MY VICTORY VOYAGE || A Surrendered Celebration

In MY VICTORY VOYAGE I’m sharing various trials I’ve faced and how God’s faithfulness has carried me through. Join me on the 2nd Friday of each month in 2025 as we reflect on His restoration and grace.

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. — Psalm 56:8 (NLT)

Preface: This post comes from a deep place in my personal journey. I write it with humility—not to accuse or expose, but to process what God is teaching me about love, surrender, and the long road of restoration. If you’re carrying heartbreak of your own, I pray my story gives you courage to keep walking with Jesus—especially when the path is painful.

Turning 68 this month feels… surreal. Gratitude and grief swirl together in my heart as I reflect on the road I’ve traveled. I’ve lived a full life—one filled with sacrifice, joy, mistakes, forgiveness, and deep, enduring love. But there’s a silent pain that rises in me as this birthday approaches: the estrangement of adult children.

For years, all our children were distant. By God’s grace, one has come back to us. Their perspective, now shaped by the responsibilities of adulthood and parenting, has brought a gentler understanding to the years we labored to raise them well. They know now how hard it is—how easy it is to fall short, and how much love can live in the same heart that sometimes gets things wrong. But others still remain estranged with no children of their own.

This past Mother’s Day carried a quiet ache. When your role as a mother goes unacknowledged, especially by those you gave everything for, it can feel like being erased. I held my peace that day—but not because I wasn’t hurting. I was. It’s because I believe healing comes from the Lord, not from social media.

Some days, the ache feels unbearable. I made mistakes. I own them. But I also gave my life to raise my children with everything I had, doing the best I knew how to at the time. I set aside a college education, a career, and in almost ten years of homeschooling I poured myself into motherhood. I sacrificed my body, my dreams, and countless nights of sleep. I loved them fiercely. I still do.

And yet… here we are.

Even so, I return to the altar. Again, and again. I lay my children down with trembling hands and say, “Lord, they are Yours.” I ask Him to do what only He can do: bring salvation, correction, and restoration in His time.

Even in my sorrow, I am held.
Even in heartbreak, I walk in victory.
Not because everything is right, but because God is still good.
He has kept me. He is not finished.

As I reflected on the ache of estrangement and the quiet faith it takes to keep surrendering my children to God, this song became a balm to my soul.

Rescue by Lauren Daigle is a reminder that even in our darkest valleys, we are never alone. God sees. He hears. He comes for us. If you’re walking through heartbreak of your own, may these lyrics wrap around your heart like a blanket of truth and comfort. Remember:

You are not forgotten. You are not hopeless. You are deeply loved. 💛

MY VICTORY VERSES || Delivered from Darkness

In MY VICTORY VERSES, we will explore key Bible verses that have shaped my life recovery journey since 2005. After sharing how these verses impacted me, we will dive into their meaning and how they bring lasting victory. This column publishes on the 3rd Friday of each month in 2025.

“The Father has delivered and drawn me to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred me into the Kingdom of the Son of His love.” — Colossians 1:13 (Paraphrased)

There was a time I never thought I’d see the light again.
The darkness I was living in wasn’t just circumstantial—it was spiritual. It was emotional. It was consuming. I wasn’t just surrounded by darkness; I was under its dominion. Controlled by fear, shame, and pain, I found myself in a jail cell—a place I never expected to be. But it was there, in that very place of confinement, that I was delivered.

Delivered not just from my situation, but from the kingdom of darkness itself.

This verse—Colossians 1:13—marked the turning point of my life. It became my anchor, my confession, my declaration of hope. It spoke what I couldn’t yet fully see: that God had already made a way out. He had already rescued me, and He was drawing me into something far greater—the Kingdom of the Son of His love.

Jail didn’t save me. Jesus did.
And in that dark place, I found light.

What had once been a pit of despair became holy ground—because it was there, I cried out to the One who heard me. I was afraid, yes. But I knew there was no other way. No other hope. And the Lord met me in that desperate prayer.

That’s the miracle of deliverance.
It doesn’t wait for you to clean yourself up.
It meets you where you are—and carries you into a kingdom of love, light, and everlasting victory.

Reflection Questions:

    • Have you ever felt under the control of darkness?
    • What did it look like for God to draw you to Himself?
    • How can you share your story of deliverance with someone who may still be in the pit?

Victory Confession:
The Father has delivered and drawn me to Himself out of the control and dominion of darkness and has transferred me into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. I am no longer under the power of fear or shame—I walk in the freedom of His love and light!

🎶 Grave Robber by Crowder
This song has echoed the cry of my heart from the very beginning of my recovery journey. When I say I was delivered from darkness, I mean it literally—and Grave Robber puts that miracle to music. I pray it stirs your heart with the same hope and victory it brings to mine.

⬇️ Watch below and let the truth sink in.