Yesterday was a FULL day. It was amazing and full and joyful and happy. It wasn't until later that evening at bedtime when the calls and e-mails and my scheduled day grinded to a halt, that I realized how God had protected my heart that whole day.
I had missed an event I would have never missed in years past, but things change and life throws you curve balls you could have never seen coming and the seasons change and life rolls endlessly on...
My heart hurt, but the sharpness of the pain was gone. I could both remember and know with pure love and joy for those I was not with...and it was beautiful. I could feel my heart exhale.
I could breathe.
Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of my life, I too easily forget how much I have already been healed. I forget how much I am loved. I forget how far I have come. I forget...I forget.
Last night, the final thing I had blocked out to do was a long overdue FaceTime call with Sherri from my C7. Listening to all that is working in her life and mine felt like such confirmation that we have come so far...that we are on the right path. When Sherri and I met we were both broken (though I imagine more broken than either of us thought when we landed on that Colorado mountain), and we were searching...for the whys and wherefores that plague every woman...every person.
What Sherri, and all of the C7, have taught me is the importance of tribe. They not only taught me that I was not in it alone, but that there were others struggling as much as I was (then Haiti taught me (among a zillion other things) that I was a complete douche because my struggles weren't the half of it). So many of us grow up believing that it is all on us...whether forced on us, taught to us, etc...whatever it is, we believe in our hearts that it is all ours to bear. Alone.
That lie leaves a lot of wounded people in its wake...
In less than two months, I will be spending a weekend with a group of young women ages 13-20 teaching them, among other things, about the importance of tribe. These are girls that are searching for more...the good news is that they know they need more and they are asking for help...the bad news is that they are not being fed (spiritually) in their lives. There is no judgment there for them or where they are at...I am part of many tribes at this point...women and men of all ages...and the bulk of us feel like we are walking through the spiritual desert...it is tough out here. We are hurting people in a hurting world and we know (we hope) there is more available to us than what we presently know to be true.
Which is why....we need each other. We need a tribe. A group of people who will do life with us...Encourage us...Believe in us....Speak truth to us. We NEED each other.
Yesterday I had the chance to spend the day with multiple tribes of mine...each feeding me in different ways that give me LIFE. I simply cannot imagine my life today without them in it. I. Cannot.
Lydia...one of my recent #tribe converts. Love. Her. :))))
Sometimes I write because I need therapy and writing is absolutely therapeutic for me. Sometimes I write to simply share...the lessons and the joy. Today, I think I am writing to remind myself...and anyone that reads this...that building a tribe is important...necessary...and to say that I continue to be grateful every day that where there has been great loss in my life, God has opened other doors and other lessons giving me the opportunity to heal, grow, and bless my own fragile heart...continue to love...deeply.
