One opinion can wreck our whole day.
One opinion can destroy our whole mood.
One opinion can demolish our whole level of success.
Why?
Why do we let one simple opinion do that?
The wise statement is so very true:
“Care about what others think, and you will always be their prisoner.” – Lao Tzu
Enough said.
Let it go and go do better.
The fear of man brings a snare,
Proverbs 29:25
But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
Sometimes, it’s the small, insignificant things that end up mattering the most. We can be so focused on the big picture that the portrait diminishes because we failed to notice the details.
Pay attention to the small things.
Be aware of the little nuances whether in people, situations or surroundings.
Being able to notice can be a game changer.
Sometimes, it’s the small, seemingly insignificant things that will unravel the larger, more glamorous moments because it’s truly the little things that being together the big.
This is true in paintings.
This is true in circumstances.
This is true in relationships.
This is true in life.
If we ignore the minuscule things that make up the whole, we can miss a vital key that can unlock future and further withholding.
Don’t ignore the small things.
They can truly turn out to be the big things.
Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
Luke 16:10
Forgiving those who wounded you doesn’t free them from guilt.
Forgiveness isn’t pretending it never happened.
Forgiving the one who brought harm is never justifying their wrong.
Forgiveness only frees us from their poison overtaking our soul.
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:21-22
Dealing with trauma can be excruciating. And just as a wounded animal wants to lash out and wound anyone who would try to help, we as humans will also have a tendency to lash out and bring harm when we are hurting.
We will rear back and punch an honest bystander simply because she leans in to take a second look. We will react with violent anger because he offers a gentle hand. We will claw and bite when they surround and hover, only hoping to give a comforting word or a compassionate nod.
The pain we feel can be so deep and seem so lasting that it actually feels unfair to see a world who is unaffected by it.
The agony can be so debilitating that we feel justified in our knee-jerk reactions and spiteful words because after all, they can’t possibly understand all that we’ve endured.
But what does wounding another accomplish? It doesn’t remove the gash. It certainly never heals the scar. It only leaves those in our wake with their own needed recovery.
And the enemy of our soul celebrates the victory of our further demise. The demons that watched our first injury shout with glee as they observe our continual upheaval and destruction of another.
This is his goal. This is his ultimate objective.
Bring annihilation to all, not just one.
And bring it through the hands of the tortured who should rather be seeking to pour the healing balm.
So, recognize his tactics.
Become keenly aware of his ploys.
And vehemently reject his satisfaction.
Through the bleeding, learn to praise the One who gave you breath.
Through the brokenness, seek to pour the oil of mending on those who are the weakest.
Through the injustice, desire to be the wounded healer embracing instead of victimizing.
Work through the muck and mire to find His calm.
Extend your heart with all it’s shattered dreams to find His love.
And as you do, stretch yourself to find someone deeper in the pit than you have fallen and struggle to lift them up and pull them out.
When you do, you’ll find yourself conquering the enemy with your peace.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
2 Corinthians 1:3-6
For years, I’ve heard of the movie Good Will Hunting. I’ve tried to watch it on air flights every chance I got. But the unedited version just turned me off after the first maybe 5 mins. Forgive me. I’m weird like that, but I just don’t get into a lot of foul language and crude conversations. I’m not a big movie watcher anyway; so, I don’t care to waste my time…
But my husband had first watched it on an edited flight many years ago and had been referencing it for one situation or another all this time. I wanted to watch it so bad, I was almost tempted just to forgo my personal standards and just watch it anyway. Well, he told me the other day he’d had the tv edited version on our recordings for a while now, and he didn’t realize I’d wanted to watch it so bad. Lol.
So, we finally found time to sit down to watch it, and Wow. If you’ve not seen this. You need to. Of course, I would definitely encourage the edited version. Ha.ha. But anyway.
Without being a spoiler, let’s just say this little statement above came alive and well in the middle of the story, and I just balled my eyes out! Geez. I’m so glad I was in the privacy of my own home with only my husband to see me crying like a blubbering idiot and not on a plane where a whole bunch of strangers would wonder what in the world was my problem!
Some days the memories still knock the wind out of me.
And that’s just the honest truth of life, isn’t it?
It doesn’t really matter if it’s past pain, grief, brokenness or shame. When the memories come up, it doesn’t matter how deep you’ve stuffed them down, or how far beneath the surface you think you’ve buried them.
They’re going to slam into your heart like a tsunami.
They’re going to run through your mind like a twister seeking a place to land.
They’re going to roll over your soul like a freight train.
There’s no real stopping them.
You might as well stop the denial. And you might as well not try to run. Cuz they’ll chase you down and beat you, or they’ll just lie in wait for you at your next destination.
Memories don’t go away like a vapor in the wind.
They are like the fragrance on that wind, choosing when to come and when to go.
Claiming no responsibility and receiving no accountability.
Never giving forwarning of their arrival nor a wave to their departure.
They just are and forever will be.
It’s better to embrace, evaluate, excavate and even let them exuberate.
Otherwise, you’ll get sucked into an abyss of that depression, anger, resentment, confusion, and heartache from whence they came.
One of which you’ll never escape.
Do not remember the former things,
Isaiah 43:18-19
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
I just heard from a friend that her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. This was just after texting a friend with encouragement after finding out the false charges they’ve been fighting have been solidified, and it’s become a political game to wipe her family out. That came just the day after i had read the obit of my sweet neighbor whose husband passed away last week. They were sweethearts.
All of this is in the midst of watching our friends in Ukraine fight for their lives while our world looks on without care. And I read a newsletter about the children in Africa who are living in refuge camps in the war torn areas of Bunia and the children rescued to an orphanage there whose parents have died in the war, all of them.
If I keep my eyes on the devastation, the heaviness of my heart would overtake my soul. But God…
Some people will stop reading right there.
