I shared this highlighted blog picture on social media 6 years ago today, March 3, 2020. Completely unaware that only days later I would experience the devastating loss of Nolan on March 14th, and then in 2023 stand face to face with a cancer diagnosis.
When I shared it, it was just a quote that resonated. It felt encouraging. Hopeful. Inspiring.
I didn’t realize it was prophetic.
Just days after sharing it, our family was shattered by the unexpected loss of Nolan. Grief came like a tidal wave — disorienting, suffocating, relentless. Watching my sister walk through the unimaginable. Watching my parents carry a pain no parent should ever have to bear. Loving on my sweet niece Sophie as she tried to understand a world without her brother. All of it unfolding in the middle of COVID — isolation, uncertainty, distance compounding the sorrow. And in the midst of it, I was navigating being away from Keith in Nevada, where he was holding down our home and small business, carrying the weight of responsibility while I tried to hold together pieces of a grieving family. I was trying to process my own heartbreak while still showing up for everyone else.
I wasn’t thinking about survival guides.
I was thinking about how to survive the next breath.
Then in 2023, cancer entered my story.
Another moment where time stood still. Another moment where the ground felt like it gave way beneath me. Another chapter I never would have chosen.
Again, I wasn’t thinking about impact. I wasn’t thinking about ministry. I wasn’t thinking about writing a book.
I was thinking about living.
But here’s what I see now that I couldn’t see then:
God wastes nothing.
Not the grief.
Not the shock.
Not the questions.
Not the wrestling.
Not the tears cried in the dark.
Every hard chapter has become sacred ground.
The Power of Sharing Your Story
There is something holy about honesty.
When you share your story — not polished, not perfect, but raw and real — you hand someone else a flashlight in their own darkness.
Your story says:
✨ “You’re not alone in your grief.”
✨ “You’re not weak for struggling.”
✨ “You’re not faithless for asking why.”
✨ “You can survive this.”
The enemy thrives in isolation.
God moves through testimony.
Scripture tells us in Revelation 12:11 that we overcome “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” Just a reminder there is power in speaking what God has carried you through.
Not because we are strong. But because He is faithful.
Being a Vessel, Not the Hero
We are not the heroes of our stories. We are the vessels.
A vessel doesn’t create the living water — it simply carries it.
When I look back at the loss of Nolan and my cancer diagnosis, I see so many moments where I had nothing left to give. And yet somehow, peace would settle. Strength would rise. Provision would show up. The right person would call. The right scripture would surface.
That wasn’t me. That was God flowing through cracked clay.
When we share our story, we aren’t elevating ourselves. We are pointing to the One who sustained us.
Someone Is Watching You Survive
You may not realize it, but someone is watching how you endure.
Someone is learning from the way you grieve and still trust. Someone is taking courage from the way you choose treatment paths aligned with your convictions. Someone is drawing hope from your obedience when it doesn’t make sense to everyone else.
Your survival becomes their blueprint. Your faith becomes their permission slip. Your surrender becomes their strength.
Don’t Wait Until It’s Over
We often believe we have to wait until the victory is complete before we speak.
But sometimes the most powerful testimony is: “I’m still walking through it… and God is still good.”
You don’t have to have a perfectly wrapped ending to share hope.
You just have to be willing to let God use your middle.
If You’re in the Middle Right Now
If you’re walking through grief…
If you’re facing a diagnosis…
If you’re staring at a future you didn’t plan…
Hear me:
This chapter will not be wasted.
This pain will not have the final word. This valley will not last forever.
One day, you will tell your story of how you overcame what you’re going through now.
And when you do, someone else will whisper — “If she made it… maybe I can too.”
Let God use it.
Let Him redeem it.
Let Him pour through you.
Your story matters.
Even the broken parts —especially the broken parts. And someone else is going to live because you were brave enough to share it.
As we close this blog, I ask you to read that quote again — slowly this time:
“One day you will tell your story of how you’ve overcome what you’re going through now, and it will become part of someone else’s survival guide.”
Don’t just see it as words on a screen. See it as a promise over your life. Whatever you are facing today — the grief, the diagnosis, the uncertainty, the waiting — it is not the end of your story. It is a chapter. And one day, you will speak about this season from the other side of it. You will look back and see where God carried you, strengthened you, and refined you. And when you share it — when you choose courage over silence — your testimony will light the path for someone else still walking in the dark. So hold on. Keep going. Let God write redemption into your pages. Your story isn’t just about survival… it’s about becoming someone else’s hope.
I’ll close this with a verse God put on my heart:
Romans 8:28 (NKJV)
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Until next time, keep joy in your hearts. 💕 ✨
With love and gratitude,
Ali
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