Here’s your 15
seconds of inspiration,
your Tuesday Tidbit:
“Often we discover
the joy in the midst of the sorrow.
I remember the most painful times of my
life
as times in which I became aware
of a spiritual reality much larger than
myself,
a reality that allowed me to live the pain with hope.
I dare even to
say:
‘My grief was the place where I found my joy.’”
Henri Nouwen
In taking time to
reflect on your life, have you, too, discovered joy in the midst of your
sorrow?
Did God help you
live with pain and hope at the same time?
Perhaps you, like
Henri Nouwen, can say, “My grief was the place where I found my joy.”
Make time to think
about Henri’s words
and then write your story.
Your story matters.
Your
words are important.
Someone grieving needs to know your story
and grasp hold
of hope.
You are right. As I write my memoir, God has been showing me where He was in my painful past. Sometimes it was in very surprising places. During the intense sexual abuse my father inflicted on me I would go to an imaginary world with imaginary mother and father. One day I asked God where He was. He said in my spirit, who do you think your imaginary mother and father was? Also, when I got healed enough to accept it (he couldn't tell me before that because it would have driven a wedge between us) God showed me he was in the NOTS. What did not happen. I did not get pregnant by my father. Did not get a sexually transmitted disease from him. Did not get pregnant.
ReplyDeleteIn the writing of my memoir, he also told me other ways that He was active in my life - equally surprising. For many years I had considered God the great abandoner. How awesome that He wasn't.
Thank you for your post.
Heather, thank you for sharing your story. I'm so very sorry for the abuse you suffered for so many years, and I'm also delighted to read about the ways God is helping you heal! I so appreciate your insights about all the NOTS that God offered you--what did NOT happen. God bless you for working your way through all of this, and I do hope you'll keep writing your memoir. Someone needs to find hope and strength and healing through your story.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be interested in the July 14 blog post, too: http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2016/07/writing-yourself-to-other-side-of-pain.html
Keep in touch, Heather.