The Brave Work of Uprooting Lies
By Michelle Krol
God's Brave Women - Michelle's Story
I cannot pinpoint the exact moment I started to pick up the lies and carry them around with me. Some the size of pebbles, others the size of boulders, none were intended for me to take with me all these years. My hands and pockets were getting full. I collected lies like they were truth—if there were a shadow of possibility within each one. If someone who l loved said it, if it sounded familiar, if I had thought it of myself, even just for a moment, I would hold onto it. These became subconscious criteria—if the lie could be true, then it must be true. And if it were true it was something to hold onto. I value truth like oxygen. Still, I wondered why it was getting harder to breathe.
And then came the year of uprooting. It followed a year of silence. A year that gutted me.
In the year of silence I said little to anyone outside of our home. It was both strange and awful. I love words but they stayed stuck—in my mouth, in my head. I could never quite get them out. Silence was never something I was known for. As a child my parents would tell me I never stopped talking, always curious, always trying to make others laugh. Full of wonder with a dash of what my grandmother would affectionately refer to as shenanigans—something to keep my goodness humble. I always had something to say. As an adult, I enjoyed gathering and connection, bringing women together, encouraging them, and opening our home. I talked loud, laughed loud, loved fully… until I didn’t.
"I had experienced deep betrayal in two close friendships, while one of my sons walked a similar relentless and excruciating path. We loved our community, but we were not willing to trade our truth or ourselves for it."
I had experienced deep betrayal in two close friendships, while one of my sons walked a similar relentless and excruciating path. We loved our community, but we were not willing to trade our truth or ourselves for it. And some people tried to manipulate our position to their advantage or dismiss it all-t