Hands Extended and Hearts Full

My hands were empty, and my heart was broken.

I sat at home on the 3-day leave from work after my miscarriage and blindly stared at the blinking computer screen in front of me. I’d tried reading my Bible, but was unable to focus past a verse or two. I wanted to hear from God, but my pain wailed doubt and despair.

I never heard His voice audibly that day, but looking back now seven years later, I know how He spoke clearly. He used Kelli.

Kelli was a former student who knew I was hurting. She decided to be brave and share her story with me. She sent me a short e-mail where she confessed that she and her hubby had struggled with infertility for several years. She’d started a blog to chronicle her story in hopes of encouraging women who were on the same journey.

“I don’t share this with many people,” she confessed. But, she invited me into her pain so that I would know that I was not alone.

I spent the next day voraciously reading. I’d never visited a blog before. From Kelli’s blog, I found many other spaces on the internet where women were welcoming me into their lives and letting me know that God was still at work. God was present. God was transforming brokenness into beauty. His glorious light was spilling out of their lives all over the internet.

Months later, I decided to start a blog. Perhaps I could encourage one person with my story. I also accepted an invitation from a friend to join her in online Bible study. She said we’d just be looking at a few verses a day.

I can do a few verses a day, I thought. I grabbed a notebook, and I wrote four letters across the top of the page that changed my life forever…