There are wounds the world cannot see—wounds carried in silence, in shadows, in the deep places of the soul. For those of us who walk with complex trauma, mental illness, or unseen struggles, the path toward healing can feel impossibly slow, as though we are always one step behind where we wish to be.

I understand this weight.

Not long ago, I was given a name for mine—Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). It was a strange kind of mercy to have a name for what had long felt like chaos. And yet, even with that name, the road forward remains uncertain. Healing is not a single moment, but a series of choices, a daily reaching toward light.

And so, I write.

This space is my offering—a weekly letter from the wilderness, a place where I take my past and present and hold them up to the gracious eyes of Christ. I do not write as someone who has arrived, but as someone who is still journeying. I write because I need to see my story through His mercy. I write because I need to remind myself that I am not beyond hope. And I write in faith that my words may reach others who need the same reminder.

But this is not just my journey. It is ours.

You do not have to struggle with mental illness to belong here.
To be human is to wrestle with weakness, sorrow, longing. We all bear wounds. We all carry stories that ache. But we are not meant to carry them alone.

I long for this to be more than a blog. I long for it to be a community of fellow pilgrims—a place where healing is shared, where we learn to walk with both faith and skillfulness. Here, we will take the hands we’ve been given—the Church, DBT skills, faith, and each other—and use them to steady ourselves as we press forward.

And we will press forward.

Not because we are strong, but because He is.
Not because we are whole, but because He is making us whole.

The world may tell us we are broken beyond repair, but Christ tells another story.

Perhaps healing is not about becoming something new, but about recovering what was truly lost in Eden.

Perhaps, as C.S. Lewis once wrote, “by God's grace our imperfections can be made the material for His work: to show His power and mercy.” Perhaps the selves we loathe, the wounds we carry, are only shadows, destined to vanish in the light of His love.

So we keep walking.

If you find yourself here, weary but willing, I invite you to stay. To journey with me. To stumble forward together, trusting that even a smoldering wick, He will not quench.

Join the community. Join the healing. Join the journey.

✧ The Smoldering Wick ✧