How I Became Striking

I love telling this story.  My life was a wreck.  My world was a mess – my marriage in shambles, I was very sick and dealing with depression and anxiety, I had dropped 45 pounds in 2 months – I looked great but was so empty inside.  Finally did what all 32 year old women do…I ran home to my mommy for a 10 day vacation from my LIFE! 

So there I was – all the way across the country in Georgia.  It was April 2007.  The first Sunday I was there I went to church and it was a great service.  So much of it was just for me.  There was a group visiting from Teen Challenge – a Christian rehab that I support in Washington State!  There was an interpretive dance that was to a song that I LOVE and had been singing in my head.  The service was so good. 

Afterward, I got up to leave but couldn’t.  I sat back down and put my head in my hands and cried.  A woman, a complete stranger, came to me and asked if she could pray for me.  I asked her to pray for my marriage and for my family.  I told her what was happening in my life and she looked at me and said, “You are striking!  You are beautiful!  You need to let go of the things you can’t control.  God can’t work on them if you keep holding on.”

A complete stranger changed my life in one day.  I took her advice.  And now I know that I am striking.  I know I am beautiful.  I am working on letting things go that I can’t control and relying on God to handle it.  I am a beloved child of God – and that’s all I need to know.