Why It Matters
Hey, I'm Danielle! My beautiful crazy kids from oldest to youngest are Paige, Peyton, and Paxton. The handsome looking one next to me is my husband, Josh. And this is my story...
I found myself lost.
To be clear, I knew where I was. In fact, I was right where I had always wanted to be. I had always said I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I was!
I had always said I wanted to raise my kids in the county I grew up in. Check!
I wanted them to go to the same schools that I went to while growing up. That was happening!
I wanted to live near my extended family too. We were within 10 miles of my Dad, my mom, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and my husband’s sister and her family.
It was all I had ever wanted. I had done it. For years I had been fighting hard to build a the things that I dreamed would make me happy, joyful, and content. And finally,
after many years, I had everything I thought mattered. All my dreams had come true. But even though I had everything I ever wanted, I was still lost. In fact, I became clinically depressed.
After years of sliding into this depression a little more each day, I found myself in an outpatient therapy program.
It was in therapy when I realized I was still miserable even though I had accomplished all of my goals. I was so concerned with fighting for everything I thought I wanted that I didn't even realize I had been fighting against what God wanted.
I was exhausted and completely depressed.
The realization that I was controlling my life, rather than surrendering my life to God’s direction made things even worse. I spoke with my husband, my pastor, and my close friends for help.
Then I sought God and asked for His forgiveness and help as I started working towards spiritual healing.
Through this process, I found joy, purpose, and a life full of new adventures.
We are created to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to Love our neighbor as ourselves. For me, that took surrendering the vision I had of what my perfect life needed to become.
It took moving 9 hours from home, living in a new community, prioritizing the Gospel, and sacrificing my ideas about happiness.
Those decisions have led to a newfound
contentment in my life. All this has also given me confidence in the truth that God’s ways are better than my ways, and his thoughts are higher than my thoughts.
I’m doing what I was created to do, and in it have found my joy and contentment. That's why reaching the lost and being a part of
Direction Church matters to me.
Why does it matter to you?