Story Starts With Someone Willing to Share
These are real people. Real journeys. Real moments of growth, healing, and hope.
If you've overcome something, learned something, or simply want to encourage someone else, we'd be honored to share your story.
Hall of Stories
Because healing often begins when someone realizes they're not the only one.
The Day I Stopped Performing
I've been blessed to serve in many roles throughout my life. I'm an Army veteran, a Guinness World Record holder, a husband, a father, a leader, an author, a speaker, and an entrepreneur. Every one of those experiences has shaped who I am, and I'm grateful for the opportunities God has placed before me.
But success has a way of hiding the questions you're still asking yourself.
For years, I believed my value was connected to what I could accomplish. Every promotion, every milestone, every book, every speaking opportunity, and every achievement felt meaningful, but none of them answered the deeper question I was carrying.
Who am I when I'm not producing?
That question stayed with me longer than I wanted to admit.
What God began showing me was that my identity was never supposed to come from my performance. It wasn't found in a job title, a military uniform, a world record, a book cover, or a business. My identity had already been established by the One who created me.
That realization changed everything.
I still lead. I still write. I still build. I still pursue excellence. The difference is that I'm no longer trying to earn my worth through those things. They are expressions of who I am, not proof of who I am.
That's why I started the SEEN Movement.
Because I've learned there are countless people who appear successful on the outside while quietly wondering if they're enough on the inside.
If my story helps even one person stop measuring their value by what they do and start embracing who God says they are, then every part of my journey has been worth sharing.
I didn't stop pursuing excellence. I stopped looking to achievement to tell me who I was.
Finding Peace Again
For years, panic attacks made me feel like fear was in control of my life. There were moments when the weight of anxiety felt overwhelming, and I questioned whether I would ever experience peace again. Even on the days when everything looked normal from the outside, there was an internal battle that few people could see.
My healing didn't happen overnight. It came one day, one prayer, and one step of faith at a time. As I learned to trust God in the middle of my uncertainty instead of waiting for my circumstances to change, I discovered that peace isn't the absence of fear. It's the presence of God in the middle of it.
Today, my story isn't about panic attacks. It's about God's faithfulness. If you're walking through anxiety or wondering if you'll ever feel like yourself again, I want you to know there is hope. Healing is possible, peace is possible, and you don't have to walk that journey alone.
Becoming Confident
For a long time, I worried about fitting in and whether I was enough. Like so many young people, I compared myself to others and wondered if I measured up. Those thoughts quietly affected the way I saw myself and made it easy to believe my value depended on what other people thought.
Over time, I began to realize that confidence doesn't come from trying to be like everyone else. It comes from embracing the person God created me to be. The more I learned to see myself through His eyes instead of the opinions of others, the more I found the courage to stop chasing acceptance and start walking in confidence.
I'm still growing, still learning, and still becoming the woman God has called me to be. But today I know that confidence isn't about being perfect. It's about knowing your identity and refusing to let comparison define your worth.
If you've ever questioned whether you're enough, I hope my story reminds you that you don't have to become someone else to matter. The person God created you to be has always been enough.
When the Enemy Waits
The enemy doesn’t strike when we’re strong; he waits until we’re weary. In the wilderness, Christ’s exhaustion became the devil’s opportunity…yet even then, holiness triumphed.
So it is with us: when fatigue dulls our vigilance, sin prowls quietly, seeking entry through our weakness. But love of Christ illuminates the shadows, revealing the subtle snares before they tighten. Exhaustion may expose us, but grace awakens us.
In Christ…Be vigilant
From Anger to Self-Control
My story is about anger and learning how to take control of it instead of letting it control me.
For a long time, I struggled with managing my anger. I would react quickly to situations and often let my emotions make decisions for me. This caused problems in relationships, created unnecessary conflict, and led to missed opportunities in my life.
One of the biggest lessons I learned is that if you don’t control your actions and emotions, opportunities can pass you by. I also realized that not everyone is against me, even when it may feel that way in difficult moments.
As I’ve grown, I’ve learned to channel my anger into finding solutions instead of simply reacting. I now try to step back, think through situations, communicate better, and work through challenges with a clearer mindset.
My journey is still ongoing, but I’ve grown into someone who understands that true strength isn’t found in anger, it’s found in self-control, growth, and choosing to respond rather than react. If my story can help someone else who struggles with anger, I want them to know that change is possible and that growth begins when you decide to take responsibility for yourself and your actions.
When God's Timing Became My Testimony
In 2025, I experienced a miscarriage, and I was devastated. I couldn’t understand how something so heartbreaking could happen during a season when everything else seemed to be going so well.
Over time, I learned that not everything happens on my timeline. Sometimes we have to be still, trust God even when we don’t understand, and allow Him to prepare our hearts for what’s ahead.
Looking back, I can honestly say God’s timing has been better than anything I could have planned. Today, I’m a proud mom of two beautiful boys, and I’m grateful for every step of the journey. 🩵
The Renewal of the Mind
For 35 years, addiction controlled my life.
