Hi, I’m Lee: why I started Lovelee Women

My full name is Lisa. I’m a 20-something Christian. A writer, photographer, and a dog-lover from Connecticut. I first started Lovelee Women back in 2018. Now, I live with my husband, our two cats, and 2 hamsters. Here is a pretty (not) accurate depiction of our every day:

If you’ve been following Loveleewomen.com, you know I’ve relaunched this little blog 3– yes, 3– times.

It started out as something very different, and although it’s brand new, I’ve left some of the remnants to be able to look back and remember why I started it in the first place.

for women…

Women are resilient.

We learn our greatest lessons from experience. We are who we are today because of the pain and rejection we’ve faced and pushed through.

Our voices are so important; storytelling is so important.

I’m writing these things because I want to show that you can come out stronger than you’ve ever been; it’s impossible to know the things we’re capable of if we stay content with being only passengers in our own lives.

Why I started Lovelee Women: what happened

In 2015, I was just beginning to really understand that I was seriously depressed. I was unhappy with everything, unmotivated, and uninspired, but I had no idea why. My first long-term relationship ended in an ugly mess, only a few days before my 22nd birthday. It left me devastated.

I isolated myself from everyone important, and instead turned to creating meaningless relationships, and I started drinking heavily. I stopped working out which was once my favorite thing to do– everything I once loved doing stopped making me happy, and so I let my health suffer.

I ended up getting into another relationship with a boy I’d gone to high school with. He made me feel good again, so I latched on to him. I felt myself start to enjoy waking up a little more each day, and eventually I thought all my problems had gone away. But things fell apart pretty quickly, and he started showing me a part of him that I hadn’t noticed before.

It was loud, and it was angry and hateful. He’d slam doors, throw things, punch walls. He’d get so close to my face I could feel his spit on my lips.

Often, he didn’t let me sleep.

I felt like a prisoner in my own home.

I became such a horrible person myself. I wasn’t capable of having good relationships with anyone, not even friends I’d had for years, because I was so miserable and helpless. I didn’t want to tell anyone what was going on, because I didn’t care. I’d turned into a monster. And I wanted to leave.

Instead of analyzing my life, I chose to walk on eggshells. I let things slide; I did whatever he wanted me to. I did whatever I could to force things to work.

He’d disrespect me in front of friends and family. He was verbally abusive.

The Summer I started grad school, he locked me in the passenger seat of his car and told me he’d kill us both.

When God shows up

Faithfully and amazingly, God hunted me down and carried me right out of that situation. A special encounter with Him:

A man walked into my office once morning shortly after the car incident and started speaking to me like he knew my exact situation. He explained he walked in because he felt the Holy Spirit sending him that way– someone needed it. I did.

That moment will stick with me for the rest of my life. It is my testimony.

The healing process takes time, though.

Healing from this type of abuse is a long, winding battle. And I still feel the effects of it every once in a while. I needed some women empowerment then– someone to say, you are better than this, and you don’t have to put up with this.

And I know there are women out there who are going through many different challenges and can use a dose of positivity and love.

Healing takes time, just like anything else.

I feel like I put my life on hold for so long because I thought of myself as a victim, instead of learning from my experiences and turning them into positives.

There are much better things for us than the situations we find ourselves in sometimes that we know are just simply not good enough.

Sharing my story and using it to inspire and help others find Christ– that’s everything to me.

I believe in the power of God’s Word. I believe that He uses us artists with the gifts He gave (writing, photography, song, etc.) as a way to lift each other up and find the space to heal, grow, and love again, even when we feel like it’s impossible.

Please SUBSCRIBE to Lovelee Women if you feel it in your heart to follow what we’re doing here!

Also, feel free to leave any comments, or privately email me if you’d like. I love hearing from you.

Love,

Lee