Depression

 

    I know its been a while since I have written, and I wish I could say I have been off having some grand adventures with God, but unfortunately I think I have been running from Him instead. I know the topic of this subject isn't all that sunshiny either but up until recently I have decided to face facts and start trying to fight for my life and happiness. And by recent I mean yesterday, and it doesn't matter if someone reads this or not, getting it down into words helps me deal with my issues.
  Some few years ago I'm not sure if it was 2009 or 2010, I was diagnosed with depression. My Dr. gave me a bottle of depression medicine, said take this for two weeks, come back, if it's helping we'll get you a prescription. I walked out of that Dr.'s office, threw the bottle in the trash and never went back. First of all I was in complete denial and did not think I was depressed, second of all, my father was an alcoholic way back before I was born and over came it. Unfortunately these traits can be passed down, and seeing that there is addictive behavior in my genes I did not want to become addicted or dependent on medication for happiness. I have been battling periods of depression for so long, I'm actually not sure what real happiness feels like. I believe I feel it in my children's hugs, in their kisses, in their smiles. But then I'm never sure. When my husband touches me in a loving manner it feels disgusting to me, not because of who he is, I love him more than I have ever loved any man. But acts of love are hard for me to receive especially coming from my husband. I think a lot of it has to do with I am not happy with myself, I don't think that I am worth loving. And my marriage has been in this struggle for as long as I can remember.
   Lately however my periods of depression are getting more frequent, lasting a lot longer. I cry a lot, I'm so tired all the time, I'm physically sick, nauseated all the time, my migraines are getting so close together its becoming hard to physically do anything, I don't like to get out of my house, the only reason I get up and out of bed, is because of my children, because I love them and I would do anything for them. So I get up and I raise them and I take care of them. I have noticed though I don't take the time to just sit and spend it with them. I'm always keeping busy with house work, telling them I'm to busy to play. I'm grouchier than I think I ever have been before, I have a tendency to just snap at anyone, not to mention I have little to no self esteem at all. I haven't been strong in my relationship with God as I have been. I've hit this wall in my life where its all becoming to much, I feel as if I'm drowning and I can't come up for air a lot of times.
   Finally, I told myself, and I told God that enough was enough, I wasn't going to sit here and let depression run my life, I want to fight for my happiness, and for my families happiness. I don't believe I need medication to over come it, I truly believe I need God and I need to hang on His every word to get passed it.
   At the beginning of our conversion a year ago, it was the first time I ever felt true happiness, being that close to God. And then over time things gradually got back to where they were before, I think I feel like nothing good in my life will ever stay or last so I have a tendency to push it away. So I want to fight for my happiness back, I want to fight for the light of God once again, but hopefully I am able to keep it in my reach. I know in my heart nothing is impossible for God, so I have to start telling myself that I can do the impossible as long as I keep Him close to my side.
    So to start I gave my house a good cleansing, then I had to take it a step further, I know I need to hang on God's every word, and I have not picked up my Bible in quit some time. I pray every day but I know that I need more than just prayers in my life now. I truly need to be close to God. So I wrote Bible passages in my bathroom, on my mirrors, I put pictures of happy memories every where so I can find myself again. I wrote a message to myself on my mirror I get ready in every day and every night and I promised that I would read the words to myself, Its hard to read them out loud but I do, and I know that I will get to the point to where I can look at myself and say them rather than just look away.


   It's a hard journey, but then I don't think it's ever been promised to be easy, it's just promised to be worth it. God doesn't give you anything you can't handle, I know sometimes especially for me I wonder why is He letting me go through what I'm going through. But then I know I'm not stupid and I know that He is only doing it because He believes in me, more than I will ever believe in myself, He knows I'm going to come out of it stronger. I don't know when but I believe one day I will. I just have to find a groove to get in, I need to find a way to fight this battle that isn't going to overwhelm me. I haven't in anyway found that groove yet, but I don't want to give up looking for it, even though sometimes I feel like its to far out of my reach. If I'm living and breathing which up until this point is all I have been doing for the past few weeks, I want to make it worth it. I want to show my children that life might be a constant battle, but it will always be worth it, as long as your fighting on the right side.
   So I finally told God that I need some major help. I have just been alive rather than living lately and I'm tired of being tired. I'm so tired of depression constantly surrounding me. I'm tired of living my life in fear. I don't know what my purpose in life is, but I know I wouldn't be here if I didn't have one. I have failed at everything I have tried to do, and instead of letting it beat me up, I need to tell myself then its not what God has planned for me. There is still something out there that I haven't found that is just for me. I just haven't been fighting hard enough to find it.
   So yesterday was day one of acknowledgement and starting the fight up again, and today is just getting it down and out feeling better about getting it out of my head, putting into words for myself and if I happen to help someone else along the way, then I am blessed.

