I have an overwhelming belief that through people being authentic…Lives can change… So I am here today to be real and share my story.
My mom was 16 when she had me… She was broken and I was adopted.
I was raised in a wonderful and broken family. My mom was many things and I loved her very much but she was also an abusive alcoholic. Much of my childhood I lived by putting on masks pretending to be tough, together and unaffected by my home-life. We were the perfect family on the outside and broken in pieces on the inside.
When I was a senior at IU my brother was killed in an horrific alcohol related car accident. I was 21 and he was 23. Now everyone was broken.
At 26 I was on top of the world graduating from Optometry school and had been accepted to start a residency in pediatrics and binocular vision. Achieving but I was falling apart. I was in counseling and discovering my story and part of my story is that I was an alcoholic. So at 26 I entered AA and am currently 28 years sober. I was broken but recovering. Getting Emotionally transformed.
In my late 40s I was successful, married with young kids, and still had more of my story to live. I was 100 lbs overweight and needed to shed that weight to be who I really was, to live more fully engaged, active, and so I did everything it took to loose 100 pounds. I was broken and getting Physically stronger.
All along I had a sense of faith but I was spiritually broken and a bit distant from God for I could not see the whole story. I may never see the whole story but I have my eyes open to seek His path for my life. And let me tell you for this self willed head strong independent woman, that is no easy path. But He has ignited a fire in me too seek and live to love and to serve. Getting Spiritually stronger.
GOD HAS USED EACH OF THESE BROKEN PIECES OF MY STORY TO CREATE WITHIN ME A PASSION AND A HEART, ALONG WITH THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE TO TO HELP WOMAN. He planted within me my WHY…
MY WHY IS FIT: find. IGNITE. TRANSFORM
SO how did I go from Chapter one pediatric optometrist to chapter 2 founder of a non-profit. Christmas 2015 I heard a sermon titled “Its not your birthday it’s HIS”. It’s not about your presents it’s about His presence in your life. Then the next sermon was “It’s not your life its His , and what are you doing for Him.” My husband leaned over and said you are leaving your practice and starting your non-profit aren’t you? And I said YES!!
My story are pieces of my life that God used to help me discover my why, my purpose, to help woman who are living broken lives to be transformed to live a live of wholeness and to not feel empty and broken. Sometimes brokenness is easy to see and sometimes brokenness is hidden by masks.
FIT is our nonprofit that provides physical training to get healthy physically and strengthen the body, that makes available mental health counseling to transform the mind, and spiritual life coaching to ignite the spirit. I know from my story that each of this pieces needs to be strengthened to live out our lives whole and with purpose. THEN Each of us can in turn reach out to others in love and with purpose.
Everyone has a story… and every story matters to God. These words profoundly changed my life to seek the stories and to share my journey and to try to make a difference one story at a time. Maybe these words and the FIT program can help you change your story.
In all of us is a call to make a difference, to be there in service for others. Come along side of FIT and help us change lives.
What I know for sure…
WE MAKE A LIVING BY WHAT WE GET
WE MAKE A LIFE BY WHAT WE GIVE.
