Rising from the Ashes
Rising From the Ashes*
Years ago I walked into the Anka Center in Concord, broken in ways I couldn’t name. I entered their Spirit Program with more questions than faith, more ashes than hope.
It was hard. There were setbacks. Days I wanted to quit. Nights I wrestled with everything behind me and everything ahead.
But I didn’t give up.
Like the phoenix, I learned you can burn and still rise. You can lose pieces of yourself and still become whole. You can start in the lowest place and still get to the finish line — because it doesn’t matter where you begin, it matters that you _don’t stop_.
I’m still learning. It’s a lifetime walk. But here’s what I know now:
Keep following your dreams, even when they whisper.
Keep believing in yourself, even when your voice shakes.
Keep looking inward, not outward — because God put the fire, the fight, and the future inside _you_.
The ashes don’t define you. The rising does.
And if you’re in your own Concord right now, in your own hard program, hear me: you can make it. One step, one prayer, one day at a time.
You are the phoenix. And your wings are still there.
Phd Student
