To me (and in my humble opinion it should be for er’body!), all of humanity is normal. After all, whoever God created in His image is ‘fearfully and wonderfully made,’ so who are we to decide who’s abnormal?! THE AUDACITY! When we say ‘___ is not normal,’ what we’re really saying is ‘___ is different than me,’ and that difference makes them abnormal. Ah who say so?!”
I’ve been torn down, misused and abused for long enough and it wasn’t until I began to change my words and speak lovingly to myself that I began to live so different. I’ve seen for myself the power of words. The power of love!
Endurance isn’t passive. It’s active. It’s faith in motion. It’s knowing that even when I was failing chemistry exams, even when I doubted my ability, even when I thought I wasn’t smart enough—God already knew I would make it. And I did. Not because I was the strongest or the fastest, but because I refused to quit.
I learned that others need the hope I carry. In my short life, I have seen that my faith is exponentially bigger than my fears. That I have hope in my future because of the God who was with me in my past. And people who are experiencing the same challenges I once did but have not yet overcome need to hear my voice. They need to know that breakthrough is not just possible—it’s probable.
I made it through because I always make it through! I am resiliency personified. As I look back at a journal entry from June 2024, I am stunned by the growth. Tears well and fill my eyes because, holy moly, I can’t believe this is my life! This is the life God and I co-created this year.
And for too many of us, they turned into self-hatred so deep, so consuming, that it felt like an unbearable truth. But what if I told you that everything you’ve believed about yourself—the shame, the doubt, the fear—was never true? What if I told you that you were made in love, by love, for love, to love? That the world doesn’t get the final say—God does?
Thank You, God, that the self-discipline I learned by letting You love me and loving You creates peace within me. Thank You that I now have equanimity—what once was only a hope and aspiration is now a reality. Thank You that when the world is chaotic around me, holy peace exists within me. Thank You that I know how to create peace with You in chaotic, crazy, uncomfortable spaces.
I am healed, and I am healing still. I am recovered, and I am recovering still. I am nourished, and I am nourishing still. Thank You, God, that I serve the God who says, ‘I Am That I Am.’ And because I know that, I know that I AM, TOO.
May we flow in Your grace, knowing that You created us 70% water and 100% capable. With You, nothing is impossible, and in You, we are victorious. It’s already done. Amen.
FLOW, My child! You oftentimes attempt to go against the current, but I have designed you to flow with it.
