Five years since March 3, 2021.
Five years since 5:35 PM.

There are moments the body does not forget. Trauma does not just live in memory. It lives in the nervous system. It lives in breath. It lives in the chest before the mind catches up.

This is a reflection on grief, anger, trauma, and the love we still carry. Because everybody dies. But not everybody truly lives.

Five years after March 3, 2021, I am still learning what grief does to the body, what peace does to the brain, and how love continues even after loss.

This is not just a memorial. It is a teaching. A prayer. A letter to grief. And a reminder that love does not stop when breath does. It multiplies.

“Grief is not only the passing of a loved one. Sometimes it is the version of your life that no longer exists. Sometimes it is change you did not ask for and could not have seen coming—pushing its way into your life and demanding adjustment. Learning how to grieve gratefully does not erase pain. It teaches you how to carry it without becoming bitter, numb, or hardened. This is the language that saved me.”

In Grieving Gratefully: Learning How to Walk Again, Rebecca shares how faith, neuroscience, and lived experience intersect in the aftermath of devastating loss. After surviving a school shooting, grieving the passing of her student Daylon, and helping her daughter process the loss of her father—all within the same week—she began rebuilding her mind and spirit through intentional language, biblical truth, and emotional regulation practices.

This piece explores what grief does to the brain, how trauma reshapes our perception, and how spiritual discipline can become a stabilizing force in the storm. Through personal story, scripture, and practical tools, Rebecca offers a grounded pathway toward healing without bitterness and hope without denial.

This is not about moving on.
It is about learning how to walk again.

In Heaven on Earth Is a Practice: Four Agreements. Nine Fruits. One Path to Peace., Rebecca shares what she has learned about protecting peace when life feels loud. Rooted in Scripture, cultural insight, and lived experience, she unpacks how fear operates beneath our reactions and how love becomes the disciplined response.

Through the Four Agreements and the Fruits of the Spirit, this piece offers grounded, everyday tools for regulating emotion, strengthening relationships, and choosing peace over being right.

This is not about being perfect.
It is about practicing alignment, one moment at a time.

Born Into Warzones: Serenity Was in the Room is a first person witness account of the day Daylon Burnett was shot at school and the days that followed. Told through the lens of presence, care, and faith, this piece centers what happens when systems fail but people stay.

It is a story about holding other people’s children in the middle of chaos, choosing breath over panic, and honoring the lives forever changed, not only the one that was lost. This is a reflection on grief, accountability, and the quiet practices that make safety and healing possible long after the sirens fade.

I was not born into ideal conditions. I was born into environments that required adaptation, resilience, and faith before I had language for any of it.

What followed was not a straight line, but a God-ordained journey shaped by education, grief, leadership, obedience, and healing.

Hands of IX was born from the understanding that titles do not protect your soul, productivity does not heal grief, and peace is something we must choose and practice.

This work exists for those ready to move from survival to stewardship.