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Lost and Found

Although born with a natural sense of navigation, until about five years ago I was very lost. Too prideful, self-reliant, or lazy to read the map, I was searching for the right answers in all the wrong places. Sadly, it finally took losing everything to find it.

I’d make a lousy teacher, but on a Halloween night in 2018, in the shadows cast by the lighted window of our son’s empty bedroom, I had come to the end of myself. After a long war, a defeated fighter had become a willing learner. Over the years following that experience, I’ve been absorbing life like a dry sponge, re-learning how to stand again, now on a different and firm foundation. What began as a crawl became a walk away from one of the darkest places this world has to offer.

Seeing life through new eyes, not only do I more clearly see the results of many of my own foolish and destructive choices, I’m better able to recognize others whose paths seem all too familiar. They remain lost yet desperately looking for their way. For this reason I have felt led to serve if even for one of my fellow “searchers” through this blog.

A Change for the Better

We began journaling in December 2018 to benefit mutual healing for our family and others experiencing grief through messages of encouragement, hope, or help. I’m thankful for several friends who wisely encouraged our writing as it has also served tremendously in the healing process. Amazingly, to date over 90,000 readers around the globe have taken time to read and/or follow BradensVoice.blog. Thousands reside in distant places we never knew existed. Still, our target was just one person or family if it helped at all. Their name probably wasn’t Braden or Speed, but it could be.

Though our purposes for this blog and our nonprofit “BradensVoice.org” remain unchanged, readers may have noticed the content subtly shifting more towards renewed faith in God which has become our family’s sustenance. I’ve noticed this shift myself yet it hasn’t been done intentionally. More likely, it has happened by God’s design. After all, healing has been His desire and our prayer from the beginning.

I’m sure some readers have opted out by now as the messages may have become less palatable to them. Sadly in today’s world, Faith has become the only “F” bomb people seem hesitant to use. Still, I’ve come to believe faith to be the only real solution to every single problem we all face. Posts will be very honest and rooted in experiences of recovery. A map to The Way if that makes sense. Also, the hope is to become more of a two- way forum to share thoughts and experiences between writer(s) and reader(s).

After a lot of prayer and consideration, we believe this is the direction Gods wants to take. We are absolutely certain Braden would welcome this change for the better by using his voice to reflect healing instead of hurt. Our prayer going forward in this blog is that even one person who is lost and searching may be helped to leave their way and to find “THE Way”.

May God bless His searchers… there are so many.

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“He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬ ‭

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭

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Reader Participation

This is a new direction but we want it to serve actively. Your suggestions, comments, questions, or feedback are encouraged and privacy will be maintained. You may also prefer to submit anonymously. Please use the options available on this site or through email.

Email: Mspeed777@yahoo.com