love is the movement.

I went to a To Write Love On Her Arms event with my friends A&A. I got my usual godawful hiccups right in the middle and people everywhere were looking at me.

And the key message of TWLOHA on her arms is "You are not alone." And I would like to repeat that to each of you. You are not alone. You are not alone. If you cut. If you've ever cradled the pills in your hand, daring yourself the courage to swallow. If you've ever had an eating disorder. If you've been abused. Your story is important, and you are not alone.

And the thing is - even if you don't see hope now, I can assure you that you most likely will sometime in the future. I think that something we so often struggle with as hurting people is the fact we feel alone and no one else could understand our pain. And even though we all have our own unique stories we all share common elements of our unique stories. The one thing we need to learn (and I certainly need to learn myself) is that it is OK to be real and vulnerable with people. Part of the reason we often aren't is we are afraid we still won't be loved, but yet what we do not realize is that by not allowing ourselves to open up and show our hearts we aren't allowing ourselves to be truly loved.

As Christians, we often like life to have a happy ending and be all neatly tied up with a bow. We want life to have a happy ending, but sometimes it doesn't. And that is what makes our stories beautiful, unique, stirring, valuable, and important. I often don't tell my story because it doesn't fit with usual Christian wants and desires, and it doesn't have a happy ending. In fact, it's still tainted and laced with pain and it's a mess. But the thing is until I tell it, until I let it be known, I cannot begin to heal. And until I allow people to walk with me in my pain, I cannot finally learn to break free.

Here she stands today,

in her brilliant shining way

stronger than her pain,

in her brilliant shining way

Fully alive, more than most

Ready to smile and love life

Fully alive, and she knows

How to believe in future

-Flyleaf