This morning before I started my Bible study, I started to think about where we are as a nation and my heart began to grieve. I thought to myself, how can I say that I love God, with all heart and all my soul and hate my neighbor. Please don’t misunderstand my message here, I don’t have to condone or support behaviors that are in violation of God’s law, I will not do that, but I can love you and show you kindness because that is what God does for me daily. God is the creator and Jesus died for every single one of us on this planet. It is through his blood that we can have salvation.
So, that made me think again as to why there is this push and desire to segregate ourselves. Who benefits from division and segregation? It certainly isn’t me or anyone else that I know. Hear me out, we aren’t going to agree on everything, because all of us come from different backgrounds and experiences. In my case, my Christian faith supersedes every man made philosophy or belief system because it is imperfect and very likely against God’s will for my life. Let me be clear here, if we have disagreements on certain topics, I can assure you, it will not be based on the color of your skin. God has already addressed this in Acts 17:26 and Romans 2:11& 12. Besides, I have too many friends that look nothing like me, that have been by my side many times when I needed them. If we can’t get past all of this color/race nonsense of one race being superior/ inferior to another then we are absolutely doomed as a nation.
It is my prayer that we can one day have in our hearts to be united as Americans instead of unhappy, warring tribes.
I see color. Just like everyone else in the world. When I meet someone I notice immediately the color of their skin, their hair color and sometimes their eye color. To say that I don’t see color would be ignorant and a failure to acknowledge the person standing in front of me.
What I don’t do is decide that they are a certain way before I get to know them based on their physical appearance. In other words, I make a point not to make assumptions until I’ve had an opportunity to get to know them. If upon further interaction I discover that we just don’t jive, it’s not because of their skin color, it’s simply because we have nothing in common, or their character is not compatible with mine; which in my opinion should be the only measure. I mean we don’t get along with every person in our same ethnic group, do we?
You see the problem with making judgments about someone based on skin is this, color or race is not indicative of the type of person one is. Sure, people share commonalities amongst race and ethnicity. But that may be where it ends. You may find that although you may share many of the same features, there might not be one thing you share in common that would make you want to spend time with that person or that, that person would want to spend time with you, outside of the obvious.
In 2021, that very much seems to be the case for me. Due to the turn my life has taken, many of my deep meaningful relationships are with people that look nothing like me. But our lives intersect in several key areas. Number one, our values are similar. We were raised in traditional homes, where our father’s were the primary breadwinners. We’re college educated and well traveled. But the main reason our lives are so intertwined is because we share the experience of raising vaccine injured children.
Through our life experiences, we have forged strong friendships that transcend color and race. We support each other, have lunch and sometimes travel to visit each other. We may not be climbing the corporate ladder in our careers, or globe trotting with our families, but when it comes to knowing diet, nutritional supplements, treatments and therapies that work best for our our children and spotting corruption from miles away these friends are hands down the best.
Oh and did I mention that we represent every race and ethnicity there is? I refer to every single one of them by their name, never their race. Even when I mention one of them outside of our community (or inside), I can’t remember saying that so and so is white, black or purple. They have names and personalities.
So, while the rest of America goes through the cultural revolution (or dissolution), of division along color lines, we’re going to stick together, support one another and continue to heal our kids. It’s what we do.
You see when I stand before God at judgment, I’m pretty certain he won’t condemn me to hell for not being “black” enough; my condemnation will come from not living a set apart, Christ centered life. In other words, not enough Christ in me. I’m just not woke enough to participate in the dissolution of our republic and I’m pretty certain, I never will be.
And he made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. Acts 17:26&27
What a beautiful and glorious day here in Northwest Georgia. I just finished listening to an inspirational message about mother’s from dare I say my favorite evangelist, Chad Garrett at IndianLand church of Christ (churchofchristindianland.org) and I felt encouraged to write a post about the importance and necessity of biblical mothers in 2021.
As a divorced mother of two children, I feel like I am failing most days. Almost like, I just can’t get it all done even though in my heart I desire to do so. Going back in time I could never have imagined that at this stage of my life, it would still be this hard, but it is. Because well my son, has health challenges that require much more of me than the typical child would need at the age of ten.
