Thriving...in Spite of It

This weekend, we re-watched “Ever After,” a historical fiction drama based on the fairy tale of Cinderella. As a most beloved daughter reduced to a despised servant in her own manor house when her father died, the girl endured heartbreak and hardship for many years...until...! Long story short, when she stood next to the throne with the royal family, the newly crowned princess and future queen, she was in a completely new position in the presence of her angry stepmother. She was no longer under the wicked woman’s control, to order around and abuse. No longer subject to her unkind words or doubled labor. No longer her slave. She has nothing to fear or dread from the woman who had held her captive in the cruelest way her whole young life, because now she wore a crown.  Imagine your life with the same kind of triumph. Freed from the voice that condemns you and tells you you’ll never be good enough. Free from the ever-increasing burden of plodding through your days with the weight of the w