When I look back, I realize it all started much earlier than I ever understood. Growing up, drinking was a normal part of family gatherings and holidays. Back then, it wasn't uncommon for adults to give children a small sip of alcohol to help them sleep. I still remember the first time my dad gave me a drink. I remember the burn in my stomach, the sleepy feeling that followed, and eventually falling asleep. At the time, it seemed harmless.
As I grew older, I watched the people around me drink, work, laugh, and have fun. I believed that was simply the way life was supposed to be. But over time, I also watched alcohol begin to destroy the people I loved, and eventually it began destroying me.
By junior high, I had started smoking marijuana. I had dreams of following in my older brothers' footsteps by playing sports, but I struggled in school and couldn't keep my grades high enough to participate. During that time, I was diagnosed with a learning disability and placed in special education classes.
I'm not ashamed to say that.
I spent my entire school career in special education, and while learning came with challenges, life itself became my greatest teacher.
By the time I reached high school, alcohol had become a way of life. I was already using drugs, and now I was becoming an alcoholic. Like so many others, I didn't realize how deep I was until I eventually hit rock bottom.
For much of my life, I felt like I didn't belong anywhere. By the time I was old enough to spend time with my older brothers, they were beginning their own adult lives. They had jobs, sports, friends, and relationships. I often felt like I was growing up on my own.
Through years of disappointment and struggle, I carried a constant feeling that I was simply existing without a purpose. Even when I believed people cared about me, I often felt unseen and unaccepted. Yet despite everything, I've always loved people, even those who never seemed to consider my feelings.
From the age of 16 until I was 48 years old, addiction ruled my life. During that time, I experienced homelessness for three years, and I hurt many of the people I loved the most. Those choices were mine, and I take responsibility for them. I have no one else to blame.
Today, my life is different.
God renewed my mind.
Recovery didn't begin until I surrendered my life to Him. Every day I choose Him because I know where my old life leads. My relationship with God has given me hope, purpose, and a reason to keep moving forward.
If you're struggling with addiction or any battle that feels impossible to overcome, please don't suffer in silence. Tell someone. Reach out. There are people who care, even when it doesn't feel that way.
Take it from someone who spent 35 years trapped in addiction.
There is hope.
There is healing.
And with God, there is always the opportunity for a new beginning.
God bless you all.
Grace From Labels
I have been sober since 12/2/2022. They say ,”once an alcoholic, always and alcoholic “, or perhaps “former alcoholic”. I called the BS flag on that one. My past is not going to follow me with labels. I don’t drink, I’m not an alcoholic, and God has delivered me. I refuse to label myself something God defeated on my behalf. The labels I do carry are follower, husband, father, grandfather, friend, and mentor. I have the best support system from those that have stood by me through it all. Even those I may have hurt are my biggest supporters. That’s called Grace and forgiveness, and if I’ve received that from Him, I must apply it to myself. I’m NOT an alcoholic.
More Than What I'm Going Through
My name is Sydney, and if you had asked me years ago what I thought my life would look like, I never could have imagined that it would look like this.
Before I had a real relationship with God, I was in a very dark place. I struggled deeply with believing that I was worth anything. I had been bullied, talked about, and had rumors constantly spread about me. I felt like everyone was against me. More than anything, I carried the belief that if my biological father didn’t want me, and if the people around me didn’t want me, then how could anyone else ever want me?
I tried to take my own life multiple times. I struggled with self-harm and thoughts that told me I wasn't enough, that I was too far gone, and that my life didn't have a purpose.
My sister started going to The Journey and kept asking me to go with her. I always told her no. I thought it was a waste of time and that none of it was worth it. Then, in seventh grade, she actually tricked me into going to youth for the first time.
I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.
I thought it was all a lie. I thought I was too far gone for God to want anything to do with me.
But I kept going.
After about a month of youth, I was signed up to go to Passion Camp. I was honestly dreading it. I wasn't very close with the girls in my group yet, and the idea of opening up about things I had never told anyone to people I barely knew felt incredibly uncomfortable.
But that trip changed something in me.
One of the speakers asked everyone who had ever felt the way I did to stand up. I stayed seated. I looked around at everyone standing, knowing exactly how they felt, but I couldn't bring myself to get up.
My sister eventually came over and pulled me to my feet.
The last time I had self-harmed was about a month before that.
That night at Passion, something changed in me. A fire started growing in my heart that I never thought was possible. When it was time for small groups, I finally let out everything I had been holding onto for so long.
I still struggled afterward. I wanted a relationship with God, but part of me still believed I wasn't enough. I still believed I was too far gone. I was trying to depend on myself for everything instead of depending on God and the community He had placed around me.
I continued to struggle with suicidal thoughts and tendencies, but slowly, things began to change.
The following year, my relationship with God and my youth group became stronger. I wasn't self-harming anymore, and those thoughts began to become less frequent.
In May of 2019, I got baptized.
