Rememberig What You Came From.

Sunday was an amazing day. I haven't gone to a Sunday morning service in a few months. I have been meeting with other groups through out the week and a few times a month with other groups, but I have found the traditionalized Sunday gathering tends to be too stiff and agenda laden for me. That stated, I went to a church Sunday. The women's teen challenge group was there to share. What surprised me was that most of the girls were early 20's. So young.

But, as I listened to them tell their stories, I couldn't help but think back over my own last few years. If I've made it they could make it as well. I have pushed through, not given up and kept believing. And ya know what, there is a God who has so much love for us that He wont let us down.

To think that it has only been five years ago that I thought I would like to do a small homestead. Ya know, a few chickens and maybe a goat, a horse and a garden. It has bloomed into two dozen chickens, a pregnant goat (yes we got her!), a beautiful garden and the hope of soon acquiring land and a few head of cows and horses and a much larger garden. To have gained so much understanding of my health and what I need to be healthy. To desire to grow/raise as much as possible.

To think that it has only been two and half years since I stepped away from abuse to try and venture off into a new life for my son and myself. To see and feel what freedom is. To come into a place of knowing God's perfect love, mercy, grace, hope. Hope.... to simply hold hope in my tomorrow again.

I am grateful for the life I have, the life I've lived, the memories I hold. Yes, there are things in my past that doesn't exactly pull a smile to my lips, but it's my story. It is important to not be afraid of your story, to not forget your story. It made you into the amazing person you have become or are becoming. Don't get stuck in the pages of the beginning of the story though, for if you do the ending will never come. Every day I get to turn a new page and see what it holds and I can't wait. Yes, some pages do bring forth a tale of tears and others carry laughter from word to word. But it's my story! It brings me joy when I can share it with someone.

I'm so grateful that my story happened to cross the path of backyard farm life! While many friends don't completely understand my love for chickens, question why I'm ok chasing after goats, how I can cry over a raccoon attack on the coop, and the such.... I love it! I find my birds to bring me peace on a stressful day, digging my hands in the dirt tends to be refreshing, to know God has given me a piece of earth to chase after the dream of being healthy and ability to grow/raise what I have. I mean, just look at the picture below. Went to a friends house to cook out over a fire.... while the turkeys tried to steal food off the table.

I encourage you to take time today to remember what you have come from, what has taken you on the trail that you are on today. Cherish it all, the good the bad and the ugly. Don't get caught up in the pages that have passed, look forward to the ending and enjoy the pages in between. Always strive for something better, but never forget nor give up.

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