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Reclamation: A Broken Life Repurposed
Reclamation: A Broken Life Repurposed
Reclamation: A Broken Life Repurposed
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Reclamation: A Broken Life Repurposed

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Why is this happening? What now? Who am I? What’s my purpose? We often start asking these questions when our lives begin falling apart. Our plans don’t unfold the way we want or envision. We lose sight of our dreams and goals. We live in survival mode. We hunger and thirst for more, for love, for meaning. But there’s hope in the darkness. There’s peace through the pain. There’s freedom on the other side of our fear.

In Reclamation, author Olivia Lanna narrates her raw and deeply vulnerable story that chronicles the life of a broken-hearted and broken-spirited girl who grew into a shrewd and prideful adult and lost everything she ever wanted and loved. She needed to understand why her seemingly perfect life fell apart and desperately tried to fix it using her own strength. During her journey, she finds her true self, peace, purpose, and achieves the dream that had begun to fade in the sinful darkness.


“Olivia shares her story so openly, honestly, transparently -- and so redemptively. She shares with readers what she has learned and how she has grown through some incredibly painful experiences, pointing them to the hope she has found, the grace she has experienced.” –Christin Ditchfield, Author of What Women Should Know about Letting It Go: Breaking Free from the Power of Guilt, Discouragement, and Defeat

“Olivia’s gift of writing combined with relatable life struggles makes the reader feel like they are part of her story. It is also a wonderful reminder that rebirth can happen anytime. The decision is ours!” – Dana Kantara, Former Physician Assistant, Follower of Christ, and Founding Member & National Presidential Director of IDLife, LLC

"Amazing, sensational, and incredibly relatable. You won't be able to put this book down as Lanna takes you on a self-reflective journey that opens the readers' eyes to both new perspectives and unexpected common ground. Experience honesty, hurt, and hope and the feeling that you made a real connection along the way. This story is an inspiration that could be the difference maker in your life, and I highly recommend it." – Ryan K Maule, President of Integrity Doctors and host of The Expect Awesome Podcast

“A profoundly introspective piece that invites the reader to join in the journey without saying so … a convincing interplay between real life struggles and one’s faith, where one feeds off the other in a manner that readers can relate to. Excellent read!” – Stuart T. O’Neal, III, Trial Attorney
LanguageEnglish
PublisherWestBow Press
Release dateNov 2, 2023
ISBN9798385008995
Reclamation: A Broken Life Repurposed
Author

Olivia Lanna

Olivia Lanna is an attorney who has received a calling from God to leave her old sin-filled life behind. Having been a trial lawyer and conference speaker for more than twenty years, she has transformed her life and career into one that will glorify God. Olivia continues to write and speak with a focus on finding purpose, spiritual resurrection, and discerning the Holy Spirit. She is the author and creator of a children’s book series that is designed to teach young children basic moral principles and the fruit of the Spirit. Olivia resides on the East Coast with her son and prays her daughter and son-in-law will relocate to the coast. For more information, visit www.olivialanna.com. For speaking engagements, email info@olivialanna.com. #LivLoveFollow on Instagram: @Author_OliviaLanna

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    Reclamation - Olivia Lanna

    Copyright © 2023 Olivia Lanna.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

    This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

    WestBow Press

    A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

    1663 Liberty Drive

    Bloomington, IN 47403

    www.westbowpress.com

    844-714-3454

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

    and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

    Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

    Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

    Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from King James version of the Bible, public domain.

    Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

    ISBN: 979-8-3850-0897-1 (sc)

    ISBN: 979-8-3850-0898-8 (hc)

    ISBN: 979-8-3850-0899-5 (e)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2023918813

    WestBow Press rev. date: 10/20/2023

    CONTENTS

    Author’s Note

    Introduction

    Chapter 1: On Top of My Mountain

    Chapter 2: In the Beginning

    Chapter 3: The Antilife Mantra: I Am Not Enough

    Chapter 4: The Blame Game

    Chapter 5: Mine Is on the Right, Right?

    Chapter 6: It’s All Black and White

    Chapter 7: Just the Two of Us

    Chapter 8: Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Survive

    Chapter 9: Dancing in the Dark

    Chapter 10: Think That Was Bad? Hold My Beer

    Chapter 11: #MeToo

    Chapter 12: Does the End Justify the Means?

