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. 💛

PSALM 91 :: CALL AND BE RESCUED

REACHING HURTING WOMEN MINISTRIES OFFERS FOUR THEMES FOR STUDY AND CONTEMPLATION EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR.
EACH OF THE FOUR POWER-PACKED THEMES ARE A 12-MONTH STUDY SERIES ASSIGNED TO A SPECIFIC FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH. IN MONTHS WITH FIVE FRIDAYS I’LL BE REVIEWING TOUCHING INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC.
On the first Friday of each month in 2021 we will be studying Psalm 91. We’ll be learning this powerful psalm and applying its phenomenal promises to our life one phrase at a time.  We continue today with verse 15.

When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble.I will rescue and honor them.~ PSALM 91:15

Sometimes in the middle of our toughest struggle it’s more difficult to call out to God for help. Even though Scripture tells us that God knows all our needs before we ask for them, I believe the process of crying out to God is part of the process of receiving our answer.

Whatever our struggle may be, the humbling experience of recognizing that we need help and asking for it may actually bring our rescue faster.