Linda Hoye

“Somewhere along the way we realize our sensory experience is only part of reality and there’s
an unseen dimension. We wrestle as we try to understand it—don’t believe anyone who tells
you they don’t. It’s okay. It’s in the wrestling where we find our faith.”
― Linda Hoye, The Presence of Absence: A Story About Busyness, Brokenness, and Being Beloved

“The same rain the ghost is dancing in falls on me as I watch her carefree movements. I lift my own face toward the sky, and the cool rain mingles with the tears I am powerless to hold back. I close my eyes and let the rain wash the tears from my face as I breathe deeply, the scent of the summer rain like aromatherapy for my bruised and broken heart.

I should call the ghost back, I think. I should get going; Aunt Edie is expecting me. But I don't move; I stand still, let the raindrops mingle with my tears, and allow myself to let go, to weep deeply, to feel the anguish I've held in so tightly for too long, the grief to which I've been afraid to surrender. I grieve for the deaths of Mom and Dad, for the pain of not having them in my life, the worry I feel at having had them so briefly. I grieve for the death of my dreams, the breakdown of my marriage, the emptiness I feel inside, the mantle of responsibility to heavy on my shoulders. I grieve for my children, the mistakes I've made, and the mistakes I see them making. I grieve for the loss of my birth mother. And I grieve for myself.”
― Linda Hoye

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
― M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth

“For years, I shied away from those who seem to have it all together, because I didn’t. Then I
learned that underneath the façade we’re all broken.”
― Linda Hoye, The Presence of Absence: A Story About Busyness, Brokenness, and Being Beloved

“When I see you in your brokenness, I feel safe enough to reveal a bit of my own, and before you
know it, we slip our masks aside and see each other real face to real face.”
― Linda Hoye, The Presence of Absence: A Story About Busyness, Brokenness, and Being Beloved

“We’re broken and life’s messy but there’s still this unconditional, ineffable love whispering to
us. I don’t understand it but I believe it with every fibre of my being.”
― Linda Hoye, The Presence of Absence: A Story About Busyness, Brokenness, and Being Beloved