    Chapter 13: Love-Bombed on Path 222

    Chapter 14: The Nurturer, the Provider, and the Firm

    Chapter 15: Abandoned Part One

    Chapter 16: Tacos and Testosterone

    Chapter 17: Abandoned Part Two

    Chapter 18: Suffer in Silence

    Chapter 19: Rewind and Repeat

    Chapter 20: Gaslighting 101

    Chapter 21: It Takes Two to Tango

    Chapter 22: Just Start Paddling

    Chapter 23: The End Is Just the Beginning

    Chapter 24: Baptism: Takes Two and Three

    Chapter 25: Divorced but Never Had a Husband

    Chapter 26: New Identity, New Clothes

    Chapter 27: Two Parts Toxic, No Part Joy

    Chapter 28: Your Tribe Is Your Vibe

    Chapter 29: The Lionesses and Their Pride

    Chapter 30: Let It Grow

    Chapter 31: Holy Spirit, Is That You?

    Chapter 32: The Controlled Burn

    Chapter 33: Leave a Legacy

    Chapter 34: Just Jump

    Chapter 35: Life Candy and All Things Woo-Woo

    Chapter 36: Path 222 Volume 2

    Chapter 37: My Issue with Jesus Revisited

    Chapter 38: Tearstains

    Chapter 39: Puzzle Pieces

    Acknowledgments

    About the Author

    Notes

    To the dreamers, the doers, and the desperate; to the

    sinners and brokenhearted. There is hope.

    —O.L.

    Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but

    a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.

    —Proverbs 13:12

    rec∙la∙ma∙tion

    [rek-luh-mey-shuhn]

    noun

    1. The reclaiming of desert, marshy, or submerged areas or other wasteland for cultivation or other use

    2. The act or process of reclaiming.

    -Dictionary.com/reclamation

    AUTHOR’S NOTE

    The purpose of this book is to share my deeply personal journey so that others who are still living in a similar darkness may see light, no matter how dim it currently appears. In doing so, naturally, many other people are intimately involved in my story. They have shaped me, guided me, pulled me through some tough situations, or even shoved me into some fairly uncomfortable and dark places. Regardless of their role, my memory of the events and with each of those people is just that, mine. With time, memories fade. So everything in this book contains memories that vividly remain with me. I may not have every detail or word entirely correct, but I relay them exactly as I remember them. To protect the privacy of all individuals who have been part of this journey, the names, locations and other identifying information have been changed. The integrity of the events remain intact and are shared with the intent to guide or inspire the reader to a purposeful and hopeful life of love and joy.

    INTRODUCTION

    There are dreamers, there are doers, and there are achievers. Dreamers have the best of intentions and have taken their first step toward purpose. They dream big dreams, have grandiose ideas, and even sculpt well-thought-out plans. Then fear handicaps execution. Laziness destroys momentum. Distraction deters dreams from becoming reality. Time is not always on their side. And eventually, those dreams fade, like a photograph that has lost its color over the last two decades, sitting in a dark closet in a pile of broken memories packed in a storage box. The dreams become nothing more than a black-and-white distant memory of what could have been.

    The doers are in constant motion like mice on a wheel. If they can just run faster and push a little harder, they’ll reach the destination—happiness. They stay busy for the sake of having something to do, for feeling important, or for checking off their boxes of life goals. Work hard, play hard. Carpe diem. They are always on the go yet so unfulfilled. Doers have forgotten their dreams. Maybe they’ve gotten distracted. Maybe they have listened to a naysayer. Maybe they have remained on the wheel, thinking that is where they belong. Life has become a blur of images. The once vibrant colors begin bleeding into one another, eventually turning into streaks of gray. Doers live much of their lives in black and white.

    A much smaller percentage of people truly achieve. Achievers are the doers of their dreams. Achievers are the dreamers who have held on to a passion, devised a plan, and executed it through movement, stillness, and faith. They have the courage and determination to push through fear. Their faith may have been religious, spiritual, or simply a driving feeling deep in their belly—faith in themselves, knowledge and true belief they can and will achieve, not succeed but achieve.

