Words On Tap Alaska is a place of friendly conversation and a meeting place for hearts and minds. When you read my blogs and stories, you are free to ask questions and make comments. I only ask you to remember that, “out of the heart, the mouth speaks,” and we need to do our best to speak in love and respect.

There is a lot of teaching these days on getting to the root cause of our difficulties and shortcomings, especially in our relations with particular people. Many issues we face today were developed years and decades ago. Some of us have been fortunate enough to have had support in ferreting out the root causes of our issues. Some of us have issues we have learned to creatively cope with, and move through, in a forward and positive manner on our own. Or so we think. However, if we search for truth, we would find that there has always been a positive force at work in our lives, whether or not we were able to recognize it, or chose not to acknowledge it.

Some traumatic experiences in our lives can trigger deep emotional feelings we are not yet equipped to handle. In telling stories, we can shape the details to better enable our acceptance and tolerance level of these feelings. As ordinary humans it gives us a “breathing space” so to speak, before we have to engage reality head on. I have stories about my father from my relatives who knew and loved him, and stories from his mother who adored him. These stories helped me to co-write a screenplay where I inserted myself in my father’s story. In reality, he died in a plane crash, less than ten miles from home. He had been flying supplies from village to village. I was only nine months old. I never got to say good-bye. I didn’t get to know him, his laugh, his smile, or to hear him discipline me in love, as I’m sure that was the only way he would have. In the screenplay version, I had many more years with him. We had a close and loving relationship and I was even able to protest his death.

With the help of circumstances, the support of others, and mostly God’s grace, I am able to see the benefits of acknowledging my losses without allowing the pain of them to hold me back. There are choices to be made every day. I choose to look up and put my hand in the hand of the one who knew me, before I was conceived. Almighty God. I believe God has given me the gift of storytelling for His purposes. I would be remiss if I didn’t bless others where I am led to bless. My desire is to leave a positive impact through my stories, that He has placed on my heart.