So this week’s post is coming straight to you live. I had a revelation over the weekend about my family and it really hit me deep. I won’t go into too much detail because that’ll take some time, but essentially what hit me was how heavy of a burden I have been carrying to see my family ‘together again.’ If you know me, you know family has always been very important to me. And for a while now, well for some years actually, my heart has felt so much pain for not having the closeness that we once did. It’s forever been in the back of my mind ‘what can I do to make it like it was before?’ But you know what I’ve realized . . . I can’t do anything. Even as much as it hurts to relieve myself of that burden, it’s the truth. As time goes by, things change; people change; FAMILY change. And I have to learn to let go of the past. As a kid, my family was everything to me—no I didn’t have the perfect household family or whatever it’s called; I didn’t grow up with both parents but the bonds I shared with my cousins, the love I felt from my aunties and uncles, the grace my grandmother always showed me—it was everything to me. I prided myself for having such a big, loving family; I bragged on it sooo much. Yet now . . . it’s just not the same.

And it hurts. I’m a sympathetic person by the way—too sympathetic some would say. *shoulder shrug emoji.* I just cherish relationships a lot. And some things you just wish would never change, but when it does, you just got to go with it. My family is still everything to me, I just have to accept that what happens now is kind of beyond my reach. I do believe my grandmother was the stronghold keeping us together, and now with her gone, it seems like the weight is just too heavy. But my God is bigger; He’s stronger and He’s faithful. He knows my heart and my desires, and I know He will restore! My family isn’t perfect—never was, never will be. And for me to move forward, I got to let go! I love my family so much . . . I really do. And for those that read this, I pray it touches your heart. My focus though is now on what lies ahead. My greatest joys right now are my two wonderful, beautiful nieces that I am beyond excited to love and to watch grow up--they truly give me hope for a better tomorrow!

So yeah! We all come from different backgrounds and have traveled different paths, but we get to decide where we go from here. So this Is my encouragement for you today: let go of what was and focus on what can be. God placed us all in circumstances He knew He would use for His purpose and glory; we honestly just have to make room for Him to do it.

“No dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:13 (NLT)