    Success comes in many forms. The dreamers and doers may succeed financially, on the family front, or elsewhere and still not actually achieve their dreams. Achieving the dream is different from success. Achievers execute their dreams and find fulfillment in the journey. Achievers become someone different during the journey. Achievers don’t long for happiness; they embody joy.

    By nature, we all start out as dreamers. As children, we may dream of becoming a princess, a race car driver, a famous singer, a physician, a parent, or the president of the United States. As we grow older, those dreams often evolve into something new or take on a clarity that comes with life experience and knowledge. The dream is nothing more than a mustard seed, tiny and miniscule. The environment and voices around us—family, friends, educators, coaches, mentors, priests, and pastors—all take part in the early life of the mustard seed dream. Will they help it sprout with light or shove it into darkness? Ultimately, as an adult, we can do what we want with our mustard seed dream: plant it, nurture it, ensure it is in the right surroundings, and tend to it while it grows or, like many, keep it buried in the darkness based on emotions connected to our past. The choice is ours.

    Despite having a dream, which presented itself during high school when I discovered my passion for writing and storytelling, I spent twenty-seven years as a doer checking off my boxes of success, and there were many. Despite the success, I never experienced joy. Sure, I had moments, months, and even a couple of years of intermittent happiness, but the happiness in reaching my list of goals faded. The time-limited happiness associated with external success became suffocating. Eventually, it all came crashing down.

    Maneuvering past failures, life’s trials and tribulations, or daily trip-ups is where genuine growth begins. At rock bottom, a black-and-white life looks like a dusty pile of rubble, but there is only one direction to go. And it was there under the rubble, choking on a cloud of dust, where this dreamer turned doer remembered her dream. This dreamer began listening to her inner voice, the Spirit within, and the multitude of signs hand delivered from something divine. Digging past the dusty gray and crawling toward the light, this dreamer realized that a brand-new, beautiful world full of joy awaited.

    The fact that I wrote these pages while sitting on a plane heading to Chicago when I always had a dream of living in Chicago while I wrote my first book was not a coincidence. It was a deep-seated, fire-in-my-belly, Spirit-led dream being put into action because the longing I expressed over and over was part of the plan—my life’s purpose. Openly speaking about my desire and belief that I would one day be writing, communicating, and encouraging others through written word began to manifest into reality. A substantial portion of my first career utilized those very skills.

    Plans often change, but our purpose remains the same. We are all created to be the light to others. Our path to achieving our purpose differs from person to person.

    When this brokenhearted sinner wanted to find her purpose, it required fixing the damaged pieces of her life—the inner parts of my spirit, my outward personality, and the external environment surrounding me. My evolution required obedience. Embarking on the voyage to purpose required listening to the Spirit within. Once that occurred, I achieved the dream and found peace. In peace there is joy. In joy there is love … and well, God is love.

    Now hang tight. Don’t go and close this book thinking it is all just preaching and teaching. It is more than that. It is raw and unbridled authenticity poured out for someone in need. It’s how I’ve tried, through my own strength and determination, to rewire my thoughts and emotions from the past. It’s how I’ve learned I need to surrender to something greater than my own self.

    If you’re curious how a self-involved, people-loathing, money-hungry, morally corrupt, overthinking trial lawyer with something to prove has achieved a new life, by all means, keep reading. That said, you will probably want to close the book if you hate metaphors. I am, by training, a trial lawyer, and everything in life has an analogy or metaphor. I am not, however, a psychologist or theologian. This is merely my story with my interpretation of events and of how God has transformed my heart, my mind, and my life. I encourage everyone to do their own soul-searching and research, read scripture for themselves, and communicate with experts much wiser than me. I am merely a woman on a mission of hope.

    The journey of our lives need not be found only in something based on religious beliefs. Some believe it is written in the universe. Some believe our journey can be accomplished through faith in oneself. Some believe it is all just karma. The story of my revival touches on all of it because I have tried everything. My transformation has taken years, utilizing a myriad of resources and modalities, many of which are explored in the pages to follow.

    Author Jack Canfield has said, It is not the goal that matters but who you become in the process of achieving it. Those words cannot be truer. I am a living testament that change, transformation, and living resurrection can occur. But I am also a living testimony that it does not occur without divine godly intervention.

