ReThrive

Today I was standing on my tip toes singing at the top of my lungs.  The sound reverberated and echoed throughout the house.  It was thrilling to my soul and physically invigorating.  I was working hard, because these lungs of mine are a bit out of shape.  It took all the wind I had to fill my lungs and belt the sound from deep inside.  The words to an old gospel song filled our home with music and it made me melt inside. I remembered how much I love singing and playing the piano.  It was a bittersweet moment.  And for just a few minutes I reflected on the memories of making music. 
I am a classically trained musician and for years I made my living teaching and performing. I would never have imagined that I would trade music for another occupation, but I did. I sold my beautiful Yamaha piano 7 years ago, and our family gave up our worldly good in exchange for the road less traveled...literally!  We bought an RV and hit the road with nothing more than faith and dreams in our pockets. …

Have you seen the hashtag, #metoo?  If you have, then you know these people are being brave enough to share publicly that they have been the victims of sexual abuse.  Good for them I say, because all too often people suffer their abuse in silence.  I applaud the speaking out and up about abuse, because when we do so, the abuser begins to lose their power over us.
Abuse is a real thing.  It is not just sexual, it is verbal, physical, emotional and even religious.  Anytime we believe that we must force our strength, words/opinions and beliefs over someone else, it's abuse.  
Perhaps a more appropriate word for what I have experienced is bruising. I find the deep seated roots of this bruising to go so deep that it almost feels like it's inscribed in my DNA.  Though it is not, I have found the struggle to escape the snares to be real and ongoing.  Those words spoken or actions taken by past abusers can come back in our weakest moments.  They also come at times when we are least e…