A Guest Post from Sarah Ann Goode from Faith Along The Way

To the Woman Who’s Lost Her Sparkle,

It was a blustery fall day, one where the leaves zip past and dance to the rhythm of a wind that chills to the bone.  My errand list was a mile long and I was dreaming of a steaming cup of coffee and a warm blanket.

Rushing into the store, I saw you out of the corner of my eye.

You were hunched over,  your tattered sweater wrapped around you for warmth, obviously regretting the choice to leave without a jacket.

Your hair, although windblown, was greasy and in need of TLC.

Your face was devoid of makeup and it looked as though your clothes were plucked off the bathroom floor.

While it was true that you could use a makeover from head to toe, it wasn’t your clothes that caught my eye, it was your demeanor that had me riveted.

You looked defeated.

From the furrowed brow to the frown lines creasing your face, you looked worn out, exhausted and beat-up by life.

Your eyes, which probably once were merry and bright, were lackluster and dull.

You looked joyless and hopeless, longing for comfort from the life you lead.

For a fleeting moment I wanted to reach out and ease your pain.

There was so much I wanted to say, yet didn’t know how to bridge a gap between two strangers.

You beckoned for encouragement and I knew just what I would say if given the chance.

“Friend, I know that life is overwhelming and oh so hurried.

I know that you tirelessly work your fingers to the bone, often with no recognition or praise.

You silently serve others, not needing the cheer of a crowd or even your family to keep going.

I know you burn the candle at both ends, never fully getting quality sleep, just to get up and hit the ground running.

I know that you scrub toilets, cook dinner and mop floors,  just to do it all again the next day.

I know that you have needs and longings of the heart that go unfulfilled because you are taking care of others.

I know that you long for freedom from your burdens, to be free from the guilt of wanting more than your situation allows.

I know you once had big dreams but now, after all this time, aren’t sure who you are or where to go.

I know you wonder if your prime has passed and what your purpose is, but it’s not too late for you.

You still matter. You were made to sparkle.

While life has been unexpected and harsh at times, you were made to thrive, to grab a hold of each new day and live it to the fullest.

You don’t have to live defeated and you can dare to dream again.

Your path in life is not a mistake and your life has meaning, even if you don’t see it.

There is hope on your journey and in the everyday mundane.

God has placed adventure on your heart and a cry for more of life on your tongue.

You were created to live empowered by Him and to be bold in your everyday life, even in the scrubbing and in the cleaning, doing it out of  thanksgiving for the life He has blessed you with.

God has put a longing for more inside of you and He created you to thirst for Him, not for things of this world.

He created you to pursue Him with a passion you can’t fully grasp, but to seek Him and have Him meet you where you are.

It’s ok to dream and to want more.  Let God, the author of your life, be the author of your dreams.

Don’t be afraid to step out in faith and boldness, to change your life and become who God is challenging you to be.

Let Him set you free from the drudgery of the mundane and let Him quench your thirst.

Let Him fill you with His love so you can radiate His joy to others.

Let Him inspire you to start living again, knowing that this world is temporary and we weren’t meant to be fulfilled here.

So my friend, the one I’ve never met, embrace whom God created you to be and run passionately after Him. God created you to sparkle!”

As I was jolted out of my deep thoughts, I stopped in my tracks.

I realized that the woman I saw and pitied, was really my reflection in the store’s window.

The woman who’d lost her sparkle was me.

“For God, who said, ‘Let the light shine out of the darkness’, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light if the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 4:6
Let’s sparkle!!

As a saved by grace child of God, Sarah Ann is passionate about parenting her two children, one on the Autism Spectrum, and attempting to run a chaotic home with grace and the joy of the Lord.  Surviving the storms of cancer, infertility, adoption, and Autism, has instilled in her a passion of authentic friends, strong marriages, and the ability to trust God with blind faith in life’s rocky moments.  She shares her heart about hope, faith, and family over at Faith Along the Way, and would love to connect with you as life unfolds before us!