Taking responsibility is a powerful tool when it comes to healing and my conversation today guest, author and speaker, Kimberly Bell is the perfect example of what that means. Using her book titled, The Epitome of Kimmy: Accept & Embrace It All, we talked about her healing journey from the various traumas she’s experienced. Such things as domestic violence, teen pregnancy, abusive relationships, as well as various other traumas and PTSD. Kimberly tells us that her powerful transformation from broken to discovering who God had created her to be wasn’t an easy journey because it was plagued with set backs and returning to old patterns but Kimberly never stopped praying to the God of the Holy Bible.
While her adoptive parents could not rewrite what had been imprinted on Kimberly as a young girl they equipped her with the best possible option to discover truth and freedom. They pointed her heart to a personal relationship with Jesus. And she would need that as a compass to find her way to healing because her early trauma made her an easy target for future abuse. Even as Kimberly struggled through the various abusive relationships from early teens and for several decades, she always knew she could talk to Jesus about her pain and confusion. But she wouldn’t see lasting change until she decided to try things God’s way.
As it is with many of us who finally come to the end of ourselves, there came a time when she too hit the proverbial wall and surrendered. She gave up the futile struggle against the evil that she was no match for. Just like the rest of us, she tried everything she knew how, her human reasoning and strength of mental endurance but nothing brought a peace or lasting resolution to solve her pain.
I would personally say that the first glimpse of someone’s healing who has thoughts of self-harm would be when they don’t surrender to the voice that is telling them to end it all, to give up, you’re not worth the effort, no one will ever love you. So when she didn’t agree with that voice, even though she may have felt at a place of having no way out, nothing left to fight for, no human strength to fight with but I consider it a win when she didn’t choose a permanent solution to a temporary situation. I say temporary because the truth is, as Christians we have a different option. We have a way out.
She choose to release the weight of the fight, the pain, the feelings of unworthiness, the memories, the shame and laid it all at the feet of Jesus. Rather than surrender to something or someone, she surrendered herself to only One with whom she was safe to be laid bare in such an incredibly vulnerable way.
Kimberly points out the importance of the gift God gave us, the gift of choice. When she exercised that gift, choosing to allow God to love on her, to accept the invitation to sit at His table and enjoy His extravagant love despite anything about her past mistakes, she discovered tangible benefits of the cross.
Some of which are: Authority over evil, the power of responsibility, (which translates to freedom) and the beauty of it all, redemption.
And just in case you’re wondering, how does authority, responsibility and redemption translate to my pain and suffering. What that looks like for those of us who have past traumas and pain is that we take authority over the evil that we’ve experienced. What does that mean? We make the choice to take responsibility for our healing. We’re not taking responsibility for what happened to us, please hear me clearly on this. We’re taking responsibility for our healing. We initiate the necessary steps and follow it through to complete healing.
I’m not going to lie to you, this means we engage our painful places and memories. But if there is anything, anything at all that I can make an impression with you about it would be to stay the course and don’t back down. You may not have been able to fight against the person that violated you, that killed things in your heart and your mind but by God’s power and authority you can fight this good fight, just like Kimberly did until your past pain no longer had any control over you.
The beauty of redemption is freedom. Discovering that what Christ did on the cross, you can live above the confinements of this life. But God never stops there. There’s more. God gives our pain purpose. An example of purpose for our pain is what Kimberly is doing. She’s sharing her story to encourage the hearts of others. She’s taking part in the redemption plan that God has for her.
Kimberly was a delight to talk with. I loved her laugh and her fun spirit. I think those qualities were so evident because of all that she’s been through and yet she had the courage to choose Jesus. She’s sharing her story of healing and redemption from a new level of authority, truth and love in Christ.
Let’s listen in!
Lived Loved and Thrive!
Connect with Kimberly
INSTAGRAM
https://www.instagram.com/theepitomeofkimmy/
FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/kimberlyannebell
GOODREADS
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21705865.Kimberly_Anne_Bell
WEBSITE
https://kimberlyannebell.com
BLOG
https://kimberlyannebell.com/blog/
AMAZON
https://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Bell/e/B09C1JK1CC/
Bio: Kimberly Anne Bell is an inspirational speaker, minister, mentor, and author of “The Epitome of Kimmy: Accept & Embrace It All”. She is originally from Salisbury, Maryland and holds two Degrees: The first is in Human Growth and Development, which is in the field of Psychology, and the second is in Theology. She has served on the Ministerial Staff at St. James A.M.E Zion Church and completed 4 years of Conference Studies.
She is passionate about depending on her faith in God and being courageous enough to be transparent and speak her truth. She believes that everyone has a story and a journey that can and will inspire others. She has spoken at the Women Empowerment Expo in DC, the Women of Valor Conference in Easton MD, and more. She has also been featured in the March 2022 edition of the Authentic Insider magazine. Through her work, she uses her personal life struggles to inspire others to never give up hope while raising awareness to societal issues. She is also an advocate for Mental Health Awareness. She covers topics like physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse as well as childhood abandonment, PTSD and healing from trauma.
Transcript: https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/b5c590095ee84bab8145c0151db1b7a1/edit_v2
