model: Brittany Hall (thank you, sweet one - for stepping in, and telling such a vital piece of my story.)

crown: by Meg Fish, Crowned Embellishments

For whatever you need it to be...

For me - it's very personal, and private, and it scares me to death to share it here...

This is where I've been... wishing I could get past the dark & stormy season, watching the spine of my story dissolve into nothingness, and like that slow, steady beat - watching the world around me slowly turn quiet. I was afraid that if I spoke - people would see right through me. So I retreated. And my voice became a whisper. The song ran deep with me. It was the secret voice of my heart - the sounds I could not convey, the words I could not write, the images I could not create, and the rhythm I so desperately needed to make the time pass. So very powerful - heavy with memories, heavy with message, and heavy with the hope that one day - this, too, would pass into something so much bigger and brighter than I could ever imagine. The storm grew. And eventually - it began to transform... and filled the spaces where the important things had been cut out or destroyed - and removed from my truth. The Newness - gave me strength - to keep doing the work. No matter how small it seemed.

Today - I am writing to you from the other side, on the verge of a bright new day. The story is full circle. I am living the proof that my scars were worth it. That the growing was needed. That the work was enough. That the Plan - is better left in God's hands. And it took that very specific pain - to make me stronger, to help me never forget, to replace the truths I no longer needed. I am here - and I am fiercely hopeful - and just in awe of what is to come.

xoxo,

amanda