Be At Peace With One Another, and Yourself
It's been a tragic ride this past year. The truth is, nobody knows the truth. Whether you're on the left, or on the right, or somewhere in between those thin lines of political entanglement, it's still disheartening to see our world, our government, our own people, crumble into pieces, shattered like a broken mirror, giving us painful shards of bad luck. Whether you are disappointed that our president is no longer in power, or disappointed that our Capitol got raided by protesters, they're all valid feelings. It's okay to feel what you feel.
I read this quote from Lori Deschene that says, "You don't have to be positive all the time. It's perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, frustrated, scared and anxious. Having feelings doesn't make you a negative person. It makes you human."
It Is All Out of Our Control
I've learned to stop internalizing circumstances outside of my being. This is something I cannot control. I can only control my reactions to it. Some would say that by not acting out in anger, is being part of the problem. I only have control over myself. I will not try to "fix the votes" or to try to "censor anyone's freedom of speech." I can only do me. How much truth do we really know to anything that's happening out there? This is where people start grasping for theories, hoping it'll be true. This is also when people start lying in order to get their way. For myself, I don't rely on anything but God. God is still on the throne and whatever people want to do with their power, or lack thereof, have a go at it, because I refuse to be apart of something that's so vile, so disgusting and evil.I don't mean to be vague, but I'm trying to make a point. I hear a lot of my friends saying that they're stressed out and they can't sleep or that their heart is racing all the time. Their endless hours of watching the news has made them a walking nerve. I can relate. In recent times, I learned one thing: GOD IS WITH US. "Emmanuel" also stands for, "God is with us." It’s a word written on countless Christmas cards throughout the centuries and sung in some of our most-loved carols. In Scripture, it first appears in Isaiah 7:14, which says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; The virgin will conceive, and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Emmanuel” (NIV).
I can only tell you what worked for me.
Releasing the FEAR
Most of my life, I struggled with anxiety disorder. Dis-order and dis-ease ---it's all relative. Whatever you want to call it, the truth remains that anxiety and panic is based on fear. False Evidence Appearing Real. I finally got sick and tired of feeling sick and tired from the stress and anxiety. Not to say I don't get anxiety from time to time, but I sat with God for great lengths of time and learned a lot through prayer and meditating on the Word. Through words of others, as well as the Bible and even through dreams, I keep being reminded that I am not alone. Even through isolated times, when I haven't seen a soul besides my better half in weeks, I know that I am not alone. "Fear not,"---why? Because "God is with you." The thought of an isolated day (even if I have work to do) will set my panic off the night before. I was mocked a few weeks back on a duel live stream by an atheist, who told me that I'm pretending to have an imaginary friend. The "imaginary sky daddy," they call God. Well, all I can say is, eternity is a long time to risk being wrong. And my faith at this point is more of a, "I know that I know that I know," kinda faith. Nothing can shake it. Ever.The End Times
I talk about this a lot because I sincerely believe this with all of my heart. I kept receiving these dreams around 4am. I would hear trumpets blowing and a beautiful, androgynous angelic voice screaming out, "Wake up! Wake up!!!" And on the second "wake up" --- I heard the voice loud and clear while being awake. In Luke 21:11 it tells us, "There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven." Haven't we seen enough to know that these are huge signs from above? And whether or not this will happen one hour, weeks, months, years or decades from now, no one will ever know the hour or day. But the Bible is clear on the events itself. Way before this pandemic, and even before I lost my mom, I had given my life to Christ. I was still on the milk, but as I progressed, I have never felt so strongly about my faith as I do today. I can truly say that I am 100% ready for the end of times----this does not mean that I want to end my life. This means, that without a doubt, I am not afraid of Jesus' second coming. Many Christians are. Every knee will bow, as it says.Are you ready?
Suffering to Help Others
Through my own suffering, grief, anxiety and depression, I am now able to help those dealing with similar issues. Again, I still suffer from time to time, but it wasn't like it used to be. My panic attacks would send me right into the ER, fearful of death. I was scared of simple things, like being home alone, thinking, "What happens if I have a heart attack and drop dead and nobody knows for hours?" What if?? And if that happened to any of us, we should still not fear that. What's the worse thing that could happen? You enter another world where God brings you back home? My point is, I am (still) in the process of being unafraid of death itself. If I'm not afraid of death itself and know that God is with me all the time, then I won't be afraid of anything else in this world. So that in itself, keeps me calmer, more peaceful and the little things that used to annoy me have absolutely no affect on me. With that being said, I like to share my experiences to others who are having similar struggles. Our struggles are meant to help and not harm. Sometimes if I'm having an off day, those little annoyances can creep in, and that's when it's time to reel it in and pray. Don't leet the devil get a foothold.Soul Wounds
Our mental health has much to do with our minds, but it also has a lot to do with our souls as well. When you're hurt and you refuse to forgive anyone in your life, you end up hurting yourself and possibly others. As they say, hurt people hurt people. Through your own pain, you can end up hurting somebody else, due to the pent up resentment and bitterness. "He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds"---this scripture means that those soul wounds that you are carrying around can be lifted, if you release them. I've stopped caring about the small stuff---not to be mistaken with not undermining other people's feelings, but not sweating the small stuff. And by small stuff: engaging in any drama, or fueling somebody else's anger against another person just because things didn't go my way. I stopped caring about what people thought of me or if they judged me for spending time with so 'n so----what other people think of me and what I do is none of my business. That's on them. I accept it.Our world is crumbling before our very eyes. There's more division than ever before. A friend told me, "I have eliminated so many people out of my life, even my own family," due to different political views. How incredibly sad is that? And you wanna know something? Politics don't care about you. Politics doesn't love you. Your family loves you, and most of all, God loves you. What's more important than that? So while you're literally deleting people out of your life, keep in mind that we are all in this tragic movie together....together, yet alone. And maybe it doesn't have to be alone. Maybe, you can actually connect with your loved ones, be fearless and reach out to those you think may reject you. Keep politics out of your conversations and talk about what you used to chat about. Stop letting the government destroy your family. Stop letting the media crush every good thing you once known to be good. Stop letting the media and the government try to instill fear in you.
Fear not....and you know why.
"Be at peace with one another” – Mark 9:50
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