    For those of you who aren’t familiar with the parable of the shepherd who leaves his ninety-nine sheep to find the lost one, the story is exactly as it sounds. The shepherd rejoices over finding the one lost, unruly, disobedient sheep. The shepherd tosses his prized possession over his shoulders and joyfully brings his defiant lamb home to reunite it with the flock. And let me tell you, it is a truly humbling day when you realize you are the wayward lamb.

    I often still joke that I felt stalked. The Shepherd strategically placed obstacles and people in front of me because He was intent on finding the one—His one. He had plans for me, which were different from my plans but, interestingly, directly in line with my buried and fading dreams.

    I am sharing my journey as the lost sheep—my desire to wander and stay missing as a result of self-limiting beliefs and emotions attached to painful memories; my inability to identify my Shepherd’s call; my fear of Him approaching; my refusal to follow and my deep need to control my course despite His warnings; my many detours into dark ditches and dangerous tunnels; my lack of trust; my confusion over His directed path and my multiple steps off it in attempt to run back to the comfort of negativity, pain, and isolation; my realization He wasn’t going to leave until I followed; and, finally, my surrender and revival.

    Resurrection does not happen without death. At one point in His ministry, Jesus allowed the death of a man named Lazarus. His friend needed to die so Jesus could miraculously raise Lazarus from the dead. He performed a similar miracle on a little girl who had been ill and died before Jesus arrived at her house. In His own resurrection, Jesus needed to suffer crucifixion first. His death preceded new life.

    Death is not necessarily final. In death there is life. Some forest fires are set on purpose to allow for new growth; they are called controlled burns. A controlled burn is rejuvenating. New life springs from death.

    What if our own life-death is just a spiritual controlled burn? Perhaps my fire was purposefully designed to bury the old version of myself so a new life-giving version could resurrect. Maybe God designed the plan and lit the match. Maybe He didn’t. Either way, He was with me in the fire. It took courage, obedience, and faith to take the first step into the flames. It took an entirely new spirit to light my own match and watch the black-and-white life turn to dusty ash.

    I share this story for all who are lost in the wilderness or who are aching for change. My hope is that the wandering sheep living in darkness will find the light on their own journey. Inspiring and guiding others in need of help, curious about faith, or confused about their purpose in life demands my transparency. Healing and becoming a new person in the process requires a revival in thoughts, emotions, and spirit. Remember: my overflowing basket of dirty laundry spilled starkly across the following pages is the least important part of my story. It merely shines light on the old life-draining pathway that needed to burn.

    CHAPTER 1

    ON TOP OF MY MOUNTAIN

    Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

    —Proverbs 16:18

    S UCCESS IS RELATIVE AND PROFOUNDLY individual. One late afternoon in February 2020, success blew down the highway in a Porsche with a personalized ego plate going 95 mph. I had made it. I had accomplished everything on my list: the college education, the law degree, the career, the clients, the perfect husband, the beautiful children in a blended family, travel for work, travel for fun. Louboutin- and Manolo-covered feet for days, custom clothes with my initials embroidered on cuff-linked sleeves, the Porsche, the Range Rover, the house, the pool, and a bit of land, all secured by a six-foot privacy gate. I had it all, a perfect external existence. I loved my life.

    With wheels burning the asphalt, Zac Brown singing about fried chicken, and fingers tapping along to the beat after my second trial win in two months, it hit me. I had succeeded! This doer had made it to the top of her self-created mountain of goals and checked off boxes, my mountain of success, the one that proved I had become someone, something more than the emotionally broken girl from my past. I was a trial lawyer and shareholder of my firm with a healthy book of business and clients who trusted me with their hospitals, money, reputation, and medical licenses. I was doing exactly what I set out to do nineteen years earlier. The trail in my wake left remnants of skin, broken fingernails, blood, sweat, a teaspoon of tears, and nearly every minute of billable time I had graciously been given. I had clawed my way to the top of a mountain constructed of pride and financial greed. It should have been the most exhilarating feeling.

