When my best friend moved far away we still talked regularly and helped each other through the challenges of family and life. We had both had great family situations we had walked through.
I had had a very tough day so when I came home and found my "courage" Giving Key in the mail, I wept because I knew she knew that deep in my spirit and soul that I was a fierce fighter for my family and future.
When I read the news that my good friend's brother, who was also a friend, had succumbed to his battle with heroin addiction, I wept. He didn't want to die and he fought hard but was not strong enough to beat it. Many would look at him and define him by his disease. But my friend Lindsey would have none of that. She stood with great courage at his funeral yesterday and we celebrated the great things about her brother, and she stood and said "we can question ourselves to see if we did enough, but we did more than enough."
She has chosen a better way for her own family and serves along side her husband serving youth and leading worship at a church. They serve with courage out of their challenging past to say "someone is not defined by their past, but the courage they have to keep pressing on, even when life is messy."
As I sat there watching my beautiful friend testify to the beauty in brokenness I knew that the key on my wrist was now hers. I gifted it to her because she is a woman of courage. To speak truth in a hard situation, to chose to break out of a broken life and create a new life with her husband for her three kids, and to now live with courage to passionately help others break free from addiction but know they are still worth something in her eyes and God's eyes.
I loved wearing my key, looking at it, explaining it to others when they asked. However, I am going to love it even more seeing my beautiful friend wear it and living out a life of courage of her own
-Carol
