Dear _____ in Guatemala,
May today be the day you remember how far you have come since last year. Even though you still miss the way things used to be and you wonder deeply about how things could have been different had they happened differently, you have already made it over mountains. You have already learned to see that even though this one chapter of your story has not gone the way you thought it would, you have been able to see, in just a year, all along, there were other chapters. All along, there was more ahead. All along, even though you did not what tomorrow would bring, you could collapse into the clearing of grace and believe in better things...you could believe that after everything, it was still worth waiting for. May today be the day you remember all of that. May you remember all of those good things that have happened in the midst of all you lost. Because breath into breath, season into season, you have cried, but you also laughed. You have lost some things but you have found some things too. You have watched things go away but you have also found that grace has stayed the same, and if you made it through all of that, you can make it through today. And tomorrow. And everyday after. From a year ago today, you have come a long way, and every step you have taken matters more than you know.
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Thanks for writing me, _____. I know this has not been easy but I hope these words encourage you to keep going, keep the faith, believing there is even more to gain ahead and than what you lost yesterday.
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Sincerely,
Morgan Harper Nichols