The truth embraces all: the good, the beautiful, the bad, and the ugly. For this reason, facing the truth can be extremely hard. Of paramount importance if we want to rise above the issues of the past is letting go of past injustices. We rewrite the script and blaze the warrior’s path through our own insight applied to experience. Warriors are not victimized by what has caused anguish, malice, or judgment. Warriors cannot be held down by oppression, suffering, or loss. Warriors use those experiences as a catalyst to develop greater strength and fortitude.

Finding purpose and calling will bring each of us many tests. Life tests are random, they do not come in a multiple-choice format, and there are no grading procedures. Our tests and the gore that comes with facing the “bad-uglies” give much more than a testimonial to human progress and freedom. For these tests, and the champions they birth, testify to God’s profound love and grace. God’s love for us his love for me, one of the self-defined “unworthy” is the impulse behind this book.

My story and those of my friends along the way are told here to give a leg up to anyone desiring freedom from the bondage of doubt and self-hate. For it is doubt that keeps us in the shadow-land of fear. And it is self-hate that classifies us as unworthy. But I am here to declare: “unworthy” is a lie. Remember, God said: “I love you with an everlasting love and I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Remembering is the hardest part of any journey through the shadowy land of not-knowing into the bright new dawn when we find truth and begin to live it’s exhilarating freedom. Most of the wounded dismiss with the mind (we call this denial) what the heart and the body knows is real.

But forgetting and dismissal are not the way to freedom. These are the mind’s way of shunting pain away, a strategy that allows us to move on to the next phase of life. Moving on may be the best way to cope and “deal with it” and yet this approach rarely leads to the celebration of life that comes with being free.

Be true to your conscience and the message in your heart. Do not be afraid, but rather be courageous and very bold. Real testimonies are not pretty, eloquent, or a picture of perfection, but there’s gold inside the mold when we dig deep and strike the soul. The purpose of this book is to play that soul music.

Listen deeply.