What is your story?

I have been doing alot of Soul Restoration with the Brave Girls. It really has been an incredible class. For week 2 our project was to create a timeline. We took ages 1-40 on one side and 41-80 on the back. We were asked to then go through and mark specific events that had a great impact on our lives.

The point of the exercise was not to list specifics but to make aware of things that changed our course to help understand where we are and why..as well as discovering the gifts in each of those moments. This is a picture of my timeline:

Unless you know me and the events that have happened to me you maybe wouldn't understand the pictures or the "truths" that are listed on my timeline, but they are very specific and meaningful to me. I was worried about this project because there are things that I hate to think about and re-live. But what I realized was that this was about just getting it down on paper and gain some perspective. I learned that the events in my life that seemed to take up years and years of my life, in the big picture, were actually very minimal. They were such a small blip on the grand scheme of things but so important in shaping who I am. I have lived a lot of life and have been through more than I would ever wish on anyone else but when I was able to lay it out on paper and gain some perspective I realized that those moments were SO important to my life and to my story. Everyone has a story to tell, a specific story that is unique to ONLY us..a story that defines who we are....that is ever changing and evolving...that is up and down...but that is beautiful and honest.

I really hope that you will take the time and put your timeline down on paper, either in a journal or in a specific book. It is amazing how you will feel about the events in your life when you can gain some perspective.

NO SHAME, NO BLAME...be PROUD of your story...it is who you are and there is a special plan layed out just for you...all the steps that you have taken, as painful as some of them may have been, were necessary to be where you are..for you to be who you and who you are going to be!

I am proud to share my story with you..I am proud of the journey that I have taken, the life that I have lived. It has taken me a long time to be grateful and to see the gifts that have come from every event in my life...I am blessed and it is my prayer that you will be proud of your story..that you will share it with others..that you will find the gifts in your story!!