Take a breath.

You are uniquely made, and your life is one-of-a-kind.

This is a good thing. I promise

We must find rest in the journey we have been on and know it is not the same as those around us.

For this reason, we can all tell our stories of resilience and help different people, at different stages of life for different reasons. The point is that once the strands mesh together, they provide incredible strength.

Stories are important, that is how Hollywood became Hollywood. It’s the story capital of the world. They have made gazillions of dollars writing stories not only to entertain people but also to inspire them.

We all hold a story in each us that will encourage, bring hope, and empower many others around us; we often just don’t realize it.

You may think that your story is too similar to those around you, so why tell yours? But that is where the power lies. That is where the dynamite forms.  The more real-life stories of conquerors like yourself, the better. The more faith is built in those who hear the stories that they can overcome if you did.

You are literally filling people with hope, just by being you.

And since there is nothing new under the sun, your problems won’t be unique, but the journey you took to overcome them will be, and therein lies the power.

You are powerful and so is your story.

It’s ok to look differently than someone else.

You may not feel like you’ve done that much to overcome in life, but I bet if you look back and process how things happened, you will see the turns you took, decisions you made, divine help you received, and you will start to see your story for what it is— compelling.

I didn’t think my story had any power either, that was until I started telling it and people would say to me, “Andrea, you have a lot of knowledge that could help others.” I didn’t even realize people needed what I knew.

I bet the same is true for you.

You have a story that will inspire people, and I invite you to use it. I encourage you to realize the strength of your life and that which you have overcome.

Sharing the stories of your life can be one of the most rewarding things you do. In the Bible it says that we overcome the enemy (the Father of lies and all evil in the world) by the blood of the lamb (which is Jesus dying on the cross for all mankind) and the word of our testimony.

A testimony is a story. And our stories are meant to be told.

It’s interesting how the most powerful being in the world said that it would be our stories that would help overcome evil. Wow!

So today, embrace who you are. Embrace who God has made you to be. And, with courage in your heart, embrace that your story is one that the world needs to hear.