    After a mountaintop moment of basking in the glory of myself, my billowing superwoman cape fell limp. Gray clouds covered my sun, casting shadows over my sullen face. There I was, eerily alone, consumed by emotional burdens from my past.

    About halfway home, the music quieted, maybe in my head, but likely I turned it off. The hum of the engine seemed diminished, and the road felt smoother. The odometer read the speed limit as my car had somehow cruised into the slow lane.

    An all-too-familiar sensation flooded my body. The air began to constrict around my chest. My nervous stomach woke up from a trance and urged me to change course from the direction I was heading. The blaring sirens in my brain demanded finding the emergency exit from my life. This existence isn’t reality. Look around! Is anyone in that house happy? I haven’t been for years. Unwilling to deal with my plight, I shook it off and buried the truth with the internal alarm bells. Instead, I adjusted my cape and donned self-centered elation like a perfectly tailored suit of armor while I continued the drive home to my perfect life.

    While waiting for our property gate to open, love filled my eyes as they rested on our family home in the distance. The chimney puffed out smoke as if inviting me into a cozy abode of adoration beyond the chilly outside layers of brick and stone. Ah, I love our little compound. My romanticized thought immediately drew a response from a different voice, one I often ignored. Who am I kidding? I hate this house. Rolling slowly down the long driveway, listening to the wheels crunch the tiny pebbles beneath my tires, my fingers squeezed the steering wheel. Is he going to be excited to see me?

    Upon entering the door after two weeks of being away and a fantastic jury trial win, the love of my life casually and slowly walked in my direction. With butterflies in my belly and a beaming smile, I approached the man who made my heart and time stand still. He greeted me with a fake half smile and a high five before walking back into the kitchen and away from his wife, who had missed him every minute of those two weeks. I’m sorry. What was that? What just happened there? A high flippin’ five? No jubilatory hug, no passionate I’m proud you are my wife kiss, not even a pat on the backside! Just a soft touch of the hand, followed by a cold, blistering wind of emptiness.

    The squall of loneliness forced the oxygen from my lungs. That pesky lump in my throat, which I had often cleared away in recent months, reemerged. With a bruised ego, under the cover of gray skies, head slumped and arms hanging, I moped from the top of my perfect mountain to the edge.

    It’s time to go. Just let go. I heard the call to start making my way down. It was a call I had no interest in hearing. I needed this mountain. It was mine. It represented everything I ever wanted—sans the trees of desperation, paths of isolation, and lookouts of gaslighting and fear.

    My marriage is healing, I encouraged the whimpering girl within. It’s just a three-year rough patch. I’m doing my part. Everything will be fine. So instead of heeding the warning to start the descent down the mountain, I gave myself a pipe dream pep talk. I pitched a flimsy tent, started a campfire, sipped some bourbon, and waited.

    Over the previous five months, I had religiously attended therapy and read self-help books on how to create a loving marriage, how to reconnect with your spouse, and how to de-stress. I learned to meditate and change the way I communicated with my husband. After all, he was God’s gift, my everything, my forever, mi vida! Convinced I must be the problem, I put in the work and fully expected my husband to rejoin our marriage. I remained in position on my mountain, pathetically alone, believing an Adderall a day would keep my emotions at bay, while I anxiously awaited the love of my life to reach the top and sit with his devoted wife by the fire.

    The spring and summer of 2020 forced external change. One by one, every aspect of my perfect life began to tumble like a rockslide. Travel shut down. Offices shut down. Courthouses shut down. My eleven trials were all removed from the court dockets. My bonus children stayed with their mothers and rarely came to our home for four months. New work from my clients slowed to an astounding halt. Employees quit. And then on July 12, the day my husband and I returned home from our family vacation, my mountain crumbled—no, my mountain of pride imploded.

    I don’t want to do this anymore, he said with his head down, never making eye contact.

    Four days later, the love of my life walked out. As the door closed behind him, the implosion of my mountain instantly left me and our two-year-old son in the ruins, digging our way out to the light.

    CHAPTER 2

    IN THE BEGINNING

    If there were no sinners, we wouldn’t have a congregation.

