Speak Now was founded in 2010 in a little bungalow of a house in Greenville, South Carolina. One night Savannah and I lay in my bed awake sharing the details of our shattered lives. We had long been separated by nearly 5 years in age, and I was always playing mama to her rebellious child-like tendencies as we grew. My bossing and her acting like a kid, while wanting to do all the things I could do because I was the older one, drove a wedge between us. It wasn't until I was out of the house and in college that we truly began to have a relationship, but now in the midst of tragedy and challenges that life brought at the ages of 22 and 17, God was doing something in us that we couldn't quite put into words.
As I listened to what she had been through during her teenage years, while I was about 2 hours away at college, I heard God speaking to me. Ironically enough Taylor Swifts album "Speak Now" had just hit the shelves and every song on the list was about a time she wished she would have spoken up in a situation and she chose to remain silent or times she did speak up and she was glad she did. This coupled with all the stories in the ministry we were apart of at a local church inspired this movement that we call Speak Now! The mission behind this is to encourage individuals to speak boldly about the tragedies that they have overcome in the name of Jesus; where He carried them through the hardest times in their lives and made them triumphant only by His power. We tend to cover these stories up, hide them and tuck them away in a closet and hope that no one ever mutters another word about them. But, we wanted to encourage people that the very thing that connects every single person on this planet is... PAIN. We all have pain.
We have loss, heartbreak, failure, abuse, brokenness, loneliness, stress... the list goes on. It is very thread that connects us all, but yet our human nature tells us to hide from it. We want to encourage you to do the opposite. We want to empower you to help others that have been there in those same dark corners when it feels like there is no one.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Maybe your story could save a life. Maybe your story could be the very last thing someone reads before they break and allow God to turn their broken pieces into a beautiful picture of God's grace. Perhaps, as we are finding out, writing your story will not only heal others but allow you to heal as well as you revisit the meaning and purpose for pain in your life.
If you have a story to share, we'd love to hear it. Share it with us and we will pray with you and watch God turn your tragedy into triumph over and over and over again.
This is our Speak Now Tee/Tank that we are now selling to help you share with others. It was created to help spark conversations about your story during your everyday life. Purchase yours today from our Etsy market.
Read more Speak Now Stories now.
Share your own Speak Now Story NOW!
xoxo,
Lauren
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