Uh Oh! She's Back. LOL

Good Morning!  How are things with you today?  Yep!  I'm still around. . . . I didn't fall off the planet. LOL!  Sorry about that.  It was like I lost my focus for a little bit. Every time I would start to write, something would happen to cause me to totally lose my train-of-thought and then I couldn't find my way back to it.

But remember how I said that the devil doesn't want you to know the truth about how he works, and who he truly is?  Yeah, well I can always tell when I'm making serious headway against his lies, or when I'm learning and understanding the truth about God, or about the devil, because he will throw anything he can at me to distract me.  Stuff like, phone call after phone call, or one of the kids breaking something, or one of them getting hurt.  Or things like, the dishwasher springing a leak, the washer leaking, a pipe breaking, power outages, sneezing fits, kinking my neck and getting a migraine.

It happens every time I start making a real break-through and begin to really get what truth that God is showing me.  And it doesn't matter whether it is God's truth about Himself, me, someone I care about, a situation that I'm dealing with, or revealing one of the devil's lies, it happens, those distractions.

And that's something that God has been working hard to teach me, to make me realize just how the devil works.  And I know why too, because when I know and understand, then it takes the devil's ability to succeed away.  Isn't that true of a lot of a lot of things?  Once you know the truth, they no longer the have power to interfere, scare, control or hold you back?

And I must have been reaching someone who really needed to hear the truth about God, or the devil, because every time I started to share something new with you all the distractions would start.  But now that I finally took a step back and caught on to it again, sometimes it will take me a little bit - I'm still learning myself, I'm determined and I have my mind set that I'm going to share with you what I have been taught, no matter what!!!  The devil can come against me with distractions and such, I'm going to share with you everything that God has taught me about who the devil really is and how he works so that you can know the truth too.

And why?  Because it is freeing, and empowering.  And because, contrary to what Legalistic Religion wants you to believe, God does want us to be empowered.  After all, can you really have a good, healthy and fulfilling relationship with someone if only one person has all the power and all the truth?
Think about it.

Until next time . . .

Stay safe.

Love ya! 

Maybe This Explains It . . . .

I  hope it's a good morning for you. If you have someone who is or was a victim of the storms yesterday, please know, my heart goes out to you and them.  If you lost someone, I am so sorry.  I know, right now they're just words, but at least you know that someone is thinking about you, and I and my family are all thinking about you! 

I've had people who have used situations like yesterday, or some other news story to question me, "How can you believe in a God who would allow this to happen?"

The honest, no beating-around-the-bush answer?  I don't know.  I don't know how or why I do, I just know that I can't not believe.  I can not stop believing, it's just not in me.

And it is not a case of not having had bad things happen to me, because I have.  I was sexually abused by male family members, female babysitters, the babysitters' family members, and a couple of strangers when I was a child.  Then when I started dating, it carried over to some of those relationships.

Add to that I was bullied horribly in school because, well the best way to say it would be that because of the sexual abuse I was conditioned to be the perfect "victim".  I had absolutely no self-esteem.  That's what sexual abuse/rape teaches you, that you have no value and only the needs of the aggressor have any value.  It teaches you to see yourself as a thing to be used to gratify their needs, because your needs, your physical and sexual safety don't exist to them.

It also makes you desperate for someone to approve of you, to be kind to you without taking anything from you.  Basically, you become desperate for someone to do or say something that says/shows you that your feelings, and needs are valuable after all.

So, because of that, some people in school, and in your life, get cruel with you because you start smothering them simply because they were nice to you.  Others are cruel to you simply because they see your weakness and use it to make them feel powerful.  And still others are just plain evil.

"So, how can you believe in God???  How could He let that happen to you especially if you believe in Him???"

Because of two things, Free Will and Faith.

What do they have to do with it?  Well, let's start with Faith, you can be the most religious person on the planet, but that doesn't mean you exercise Faith.  And if you don't have someone in your life who can exercise and release their Faith, then Free Will gets in the way.

To have the kind of, and quality of, relationship with us that God wants, He had to make a big sacrifice . . . . the first one  . . . . Christ was actually His second sacrifice.  The first sacrifice, right from the beginning was to give us Free Will,  the freedom to choose to have a relationship with Him or go our own way.

And by giving us Free Will, He made the sacrifice of not being able to control everything, because if all of the people around us, even though they are extremely religious, don't know how to exercise and release their Faith then God can't work.  Because, if He's given us Free Will, then He can't force Himself into any situation.

It's that simple.  Think about it.  Pray on it, ask God to cause you to know the Truth and then just believe He will, no matter who you are or what you have done.  Because that's what exercising Faith is, just believing that it has nothing to do with who you are or anything about what you've done or not done, but instead, who He is.

Love you all!!

Stay Safe!!

Talk to you soon.

Oooooo. . . Another Secret!

Good Morning!!  Sorry that it's been a while.  But things seem to be slowing down and smoothing out around here, so I thought I'd give you a shout and let you know that I haven't forgot about you all.

I've been sitting here thinking about what I could share with you. . . .maybe about how God made two huge sacrifices to have a relationship with us. . . . or what God looks like . . . .but I decided that today was a good day to share something that God taught me that took away a lot of guilt and condemnation.

Shhhhhh!  Don't tell Religion, but it has it all wrong on this too!!!

