By Shay Greenwood
Columnist Shay Greenwood trying to look cute while living in a hotel – as she started a new job! – in fall 2023.
It was December 2023, and I found myself pushing through my day, feeling weary, overwhelmed, discontented, and not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I called the Center for Hope and Healing, hoping I could get a counseling appointment.
Four months earlier, I’d started a new full-time remote sales director job after being a stay-at-home mom and entrepreneur for over 20 years. In the same week, my brother-in-law suddenly passed away from kidney failure. Just a few days later, on the day my four adult children were coming home for his funeral, our house flooded because of a refrigerator leak.
We had to live in a hotel for three months while our house was renovated. The insurance adjuster was gaslighting us. On top of all that, I was perimenopausal, going into menopause – and this was before the new We Do Not Care Club, started by influencer Melani Sanders for women in perimenopause / menopause.
I kept telling myself, “You can handle this. You have done it before, you can do it again. You can do hard things.” I am a natural problem solver – I power through with a positive attitude. But I knew I wasn’t operating at my best. I was powering through, but I felt like if I cried or felt my feelings, I might not stop crying.
Finally, I waved the white flag.
I surrendered.
I was done.
The Center for Hope and Healing didn’t have an opening for me until January. I felt God nudging me that He would provide the spiritual healing I needed. I just had to stop trying to figure it all out, and abide in HIm.
John 15:4 says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” This scripture has helped me realize how much I was trying to bear fruit by myself instead of waiting, resting in the Jesus.
Being a Certified Kingdom Life Coach, I started providing coaching to myself. I listened to the “Therapy & Theology” podcast with Lysa Terkeurst. I then found some Christian neuroscience experts who taught me how to retrain my thinking and stop ruminating on things I can’t control. They helped me put practical skills in place that brought 2 Corinthians 10:5 to life: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
I’m still practicing how to abide in Christ as I heal. It has been a hard journey. I’m glad I’m on this side of it. Thank You, Lord, for showing me the way to abide in You no matter what.
Shay Greenwood is a Certified Kingdom Life Coach who loves helping women live with more love, joy, and peace in their lives. She’s a wife to Roosevelt and mom to Bria (Cameron), 28; Chandler (Bo), 26; Noah, 24; Jacob, 23; and Adam, 13. You can find her @shaygreenwood on Facebook and Instagram and @MommaJaywood on Tiktok.