I was cleaning up my google docs today and came across this snippet of writing.  I am unsure if I have ever shared it before, since I went a different direction with the “Dear Me” letter I wrote for HAH.  It was important for me to read today, and I thought maybe others need to hear these truths.  We are all walking paths that require strength and the knowledge that we are enough.  Even in our brokenness, even with our many mistakes, even within our exhaustion … we are enough.  We are on this journey for a reason.  We are in this together.

***Dear Me,

Today, life as you know it ended.  It has happened to you before, and here you are again.  All you heard today, after a long ultrasound you endured alone, was “There is something wrong with your baby’s heart.”  You can’t even remember what they called the defect, because at that moment, you crumbled.

You didn’t feel you would ever be able to move forward.  The grief and fear that enveloped your heart, this diagnosis day, made it hard to believe you would even remember how to walk.  But you will. You will move one foot in front of the other. Some days, you will even skip.

It will be hard for you to fathom, right now, but there are two things you need to know.

#1) You. Are. Enough.

#2) You. Are. Strong.

In the months to come, you will feel alone in ways you have never experienced before.  You will wonder where you will find the next reserve of strength, but it will always be there when you need it.***

I just shared, in a facebook group I am in centered around kindness and giving, that I am thankful for hidden pockets of strength.  I have been surprised so many times in my life by the strength I always seem to find when I need it most.  Don’t get me wrong – sometimes it takes a few days or weeks or months to find it – but it comes eventually.  I have learned to trust the journey I’m on, even when it feels dark and weak and lonely and scary.  I know the strength is inside me, and I know that I am enough even as I wait for it.

At least today, I know.  So I wanted all of you to know too.  One more time:

You. Are. Enough.

You. Are. Strong.

You. Are. LOVED.