Beginning Rise Up and Walk — A New Chapter of Faith and Healing

There is a moment in every healing journey when you realize that survival is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of something new. That is where I find myself now, standing at the edge of a new chapter, ready to write Rise Up and Walk.

For years, my writing has been about facing the fire, walking through the pain, and finding meaning in the ashes. The Rising From the Ashes trilogy was my reckoning, a way to process the trauma, the grief, and the long road of rebuilding after loss. Those books were born from the darkest corners of my life, written through tears, therapy, and prayer. They were my way of saying, this happened, and I survived it.

But Rise Up and Walk is different. This book is not about surviving anymore. It is about living.

It is about what happens after the storm, when the world is quiet again, and you are left standing in the aftermath, trying to figure out how to move forward. It is about faith, surrender, and the slow, sacred work of healing that only God can do.

I have spent years learning that emotional healing and spiritual healing are not the same thing. You can rebuild your life, find stability, even joy, and still feel something missing deep inside. For me, that missing piece was faith. Not the kind of faith that comes easily, but the kind that is forged in pain, tested by loss, and refined by grace.

When I sat down to begin Rise Up and Walk, I felt something I had not felt in a long time — peace. Not because life suddenly became easy, but because I finally understood that God had been walking beside me all along. Through the grief of losing my step-daughter, through the confusion of my traumatic brain injury, through the long nights of doubt and exhaustion — He was there. Waiting for me to rise.

This book is my testimony to that truth. It is my way of saying: I am still here. I am still walking. And I am still believing.

Writing this book feels like stepping onto holy ground. Every word is a prayer, every chapter a confession, every page a reminder that healing does not mean forgetting — it means transforming. It means allowing God to take what was broken and turn it into something that can help others heal too.

I do not know exactly what this book will become yet. I just know it is time. Time to tell the story of what comes after survival. Time to write about faith that moves mountains, even when you are still standing in the valley. Time to rise up — and walk.

As I begin this new project, I carry with me the lessons of the trilogy, the love of my family, and the quiet strength that comes from knowing I am not walking alone. My hope is that Rise Up and Walk will speak to anyone who is still trying to find their footing after loss — anyone who is ready to move forward but does not know how.

This book is for you. For the broken, the grieving, the healing, the hopeful. For those who are ready to rise.