I’ve been quiet for a week, and it was purposeful.

Three years ago last week, I released Fractured Into Wholeness, which is one of the most personal books I’ve written and shared. Earlier this year, I crossed the five-year mark of that fracturing event that felt as if an explosion sent shrapnel throughout my life and others’ and left me injured in ways I wouldn’t completely realize until I began to heal.

Five years.

In the past three years since the book released, I have received many questions. I’ve been invited into many conversations. I treasure the connections I have made and thank each and every one of you. Most commonly, the question I hear over and over is How are you? Only those who know me well are referring to how I’m personally doing. Most others are shortening the question they really want to ask but aren’t sure how:

• How are you continuing to heal?
• How are you moving along without letting bitterness and unforgiveness grip you?
• How are you setting aside old expectations and looking forward with hope?
• How are you dealing with the longstanding ripple effects on people you love?
• How are you doing in your faith? How has it been impacted?

I think most people ask about what they are struggling with the most or imagine they’d struggle with the most in a similar situation. Many people who have connected because of my story actually don’t share the specific situation, but they understand the underlying experience of a shattering event or season of life. We can still relate to each other even when our stories travel different roads but feel many of the same barriers, bumps, delays, and confusion along the way.

As I shared at the end of Fractured Into Wholeness, my story wasn’t tied up in a neat and tidy bow. The process of wholeness wasn’t and isn’t complete. As I connected with people and heard their questions, I began to feel as if I should follow up and share what the journey looks like now that a couple more years have passed. Because healing doesn’t end on a certain day of the timeline. It’s constant, and it’s exhausting, and it’s frustrating, and it’s worth every effort.

I thought I’d release a series of blog posts around the five-year anniversary mark, but I wasn’t ready. Just as I strove to do in the book, I always want to share authentically and helpfully, which should only be done with an underlying current of healthiness and accountability.

So, I’m inviting you to get a refreshing drink and pull up a comfortably chair to the table with me this week. Because what I’ll share is infused with the many times I’ve listened to people I’ve trusted, heard stories from new friends, searched for truth, and reflected into my past, my heart, and my mind. While no one can walk this life with me completely, I feel as if many of us sit at a table together.

I’ll “see you” same time tomorrow morning.