There's a part you leave out when you tell your story.
Maybe it's the job you got let go from. The stretch where you couldn't sleep. The business that didn't work. The year you'd rather skip past when somebody asks how you got here.
You leave it out because it doesn't make you look good. I understand. I did the same thing for years.
But I want to offer you a different way to see it.
The thing you've been editing out is probably the most useful thing you own.
Not the most comfortable. Not the most impressive. The most useful.
Think about who has actually helped you in a hard moment. It wasn't the person with the clean record and the perfect answer. It was the person who said "I've been there, here's what I learned," and meant it. What made them useful to you was the exact thing they could have been embarrassed about.
You're that person for somebody right now. You just haven't said the part out loud yet.
In 2015 I read 2 Corinthians for the first time and came across Paul asking God to remove the thorn in his side. The answer was not the one he wanted. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I was coming out of panic attacks and years of struggling at work, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe the thing I wanted gone was going to turn out to be the point.
I'm not going to tell you your hard season was secretly good. Some of it was just hard. But it doesn't have to be wasted.
So here's my ask this week. Think of one thing you've been leaving out because it doesn't make you look good. Then tell one person. Not a stage, not a post. One person who's standing where you used to stand.
That's where it starts.
I got into all of this with Mark Greaves on his podcast, in an episode called From Crisis to Clarity. Mark is a walking example of faith and courage, and I'm grateful we got to have the conversation. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LeSDqS1Ze4