    —Father Rick (2013)

    T RANSFORMATION CAN LEAD TO A life of purpose. It can lead to the achievement of the dream. Transformation, however, does not occur without self-evaluation and persistent action to rewire the brain to a new realm of thinking. A deep dive into our own psyche is not for the meek or easily offended. It is not for the stubborn know-it-all, at least until that know-it-all has no other choice.

    When this shrewd, obstinate loudmouth fell to her knees, broken and lost, self-critique took over. Rather than continue to fight against the current of change, I took the plunge into every facet of my existence: my environment, my family, my childhood, my influences, my friends, my choice of entertainment, my mindset, my intuition and voice of reason, and most importantly my heart. After all, the heart has the ability to control the brain.¹

    My pastor recently said, Focus on the need, not the sin. My self-discovery led to a flurry of old emotional baggage, which required an outlet. A social media platform became my cathartic emotional landfill. After many people reached out, thanking me for my vulnerability and sharing their comparable stories, I realized there must be many more who needed to take this type of personal plunge.

    I believe there are millions of people who ache for a revival, whether it be spiritual or emotional. To fully appreciate what God has done and can do in the life of a sinner, the history and the developed mindset need to be explored. When a sinner finds faith and puts it into action, miracles happen, and lives change. And that, my friends, is the critical part of this rebirth.

    Now let’s be clear. I am a sinner. Of the Ten Commandments, I’ve broken nine. The fact that I write this from an airplane somewhere over Chicago and not a prison cell should make it fairly obvious which commandment remains intact. Most likely, through these pages, I will break some biblical regulations again. This is just real talk. We have all sinned—we will all sin again. However, despite our indiscretions and mistakes, we can still achieve God’s plan for our lives. No matter what you have done or failed to do, the Shepherd will still seek you. He will bring you home. He will remind you of your dream. He will point you to your purpose. You can still achieve your dream.

    Let’s trek back to the original sin for truth in this statement. According to scripture, God’s plan when forming the world and our existence included a man to care for and cultivate His creation. It then included a woman because God realized man could not achieve or fulfill His plan without a woman. God’s plan intended population in His image—that’s us, humans.

    Despite giving humans free will, which I often believed was nothing but a setup for failure, God’s plan also included some rules, the simple directive: Don’t eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Everything else is fair game and yours, but don’t touch that tree. However, just like a toddler and a glass vase, two teenagers with raging hormones, or a driver late for work and a gas pedal, man (Adam) and woman (Eve) failed. With sin, with mistakes, there are consequences. The toddler got scolded. The teenager got pregnant. The driver got a ticket. Man and woman were banished from the Garden of Eden. Man would go on to struggle while caring for and cultivating the land. Woman, too, would struggle. Don’t get me started on labor pains. Thanks a lot, Eve.

    Despite that fateful sunny day with the serpent and subsequent banishment from their perfect garden home, man and woman still achieved and fulfilled God’s plan. It required a different path in a different location, one riddled with heartache, hard work, and dedication. But they reached His charted destination. They served and fulfilled their purpose. They took care of God’s creation and populated the earth. Adam and Eve understood the assignment.

    It’s right there in black and white: sinners can achieve. Despite mistakes or living through the consequences, sinners can achieve if they remain steadfast. And this sinner has received her discipline and now must fulfill His plan. Today I understand my gifts of authentic communication and persuasion and that those gifts and talents align with my purpose. My purpose is to love, to be the light, and my vulnerability is shared to encourage others in their own transformation so they may become an achiever of their dream.

    But first, before even realizing her purpose, this sinner and stubborn overthinker needed to understand why her perfect life imploded. I needed to acknowledge and accept my litany of past transgressions and self-limiting thoughts, whether they came from past trauma or my adult-developed greed and self-righteousness. We all have a moral code complete with an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. I needed to grasp why I abandoned my moral code and chose to ignore my voice of reason. I needed to identify and accept the discipline and lesson before I could lay it all down. Forgiving and learning to love the sinner within takes extraordinary self-reflection through God’s lens of grace.

    CHAPTER 3

    THE ANTILIFE MANTRA: I AM NOT ENOUGH

    Your thoughts and feelings come from your past memories.

    —Dr. Joe Dispenza

    A 2014 STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE journal Social Forces reported only 6 percent of adults achieved their childhood dream

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