Day 8 of 21 - We all have a story to tell

Arise and Shine for the glory of the Lord has risen among you. Isaiah 60:1

Good morning, Good day, Good Afternoon!  Good Evening...Let me tell you, it's a good day!  It's a good moment.  It's just good...Why?  Because His mercies are new every morning...that's why!

I just completed a four-week Grief group.  I took it because I have a degree in Christian Counseling and it's time to get into that aspect of my life.  I have mentored and counseled people in my life and amazing testimonies have come from their lives. Some of those testimonies came out of my darkest moments of my life.  We all have a story to tell!  As we tell our stories of hope and spark inspiration into others about our Testimony!  It's inspires hope to 'DO it AGAIN, Lord; this time for me!'...

In the grief group, I had to do a few things that I just am not that confident in...1) Drawing...if you could see me right now, you'd see this:

My stick figures are questionable!  So when the facilitator said, 2) 'You're gonna draw a picture of your favorite Christmas memory.' 

It went from this facial expression to this inner monologue:

I don't have many childhood favorite Christmas memories...Hmm...o except when the Salvation Army would bring my sister and I a few gifts.  When the representatives from the Salvation Army left, so would the excitement of it being Christmas.  I tried to really reflect and remember what cherished Christmas memory I could draw as an adult.  My family is evolving.  I only have one child still in school and he just started High School, so the beauty of Christmas through the eyes of a child has quickly faded.  Every Christmas when my children were little was special...So I finally thought about how we have always made sugar cookies together.  My kids didn't even have time this year for that.  So, as I began displaying my favorite memory through a sharpie onto paper...I pushed through my two weaknesses...

Going through four weeks of this grief group, I've realized that I have suppressed a lot of grief deep down inside.  What I thought was gonna be a 'training experience' became a much needed debrief for my heart.  As I dug deep and visited those places of hidden pain, I looked around the room and saw beautiful, amazing people that all had a story to tell.

The traumas of life had drawn us all together for this captured moment in our lives.  Each story was so sad and heartbreaking. We cried with one another and felt empathy for one another as we shared our stories of grief and trauma.

Each one of us wanting a happy ending to our stories.  The thing about mourning is that God says it only last for the night because joy comes in the morning.  Each one could truly empathize with the other because our stories were so different but yet so similar.  We had lost loved ones through various traumas.  We knew pain...and we knew emptiness and we could comfort each other with a deep remorse and compassion. 

We all have a story to tell.  When the Author of our stories is given permission to write HisStory upon our hearts, we have to know, trust, and believe that it will have a happy ending, no matter the depth and adventure of each chapter...HisStory is an ultimate love story.   It's the greatest story ever told of a Savior and rescuer.  It does end well!  It has the best ending ever written! 

I heard this song today by He is We.  It's called 'Happily ever after.'  I shortened the original video minus a few words.  I felt this song to be all of us.  We all have a story to tell!  As I am on day 8 of my Daniel Fast, I am losing things deep within that I've held onto for way too long.  I feel as though my spirit is gaining strength and health as I let go of toxins and negativity.  I will overcome. God promises that to me in His word, IF; I do my part in that promise.  My part is sharing my testimony and being covered under His blood.

"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.  So be glad, heavens, and those who live in them! How terrible it is for the earth and the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, filled with rage, knowing that his time is short!"  Revelation 12:11-12

There is a promised Happily Ever After when we DO NOT love our lives even when faced with death.  Through the blood of the lamb.  Jesus is our savior.  He is our Superman...Our rescuer...Our redeemer.  Through him, we WILL tell our story about His Story and the rest is HIStory!  We Overcome! 

Listen to the song!  We all have a story to tell!