No Longer Where I Started

It might seem silly that I find pieces of myself in flowers, in mountains, in the quiet language of life, but if I'm being honest, I haven't found anything I've related to more.

Every mountain carries the evidence of what it has endured. Every tree remembers seasons it never asked for. Every wildflower has fought its way through something to reach the sun, and maybe that's why I see myself in them.

I've come a long way.

I can finally look back and see the growth I was too busy surviving to notice. The ways I've softened without becoming weak. The ways I've healed without being completely whole. The things I once prayed just to survive that I can now call part of my testimony. But the truth is, I'm still in the thick of it. Still becoming who I've always prayed to be. Still learning the hard lessons to get there. Still unlearning generations of inherited chains. Still finding pieces of myself in the places I once thought would break me beyond repair.

My journey isn't finished, and some days, I'm still walking through chapters I don't fully understand, but I'm learning that growth doesn't always mean you've arrived. Sometimes, it simply means you can stand in the middle of the mess and recognize that you're not who you used to be.

And for that, I'm grateful.

Grateful for the quiet moments. For the reminders that God has been present in every season; Even the ones I never would have chosen. Grateful that I can acknowledge how far I've come while still admitting I have a long way to go.

Maybe that's what true growth is.

Not reaching some perfect version of yourself, but learning to see the beauty in the middle of the journey.

Still in the thick of it.

But no longer where I started.

And boy.. am I grateful for that.