Shit, Damn, Fuck and all those other "cuss", "swear", "curse" words that Religion says are a sin, are only a sin if you are using them to spew hate, or verbal violence at another person.

What?!?!?! How can that be?!?!?!   Lol!  I can hear all of the religious, legalistic hackles going up from here.  Ooooooo baby are they ever bristling over that one.

For years I lived under guilt because I can swear to the point even a sailor would blush.  And of course, the religious community would tell me that I'm not a good enough Christian because of it.  So, after years of just begging God to forgive me, I started asking Him to not just forgive me, but to show me His Truth.

See that's when stuff starts happening, when you ask God to reveal His Truth to you.  But don't ask, unless you have the guts to be shown you're wrong, because that's the only way it will work.  He knows your heart, so you can tell Him, but unless you surrender your will, give up your vanity about having to be "right", He will withhold His Truth because  . . . . simply put . . . .why waste His "breath" if you're not ready to really listen.

How many times have you had someone you knew who would come to you asking for your advice to solve their problem, but then they totally ignored what you said and went ahead and did things their way because they're convinced you're wrong and they're way is the only right one?  Eventually you just don't bother any more  . . . .Right?   Well that's how it is with God!  He's going to wait until  you're ready to listen.

So, I surrendered my pride, and ask God to reveal His Truth to me.  And then I reread the scriptures, and that's when God gave me an image of a religious, legalistic Christian and they're looking around to see if anyone, and if so, who is watching . . .kind of like the person Jesus was talking about in Matthew 6 so others could see him . . .  as they talk to another person.  And as this "Christian" is talking to this other person, they told them, "You're such a "flower" in my life.  Thank you for that."

Then I got that still, small, quiet  voice that asked, (you know that same one that will tell you from time to time that you should or shouldn't do something), "Flower seems like a harmless word, right?  Not if the person who said it was actually using it as a way to disguise their hate and disgust with the person they were talking to.  That's when it's a sin!  That's what gets written down, not the word, but what was in their heart."

Then as I was still turning it all over in my head, I was given the image of my husband and I when we are teasing and tormenting each other being smart-asses back and forth with each other, and he gets the better of me.

That still, small voice asked again, "What is it you usually tell him?"  I actually caught myself answering out-loud, "I usually tell him 'fuck you'."

Again that still, small voice, asked, "Do you hate him? Do you wish him harm?  Do you hold any hard feelings against him?"

"No," I said, again out-loud, and rather emphatically, which was immediately followed by that same small voice that said, "Then it doesn't get written down, because it's not a sin.  You're just not wanting to admit he got the better of you."

That's when it all became unmovable, I knew that I knew, it is not what words you use, it is how you mean them and what you truthfully have in your heart when you say them that turns them into foul language, swear words and cursing. That is God's Truth!

Hope that clears that up, a little any way, lol.

Do me, and yourself, a favor today, find one positive and encouraging thing to say about today, yourself, and someone else.  Tear down one negative thought today and replace it with something positive.  After all, isn't there enough negative going on in the world?  What's going to hurt?

Love you all!

Stay safe!

Till next time.

Hee Hee Hee Hee . . . .

Good Morning!  How are you today?  As usual I won't complain, someday I'll have to explain why I always post something positive here and it's not because by nature I'm an upbeat person lol, but I have my coffee and my hubby has a four-day-weekend, so I will consider that good!

Have you ever had something, out of the blue and from a source that you would never expect, validate you in some way?

For the last few years I've gotten a lot of crap, some from family members, over the fact that I, my husband, and children don't attend church.  And I usually get the same garbage over and over, "Well!  You can't really call yourself a Christian then can you?"  And it's always from someone whom I would call a "Religious Christian". 

You  know the ones I'm talking about right?  They're the ones that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 6 who put on their fine robes (wear all their religious jewelry, and shirts with those graphics on them proclaiming they're a Christian while they drive their cars with all the religious bumper stickers) and preach on the street corners so that they can be seen by men and be talked about how "holy" they are.  Jesus also said they were the ones that do their good works for everyone to see, again so they can be thought of as "holy" by men.  (You ought to go read the whole thing so you can see what Jesus said about how God feels about them. I like the Living Bible Version the best.)

I found it extremely validating and ironic that one of these very same "holy" Christians that condemned me was just gushing about how great of a Christian Bono, from the lead singer for the band U2, is.  "Now we know why he (Bono) has been so blessed and successful, he's a true Christian," as they shared on their social media page an interview Bono had done talking about his faith.

In the interview, he talked about his beliefs and how if he and his family went to church, it was AFTER church was finished (meaning services were over) and it would just be themselves and God in the building.  He also talked about how when he and his family pray and study the bible - and he said study not read - they all pile on the bed. 

He and his family worship God, the same way I and my family worship.  He, his family and his band all belief as I and my family.  And Bono also uses what the world calls swear words, - sometime I'll have to explain what God showed me about that- just like I do.  And yet the "holy" Christians say he's a great Christian, a real spiritual person.

Needless to say, I feel validated on my beliefs, - they think I'm a great Christian too, and that's what they truly meant to say! *wink, wink*

Thank you God, it's truly amazing how you work sometimes!

Until next time. . .

Stay safe!

Love you!!!