God Will Never Fail You

  Okay lets start off with WOW yesterday was quit a day for us. First of all there is this festival that comes to our town every year. Well my husband and I were all set to take the kids so our oldest could ride some rides, play games and watch the parade. Well we get there, my husband and I end up in a fight so we turned around and went home. Well the fight got even worse, I mean such horribly mean things were said, I never felt so much heart ache. And oh I wanted to pack my bags and run, and for the first time I didn't use the divorce word or take any clothes out of my closet. I think that's why it hurt more than ever, because I'm use to running but I stood my ground and took the pain that comes with standing by your spouse no matter what, for better or for worse. So the fight went on for a few hours of course, it was just awful.
    As I was laying in my bed just depressed, telling God that I felt like a failure at everything, my life, as a wife, as a mother. I beat my self up over and over, I felt like I been trying so hard to be this awesome wife, mother, I wanted to live my life by the Bible, but I just felt like my efforts were worthless, and yes I wanted to give up on my faith yesterday. But just as I was ready to throw in the towel, God was not ready for me to let go and He was in the process of planning something for me not to fail at. He was about to show me how important I was to this world and that I was worth more than I felt.
    I received a call from a cousin of mine, who informed me that my grandmother (who has Alzheimer's) was at the festival with my grandfather and had gotten lost, he couldn't find her anywhere. My heart immediately sank, I then called my brother in law to inform my sister who was working at the festival so she could help search for her. Sitting there in my bed I just was lost, I knew I couldn't just do nothing, so I grabbed the keys and started searching the roads behind the festival thinking she may have tried to walk home since its not to far from the fair grounds. Nothing, just random people walking along the streets which scared me even more, what if someone who likes to cause trouble saw this little old lost lady walking home, what could happen?? I gave up I went home and called my mother and said I didn't see her and I waited for further instructions. I knew there were a lot of people looking for her so I put my hope in that. Then the phone rang, my mom told me I needed to go to her house and collect as many pictures of her as I could for the police she had been gone for over an hour. My heart fell even lower into my chest, I looked at my husband and said we have to go now, before I could even finish he was out his chair.
     Luckily we live just a few blocks from my grandparents house, so it didn't take but a minute to get to her house. As I was searching for pictures of her, I began to call my mom, I walked out side for a brief moment and then back into the house and my grandmothers phone was ringing. I started not to answer it, but then decided well maybe I should. When I picked up the phone, it was an old neighbor and friend of my grandparents who had moved up town. She said a random woman (rather an angel) called her and told her she picked up my grandmother and she happen to remember a number that was this old neighbor of theirs. So she was going to bring her to her house. Immediately I told her my husband and I were coming to pick her up, and I called my mother and told her to start calling everyone to stop searching.
    My grandmother was picked up way up town, she was so far from the festival that she forgot she was even there. Thank goodness for this wonderful woman who told my grandmother she was not going to leave her until someone picked her up. As we drove up tears of I don't even what, happiness, still shaken, mixed emotions for sure, but grateful being the biggest. I hugged my grandmother like I haven't before. She was safe, and the world was right again. I hugged this woman like I haven't hugged a stranger before, I was so thankful that there are still amazing people in this world.

