Trails Of
Encouragement
Mission
Trails of Encouragement is the platform used to help everyone like you and me find encouragement and become an encourager on this trail we call life.
"Never change for anybody or anything. Keep going; stay the course.
You have chosen the right path." Love, Dad
About
Monica
Gruenewald Pate
As a young girl from Georgiana, Alabama, I always knew God had a purpose for me to use my positive energy for good in the world. As I have grown in that purpose, I am now living it as an official ENCOURAGER on this trail we call life.
My loving and supportive parents were role models that my brother, Michael, and I learned from and modeled our behaviors after our entire lives. Growing up in a small town, my parents were pillars in the community. My father was a business owner who was later named "The Candy Man" for his mission of spreading candy and love with his words and actions to all who met him. My mother was a beloved teacher of over 30 years in the local school system who not only taught thousands of children, but inspired all that knew her with her missions inspired by her faith.
The Call
In March of 2020, my world was turned upside down with the shocking suicide of my father, Mark Gruenewald. After battling bi-polar disorder from his 20's and chronic pain from an almost fatal car crash when I was only one year old, his trail in life was not an easy one. At the young age of 69, he took his own life on a trail that led to our loving home. The same trail he was on when he learned of his own father's death at the age of 13.
Only eight short, but life threatening months later, my mother, Brenda Gruenewald, would enter the heavenly gates after suffering complications from Open Heart Surgery and, in my opinion, a broken heart from losing her husband of 48 years. She left behind a trail of beautiful memories with her teachings, her mission of writing letters, and with her love of family, faith and nature.
I thought my trail might also end after losing my biggest encouragers in life. Instead, God had another plan! He has called me to lean deeper into my gift of encouragement and truly live my purpose on a greater scale.