I first heard about TWLOHA from the one person that made
today so special. Chelsey.
She had a bag from TWLOHA(I believe) and I asked her about it.
She told me they were an organization that gave hope to
individuals struggling with addictions and thoughts of
suicide. She also explained that they had helped her get
through her own cutting experience. And she had even gotten
a tattoo of "love" on her own arm. I had never experienced
cutting or self mutilation or whatever you want to call it so
I didn't quite understand how an organization could have helped
her through that so when I got home I checked it out.
I found that it was so much more than what she had said.
It was a family. A community. A support unit. The story
of how "To Write Love On Her Arms" began was enough to move me to
tears. It's a story of struggle. Of pain. Of addiction. Of
withdrawal. Of friends who were determined to help.
Of people who loved someone so much they refused to let these
addictions take over.
While the story or these issues have never affected me personally
the aspect of friendship in the story did. Seeing an example of, to
me, the perfect friendship really hit me. Individuals that were
willing to put EVERYTHING on hold for ONE person. To help
her get through what was probably the hardest thing she had
ever had to do.
I try to model my friendship after the friendship of Jamie
in the story. He was there for Renee. In ways that no one
had ever been before. He was there for her, in what I believe,
is the closest resemblance of how God is there for all of us.
After Chelsey shared her story with me, I decided that I was
going to be there for her. Just like Jamie was for Renee.
When I decided this she was no longer cutting, but she shared
that the thought is there a lot of the time.
I know I can't take that feeling or those thoughts away...
But I can just simply... be there. I can affirm who she is
and how God sees her. I can tell her how much she means to me
and how much I appreciate her. I can just... love her.
I'm not saying she is this charity case that is always an
emotional person.. because she isn't. But what I am saying
is that she is the reason that TWLOHA means so much to me.
Her story has already impacted so many people and will continue
to impact more. She is strong. She is beautiful and she is
absolutely amazing.
"For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms."
1 comment:
Thank you so much, Ashtyn. Struggling with cutting was so hard for me. It was a literal addiction. And luckily the love of those around me helped me to stop sophomore year. When I found TWLOHA senior year, I saw myself in their story, their people, and I became one of them. It sometimes is a struggle not to cut, although those days are thankfully so few, but I can look to my wrist, look to the people I am surrounded by, look to TWLOHA and know that there is much better things for me than a blade, than blood, than pain.
Thank you for this. Thank you for putting this in words, where I can always come back to it, where I can continuously get strength and courage and love from.
I love you so much and God knew what he was doing when He made you and then placed you in my life.
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