   See when I wanted to give up on my faith, because I felt like I was failing God, and I felt like I was just a big disappointment to him like I had been in so many aspects of my life before. Right when I was feeling that all my efforts of trying to turn my life around for so long was just leading it to me being a big fat failure.. God was in the makings of showing me that I wasn't a failure to Him, that I was worth ten times more than I could imagine.
   Had my husband and I not go in that awful fight, had we not stayed home instead of being at the festival, I wouldn't have taken that first call, and then I wouldn't have been at my grandmother house when that lady called to tell us my grandma would be there, and it would have taken a lot longer to find her, as everyone was searching at the festival for her. 
   God sometimes uses bad situations for something good. Through it all, my husband held my hand, told me he loved me and he was sorry, and at that point, it didn't matter that we were fighting, what mattered was he was there, from the first moment of knowing he was ready to go searching for her too, the moment I said we had to leave now, he was out of his chair before I could finish. In the mist of the worst argument, he dropped everything, grabbed my hand and never let go. He is my rock, just as the Lord is our rock, and our salvation. In those moments of not knowing and even after we got her, he was Jesus to me. He kept me together, and after it was over, we knew there was a reason we were fighting. And I think we loved each other more because of it. 
    God is good, He never fails us. In our darkest and loneliest moments, in the moments we want to give up, He is already planning something bigger, something to help us keep on going. He is always going to show us we are worth more than we think. We are worth everything to Him, and He always has a purpose planned for us.
    Thank you Lord, for giving me so many wonderful people in my life, I am blessed to know and be related to so many. There was so many people helping search, helping spread the word. It is a wonderful thing to know how many people care, and will stop what their doing to help you in a time of need. Yesterday could have been a lot worse, yet it wasn't. God is amazing!

Advice for Engaged and Married Couples!

  

 

   Recently I notice around me so much negativity and drama between couples, just stupid things that shouldn't be happening . I see more marriages falling apart because people aren't willing to do the work that comes with marriage. My husband and I were once part of that, and when I look back. I am just upset and embarrassed at some of the things that went on between us.
   So I thought if I could give engaged couples advice on marriage based on my own experiences I would say something like this:

~ If your going to fall in love with a man other than your husband, best it be Jesus Christ.
I've been down that road, of thinking of other men, wondering what my life would be like with someone else, I've had a few crushes on other men. I just felt like my husband wasn't giving me enough. And one time I found a guy who told me the right things and I cheated on my husband. And in the end, I felt like the worst person ever, I couldn't understand why I kept lusting after other men and it drove me completely insane, up until a priest I saw at confession who could read souls told me exactly why. He told me I was empty, there was something missing and I was looking for it in everything but God. Then he told me if I fall in love with Christ and put Him close to my life, I wouldn't notice the things my husband didn't give me. So I took that advice and I started a relationship with Jesus Christ and I began to fall in love with Him and I prayed to love my husband and only my husband. And now I see other men and I see nothing. I love my husband more than I ever have and I have God to thank for bringing love back into our lives, also have some saints to thank as well as I have asked a few to intercede for us. And they all came through! Praise Jesus!

~If you think another man or woman will give you what your husband or wife doesn't, YOUR WRONG, its Jesus Christ who fills the voids in your soul.
  The same comment from above can be applied here

~ When your thinking of all the reasons to divorce your husband/wife, stop and think of all the reasons you fell in love with them and the reasons you married them.
You didn't marry your spouse thinking one day you were going to divorce them did you? No, you didn't, you didn't marry them because you cant stand them. No, you married your spouse because you fell in love with them and you wanted to spend the rest of your life with them. All the time I thought of the reasons I wanted to divorce my husband, and I did this a lot. Until I found Jesus and started falling back in love with him, I don't think of the reasons to divorce him, but I think of everything he does that makes me love him more and more. My husband helps do laundry, he cleans house, he lets me sleep in on the weekends. And I'm a stay at home mom. You know how rare it is to find a man who helps out that much. He doesn't do it all the time, but he does do it frequently especially when he knows how run down I am from keeping the house spotless, chasing after the kids, slept horrible because one of them was sick, or when I'm sick. I am so lucky that I have a man that will help me out when I am really needing it.
   He tells me I'm beautiful all the time, more often when I don't have makeup on and I feel my worst. He has always done that. A lot of guys I have dated or talked to have always said I needed to change something about me, my hair should be a different color, I should be working out etc. Not once in the 7 years we have been together has my husband asked me to change a single thing about me. He always tells me I am perfect the way I am. I never realized it for so long.
    He has always supported my crazy work at home schemes, even putting money into all of them to help me get started, and when all of them didn't work out, he never complained about loosing the money. He just kept loving me and supporting each and every time I tried something new.
    My husband is the kind of man who brings me little surprises from the store, like a coke or a candy. He messages me on every break at work to tell me he loves me and it has always been that way the past 7 years. He gives me back scratches and foot rubs, he watches the kids, gives them baths and puts them to bed some nights so I can simply just relax take a bath or say my rosary or just do something for me.
   And all the times I thought of divorcing him and thinking of why I should, I never stopped to think of the MANY things he does for me. Thank goodness I never made the decision to let him go. I know there will never be another man who loves me for me, who will stand by me through all my crazy shenanigans.

