Opinions, Agendas and Truth

 Some of you may or may not know our journey the last 10 years of our lives.  You may or may not have an opinion about the last 2 years of our lives.  Our lives have been hard, ugly and raw.  Life had us questioning everything, from our purpose to our existence.  Who could we trust, turn to or confide in.  It seemed as though everyone had an opinion and an agenda.  We as people are generally afraid to be ugly with the truth.  Ugly with our feelings and what we are going through for fear of what people are going to say, think or do.  We lived that fear.  We trusted family and church that let us down.  There will never be an apology nor admission that they misjudged the situation and didn't fully understand the facts.  They took a perspective and ran with it.  In a world full of opinion being truth it makes people isolated, and in my opinion that is where Satan wants us.  

Satan hates those who overcome, those who proclaim that God is on their side and that God has a purpose for everything.  We have gone through what we have and I believe at some point in our journey we will be able to be used for His glory.  

Government, people, churches and family may let you down at some point in your life.  God goes beyond four walls, family is more than genetics and people are just outsiders looking in.  God has been forming you from the inside out and the only one that knows who you are, where you came from and what you're made for.  

Steps of Growth

 One foot goes in front of the other.  This is how we learn to walk.  But before we walk we need to learn to crawl.  We cannot bypass the natural steps of growth.  Not only do we crawl before we walk but everyone gets there at different times.  Some of us are naturals, some of us are late bloomers and some of us need a little extra help.  

Where did we as a society go wrong with thinking everyone has to do everything the same?  When did it become an expectation that we have to do the same thing as everyone else? Parenting, thinking, reacting to situations and living our lives?  

We have to admit that there is beauty in all milestones in someone's life.  When a baby learns to crawl they fall over.  When a baby learns to walk they fall down.  Once you learn these skills there are still times we trip, we fall, and sometimes we get hurt.  This is so relevant to life.  Even if we know how to do something that doesn't mean we will not fail.  Does not mean we will not "overstep" or take a wrong turn.  

In life, we are so focused on how to critique someone's journey we forget that we have our own growth journey.  Remember, we all walk and talk differently and that is the beauty of life's journey.

Building on our Differences

Grace. Empathy. Support.  These are three small words that seem invisible, non-existent.  Three small words that can turn everything around.  

Grace; Undeserved favor not earned but freely given.  If you ponder that for a second what stirs in you?  Do you feel anything when you think of grace?  Are you guilty of not giving grace freely when it isn't deserved?  

Empathy; the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.  Do you try and put yourself in positions where you try and understand someone?  Truly understand who they are and what they are made of?  

Support; bear all or part of the weight. When you think of a bridge you would hope it has proper support. A system built to withstand multiple tons of weight at any given moment.  One piece of the bridge could not withhold that amount of weight on its own.  If we see a need for multiple pieces to build a bridge then why is it that we leave people on their own to carry their own heavy loads?  

With these three things actively practiced in our lives, we will see the weight lessen, understanding increase and connections happening.  Our world is so lost that we have gotten to a point where if we do not have the same opinions and do things the same that we are deemed undeserving.  Last I checked, we were not built to be robots and to all be the same.  We have come to see differences as a weakness instead of a potential to make things even better.  We all have our own paths we walk and our own life experiences.  These experiences are what mold us and get us to where we belong.