“Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back. From then on, you are inflamed with a special longing that will never again let you linger in the lowlands of complacency and partial fulfillment. The eternal makes you urgent. You are loath to let compromise or the threat of danger hold you back from striving toward the summit of fulfillment.” 

― John Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

 

My name is Lisa.  I began my journey to freedom from abuse because of one person.  I told my story and she told me hers.  I was no longer alone, I was no longer crazy, and I would someday be whole again.  I had faith and hope of better things to come because one person who had a story similar to mine.   This person talked to me personally and I was able to transform my life one day at a time.

 

Stories….

 

I have always loved stories.  They are part of all of our lives, and they are all important.  As a child, stories told by my mother would chase the monsters out from under the bed, out from the closet, and leave the light on allowing me a peaceful night of sleep.

Books and stories offered a means of escape when I felt helpless and alone when I was living in fear of my husband and home.  Writing my story gave me clarity and understanding

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I am not a doctor, a therapist, a social behavior specialist, a professional writer, or someone who has all of the answers.  I am Lisa.  I am strong, I am worthy of being loved, and I want to help you from the bottom of my heart.

 

I have never understood the phrase “I have a calling.”   I always associated it with someone who found the job they enjoy, or someone who wants to look good for a church leader.  I never in a million years thought that I could be someone who would use a phrase like that.  Yet, I found myself buried in research for weeks and weeks searching for the right tool to try and help myself, my children, and hopefully someone else.   I would wake up in the middle of the night and write until morning, then in the morning not remember that I had done this.  When I would read what I wrote, some of it was really good.   

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So, the only way that I can explain my transformation is that I have been called to try and help others who may be experiencing something similar as my own.   I believe in God, angles, tarot cards, magic crystals, astrology, spirit guides, the angel cards, cowboy boots, wine, pizza for breakfast, and Doritos and bean dip. I am eclectic in all my ways, and scattered in my thinking at times.  I believe in the gray areas of life, and that good and bad exist in all of us.  I believe in the good parts and will always look to find it in everyone.

 

I am here to help you.  I know that you are here on this site because either someone has been abusing you, or someone you love is being abused.  You are here searching for answers just as I was.  You probably have found a lot of sites that have very smart people on them, talking about abuse in technical terms, self-help sites to visit, and places where you can buy the next smart book about abuse.   It is everywhere, and I have read them all.  Well, that is not true.  I have read as much as I could get my hands on.

 

Eventually the information was the same, the guidance was the same, and I was still not being able to move forward.  I felt so scared and so very alone, I felt crazy, and I felt hopeless.  I needed someone to talk to, and the therapist I had only told me to go home.  I couldn’t.

I will talk with you, share stories, and do whatever I can to help you.  I know what I needed, and it was not available.

  

I will give you what I have to give.  Your story will help others and you may find that helping others is how you can help yourself.  It will bring you courage, and empower you to make choices for yourself once again.  You are so much smarter than you think, and you have so much to offer the world even though you may not feel that you do.  

“ONE STORY AT A TIME, WE ALL HEAL!”

  

I am glad you are here.  I promise to give you the best that I have.  I know that you will be fine, I know that tomorrow will come, and I know that you are hurting and afraid.  

You can trust in me, and you can believe in yourself.

 

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.” 

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditation