Possible
Friday, March 27th, 2009I don’t have much to complain about. My family is intact, and healthy, and stable. We all love each other, and we all love Jesus. I have amazing friends, live in a fantastic city, and every need is provided for. I have opportunities for adventures, and the freedom to pursue basically anything I want to right now. Life is good – right?
Then why do I feel so shitty?
Lately, I’ve felt weighed down by some heavy burdens – the same old junk that has haunted me my entire life. How bad has it been? Oh, just bad enough that I left a dinner party IN TEARS last night. I mean… the mortification. I felt completely out of control.
Sometimes, I feel completely out of control.
Here in Nashville, there’s an organization called Magdalene. Women with histories of violence, prostitution, and addiction are invited to live in community together for two years, free of charge, where they build relationships, “do life” together, and ultimately, have a chance at experiencing healing. They also run a cottage business called Thistle Farms, in which they sell hand-made bath and body products. Recently, I was given the chance to review their new book “Find Your Way Home” – and I wanted to share a little bit about it.
In this book, the women of the Magdalene community tell snippets of their own stories – they have lived through things that I, in my sheltered existence, cannot imagine. But as they write, “We do not share the same experiences, but we all have been in need sometime in our lives.” And that is why this book spoke powerfully to me – I saw a universal need for love, for acceptance, for truth, and for rest. Thank God that Magdalene exists for these women who have not found these necessities anywhere else.
It’s a quick read – I finished it in one sitting – and it lists their 24 “rules” for living together. Some of the lines that struck me?
Even though we may feel lonely when we cry, we are never truly alone. Our despair is part of a larger chorus howling for justice that stretches back to the prophets.
What we are feeling and experiencing is not a sense of being lost but the wonder of discovering something new.
We are God’s children in flesh and spirit. We never have to live in shame for all the things that have been done to us or that we have done to others.
I needed these reminders – reminders that God loves me exactly where I’m at, and that it’s never too late. We’re never too far gone. Healing can happen, iron bars can be broken, and change is possible. It’s totally possible.
Because if the women of Magdalene can continue fighting, then I will, too.
