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A New Hello
Shalom… and welcome. It has been over 100 posts since I welcomed people so I wanted to jump back. Not just to words on a page, but to something I believe the Lord Himself has breathed into existence. Before anything else is said, let this be clear—this space, these words, this story… none of it belongs to me. Every ounce of it is the Lord’s. Every piece of healing, every moment of endurance, every breath that carried me here is a testimony of His mercy, not my strength. For y
Kelsay Parrott
Mar 174 min read
Behind the Smile
Today was my pre-op appointment. I was cleared for surgery, and just like that, the countdown became real. Four weeks to go. Surprisingly, I walked through the appointment with a sense of peace. Not the kind of peace that comes from certainty, but the kind that comes from knowing God has already gone ahead of me. The questions were answered. The plans were made. The next steps were laid out. I left feeling calm. Then noon came. The pre-op nurse called. What should have been a
Kelsay Parrott
Jun 304 min read
Finding Your People
They always say, "Find your people." For years, I thought I understood what that meant. I thought it meant finding good friends, people you enjoy being around, people who make life a little more fun and a little less lonely. While that is certainly part of it, I have come to realize that finding your people is so much deeper than that. It is finding the people who see you when you feel invisible. The people who remind you who you are when you've forgotten. The people who help
Kelsay Parrott
Jun 279 min read
Rainbow of Ages
Let's step back in time. It's the middle of World War II, and tonight the USO is hosting a dance at the hangar. For a few precious hours, soldiers, sweethearts, families, and friends will trade worry for music. A big band has come to play. There will be dancing, laughter, and fellowship. And if you're fortunate enough, the person you love will be beside you instead of somewhere across the ocean. The evening begins with excitement. Ladies stand before mirrors, carefully pinnin
Kelsay Parrott
Jun 113 min read
The Honor of the Past
This weekend, I'll be spending several days immersed in a World War II event in Reading, Pennsylvania, staying in an Airbnb with seven incredible friends. There will be military vehicles, uniforms, artifacts, reenactments, music, and stories from a generation that is slowly passing from this earth. And honestly, I think that's what draws me to it most. The stories. Not the battles. Not the equipment. Not even the artifacts. The people and the reality they lived. My friends af
Kelsay Parrott
Jun 34 min read
Be Okay with a Day Change
Every Tuesday, I have plans. Whether it's going to the prayer room or helping at church, I love having a schedule. I love knowing where I'm going and what I'm doing. There is something satisfying about being productive, serving, and checking things off the list. It just brings me joy. Tonight, pain got the best of me. As someone with Chronic pain issues, this isnt uncommon. Though its been more uncommon recently (which is a true blessing!!). All day, my shoulders and neck hav
Kelsay Parrott
Jun 24 min read
The White Bag
Today I was scrolling through Facebook when I came across a memory from a few years ago. It was a picture of a small white bag I had found tucked away among my childhood belongings. At the time, I called it my "burn bag." I remember thinking it was simply a funny little artifact from my childhood, a glimpse into the imagination of a young girl. But when I saw it today, I didn't laugh. Today, something felt different. I found myself staring at that photo much longer than I exp
Kelsay Parrott
May 307 min read
When it rains...
It has been raining for days here in Pennsylvania. Not the gentle kind of rain that comes and goes in an hour. The kind that lingers. The skies have been painted in layers of gray, heavy clouds hanging low enough to feel. The trees sway under steady winds. The ground stays soaked. The air itself feels weighted, like creation is holding its breath. It has a sacred feel to it but heavy enough that makes life feel different. Quiet. Heavy. Almost Holy. And every time life feels l
Kelsay Parrott
May 245 min read
To God
Dear God, There are some thank you's that come easily in life. Thank You for the blessing. Thank You for the answered prayer. Thank You for the moments that feel whole and uncomplicated and beautiful from the beginning. But this thank you is different. This thank you was not born in comfort. It was born in survival. It was shaped slowly over years of healing, years of grieving, years of learning how to live inside a story I never would have chosen for myself. This thank you w
Kelsay Parrott
May 134 min read
To those who have gone before and those to come
To those who came before me, and those who will come after me, This thank you is larger than my story of survival. Larger than the language of scars, hospitals, healing, or even the word “journey.” It is a thank you for the ordinary fabric of life itself—the unseen inheritance of human endurance, and the quiet continuation of everyday living that carries people like me, and all of us, forward. To those who came before me— I thank you not only for surviving extraordinary thing
Kelsay Parrott
May 134 min read
To Everyone Else
This is a thank you that doesn’t belong to one face, one title, or one moment I can clearly point to. It belongs to the quiet presence of people who crossed my path briefly and still left something lasting. To the ones who may never know the weight of what their kindness meant. To the ones who never saw the full story, but still added something important to it anyway. There are people in my life who never stood at the center of my story, but were still part of its structure.
