Krista Stevenson holds a doctorate in counseling and organizational leadership. She was born and raised in the small coastal town of Laurel, along the white-sand shores of the Gulf of America-a place where the sunsets stretched wide across the sky, dolphins played from morning to night, and the richness of creation made even the leanest times feel full. Krista spent her childhood barefoot and wild, swinging from a tire hung high in the trees, plunging into the murky waters of her backyard pond, and catching bluegills from the dock and crabs with her bare hands. Summer storms were never something to fear; they were part of the adventure. She and her brothers would paddle a rowboat through flooded streets, steering past alligators and laughing through the rain. The outdoors became their refuge-muddy, magical, and full of wonder. When life at home felt too heavy, Krista turned to the woods, the wind, and the sky. Trees kept their secrets. Vines carried her higher. The train tracks stretched toward somewhere that always felt like hope. Inside, she wrote-journals filled with prayers, pain, and dreams of a life made whole. But behind the beauty was deep pain. A few people-consistently unkind-held power over her early life. The emotional trauma she experienced stole her voice before she even learned how to use it. By five, panic attacks had become her companions. She often hid behind those who hurt her most, afraid to be seen, afraid to speak. More heartbreak followed. Others made destructive choices that impacted her future. In one state, her attacker was released by a judge's ruling. In another moment, she returned home to find everything gone. These were not isolated wounds-they were part of a pattern meant to break her. But Krista reached for the One who never left-Jesus. He held her steady in the storm. Even when she blamed Him, He stayed. He became the kind, steady presence she could finally trust. Her Savior. Her healer. The One who washed her clean and removed the fear that once ruled her life. In His love, she found her voice, her worth, and her freedom. Today, Krista lives in the quiet beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where no weather can keep her from the wild places that first taught her to breathe. She mentors and disciples women, walking with them through life's hardest places and pointing them toward the hope, healing, and purpose found in Christ. Her story is not about staying in pain-it's about rising from it. We all have a choice: to remain victims or to walk forward-free, forgiven, and full of purpose in Him.