Please don’t see this as a complaint or resentment, it is just a reflection of what is and my everyday reality. This is part of my story. But I don’t plan to be defined by it. My daily is prayer is that God will give me just what I need for each day ahead and that I will be grateful. That is what I want and need.
I want to count it all a joy, when the laundry is clean but not folded. I want to count it all joy, when we have good nourishing food to eat, but maybe the pots don’t get washed and put away immediately following. I want to count it all a joy, when maybe we didn’t finish the lessons that we planned for the day, but my daughter mastered whatever we did cover.
I want to believe that my children will know that in my failures, I never gave up or walked away. That even in my exhaustion, I put my faith in God and believed that He would give me the provisions for one more day. Even when I can’t process another step in my weary mind.
A scripture that I’ve read many times stood out to me today, because well maybe it was what God especially needed me to hear because the last week has been so brutal (a story for another day). It says this, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31:30
That is the point, the woman who puts all of her faith in God is able to do all the things. While I fall short often, I am thankful and grateful that God gives me grace and forgiveness.
I want to encourage you as a wife, mother, or wherever you are in your life to believe that you matter and are loved, no matter how messy you believe your life to be. You are far more precious than rubies and you cannot be replaced.
God needs more mothers to put Him first as an example to her husband and to her children. We may never be perfect, but we can certainly be complete in Christ Jesus.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
It could be a sign, that you need to take a closer look under the hood.
That was me, before I received my diagnosis of Hashimoto’s in 2018. It started after I had my son in 2011, and I just chalked it up to being postpartum. But when it continued for over a year after, I did talk to my doctor. She ran the standard lab tests, but everything came back normal, so to her everything was fine. Well, clearly everything was not fine, because by the time I received my diagnosis seven years later, I had gained much of the weight that I gained while pregnant with my son, a good bit of my hair had fallen out, the fatigue was so bad that getting out of bed was painful and even my joints hurt! I couldn’t even get through the day without caffeine (thus the start of my three cappuccino a day habit) and my inability to concentrate, made me think that perhaps I had ADHD.
How many of you can relate?
Although common, it is definitely not normal. You were made to feel good and to thrive! No matter where you are on your healing journey you can see improvements. Remember, healing occurs in stages and rarely in a straight line.
If you’re ready for your upgrade, both physically and emotionally, then allow me the honor of showing you a better way.
I sat in my van this afternoon and cried real tears. Not because of one thing or someone, but because I’ve been carrying weight that for most people would be too hard to carry. Sure, people admire me for what I do, they give me praise and pats on the back. In fact, just today a friend called me her hero. I don’t feel like anyone’s hero. Yesterday, another friend said something similar.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate being noticed and admired. But there are just times when I wish I could just hand off some of my responsibilities to someone else, not forever, but at least for a little while.
Perhaps my heart is a little heavier, because while speaking to a dear sister in Christ yesterday, I had to acknowledge that I have no plan B. It’s just God, me and my kids. I mean, if anything were to happen to me, I literally have no one in this world that I could leave my children with. This last year has taught me that. Maybe that is why the tears appeared and wouldn’t stop flowing. Even as I type this post, I feel a little teary eyed.
Life is funny in that way. At some point, you have to face the truth; our lives are truly a vapor and just like that can be gone.
So, when people ask me why I push myself so hard to build my health and wellness business, that’s easy, two words, Emily and Ethan. It is my plan ABCDEF and G. There is no greater industry than this one. It’s very foundation is love and service. God is the owner and I am merely his steward.
While I don’t always appreciate this journey, I thank God that he chose me. I thank him because he saw me and decided that I was worth saving even when I didn’t see myself as worth the trouble.
Today, was not one of my finest days, but it is far from being the worst. And if the Lord wills it, tomorrow will be another opportunity to grow closer to him and to improve upon what I got right today.
I will not give up and I will not fail. Emily and Ethan need me and I need them too.