Dear Friends,

This week has been crazy, to say the least. I have been surprised by monsters and demons who have reared their ugly heads at me and my family once again, and I have been discouraged by how many times I have been broken down in the span of a week. However, brokenness does not equal defeat. I have to tell myself that daily, and writing this letter to you all is another reminder that even with darkness surrounding, light eventually finds its way to the surface.

Being blind-sighted by something that happens in your life is one of the many things that can break a person. It can be a death in the family, or it can even be as minimalistic as you writing a date wrong in your planner. That overwhelming feeling that starts in the pit of your stomach only grows until it fills your entire being, and once that happens, it's really hard to not feel discouraged and beaten down. Oh but friends... Once that realization dawns that you're not supposed to have it all together, life somehow feels lighter. All of those burdens are still there, but they're not weighing you down or keeping you stuck in the hole you were in before.

That feeling of being broken down is one that never seems to get easier; but, while brokenness is hard, the result that comes from the process of being broken is being rebuilt. If you’re not familiar with the process of melding, it’s where metals have to be burned and scalded in order to be put in the shape it’s supposed to be — it’s melded into something so much more beautiful that it ever would have been without that fire. My favorite example of this is the art of glass-blowing. The glass is melded and worked into these stunning pieces of art, and it’s so mesmerizing to watch. And if we think of ourselves as that glass, and that fire being all of the struggles that we have to deal with in life, is it not worth those struggles to become the person we were always meant to be?

Yes, life is hard and yes, life is this beautiful struggle that we’re forced to climb… But, friends — please hear me when I say that while you may feel broken, you are not beaten. While you may be down, you have the ability to pull yourself up. God knows I need strength every now and then to pull myself up, wipe the dirt off of my face, and begin again… begin climbing upwards, once more, to the destination I know is so worth the sweat and tears. I will ache, and I will wonder why I ever decided to get up off of the ground, but that view from the top is so worth it. Life is so worth it. Joy and happiness and that feeling you get when you know that you’re loved… Those things are so worth the battle.

So, friends — I know that life can break you. I feel very broken right now. But, know that we are not defeated. Know that we have the strength within ourselves to get back, and keep fighting the battle. Brokenness is a part of life. But being beat down and torn up is a choice, and we can choose to never let the world get the best of us. I encourage you to join me in that fight, and I pray that you’ll see that strength is built by the heartaches.

Find the light. Don’t give up. I believe in you.