The content of this blog is mature and may not be appropriate for young readers. Please proceed carefully. If you are a young reader and read something in my story that you identify with, I encourage you to reach out for help from a trusted adult. If you are being abused, please keep telling until someone believes you.



Rachel, age 3


Favorite Quotes
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
~ Helen Keller
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
~ Laozi
You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
~ Christopher Columbus


My blog word cloud
abuse
Adolescence
broken
car wreck
coping
counseling
death
depression
despair
Dog
domestic violence
Eating
eating healthy
emotional pain
exhaustion
Family
Family tree
Father
Food
God
Graduate school
healing
Health
hope
hopeless
Jesus
joy
loss
loss of innocence
love
Lysa Terkeurst
marriage
Matthew West
memory
mental health therapy
music
MyFitnessPal
peace
Pet
poetry
psychological trauma
purpose
redemption
religion
Romance
sadness
Salvation
scripture
Sexual abuse
Social work
song lyrics
Steven Curtis Chapman
suicide
survivor
the Bible
tragedy
trust
waiting
weight loss


Helpful Websites
- National Child Traumatic Stress Network
- Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (and other church leadership)
- The Hope of Survivors
- National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
- Youth M.O.V.E. National
- National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study


