MADI: What if there was another way?

An overwhelming thing really. 

Something so big and controlling, that all you can do is crumble under its weight. Like the rolling wave of a mighty ocean, crashing underneath the water's surface, so wounds can effect a weary soul.

Though the expectation of belonging was planted in her heart, circumstances had caused that uprooting process to begin and have it's effect in her life. 

For the first time, something inside was broken. Not right. And honestly, these wounds resulted in a deep, cutting pain. 

Fathers aren't supposed to have affairs. Leaders, mentors, and dear friends should not move away. Moving away from your home and feeling like an outsider is not the way it is supposed to be. Shame and unwantedness, yes rejection, shouldn't result from feelings for someone. 

What was there to do except retreat to the only person she could trust; yes, herself. 

Loneliness and isolation became her close companions. 

Remember the wave? Nothing to do but just feel it's effect and crumble beneath its power. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But what if?

What if there was hope?

Hope in the chaos. Yes hope in the crashing and in the crushing and in the pain. Hope that the wave doesn't have to defeat. Hope that says "You can come out alive and strong." Hope for her future. Hope for relationship. Hope to trust again. Hope for belonging, true belonging. Belonging so sweet and new, that freedom characterizes its very nature. 

What if there was another way, different from the one life had forced her to know?

On that trip to Ireland, she found hope. Hope for newness and life and hope to know others who deeply treasured the gift of relationship and of friendship.

 But most of all, she found hope in One who would never leave, never forsake, and a One with Whom she would always belong. 

Now she walks with a confident trust in that One Who is always with her. Her story of brokenness is one that is real and deep. Though the freedom from chains doesn't mean the absence of struggle, it does illuminate the beautiful reality that with this One, Jesus, Jehovah Rapha (our Healer) , there is newness of life, there is daily communion and daily growth. With Him, through the process of wrestling, healing, and forgiving, trust was replanted in the soil of her heart. 

 As Jesus told the demon possessed man that He cured in Mark 5, "Go and tell how much God has done for you," Madi shares her story and how it brought her to the throne of the Almighty.

And what more beautiful way to live than hand in hand with the One Who will never leave or forsake her and with Whom she will always...

....always belong.