At the time, I pushed myself to believe I was completely ready, even though looking back, I realize there were still so many parts of my life I hadn't truly surrendered to God.
Then, four years later, everything changed again.
Right before my 17th birthday, I was rushed to the hospital. I spent 10 days there, going through appointments, tests, and treatments while doctors tried to figure out what was happening to me. Eventually, I was diagnosed with severe POTS.
I remember thinking, This is it. This is the end of my life. I'm not going to make it out of here.
Suddenly, I couldn't do the things I had always taken for granted. I couldn't drive. I couldn't work. I couldn't even walk more than a few steps without depending on my parents and nurses to help me.
But something happened in that hospital room that I didn't expect.
My youth group heard I was in the hospital and started writing handwritten cards to me. One of my group leaders came and sat beside my hospital bed.
And as I sat there, completely dependent on the people around me, God opened my eyes to something I had been missing for years.
I realized how much I had still been trying to do on my own.
I realized that I wasn't meant to carry everything by myself.
God had given me a community, and I had been treating community like something I only needed when everything was going well. But the people He had placed in my life weren't only there to celebrate with me. They were there to walk beside me through the hardest moments, too.
That hospital stay changed my relationship with God.
I made the decision to fully give Him every part of myself and every part of my life. Not 90%. Not the parts that were easy to surrender. All of it.
I told God that I wanted to build my entire life on Him and His truth. I wanted to stop depending on myself and start depending completely on Him and the people He had placed around me.
And now, I'm living through one of the hardest seasons of my life.
I still have severe POTS. I still have days filled with unanswered questions and uncertainty. I don't know what every day is going to look like, and I don't know if or when I'll be able to do all of the things I once thought were normal.
But somehow, I've never felt more at peace.
It's hard to explain.
I'm scared sometimes. I'm frustrated sometimes. There are days when I wish my life looked different.
But underneath all of that, there is a peace I know could only come from God.
I know He is working something good through this.
I've learned that my illness is something I live with, but it is not who I am.
I am not my diagnosis.
I am not the things I can no longer do.
I am not the questions doctors haven't been able to answer.
I am God's daughter.
And I know He still has a purpose for my life.
My pastor once told me, “You still have stories you're going to live to tell.”
Those words meant so much to me that I had them tattooed on my arm in his handwriting as a reminder.
Because I believe them.
I also spent a long time wondering if anyone would ever be able to truly love me and choose a life with me knowing what my everyday life could look like.
Then Corey came back into my life.
Corey and I have actually known each other since third grade. We were really good friends growing up, but we went to different schools in middle school and eventually lost touch.
Then, two years ago, he came back into my life.
And he has continually reminded me that he isn't going anywhere.
He has loved me through the good days and the really hard ones. He has reminded me that he is there for me, just as God is there for me.
In November, I'm marrying my best friend.
And sometimes I still can't believe that.
For so long, I wondered if someone would ever see me beyond my illness.
And that is why the word SEEN means so much to me.
After years of unanswered questions, feeling different, and wondering whether people would ever see me instead of seeing my illness, being seen for who I truly am means more than I can put into words.
I have also been incredibly blessed with a community of young Christian women who continually pour love, encouragement, and the Holy Spirit into my life. They have reminded me that I don't have to walk through any of this alone.
And then there's one more unexpected part of my story.
Because of my medical condition, I've had to follow a strict gluten-free diet. And if I'm being honest, so many gluten-free foods are either incredibly expensive or just don't taste very good.
So naturally, I decided to do something about it.
I started an at-home cottage bakery called Breaking Bread Baked Goods.
My faith is at the very center of what I do. I make gluten-free breads and desserts for people in my community, but to me, it's about so much more than baking.
I pray over what I make.
I pray for the people who will eat it.
And I see it as another opportunity God has given me to serve others.
I've had every reason to become bitter about what has happened to me.
But instead, I'm trying to find purpose in it.
I'm trying to take the things that could have broken me and allow God to use them to build something beautiful.
I don't know exactly what my future looks like.
But I know who holds it.
I know I'm not alone.
I know I am loved.
I know I am seen.
And I know that there are still stories I'm going to live to tell.
So when I think about the word SEEN, I don't just think about someone noticing me.
I think about God seeing every part of me — the parts I'm proud of, the parts I'm still healing from, the parts I don't understand, and the parts of my story I haven't even lived yet.
And after everything I've walked through, there is nothing I want more than to live a life that points back to Him.
Because He saw me when I couldn't see my own worth.
He stayed when I thought I was too far gone.
He gave me a community when I thought I had to carry everything alone.
And He continues to remind me that my story isn't over.
I'm Sydney.
I'm a daughter, a sister, a friend, a future wife, a baker, a woman of faith, and someone living with POTS.
But most importantly, I am His.
And I am finally learning what it means to let myself be fully seen.
Your Story Could Be Next.
Maybe you saw yourself in one of these stories.
Maybe your journey could help someone else feel less alone.
If you're ready, we'd love to hear it.
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