Today, we said goodbye to my brother-in-law's mother.
As I sat through her homegoing celebration, I couldn't help but think about one thing she would say, no matter what life brought her way:
“It is well.”
Those three words carried so much meaning.
It wasn't that life was always easy for her. It wasn't that she never experienced disappointment, heartache, loss, or difficult seasons.
She simply believed that whatever storm she was facing, it would eventually pass.
It would be well.
I've been thinking about those words ever since.
Because life has storms.
Some storms come suddenly. Some build slowly. Some shake you in ways you never expected. And some change you forever.
I've had my own storms.
There are things I've walked through that I haven't shared here yet. But as I continue this journey of self-love, self-care, and healing, I know there will be a time when I share some of those stories.
Not because I want to live in the storms I've experienced, but because I know someone else may be standing in the middle of one right now.
And maybe they need to hear:
It is well.
Not because everything is perfect.
Not because the pain isn't real.
Not because we don't understand why certain things happen.
But because storms don't last forever.
There is peace in knowing that you can stand in the middle of something difficult and still believe that there is something on the other side of it.
Today, I am grieving the loss of someone who touched our family.
But I'm also holding onto something she taught through the way she lived:
It is well.
And maybe that is part of self-love too.
Learning to be gentle with yourself while you're going through the storm.
Giving yourself permission to feel the pain without believing the pain is yours forever.
Trusting that even when you can't see the way forward, there will be a way forward.
So wherever you are today, whatever you're carrying, whatever storm you're standing in...
Take a breath.
Give yourself grace.
And remind yourself:
It is well.
Maybe not today.
Maybe not tomorrow.
But the storm will pass.
And it will be well.