I come from a small island off the coast of Maine, with 350 year round residents, so when I say small, I mean small. I am blessed to have been brought up in such a tight community, which I was a part of the majority of my life. I am a descendant of the first settler there so I have deep roots to such an amazing place.

13 years ago God took a hold of me and made some major changes in my life. The first being that 3 of my family members, my Dad, Brother-in-law, and my Mom, died within 2 weeks short of a year. That was a huge change and one I hope never to repeat. But with that hard change brought a need to change more.

God started to really work in my heart/mind in a major way. I did not want to be the person I had become, I wanted more. I was overweight, weighing in around 300 lbs., I was unhappy, alone and struggling to make life enjoyable. I had been attending church for many years but I always felt like there was more, that I was missing something special. So I started to let go and let God.

One night I attended a prayer meeting, like I had been doing for a long time, but this night was oh so special. I do not remember what we were discussing but I remember saying, “you mean like my weight”, and my pastor, “Doc”, said “yes”. I began to cry and was holding on to fear that I would not be able to eat what I wanted, like french fries, of all things. Doc told me that “it would be okay, that I would eat french fries again”. That was the night my life changed in a mighty way! I was prayed over by Doc and a few women who attended the meeting. I let go of my fear and gave my eating habits to the Lord. I went home, threw out all the food that was not healthy, got a calorie counter, and made a grocery list. 2 years later I was down 120 lbs.

In that 2 years God was still working on changing me on the inside as well as the outward appearance. I became closer to God through prayer and study. I wanted to be all that God wanted me to be, even though I held on to some fears. But He was working on that too.

In 2006, I started praying for the possibility of who God wanted me to marry, if that was His will for me. Either way, I would be happy. I prayed specifically of what I would want in a husband. God delivered him to me in Dec.of 2007, so that we would be married in Nov. of 2008. In January 2009 we moved to upstate NY. What an incredible journey God has brought us/me through. Which brings me to today, another change, another journey.

Somewhere along the line in the last 13 years, I have taken back fear, I have regained 80 of the 120 lbs lost. I have lost 20 of the 80 lbs gained, but struggle with staying on the eating healthy path that God intended. I want permanent change. I want to be free of fear, of weight, of the sin that binds me! Hence the title Determination – A Rough Road!

Join me in my journey, in my change! Join me in finding peace and hope, in letting go of fear, in letting go of the things that hold us/me back, in enjoying life to its fullest, as God intended.