~ Always make God the center of your LIVES & MARRIAGE.
   Look, without God we are nothing. And without God being the root of your marriage, it will not work. You have to be on the same page, God needs to be the first in each of your lives separate, and each of your lives together. Otherwise it will be a constant battle. I know because my husband and I fought for years, screamed and hollered and broke up, split up. Years of unhappiness and the moment we put God into our lives, life became happy for us again, we found love, happiness, playfulness, laughter. Things I haven't seen between us since we first started dating. It's amazing to have that pure happiness again. And it was all possible with God.
And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." ~ Matthew 19:26

~  If a man or woman knows your married, yet continues to feed you complements and makes it sound okay to be "chummy"....Just turn around and WALK AWAY!
   One of the many times my husband and I were split up, I found myself becoming friendly with another guy, just talked to and all that, and he knew I was married, but yet he always fed me complements and told me I needed better. And then I realized what was happening and before it went to far, I JUST WALKED AWAY. I already made that mistake once and I was not going to do it again. Even if I was split up from my husband, I was still married and I did not want be that person again. Once a cheater always a cheater is NOT true, I am proof, because I simply said NO. Any one can change, you just have make the decision and stick to it.

~ It takes TWO to make a marriage work, a marriage will fail if you both aren't willing to do the work and carry each your load.
   I don't care who you are and what you think, one person can not make a marriage work by themselves. You BOTH need to be willing to carry your own load and do your part. Marriage isn't easy and if each of you don't put hard work into it to keep it going then it will fail. One person cannot not do it alone.

~ Don't point out your spouses flaws to others especially your family, it will only point out a negative character in their eyes and when you give praise about your spouse, it will go right over their heads and they wont even hear it, they will be stuck on that negative persona you have built up for them.
   Been there done that, I always told my family every negative thing that went on in my relationship with my husband. And pointed out EVERY flaw I saw, so they began to dislike him. So when I want to sing praises on my husband and how amazing he is, and how far he has come. They don't want to hear it, because their stuck on the negative persona I gave him, and they're wrong for it, anyone can change.

~ Don't constantly tell your spouse their flaws over and over, it doesn't do either of you good.
    Telling your spouse what you can't stand about them, or what they're not doing right, is just asking for trouble. What your really suppose to do is just love them no matter what and encourage them.

~ The ONLY person your allowed to tell your spouses flaws to is GOD, because He already knows!
   If you really feel the need to tell someone about your spouses flaws, just tell God, for starters He already knows, and He wants you to talk to him anyway. So just let it all out to God, He's the one person who wont give you bad advice or try to feed you negative thoughts. He might not say anything back, but He listens more than a lot of people who will let it go in one ear and out the other and nod their heads and say oh well you don't need that. God will help you.

~ You have the power to Pray for your spouse, and God has the power to help them with whatever negative traits they have... IT WORKS!!
   This is truer than the color of the hair on my head!! Your spouse has flaws? Pray for them, pray for them to change for the good, don't just pray once and think that's it, continuously pray for them and in time you will see a change. You have this amazing power that is called prayer and you should use it ALL the time! Just remember everything is IN GOD'S TIMING, if something doesn't happen right away, its because God is waiting for the right moment. Just keep having faith and persistent prayers.

~ No matter what the situation is, no matter whose fault you think its is, DONT SAY IT, Just tell them you love them no matter what and you will always be there.
   Look we all go through times where you want to point blame for bad things that happen. But to be in a marriage is to love unconditionally, for better or for worse! So when the worse come along, you stand by your spouse to be their rock, don't point the blame and then walk away, what kind of person would you be? You just tell them no matter what that you love them, you are always their, and its worth 10x more than saying its your fault deal with it. (Jesus would be highly upset with you)

~If you have a wondering eye.. Fix it on Jesus Christ not on someone else!!
    Need I say more?
~ Marriage is NOT based on fairy tales, sorry to burst your bubble
   Oh goodness if we don't ever see those amazing Love movies, where at the end we are like "I just want a love like that". Remember its a movie, its not real, even the true story ones don't happen for everyone. That's not how marriage works, you got to go through hell and back to achieve that great Love.

~Marriage is NOT SUPPOSE TO BE EASY, who ever told you that is suppose to be is either divorced or single.
   Enough said!

