Every person's story uniquely beautiful, Sisler says at Hoover prayer breakfast

As a sports journalist for ESPN, the SEC Network and al.com, Lauren Sisler spends a lot of time asking questions and telling stories, and she’s had an opportunity to share a lot of stories that inspire and motivate people.

But for many years, she was ashamed to tell her own story — a story about a tragic event in her personal life that shook her to her core.

She shared that story Tuesday morning with hundreds of people at the 2022 Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.

When she was an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University, both of her parents died of an accidental drug overdose within hours of each other. They were good people, but both were using prescription medication to cope with chronic pain, and it eventually consumed them, she said.

Suddenly, she felt lost, broken and uncertain of how to move forward in life, she said. “They were my two best friends and the two people I loved with all my heart,” she said.

She went back to Rutgers to try to continue with her life, but it was a roller coaster ride, she said. She struggled to wrap her head around her loss, and her grades and health suffered.

She tried to regain some control by getting tutored, eating better and seeing a counselor who helped her lift some of the dark shadows that were weighing her down, she said.

But it wasn’t until she started praying more and leaning on her faith in God that she realized she could get through this struggle, she said.

She was angry with God and questioned how He could let this happen, but the famous “Footprints in the Sand” poem reminded her that in the times we can’t move forward in life, it is God who carries us through those times, she said.

“God doesn’t deliver us from hardships. God delivers us through hardships,” Sisler said. “I truly feel so thankful that God has delivered me in this hardship. He has helped me to get through this, come to the other side and use my parents’ story to help other people, to bring awareness to this (prescription drug abuse) crisis we’re facing.”

She also wants to help other people realize that they don’t have to go through life feeling ashamed about their stories.

“Our stories can sometimes be scary. Our stories — what makes us, what molds us, what shapes us — they can be embarrassing. They can create anxiety,” Sisler said. “But every single person in this room has a story that is unique to us — that is uniquely beautiful and authentic, the good and the bad.

“We all fall down. Life is full of disappointments. Life is full of challenges. We all fall down, but we have to get back up, and we have to keep moving,” Sisler said.

Life is not always full of victories, she said. “We have mistakes. We have challenges that we face, but through it all, our story is what makes us; it’s what strengthens us,” she said. “If we can use our gifts and our talents and just our God-given strengths to serve others, this life is so beautiful, and we can open doors that we never thought possible.

“God has allowed me to stand up here and fall in love with my story,” Sisler said. “Whatever it is you’re going through today, whatever it is you’re facing, remember He’ll carry you, too.”

Tuesday’s prayer breakfast, sponsored by the Hoover Beautification Board, included prayers by three ministers.

Christian Ronalds, pastor of the Birmingham First Seventh Day Adventist Church on Lorna Road, asked God to give city leaders the wisdom to make not just easy decisions but tough decisions and that God would bless them for the sacrifices they make to serve others.

He also prayed that God would guide the city’s teachers and other school officials as they guide the city’s children and protect and strengthen the city’s first responders as they put their lives on the line to serve the community. He asked God to give strength of character to the city’s religious leaders, to relieve the stress that has been felt by those in the health care industry and to bless the business people and residents of Hoover with prosperity, joy and security.

Father John Fallon, the pastor at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, read Psalm 23 and prayed that God would help each person in attendance to know that God loves them unconditionally and prayed that God would allow them to sing, dance, praise, love and be the source of love and affirmation for others.

Chris Peters, the pastor at Cross Creek Church, shared verses of scripture about how we should not lose heart when we face affliction, suffering and sorrow because God can use those things to renew our inner nature.

“We look not to things that are seen, but to things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal,” Peters said, quoting 2 Corinthians 4:18.

He prayed that the God of peace would equip each person present with everything good for doing His will.

Nicole Allshouse, who has been a TV news anchor and talk show host for ABC 33/40 but just started a new job with WBRC Fox 6, served as the emcee for the breakfast.