June 10, 2018 my oldest son, Tyler died of an accidental drug overdose. Nothing prepared me for the road I was about to walk... the day I picked up my sons ashes was a life changing moment. I knew that I was never going to let anyone talk or think badly of my child because of the way he died, or the choices he made that led to that fateful moment. There was so much more to him than this and I would make sure that everyone knew that. I realized that if this was true of my child, then it was true of every child... of every person.

And so the journey began... I had no clue what to do with my grief, my sorrow, my deepest heartbreak, so I wrote and people responded and people cared and people reached out and I knew somehow it was making a difference. With the love and support of those around me, my tribe, encouraged me and supported me to take my loss and do something life changing with it.... and the You Are Lovely project was born.

The page itself is a place to remind, encourage, express, and believe that you are lovely.. you are not your past, you are not your choices, you are not your mistakes, you are not what has been done to you. YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made and every day is a new day to start again. “Don’t believe the lie”... my hope is that every lie we believe would be shattered by truth, that shame and guilt and regret and fear would lose its place in our lives and the truth of who we really are would set us free. There is still so much stigma surrounding addiction, suicide, and mental health... but if we are brave enough to share our stories and say “me too”, then all the darkness is exposed and people have the courage to speak up, know that they are not alone, get the help they need, and come alongside of one another so that the light can expose the truth. This is my hope for my page. You matter, you belong, you are worthy, you are needed, you are loved.

Gods fingerprints have been all over this, well before my child died. A little background... When Tyler was a child God told me that He was going to “use Tyler’s struggles to touch the lives of boys”, I just had no idea that it would look the way it does and it goes way beyond just boys. The word lovely comes from the song “Lovely” by Shawn McDonald, it was my song to Tyler since he was a young boy.. how fitting that it would be the very word used for him, for you, for me.. a reminder of how God sees us. Lies, the very thing the enemy uses to pull us into the pit.. I intend to use this page to slay the enemy. God knew.. He knew every detail and He knew that this momma had enough faith to take His hand and trust Him through the journey because everything is for our eternal outcome. God never left my son, He will never leave you.. I pray you find hope in that.

You... you have a story, we all have a story and it goes deeper than the things that people can see. I knew from the beginning that telling them was going to be very important because in them would be the knowledge for others to understand.. to learn, to grow, to know, to look at it through a different perspective so that community and love could collide. It is my humbling honor for every story I tell... and I would love to tell yours.

You guys, truly, I’m nobody... just a mom who lost her child to the horrific world of drugs, whose world was shattered by his loss, and whose heart is fiercely on fire to make sure that every single person knows that their life does matter.

Tyler will always be the heart behind the You Are Lovely project, you guys will always be the reason why.

This is just the beginning... I can't wait to see where it leads.

You Are Lovely... don’t believe the lie

~Angie

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