We don't get to pick the traumatic events that happen in our lives, but we do get to choose how we let them write our story. In her debut release, Loved Just As I Am, Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Melissa McDaniel, recounts how her idyllic life in the south was changed forever when she was sexually assaulted at age eleven. Using her deep faith, love of family, and firm belief that we are all enough, McDaniel skillfully owns her "crapola" while laying bare her feelings and actions, both good and bad. She shares her raw journey of processing her childhood wounds and her struggles as a young woman dealing with a violent ex-boyfriend, racism within her family and community, motherhood, addiction, and infidelity. Her fresh perspective and vulnerability withing the pages of this non-fiction memoir work to create a roadmap of healing for others like her to rise above pain, shame, and doubt. The result is a life guided by wisdom, freedom, and healing. As a therapist in the mental health field, she has worked with clients of all ages who are struggling with everything from addiction to sexual abuse. Using her steadfast belief in God and the ability to evaluate and celebrate the paradoxes of life experiences, good and bad, she hopes to help others heal rather than remain in the vicious cycle of shame and doubt. "I believe we must choose to see the light and have hope, even when it is as small as a mustard seed," McDaniel shared. "When people are in deep emotional pain, they will do anything to stop that pain even when the choices add even more layers of shame. Unresolved traumas allow our emotions to rule our life. These unconfronted traumas keep us all confined to a smaller version of ourselves. It's only when we get tired of hurting ourselves and others and begin to be proactive about finding the root of our distress that the darkness recedes. Refuse to live in despair. Instead, seek love, understanding, and forgiveness." Loved Just As I Am, shares her thirty-year journey of learning from her own pain and shame, choosing to let go of judgment and control, and never losing sight of the knowledge that God loved her unconditionally. McDaniel now uses her complete understanding of compassion to help alleviate the suffering of another.