First Post Ever! :)

First post ever! This is exciting! If you've read the "About Us" section you know a little about Taylor and I. We are Daughters of a Heavenly Father and trust him as our true Daddy. But ... what led us to this point? What happened, that my sister and I now find ourselves ready to share our experiences and thoughts with you?

A little over a year ago, our world came crashing down.
My earthly father was found out to have been involved in absolutely detestable things such as embezzlement, adultery, and fraud ... all these being long-term patterns hidden by him throughout my parents marriage - all of this unknown to my trusting and faithful Mom. The story is long to tell, and as Tay and I continue writing you will no doubt learn more about the details. However, to explain briefly ... My fathers lies and deception (to this very day) have hurt us deeply. When he refused to repent and continued to harm us emotionally and at times physically, separation was inevitable and he left us ... completely abandon, homeless, and alone. Until just about a month ago when he decided to fight in court for visitation rights, he hadn't even called me once since he left.
My Dad was sadly so good at manipulating people that even some of our closest friends turned against my Mom, sister and I. Our church there for a while was also caught up in the web he had woven ... and even now there are people in our church who refuse to see the truth. The lies from my Dad kept coming ... and the situation kept building. It happened so quickly! Everything seemed to pile on me at once.

For a long time, I stood still. It's a little like standing in the middle of a hurricane, but doing nothing. Or seeing a tornado come spinning at you, yet - not doing anything to protect yourself. A disaster had come upon me bigger than anything I had ever had to face before, and I was so shocked that I just stood there ... ready to let the whirlwind of the situation consume me. Now that it has been a year since the start of the storm, I've been able to come around and realize that complacency won't help anything. Now that we're not having to live with friends and (YAY!) have a house of our own and now are able to attain some level of normalcy, there really is no excuse not to get back on the wagon. Even if it just means starting a blog, or helping more at church, or grieving with others who grieve ... I need to be proactive instead of hiding away while the tempest persists! :) It is SO, so easy to sit back and excuse yourself from reaching out to others ... especially when you yourselves are in less than comfortable circumstances. It's like we put ourselves in our own little "protection bubble" that all of a sudden allows us to live for ourselves whenever we feel put down, or hurt. That is the idea behind this blog my sister and I were doing. We sat down one day and knew we needed to do something. We couldn't let these hard times with my Dad go to waste ... we couldn't stay inside our bubbles. God is on a mission through it all ... He has a plan, He knows how this is all going to end ... and He wants His children to go out and shine His light even when winds are blowing.

Lord, send me!

So this is just the beginning ... starting this blog for my friends, for my extended family ... who I know wonder, "where is Lauren through all of this?" "How is she handling it?" "What is going through her head????" Now you'll know :) And Tay should be writing up a post here in the next day or so, and the same types of questions she will seek to answer as well. I pray the Lord will use my sister and I and bless the things we write here ... that your hearts may be encouraged. :)

~Lauren Lee

Romans 8:28: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."