Sisterhood

As I have communicated our loss to friends and family I have discovered an unexpected sort of sisterhood.  It's a silly sounding word in a way...so official. There is an undercurrent of pain that connects many of us as women...pain experienced from a heart that longs to nurture, to heal, to restore...a heart that yearns to give life.  The pain of loss.  Loss comes in many forms but so many women I have not known the depths of have come to me sharing their stories of loss and healing, willing to give at a moments notice as I claw the walls of my heart and mind searching for answers and reprieve.

In a moment of reflection I considered how ironic it is that we spend our lives trying to create homes, relationships, lives, careers and impressions to satisfy others.  We strive for a home fit to entertain and host, clothing to communicate a certain status or persona, and after all of this we find ourselves at times very alone...hiding the pains that have shaped our perspectives and reevaluating the relationships we keep and where our time and money is invested.  It's funny to me that we hide these things with such effectiveness because I'm finding that from hardship and tragedy...it is life that comes forth.

This is a true season of learning.  Not pretty learning either...the stumbling kind of learning. I'm learning moment by moment...finding revelation and quiet space to grow...finding overwhelm and feeling tired of treading the water of hurt...and landing in the safety of a God who loves me...whose love I'm learning more and more about.  Funny...it's when I'm most broken..most desperate...that it is most obvious to me that He loves me.

 So all of this begs a question in my mind...

If we are so connected by our growth...which almost always comes from hardship...why is it we hide those hardships from one another?  We need each other...we need honesty...and from that honesty and shared growth we find confidence, beauty and opportunity.

Sisterhood is a gift... a gift designed by a loving God who knew we would need each other.  Be a gift to someone today...share out of your heart, inadequacy, pain or lack...and watch what God will do. His strength is made perfect in weakness...isn't it funny that the most simple truths are nearly always the basis for the greatest revelations.