For People Like Kat...

Today I read some heartbreaking stories about people who are really hurting. There's a saying I've heard many times throughout many a recovery group, and from many a person, which states, ''hurt people hurt people.'' That is so true. I've been hurt, and I've hurt others. Sometimes we are so overcome by guilt that we want to die...as in the case of Kat...sometimes we are so overcome by shame that we want to take it out on ourselves in some way...as in the case of myself on many occasions...sometimes we are so overcome by pain that we want to take it out on others...as in the case of most of us at one time or another, in various ways and to differing degrees. Once I told a friend of mine, ''I just wish I could express to people, especially the really depressed ones, the ones so convinced that there is not any hope left for them, that there IS hope.'' To the moms who think their daughter will never return, to the dads who can't get past the guilt of leading their children wrong, to the children who can't move passed the pain they keep reliving...there's hope. I know it sounds crazy. I know it sounds impossible to find sometimes, but as someone once told me, ''if you can't believe it for yourself, find someone who can believe it for you until you can too.'' That sounds a little weird, but it's true...and there've been many times when that's exactly what I needed to do...and that's what got me through. Not because I could see the light, but because someone else could. And I was able to trust them at some point.

Truth be told, I could tell my story over and over, working it into the ground, or I could diversify a bit and let you know that there's hope through the stories of others as well. For this reason, I want to begin sharing stories of others that I have found personally encouraging. The first is the story of Lanae Hale...

About four years ago, I heard a song called ''Back and Forth'' on the radio, written and sung by Lanae Hale (she has an amazing voice and I love her music...I would highly recommend you give it a listen!:) Imagine my surprise when I learned that she used to use self injury as a coping mechanism in a similar way that I had. She grew up in the church and loved God, but there was something missing, especially when she encountered difficulty in high school. That's when she started cutting herself. She used cutting to express her weakness in private so she could keep her strong face for everyone else. The problem was that in the long run, it didn't work, and the pattern, rather than giving her strength, made her increasingly weak. She was losing control. One day she found a verse, Psalm 147:3, and read ''He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds'' (NKJV). She describes how this was a sort of light-bulb moment for her when she realized that God was big enough and strong enough to heal her. So she asked Him to do just that. And he did. He began to heal and restore her, through a process, to a place of wholeness. Please read Lanae's story in her own words on her own website here or listen to it on youtube here.

Please know, please understand, please rest assured, that there is hope. I know it first hand. So does Lanae, and so do many, many others.

Blessings,

Hopeful