung up I thought what in the world did I just say yes to. But God reminded me that when He called me to be transparent and "remove the makeup" that didn't come with any exceptions. Ouch. The enemy tried to discourage me for the months leading up to the event but I had to keep reminding myself that God is strategic and that there was healing and freedom on the other side of my testimony, for another woman. Thinking about those who are still suffering in silence, bound by grief, guilt, shame, confusion, and emptiness, I became more excited about going deeper into my story than I thought I would.
The Holy Spirit showed up in a major way during worship and for some reason I thought I was going to be tear free. I felt like since this is not my first time talking about this topic the tears I cried the first few times have no place here. But what God revealed to me was, this was my first time, not only going into details about how I was impacted but also my first time talking about how I discovered Him and grew to embrace Him as the daddy I spent my entire life searching for, to fill the voids I had. Needless to say it's an emotional message so have your tissues handy. ;)

My biggest prayer is that God meets you right where you are, no matter what you've walked through. It may not have been this but whatever it is, know that you are not alone. God has not forgotten about you nor is He blind to your struggle.
He sees you,
He hears you,
He is thinking of you (see Psalm 139:17-18)
And even though you might not realize it now, He has his hands of protection around you. I look back on everything now and I see so many moments where He was in the midst yet I felt so alone.

I've never been so thankful for His grace, His love and His healing. Had it not been for all of those things 1. this blog wouldn't exist but more importantly I would not be a wife or a mother because I said I would NEVER, based on my feelings and what I saw in the home.

He is a redeemer...

Keep pressing, keep praising, keep growing and just know that you are always in my heart and prayers.

Key Points:

It's not your fault (what happened to someone else).
Make sure you have a sound support system.
Seek Help.
Your voice matters.
Root yourself in God.





You Are Enough:

Perhaps you are in a place, where I was, searching answers, love, acceptance, wholeness, a relationship, healing, comfort, peace, visibility, freedom in all of the wrong places. Maybe daddy wasn’t good enough, maybe momma wasn’t strong enough, maybe you feel like you will never be enough. I just want to encourage you that there’s a Father who is thinking about you in this very moment and the amount of thoughts He has about you outnumber the single grains of sands. He’s not asking for you to be perfect. He’s not asking for you to have it all together. He wants you to remove that metaphorical makeup you’ve been hiding behind and lay all of your weights at His feet. There’s a warmth in His embrace that you won’t find anywhere else in this world. So if you don’t know him, need to get back in a relationship with him again or you just want to take some time to lay some spiritual weights down so that you can run this race with all of heaven rooting you on, I encourage you to do so, wherever you are, reading this post.