In our social media-driven world, it is easy to see the highlight reel. You know the one I'm talking about, the perfect, polished life that from the outside we envy.

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However, we don't always see what lies beneath the photos, the hurt, the pain, the scars a person carries, and the strength it took to wake up and put a smile on their face that day.

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I can vividly remember when I hid behind this thick facade.

 

We were brand new to our school and while I was very interested in making new friends I was going through my darkest season to date. 

 

I found it difficult to respond to a friendly, 
"Well, how was your day?"

 

"Fine. How about you?" I volleyed back attempting a smile.

 

To this day, all I can remember of her is staring blankly at her earring as she told me all about her day. The unbearable pain from two back-to-back surgeries, followed up by a recent car accident was commanding my full attention. 

 

And beyond the physical symptoms, my heart had not recovered from losing my son in utero to Down's Syndrome and two beloved grandparents all within a month.

 

I was a physical and emotional wreck.

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How does one recover from such depths?

There is a way, there is an answer.

 

In John 10:9-10 Jesus says,
"I am the way,
through me is to experience
life, freedom, and satisfaction.

 

A thief has only one thing in mind -
he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy.

But, I have come to give you everything in abundance,
more than you expect –
life in its fullness until you overflow!"
(The Passion Translation)

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Jesus gives each of us an invitation to a bountiful life.

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Join me on this journey of learning how to live bountifully in THIS life amid the trials, hardships, and storms that seem too hard to navigate. Together and with the Lord's help, we can be overcomers instead of overcome.