Earlier in May, I posted a story about a Mennonite Brethren family with a trans child that didn't feel welcome in the denomination. They shared the following after seeing some responses to their story.
Reading responses to our family’s story, the thought that struck me was that people often feel very alone when walking through difficult times like this. By sharing our story, I think we let people in our situation know they are, in fact, not alone.
Also, although our story is different from others, there really are a lot more commonalities in people’s lives and stories than we realize!
One thing I was also reminded of was how, in the midst of a story, we often don’t have the full perspective. That’s true for us. As a family, we are still in the midst of our story. We are walking the path of figuring out ourselves and don’t yet know where this path will lead.
One thing that has changed as a result of our story is our home has become a place where ALL are truly welcome. Not that they weren’t before, but now with a much more intentional welcoming and awareness that we just didn’t have before. We didn’t see the gift of this at the beginning of our journey, but we are seeing it now.
When we read comments people left on places where our story has been shared, we felt supported, loved, and encouraged. I am buoyed by the fact that there are corners in the church community where other people are having these experiences and conversations, places where we can walk alongside each other well.
We’re thankful people are finding comfort in our story. It continues to be our hope and dream that this conversation can be had in more places and be helpful to others in the middle of their stories, too.
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