My life is a story of getting my heart smashed and the many times I have chosen to get up. It is the getting-up-again stories that are best told.

I’d like to share my story with you—and your people. So you all can get-up-again and discover the truth that God truly is close to the broken-hearted as Psalm 34:18 tells us. Or is Psalm 34:18 more true because you are bravely living broken-hearted so God is close to you?

This Brene’ Brown quote is my life quote (though I found it five years ago and I’ve been living this way decades before Dr. Brene’ Brown’s research):

       “The brokenhearted are indeed the bravest among us—they dared to love, and they dared to forgive.” –Dr. Brene Brown, Rising Strong, p. 156

(I wish I had said it first so it would be my quote but it also has more authority knowing that it comes out of research.)

My story involves daring to love and daring to forgive. Whether that is from my nearly 40 years of working with teenagers (isn’t a rite of passage in adolescence to break your heart?) or from my personal choice of the family that I have raised (a beautiful broken-hearted story which I’m not free to share all of it because it is being lived right now).

Thank God he is close to me! Now!

My hope is when you bring me in to speak to your people that everyone will walk away knowing how close God really is to every part of their lives. That you will find your worthy life and surprise yourself with how brave you are.

I have a free download for you that is a piece here and a piece there of my message…with a Star Trek reference I love. I don’t want to mislead you. I’m only a bit of a Trekky but this story with the quote, ”I need my pain” is for real. That truth became bearable when Captain Kirk taught me it back in 1989. (I’m one of the few who actually saw this movie in the theatre.)