~*VERY IMPORTANT*~
If you are NOT willing to do your part, carry your load, take responsibility for your wrong actions (because sorry no one is perfect)... YOUR NOT READY TO BE MARRIED.
    Truth! I mean really, if you go into a marriage expecting to do no work at all. Well its I'm sorry to say you should NOT be getting married!

~ If you want a divorce because things aren't working out... WORK HARDER.. QUIT BEING LAZY.
   Hard Truth right here, seriously if you try to kid yourself or someone else by saying its not working out, your just not working hard enough. That's called being LAZY, sorry to say it, giving up when the tough gets going is being a coward. I would know because I always ran when things got hard, I am a runner, and I'm okay to admit it, because I tell God that I'm ready to hang up my running shoes. I Love my husband, I want to spend the rest of my life with him and I don't want to be lazy!

~ EVERYONE has the power to change, NO BODY is hopeless in the eyes of God, give your spouse some slack if their not living up to your standards and start praying for them and yourselves.
    Your not perfect, your spouse isn't perfect, But God is, and He will help you, your spouse, and your marriage if you just ask of Him. Don't throw it away the first chance you think of it, fight for it. Fight for it the way Jesus fought and died to save you!

   I can promise my husband and I have been through hell and back, a lot of things you wouldn't believe. Shoot By all accounts we should have been long divorced by now, no body understood why I stayed with him and why he stayed with me for a lot of things we did to each other and not even knowing the half of it (your mouth would hang open if I told them all to you).
   Truth is my husband and I love with a love like no other, its NOT a fairy tell love, but its a I will die for you, I will pray for you, fight for you till the very last breath I take kind of love. We have been on that divorce road a one to many times, yet we STILL fought for it. Its because we have a Raw love, we love everything even the flaws about each other.

~ Were two imperfect people who have a perfect God on our side~

My Day Started Off with Tears and Will end in Tears.

    My Rosary I love so much broke into so many pieces, Carter (my two year old wild thing) got to it while I was getting ready for the day. I didn't get mad or fuss or spank because I left to where he could get to it without thinking twice, I should know better he is two years old for crying out loud, I just cried and cried. And of course I was heart broken and thought well this day just sucks... Little did I know what was about to happen to me

 

   This morning I was in the store shopping for some simple ingredients to make a cake this weekend. Down the baking isle I saw this little old lady on a one of those electric carts. She looked like she was having a hard time getting what she needed, so I offered help to get her something off the shelf, she was so appreciative. I kept on walking but I kept on looking back at her, I have to admit I spied on her for a few minutes and she just looked so lost. And I never do things like this, I will offer help to someone that needs it but I will keep moving on, but I just couldn't help myself I had to go back and see if she needed more help. I could tell she needed help, she had no one around to help her, so I told her I had no plans for the day, that I would love to help her finish shopping it was the least I could do for her.

   I did notice however she could not talk, all it sounded like was baby talk. She handed me her grocery list which look like a toddler wrote out, so I knew something was off. All the while we were shopping she kept telling me she loved me that's about all it seems she could say. Struck with so much compassion for this woman and seeing how thankful she was for the help, I just told her I loved her to. Didn't matter if I didn't know her I still loved her.

    As we were going down the isle to get the last of what she needed and it was so hard to interpret what she was saying but some how we worked it out. Her electric cart battery started to die, and her basket was getting so full, so I put the rest of her groceries in my cart, and I walked with her to a check out line, I helped her check out and put all her groceries in my cart and walked her to her car. I loaded them in her trunk and I asked if she had anyone to help her unload this at home. Looking at me with sorrow and tears in her eyes she shook her head and mumbled no. Pain struck my heart, I couldn't let this woman go home and have no way to unload her groceries. So I told her to sit tight and I will return her cart and bring my car around and follow her home and I will unload her groceries. As I brought the cart to the door greeter she informed me that while she didn't know the woman personally she said she knows her from the store, and she believes she had a stroke (would be the reason she cant talk normal) and that she had no one she knows of to take care of her. A whole knew pain came over me and I wanted to cry so hard. But I pushed back the tears and went got my car and pulled it around and told her to lead the way. I followed her to the next town, couldn't believe she drove that far. Got to her house and unloaded her groceries and she excitedly showed me her lovely home. Which from Pictures I could tell she has one son and I am assuming her spouse is deceased.