They will simply brush this remark away because they don’t believe a true God could be good if all this heartache is in the world.
They will grow angry at these words because they don’t believe this God could be loving and kind if we still see war, destruction and starvation.
They will grow apathetic and turn aside because they don’t believe my God, or anyone else for that matter, is able to do anything of significance to change the brokenness in which we live.
But I have learned my God is able.
I have witnessed my God is faithful.
I have experienced my God’s transformation of so many circumstances where “impossible” was already in the headlines.
He doesn’t always perform the miracle as I thought should be.
He doesn’t always answer the prayer as I deemed should be answered.
And He doesn’t always bring resolution as I believed should be brought.
But I have always found Him to reveal Himself as God, nothing more, nothing less.
And that has always proven to be enough.
Because I am convinced He loves me.
And He loves you.
So, if you find yourself in my shoes today where your eyes are weary of the pain before you, and your ears are leery of what was heard yesterday, and your heart is heavy laden with the news you’ve received today, look up.
Look up to the One who can bring you peace within when the war rages outside.
Look up to the One who can bring strength when your body can withstand no more.
Look up to the One who can bring hope when all hope feels lost.
Now when these things begin to happen, lookup and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Luke 21:28
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
There is a modern day push to tolerate all things, no matter what it might be.
To remain silent even when injustice is being propagated.
There is a peer pressure within society that you may speak, so long as your words aren’t too strong, too forceful, too conflicting, or God forbid, too spiritual.
Yet, I want to ask, WHO SET THE RULES?
WHO claims you are right and I am wrong?
WHO gets to choose what is common decency, kindness to mankind, justice to the abused?
Kindness does not begin where your intolerance ends.
Common decency does not get defined only by those with a specified ambition and agenda.
Justice does not get unbalanced weights to apply innocence to evil and evil to righteousness.
There has to be an absolute foundation on which to stand.
There has to be a voice that rises above the muck and mire.
There has to be an outcry for purity, holiness and truth.
And there must be a gathering of like minds who are bold enough to speak that truth with love.
Stop being a doormat.
Stop being used a vessel for wrong.
Stop being weaponized to destroy the innocence of all humanity.
You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 25:13-16
Hear this, you who swallow up the needy,
Amos 8:4-6
And make the poor of the land fail, Saying: “When will the New Moon be past,
That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit, that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— Even sell the bad wheat?”
These six things the Lord hates,
Proverbs 6:16-19
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.
This statement is the proof between maturity and immaturity.
It is the difference in the choice driven life and victim driven life.
It is the challenge of every human being alive.
You can either grow through your pain or allow it to consume you.
You can either choose to let it change you for good or for evil.
You can either live with determination or excuses.
It is up to you, and what you choose, what you allow will determine not only your outcome.
It will very likely determine the outcome for your children and/or those around you.
So, what will you choose?
How will you grow?
And who will reap the benefits ..or consequences?
Choose wisely, please.
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:15
What positive emotion do you feel most often?
As I noted in another blog, peace is the one thing I carry with me at all times, and it is the positive emotion I try to have and to feel most often.
Peace is a key to unlock so many more positive emotions.
I’m usually not a real dramatic person, not a person of high emotion; so, this emotion might seem to come to me more easily than some. However, I work on it as well.
If you’re a person of lots of drama or a person of high emotion, it might take a little more work to get to a peaceful state, but it really boils down to your thought life.
What you think, you become.
If you dwell on fear, you’re gonna deal with lots of anxiety and fear.
If you dwell on sadness, you’re going to be sad and even depressed.
If you dwell on anger, you’re going to live in a state of anger and rage.
If you dwell on doubt and never ending questions, you’re going to be consumed in a cloud of confusion.
You get my point.
Negative thoughts breed negativity.
Positive thoughts breed positivity.
The beautiful thing is we get to CHOOSE what we think about.
Some would say, But thoughts just pop into my head. Yes. You are truthful in that.
However, it’s the thoughts you choose to keep that produce the outcome.
The thoughts you choose to nurture, strengthen and continually go back to, these are what you become.
So, I ask you: What positive emotion do you feel most often?
And maybe a better question would be:
What positive emotion do you choose to feel most often?
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
Proverbs 23:7
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Isaiah 26:3
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Talking with a friend the other day she said, “We’ve been walking through the fire together, haven’t we?” My first thought was my fire is a small kindled ember compared to her recent turmoil, but the statement brought with it two kindred hearts and souls.
A mentor of mine once said to me:
You always need someone ahead of you in the journey to help you navigate the next steps, as they’ve been there and can help to give wisdom, challenge, reproof, and strength.
You always need someone beside you on this passage of life to link arms with, to uplift, to cry together, and to fight together.
You always need someone coming behind you into whom you can pour love, encouragement, guidance, and provide some shelter from the storm.
If you find all three, you can count yourself blessed.
If you cherish and nurture all three, you will be a better person for it.
If you seek all three, you’ll find you will forget more about your own problems and become a wounded healer, helping others across the broken bridges and rocky roads of this life.
And you’ll be receiving healing, affirmation, and compassion in the meantime.
So that even if you’re walking through the fire, you have a sister (or brother, for you guys) spirit joined with you to share in the heat and pain.
I am eternally beholden to my fire walkers who are blazing the path before me, showing me it can be done.
I am so grateful for those who are fire starters for whom I am able to spread the ashes to give some respite.
And I’m especially thankful for those right now who’s feet are as scorched as mine.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
Isaiah 43:1b-3
I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
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My journey didn’t stop with mere time travel or writing; it led me to become one of the most sought-after empaths, a soulful psychic who reads the hidden depths of the human spirit. I’ve been blessed—or perhaps burdened—with an ability that allows me to feel the emotions of people from every corner of time.
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