It’s amazing how in just one moment, everything can change. My story is made up of a few of those moments. Suddenly, my normal went from being normal to becoming the “new” normal life. My everyday became my yesterday and I feared that I would never know what normal would feel like again.
My brokenness turned into my first battle with Reactive Depression. I found myself slowly disintegrating and my image of self, reflecting a women I no longer knew. Fear became a part of my daily life and I ended up realizing that running from what you fear can be the most destructive choice you can make. I was done giving myself over to the lies, done being a slave to my pain, I was going to live and I was going to take hold of the life that God had giving me.
God began to transform my life with one word plastered across a key. The word: COURAGE. It was impressed upon my heart and worn around my neck daily as a reminder to courageously take hold of life and to trust God, even when life no longer made much sense.
Living in Chicago, I had always assumed I would give my key away to a stranger that I met at a local Starbucks or on a commute using public transportation. I never imagined it would be someone that I cherished and knew. I ended up giving my key away to Liz (an old floormate and friend of mine who graduated a couple of years ago). One evening, I ran into her with a stack of books in my hand. On top was a book titled Courage. Liz came up to me and grabbed the book off the top of my stack. “Courage, that’s my word” she said. The hairs on my arms stood up and I had a hunch that she was the person I had been praying for these past few months. Days later we met for coffee and I found out that our stories were very similar. I knew in that moment without a doubt that the key was to be hers. To have a friend wear the key which has so profoundly changed my life is a gift beyond what I have the ability to express.
Now, because of one key, lives are forever being changed.