This week on To Help You Heal, we’re starting a brand-new series: Stories That Shaped Me. Over the next four weeks, I’ll be sharing stories from my own life — not just to look back, but to help you find hope, perspective, and healing in your own story too.

As we move toward the 19th anniversary of the Amish schoolhouse shooting, a tragedy that forever changed my life, I find myself reflecting more deeply than usual. Anniversaries have a way of doing that, don’t they? They invite us to look back, to remember, and sometimes to see our lives in terms of “before” and “after.”

This week, I’m sharing a story that surprised even me as I chose to begin here: the power of other people’s words — and the freedom that comes when we decide not to let them define us. In the aftermath of October 2, 2006, there were so many voices, so many judgments, so many opinions about me and my life. But I learned something that has carried me through every season since: I get to choose which voices I let in. And so do you.

We all know what it feels like to be misunderstood, judged, or talked about unfairly. But their words don’t get to be the loudest in your mind or your heart. You get to choose.

In this episode, I’ll share:

• How I began letting go of what people said about me.

• The lesson I learned about where real truth comes from.

• An invitation for you to consider what story you might need to replace in your own life.

✨ Reflection questions for you:

• Where have you let someone else’s words shape the way you see yourself?

• What story have you been carrying that doesn’t belong to you?

• What new truth could you choose instead?

Friend, you don’t have to live under someone else’s judgment. You get to choose the voice you believe.

I hope this week’s story encourages you — and I’d love to hear your reflections. Send me a message, or share this episode with a friend who may need the reminder that their story isn’t over, and their voice matters.