As a woman living in a world where there is so much judgement and not enough heartfelt compassion, my wish is to provide comfort and love, as well as hope when one's life seems filled with despair. I don’t always have my act together in a perfect way—I am human. My life does get messy, but is also glorious and filled with joy, and so can yours.

We need to forgive ourselves more and be gentle. Most importantly, we need to show up for our own lives. I recognize that I need to rejoice in what I have that I don’t deserve instead of grumbling about the things that don’t seem to go right, and that if I put things into perspective, it’s really not that bad. At the end of the day, I need to reflect, could things have been worse?

I don’t have all the answers, and it’s okay to ask for help. It takes a village to rebuild, and every season makes me a more rounded person. If I truly want to live and be a part of my life, I need to get off the hamster wheel and truly be present, not just go through the motions. But more importantly, I need to learn to be still.

God gives us a fresh slate every day. A repeated gift. How will I accept this gift? Suffering is also a gift. A gift that will grow me and place me in someone else’s story to help them heal. The painstaking season of losing my mother enabled me to become the woman I am today. And this book is the journey to hell and back, where a metamorphosis took place. Acquiring the skill to silence the negativity in my head and around me became necessary if I was ever going to come through the muck alive.