Kelsay Parrott
May 133 min read
To the Scars
Dear Scars, There was a time I thought loving myself meant learning how to look past you. I thought healing would arrive the day I no longer noticed you in mirrors, photographs, passing reflections in windows, or quiet moments before sleep. I thought peace meant reaching some future version of myself untouched by grief over what my body had become. I believed acceptance would feel like distance—as though one day I would finally stand far enough away from the fire that shaped
Kelsay Parrott
May 135 min read
To My Future Husband and Family
Dear Future Husband and Family, Thank you for loving me before you ever fully knew the weight of what that would mean. Thank you for choosing a life with someone whose heart has been shaped by both deep beauty and deep pain. Someone who learned early how fragile life could be. Someone who spent years trying to understand how suffering and hope could exist inside the same body at the same time. Someone who sometimes still carries memories quietly, not because they control me a
Kelsay Parrott
May 135 min read
To Healing a Burned Soul
Dear Healing a Burned Soul, Thank you for being born before I fully understood what you were becoming. Thank you for beginning as a fragile idea in the middle of my own rebuilding and somehow growing into something that now carries purpose far larger than myself. You entered my life quietly at first—through thoughts I could not ignore, through words I kept returning to, through the ache of wanting my suffering to become something more than suffering alone. I did not create yo
Kelsay Parrott
May 135 min read
To my Co-workers and Volunteer Leaders
Dear Co-Workers and Ministry Volunteer Leaders, Thank you for believing in my passions in a way that did not feel conditional or fragile, but steady and real. You didn’t treat what I care about as something to be fit in only when convenient, but as something worth making room for. That kind of support is not common, and I don’t take it lightly. It has meant a great deal to be in a space where what I carry inside me—my desire to serve, to contribute, to be useful in meaningful
Kelsay Parrott
May 134 min read
To my Beloved Family
Dear my beloved family, There are some kinds of love that cannot fully be explained because they were not simply spoken — they were lived. Yours was lived. In hospital rooms and long nights. In silence and sacrifice. In prayers whispered through exhaustion. In the steady decision to remain beside me through every version of my life, even when the road became painful, complicated, and uncertain. When people hear the word “survivor,” they often think about the person who physic
Kelsay Parrott
May 135 min read
To Myself
Dear Self, To My Younger Self, Thank you for surviving the days you thought you could not. Thank you for waking up to rooms that felt too sterile, too bright, too unfamiliar, and still finding a way to breathe through them. Thank you for learning the sound of hospital machines before you ever learned how to feel “normal” in your own body. Thank you for holding on through surgeries, fear, loneliness, confusion, and pain that was far too heavy for a child to carry. And thank yo
Kelsay Parrott
May 135 min read
To the Therapist
Dear Therapists, There are not enough words for people who helped teach me how to live inside my body again. Physical therapists. Occupational therapists. Speech therapists. Mental health professionals. Every one of you who stepped into the long, exhausting, frustrating process of rebuilding what pain tried to take away— thank you. I know now that therapy was never simply about exercises, stretches, goals, or charts. It was about teaching me how to believe in a future again.
Kelsay Parrott
May 133 min read
To the additional Care Team
Dear Additional Care Team, This letter goes out to Child Life, Home Nursing, and every member of the additional care teams who stepped into my life and carried pieces of it so faithfully over the years. Thank you for caring about me as a person long before you cared about me as a patient. There is something profoundly sacred about the people who walk into hard places willingly. The people who are not intimidated by pain, exhaustion, fear, or uncertainty. The people who enter
Kelsay Parrott
May 133 min read
To Camps, Retreats, and Programs
Dear Camps, Retreats, and Programs, How do you thank the places that helped give you your life back? Not just my survival. Not just my recovery. My life. Because what you gave me was never limited to activities, cabins, schedules, workshops, or support groups. What you created was far holier than that. You created spaces where hurting people could lay down the unbearable weight they had been carrying and realize, sometimes for the very first time, that they did not have to ca
Kelsay Parrott
May 134 min read
Sensitive Content:
As a trauma pastor and survivor, I find it essential to alert readers to sensitive topics, ensuring they feel safe and aren’t caught off guard. A simple warning can prevent harm, so please approach this content mindfully. If it may be sensitive for you, consider reading at a safer time or skipping it altogether. If something causes distress, please seek help from a licensed counselor, pastor, or trusted friend. Note that it’s impossible to warn for all triggers, so please advocate for yourself and assess the content before engaging. Thank you for understanding and for helping create a safer environment for all!
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