Vacuous: Empty, vacant, blank; to be dull and stupid. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 1997.)

My life was vacuous in my teens and twenties. I was vacuous. Not all the time, sure, there were moments when I studied hard, lived well, was helpful to my family. But if I can be perfectly honest, much of the time I was centered and focused only on my needs, my feelings and because I had no direction I was seeking out what I thought I needed from the T.V., the malls and the assumption that if everyone knew my name at the local bar it meant I was loved; that lifestyle left me feeling vacuous.

To see change I had to be changed. New experiences gave me new hope. How and where do we find hope? I found mine in a tiny little church, in a tiny little town on a tiny little lake. A place where it’s okay not to be okay. I was encouraged to do something important with my one and only life. I was taught how to love, be loved and fear little.