Hope From Your Mama!

Be free to be who you are. What comes to mind when you hear that? Well, I'll tell you what I think. I'm 45 years old and I still don't know "who" I am yet.  So how do you "be" something you feel you haven't even arrived at yet?  And yet, I heard a saying once, "Wherever you go... there you are."  I guess I feel that one fits my journey the best. Some people spend LOTS of time figuring out how to "arrive".  There are books published, blogs written and spiritual seminars held all in the hope of reaching that "Nirvana, Heaven, Awakening, Spiritual Maturity. Whatever you want to call it. Maybe I'm just too much of a pessimist.  I really don't feel I'm going to reach that in my lifetime. Yet, at the same time I feel I HAVE reached it, many times. Does that make sense? Wherever you go, there you are. I think one of the hardest things for me is how I sometimes really have to struggle and fight to be myself. I worry abo

I know this title is a bit misleading.  I'm thinking you may be expecting me to share my thoughts on the "evils of divorce" and how to put an end to it. Well, that's not really my point of writing this. This post isn't to "divorced or divorcing people". It is actually to the people around them who are NOT currently going through this process. People like ME. As per usual, because my blog here usually addresses "Christian" issues, this blog also address the "Church" (that would be people who claim they follow Jesus).  So, if you feel you have your convictions all hammered out about divorce and you're comfy cozy with them. Please move on, this blog is not for you. We can always feel good about ourselves when we can demonize other people's struggles and things we don't understand. Allow me to start with a confession. About five years ago I formed a pretty close friendship with someone who had more or less been an acquaintan

In my journey of tying to truly understand love and grace, and striving to live out my favorite verse, "The only thing that counts, is faith expressing itself through love." (Gal 5:6); I would have to say that my gateway drug, was Madea. A few years back, some friends invited my husband and I to come over and watch a Madea movie with them. We had no idea what to expect. Little did I know that a lot of my views of the world and God were about to be challenged and changed dramatically. Madea is a character created and played by an actor/director named, Tyler Perry. If you've never heard of this character, go out and rent "Madea's Family Reunion" or "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and THEN come read this... Here is a little sample of Classic Madea: (Here he is playing two of his roles, Madea and her nephew who is a lawyer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSpn_Ayh5YI What I love about Tyler Perry, is where he came from. (From Wikipedia)  

SUCCESS at a water park after a TERRIBLE experience at one last Summer. This started out as a Facebook post... I guess I had more to say than I realized. I woke up this morning thinking about how thankful I am that sometimes things get better for awhile. I DO say... "for awhile", because I know that they can also get "worse... for awhile" too!! Such is the cycle of Life. I usually refer to last Summer of 2012 as "The Summer of Hell"... It. Was. Horrible. Noah was CONSTANTLY hitting himself in the ear/nose/cheek chin. To the point of bruising! Numerous Doctor's appointments, a surgery, Specialists, opinions of others... NOTHING seemed to help him. We were powerless to find out what was hurting him and thus, how to help him!?? We couldn't do anything or go places as a family. We actually TRIED a family vacation... we ended up having to come home feeling SO defeated. Holly had some serious issues with anxiety she'd been struggling through. So

Another Mega-church minister is being arrested for sexual misconduct. I have a feeling that you may read that first sentence and say... "And t his is new... HOW??"  That's pretty sad isn't it? Bec ause you'd be right. Here are the details if you're interested , but that is not re ally the point of m e writing this . http://www.christianpost.com/news/jack-schaap-facing-10-years-in-teen-sex-case-as-troubling-details-unfold-91897/   Jack Schaap was the S enior Pasto r of a fifteen THOUSAND mem ber church in Indiana. A church th at forcefully po unds the fist at "sinners".  Prid ing the mselves on their ability to know the RIGHT way to live. Here is a small sample of J ac k's fine preaching on women and their "place" when he was questioned by a "worldly" reporter from CBS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqN9Oan3YnU Pretty insanely dogmatic wou ldn't you think ? Fifteen THOUSAND people listen to this sort of thing. We

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG1CDec4qkg&feature=youtu.be A link for the promotional vid eo for this book Rob Bell's n ew book is coming out and already t he criticism begins in "Internet World" . Here are just some of the things I've heard so far. * He's a False Teacher * He's a wolf in sheep's clothing * He doesn't believe in 2 Timoth y 3:16,17 "All scri pture is God b reathed...etc" * I will NOT compromise on "Truth" * He's a Universalist * He doesn't preach "repentance" * He doesn't promote "obeying God" * "I'm saying all this, bec ause I LO VE you." I'm sure, like me, people have alr eady taken to blogging about it. Most people, like me, have alre ady made up their mind on his writings and teachings . Most, probably will not change their opinion on that, and guess what? That is FINE. This really isn't meant to be a "book review". Obviously, because I have

Sometimes when I post spiritual thoughts on my Facebook it really encourages people. I like that, esp ecially because I have always felt my spiritual giftedness leans toward en cour aging others and that is sure the way I would l ike to encourage the most . But other times, for whatever reason, it will offend people or make them take a shot at me via a FB post.  I guess when you put your soul out there, you can expect it to get kicked around a couple of times. I realize I take that r isk. I guess I just feel it's worth it.   I don't mind a good debate or d iscussion. I understand that there are over 30,000 Christian denominations out there and not every one is going to agree with my journey and findings along the way. That is OKAY.  I have LOTS of friends that I don't agree with on many issues and it's very good to discuss those things.  Geeze, if I only hung out with people I agree with, I'd be a dork. What does bother me about when this happens, is

It feels to me that I've been working on trying to heal over the las t couple of years . Things that just don't seem to want to work themselves out in my head continu e to haunt me on occasion and cause me to wrestle with feelings of despair and doubt. I wish to God that I could just "get over it!" I keep waiting for this resolution to magically happen or that I will finally find the key to work toward peace. But there are no magic formulas. Perhaps if I had been born with a glass-half-full personality , I woul d see things differently. But I was born me. I don't feel that I'm a major downer. I TRY not to be. But I can't pretend that I feel good on days that I just don't. I don't believe in sugar coating things.  One of my favorit e lines from the book/movie The Princess Bride is, "Life is hard Princess, anyone who tells you differently is trying to se ll you something!" I have nothing to sell. Then there are the times where