Seeing What Is Strong
I have the privilege of regularly sitting with people in our community who are working to rebuild their
lives. Many of them carry difficult stories-experiences of abuse, addiction, incarceration, or mental health struggles. And yet, what stands out to me is not their past, but their determination to move
forward.
Their stories are filled with courage. Their journeys reflect incredible tenacity.
Honestly, they have become my heroes.
As I listen, I am often deeply moved. But there is one question I ask that consistently surprises people:
"What are your gifts? What are your strengths?"
And almost every time, I get the same response, a blank look. Confusion. Silence.
It's as if I've asked something completely foreign.
Not because they don't have strengths.
But because they have never been asked to name them.
So many of the people we serve have spent years being defined by what is wrong-what they did, what
they lack, what needs to be fixed. Very few have been invited to consider what is right with them. What is strong within them.
That reality breaks my heart.
Because I see something different.
I see resilience in the person who kept going when life felt impossible.
I see leadership in the one who protected others, even while struggling themselves.
I see creativity, perseverance, compassion, and courage-often formed in the hardest seasons of their
lives.
I want to dream with them.
I want them to discover who they are, what they are made of, and how their gifts can not only help
them move forward-but also allow them to invest in others.
And yet, many don't know what they want to do with their lives. Not because they lack potential, but because they've never been given the space to explore it. They've been in survival mode for so long that dreaming feels unfamiliar-even unsafe.
So, we begin there.
We listen. We name strengths we can see,
even when they can't see them yet. We create space for new possibilities.
And slowly, something begins to shift.
I can't help but wonder...
What would our world look like if we chose to see people not by their past, but by their potential? What if our communities became places where people are not discarded, but discovered?
What if we consistently asked one another:
What are your strengths?
And how are you using them to invest in others?
Maybe that's where transformation begins.