Series 2, Episode 9: Stand Up & Speak Up with Debby Montgomery Johnson and Elizabeth Meyers
Two former USAF Officers, strong women and mothers who’s babies died in the second trimester, Stand Up & Speak Up about the existence of depression/trauma and not having anyone to talk to about it…back THEN.
Elizabeth Meyers attended the US Air Force Academy and endured years of “frat house” living and the military figuring out how to incorporate women into the Academies (back in 1990) yet the loss of her unborn son proved more traumatic than anything she had encountered during her early Academy years. Silence abounds in a hospital when there is a “fetal demise” or “miscarriage” and even women who have experienced similar situations have a hard time talking about it. WHY? Because we were trained to “Suck it up, Buttercup”, “Man Up” or even SMILE, in spite of dying on the inside. Hope abounds when mental health is taken seriously and when we can OWN UP to how we’re feeling. Join Debby Montgomery Johnson and Elizabeth Meyers and hear how each of us can be resilient, resourceful and overcome adversity and make our trials our triumphs. Don’t be the Woman Behind The Smile – be the woman WITH the smile.
I just received this message from Elizabeth and wanted to share – see for yourself what she’s doing at https://elizabethmeyers.me/!
Howdy!
It’s me again ~ that crazy author with eight kids!
I hope that no matter how your day is going you are able to see God at work and feel His love for you. You may be in a place where that’s really hard right now. I know. I’ve been there. But we tend to find whatever we’re looking for in life. If you start to search for the fingerprints of God in your day, you will begin to see more and more of them. Try it! Let me know what you find.
Earlier, I promised I would share a little more of my story with you so I’m going to jump right in. My sixth pregnancy ended abruptly and tragically when my very premature son’s body was suddenly born without much warning. It was immediately clear that he was already gone. We were visiting family on vacation at the time which made everything harder.
A week later, my body overreacted to the loss by hemorrhaging, causing me to be rushed to the Emergency Room for surgery to stop the bleeding. I had lost a lot of blood and was severely anemic but did not receive a transfusion. My numbers hovered right on the border of needing one.
These back-to-back tragedies plummeted me into the darkest time of my life. Our culture doesn’t really know how to grieve the death of a person who was never born. People just did not understand how badly my heart was broken. And once my lab work returned to “normal”, doctors declared me well even though I never fully recovered physically from losing my baby and so much blood.
Everywhere I turned for help, people brushed me off. I reasoned that if God really cared about me, He would have sent someone, anyone, to help me out of the depression I was drowning in. Feeling betrayed, I pulled away from God too, but all the while, I was faking being “fine”. I was not fine. I was completely undone.
I lived for five painful years with untreated depression, trudging through each day with survival being my loftiest goal. When I finally began to pursue healing, I wished I had been able to find help much sooner.
Join me every Thursday morning at 9:00 am ET for Stand Up & Speak Up…it will change your life – or at least some of what you think!
To join us LIVE, register at www.TheWomanBehindTheSmile.com/Show
This show is sponsored by BenfoComplete.com, a business based upon the goal of living a better life for those with neuropathy. Here’s to happy and healthy hands and feet – use discount code “standup” for 5% OFF your every order!
