When your thoughts have torn at the lining of your strength, take heart, be still. There is grace for this. No matter how things go from here, you are not the sum of what happened. You have grown. You have changed. You are still headed in the direction of where you are meant to be. You are stronger. You are wiser. Even when it is hard to believe, allow yourself to show up; allow yourself to breathe. In all of the chaos and imperfection, allow yourself to just be in this moment, for no matter what happens from here, you have already made it further than you thought you would.

Step into the clearing. Draw near to the grace. No matter how tomorrow goes, you will never be the same. One of the hardest things about fears is that they have this way of telling you things that are not true. They have this way of stretching and convincing you that no matter how much you have grown - no matter how much things have changed - the shadows that have followed you will have the final say. But the thing is, there has always been more to the story. You may have had to push through difficult things, but not once did those things define you. Even when they have left you with wounds that you were not sure would ever heal - even then they did not define you. Even then, those wounds are not the sum of who you are.

You are so much more than what you have experienced. Even when you have been walking through the forest for who knows how long and you feel everything but brave, courageous, or strong. The fact that you are still breathing points to the beautiful grace-filled truth that all along: as long as you are here, there is more to you. There is wisdom to be gathered right here. There are stories of your life that are beginning to take shape, and your heart is being prepared to tell them. And even though this does not change the past, it does mean that through everything, somehow, hope did last. And light is pushing through the hallways of your heart like a river. No amount of shadows can hinder where light can go.

So keep going. Even with a little strength you have: trust that even though all you're seeing is an endless canopy of trees overhead, that does not mean this is all there is. There's a clearing in the distance and you are on the journey there. You may be a wanderer, but you are not lost. You are on a journey somewhere. You are headed to a place where you will be able to see that even though you feel you have grown too weak, all by grace, there was more to your story.

And even if inhaling and exhaling is the only sign of strength you see today, may you never think any less of it. Allow yourself to deepen in gratitude as you remember what a miracle it is to be breathing at all. This is no small thing and there is grace for every breath. Even here in the wild of a seemingly endless forest, there is grace for this. There is grace for this.

Journal: Where are you finding grace today?

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