What Inspired Faith+Grace+Gratitude?

When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2020, a million thoughts raced through my mind. It was as if one of my worst fears had finally come true. It was something that had haunted me my entire adult life because I lost my mother to this horrible disease when she was only 47 yrs. old. I spent most of my twenties helping her battle through both breast, and then later ovarian cancer. She suffered so much pain and loss from all the physical and mental changes that cancer put her body through. But she fought with such strength, dignity, faith, and grace that when she did finally pass away, I never felt like the battle was lost. She left behind such a powerful legacy, not only in my life but also in the lives of so many others. I learned so many valuable lessons from my mother. But as hard as my brain tried to forget the ugliness of what she went through, and just hold onto the good, some of those memories of her suffering were unshakeable, and would often haunt me over the years. So unfortunately, when it was my turn to travel down the same path, I had to find other stories of strength and courage to add to the ones I had gained from my mother. I needed extra fuel to fight the demons of doubt that taunted me, and God was faithful to provide. He sent so many people into my life that by simply sharing how they walked through their journey with faith, grace, and gratitude helped them to find joy in spite of their adversity. It helped to reaffirm everything that my mother taught me, that there are gifts to be found in the midst of adversity. It's not what happens to us that determines our fate, it's how we choose to respond to it. We can allow it to destroy us, or we can trust God that everything has purpose.

Even in death, the enemy cannot win. God is our soul's source, and He still remains undefeated. Although we all feel pain, sorrow, discouragement, and even doubt. God's presence and His love is undeniable. Suffering doesn't change his goodness. It only proves the brokenness of this world and just how interconnected we all are. Together we all win or together we all lose. God not only sees our pain, but He also feels it. When He allows things to happen, I believe it is only to create a greater good for us all. I believe in his promises that he will turn our mourning to dancing and give us beauty for everything we've had to endure in this life.

But in the meantime, He has also clearly promised us joy here on earth, in spite of our circumstances. Psalm 27:3 says, " Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living." On my own journey with cancer, I have experienced joy in the middle of some of the toughest moments of my life, because I learned from my mother and the stories of so many others, how look at my life through the eyes of my faith, give grace to myself and others, and live each day with gratitude, for even the smallest of things. So, I started FaithGraceGratitude in hopes that this would become a place of inspiration for others to also share their stories. A place where people could come to find encouragement to keep pushing forward and enjoying their life despite the storms. My hope is that we can all learn from each other's journeys and allow God to teach us how to dance in the rain!