As part of our Womanly Wednesday series, I’ll be sharing guests posts by different women who are bravely putting their hearts and stories out there for you to read. And friends, this girl is the bravest. I met Annie my freshman year in college, and her story is one of the clearest examples of God’s relentless pursuit of our broken, hurting hearts. She is radiant, with a joy and heart for people and adventures that absolutely shines and lights up whatever room she walks in. I bawled reading this post about how she found healing and hope in the midst of abuse and pain, and it is an honor to have her sharing her heart on the blog today.
Mine is a story of abuse and utter despair. It is a story of hopelessness and pursuit of worldly success that has no ultimate value; a chasing after the wind. It is a story of redemption, of God’s saving grace, of the Lord’s unfailing pursuit of a girl who bolted the other way – and his ability to capture and comfort even the most broken-hearted.
Maybe it’s a story you can relate to – perhaps not with the nitty gritty details, but with the heart of the matter. The insecurities. The shame. The confidence in no one and nothing but myself. The futile attempts to pick myself up by my bootstraps, without realizing that I had no firm foundation to place those boots on. The slow realization and denial of the simple fact that if your efforts are all that you rely on, you won’t stand for long when the terrain beneath those boots morphs to shifting, sinking sand.
