From My Heart to Yours

It has been MONTHS since I have written anything. I decided that it was time! Since we all made it out of the Apocalypse alive, I guess I should take advantage. This has been quite a year for us. Cole is a Junior at Ole Miss and Anna Lauren is a 7th grader! They both are doing well and making us proud...well except for Cole and American Literature. Bless him, he is a history major and Falkner (which is required at OM) does not entice him...I told him, Falkner probably didn't understand his own writing, ha!

 

We are all healthy and alive. A fact that can make you feel almost guilty these days.Tragedy nationally as well as locally has made me very reflective these days. As I am sure it has made you. I realize that things happen and sometimes those things are so horrific, you can not wrap your brain around them...They have no rhyme or reason...They make your skin crawl...they make you weep.

 

But from the beginning of time people have had "issues"...The first account was when Able was slain by his brother Cain. A brother killing a brother...I am sure it was all in Cain's head...He did not feel worthy...He was the different one...That my friends is what was wrong! Feelings of inadequacy will destroy someone.

 

When you spend your whole life trying to live up to an expectation...when you are not like everyone else...you tend to not fit in. For me it was lack of social stature, which I have since found out was a good thing. Living in the wrong area of town, clothes that didn't come from downtown, cars that were older....houses that were smaller...No membership to some ridiculous club full of people with their own set of problems.

 

When we we don't accept others for who they are...When we treat people who are different, well, differently than others, we are setting up people for self doubt of worth. I dated a fellow in high school who knocked my self worth so low it took me YEARS to get over feelings of inadequacy...

 

I am no expert, but I believe if we step back and evaluate people....look at where they come from...look at their circumstances growing up...We might find ourselves having a bit more compassion. We might even find a way to pray for them, for their circumstances and for their future. We don't give God enough credit...no one is a lost cause...NO ONE! But we first must find a heart of compassion.

 

It's hard to live in this world...Especially when you have not been given the background others have. I was blessed beyond measure to be raised in a Christian home, with BOTH of my parents who loved each other. I had discipline and love, I was taught right from wrong...But there are so many people who don't have ANY of those blessings...They come from broken places that have histories of dysfunction, most of us can't wrap our brains around...Abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction...No one asks to be born into that! The unfortunate thing is there is usually no help.

 

Children from these situations act out in school, just for the attention. They are screaming for attention, good or bad... how sad...These children are given skewed ideas of how to behave...then they grow up...We can judged them all day long, but until we know where they come from, we can never understand them.

 

That being said there is also the ability God has given us to, well, "get over it". Let me preface this by saying, I know it ain't easy...I have been there and done that...It is a daily struggle and I pray about it all the time...The key is, I don't want my children to see me struggle with such inadequacies...Inadequacies that are mostly imagined..So I pray for them, over them, about them. I ask ,sometimes beg, God to fill them with His power and light, to give them strength and wisdom, to give them resolve. Life isn't as simple as it once was...or maybe seemed...So the more I can ask for God's intervention, the better off it is.

 

So when we become angry with others, simply because they aren't like us...When we see tragedies like the one in Sandy Hook...We HAVE to step back and realize that laws won't stop people from doing things they want to...When we realize drug addicts and alcoholics don't WANT to be drunk and high for the fun of it...When we figure out that we can not legislate morality...That the only Power in heaven and earth just wants to be called upon...He wants us to turn to Him and ask for His help....He wants us to realize we need Him...desperately.

 

My God can do anything...He proves Himself over and over when I just let go and let God...Please pray for others! Not the stupid prayers for them to change, the prayers that ask God to reveal Himself and to use others to reveal Him...God CAN change people instantly, but if the tools aren't laid before them...If the examples are not set in place, tand when we are left to our own devices, we tend to revert back to our old ways.

 

I tell our children at church to pray for wisdom...That is the most powerful tool they can be given...Wisdom is the thing that helps them to make wise choices...Pray for wisdom...God will give it to you...He will give you all the tools you need to get through this thing called life...You just have to ask Him! It will benefit your family relations, your friendships and your encounters with strangers. Pray for people's HEALING and God's grace to fill their hearts and minds... Remember we all have hang-ups, we all have issues...some are more destructive than others, but they all exist.

 

My prayer for us all in 2013 is to find healing, strength and the power that comes from God...The power to love and forgive...to look at people, not how we think they should be, but understand why they are the way they are so we can help them more. As Christians we want to shove Jesus down people's throats and shake them and say "Don't you understand?" When all the while, they honestly might not!

 

Be the hands and feet of Christ...Our biggest line of defense is PRAYER!!! Use it!

 

Soapbox step down!

 

Love to you all!

Monica