Hi, I’m Mari. Today, I sit at the intersection of motherhood, scholarship, and deep, contemplative faith. As a Master’s student and mother of three, I am living in a season of illumination – a time where the lessons of my spirit are being translated into the language of the mind. My life is proof that of a divine alchemy, where the very ashes of the past are used to forge something luminous and new.
My story began in deep purgative fire. From ages 12-19, I walked through the darkness of addiction – a season of bondage where an unseen grace was already moving, waiting for my awakening. At age 22, I entered a true “dark night of the soul” when I lost my firstborn daughter to SIDS at just two months old. This was a harrowing season of spiritual desolation that stripped away superficial understandings of life, death and grief.
I have survived the storms of domestic violence and endured three years of homelessness with my children. I was a mother in the desert (literally and figuratively), navigating a wilderness that mirrored my spiritual search for home. I was anchored by a faith that refused to let me drown, even when the divine seemed silent in the “winters of desolation”.
In the quiet of the struggle, I discovered that redemption is far greater than mere relief. Transformation began stopped running from my trauma and started seeing it as a sacred opportunity for union with a purpose larger than myself. I realized my identity was never “addict” or “homeless”; I am defined by the resilience of my spirit and a commitment to a higher calling. This shift led me back into the classroom, where I finished my Bachelor’s and am moving towards my Master’s, reclaiming the intellectual life I once thought I lost.
I built this blog to testify to hope. I am here for the single moms, the survivors, and the seekers who have been refined by fire and are now willing to walk through the ashes toward something better. My mission is to show you that even in your weakest moments, a strength beyond your own is being made visible.