"i invite YOU in": DEEP SCARS

Deep thoughts from a deep heart--which only comes from deep scars. I still feel the crevice of pain every time I re-hash my story to the audiences that God has ordained for me to address. I know that I do not deserve the voice, far from it. But the students and youth deserve the message. And the community deserves this type of response, and all of this is in spite of me.I strongly desire for those listening to this new program to feel a fraction of my passion, so they may take seriously the instruction that urges them to use me as a detour to keep them from “crashing.” I use that word with ‘pun intended,’ not to make light, but make literal!   Sometimes I just want to get into the heads of the students that I am speaking to, to see if they are receiving the practicality --and reality-- of what I’m sharing.And the undertone and overtone of the program is that “decisions will not only make you or break you, but they can even reveal you.”  It is certain that each decision is a pathway to a consequence, whether good or bad, thus it’s crucial for our youth to see positive decisions being made in spite of something that’s been bad.  Personal experience is not the only way to learn because some experiences come with a tuition that cannot be paid.It is better and wiser to learn from someone else’s heartache and soul-quake. It is perceptive to consider someone else’s pain and do whatever it takes to avoid causing the same. Not just drinking and driving, but bad decisions that can take anyone by the hand and lead them to a place they thought they’d never be.I am aware of this scar I bear, but I am not ashamed of its path—straight down the center of my heart to someone’s ears. And I humbly bear the remnant of this pain, as it is indicative of God’s healing over my shame.  So, as long as there is a platform provided, God’s grace will continue to be the pathway I stand on. Not for me, but by Him.But by the grace of God I am what I am…….And His grace towards me and for me is not in vain.