     The whole time we unloaded groceries she kept hugging me so tightly and telling me she loved me. I could just see the appreciation in her eyes, and she signaled me to write my name and number on a not pad. So I did, and I told her to call me any time she needed something especially when she needed to go shopping. In that moment she began to cry and hugged me again so tightly and of course told me she loved me so much.

 

   I cant tell you why God brought me to this woman, I haven't figured it out myself, but I promised her I would not just leave her and not come back. I made myself a promise today, to visit that woman once a week from now on. No one should be left alone, the amount of love that woman has is amazing. And the sheer fact she cannot say anything but the one thing she can say is I love you says so much. I feel like I looked into the eyes of Jesus today, and a day that started off in tears will end in tears only tears of joy.

 

I thought my day started off bad, can you imagine waking up, with limited ability to talk or communicate with others, not to mention having no one to help you. Some where out there someone always has it worse. But I am so thankful that God brought this woman in my life, for whatever reason I am humbled by it.

Verse of the Day

⁷ He is not afraid of bad news;
    his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
⁸ His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

~Psalm 112:7-8~

 

Or We Protecting Our Children Or Condeming and Hurting Others?

   Okay so today I have noticed on the social media main stream this article floating around, on how this mother wrote FYI ( If you're a teenage girl ) and I will repost what she wrote and then the link to it so you can see her pictures (which I don't agree with at all) and tell you my views on it because its chapping my behind because maybe she just doesn't understand the reasons why some girls do what they do. And I know not everyone will agree with what I say, and that's just life. I just want to shed some light on the situation from my point of view.

 

 

Dear girls,

I have some information that might interest you. Last night, as we sometimes do, our family sat around the dining-room table and looked through your social media photos.

We have teenage sons, and so naturally there are quite a few pictures of you lovely ladies to wade through. Wow – you sure took a bunch of selfies in your pajamas this summer!  Your bedrooms are so cute! Our eight-year-old daughter brought this to our attention, because with three older brothers who have rooms that smell like stinky cheese, she notices girly details like that.

I think the boys notice other things. For one, it appears that you are not wearing a bra.

I get it – you’re in your room, so you’re heading to bed, right? But then I can’t help but notice the red carpet pose, the extra-arched back, and the sultry pout.  What’s up? None of these positions is one I naturally assume before sleep, this I know.

So, here’s the bit that I think is important for you to realize.  If you are friends with a Hall boy on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, then you are friends with the whole Hall family.

Please understand this, also: we genuinely like keeping up with you. We enjoy seeing life through your unique and colorful lens – which is what makes your latest self-portrait so extremely unfortunate.

Those posts don’t reflect who you are! We think you are lovely and interesting, and usually very smart. But, we had to cringe and wonder what you were trying to do? Who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to say?

And now – big bummer – we have to block your posts. Because, the reason we have these (sometimes awkward) family conversations around the table is that we care about our sons, just as we know your parents care about you.

I know your family would not be thrilled at the thought of my teenage boys seeing you only in your towel. Did you know that once a male sees you in a state of undress, he can’t ever un-see it?  You don’t want the Hall boys to only think of you in this sexual way, do you?

Neither do we.

And so, in our house, there are no second chances, ladies. If you want to stay friendly with the Hall men, you’ll have to keep your clothes on, and your posts decent.  If you try to post a sexy selfie, or an inappropriate YouTube video – even once – you’ll be booted off our on-line island.

I know that sounds harsh and old-school, but that’s just the way it is under this roof for a while. We hope to raise men with a strong moral compass, and men of integrity don’t linger over pictures of scantily clad high-school girls.

Every day I pray for the women my boys will love.  I hope they will be drawn to real beauties, the kind of women who will leave them better people in the end. I also pray that my sons will be worthy of this kind of woman, that they will be patient – and act honorably – while they wait for her.

Girls, it’s not too late! If you think you’ve made an on-line mistake (we all do – don’t fret – I’ve made some doozies), RUN to your accounts and take down  anything that makes it easy for your male friends to imagine you naked in your bedroom.

Will you trust me? There are boys out there waiting and hoping for women of character. Some young men are fighting the daily uphill battle to keep their minds pure, and their thoughts praiseworthy.

You are growing into a real beauty, inside and out.

Act like her, speak like her, post like her.

I’m glad we’re friends.

Mrs. Hall

 And here is the link:FYI (if you're a teenage girl)

 

  

  Okay while I'm rubbing my temples here, let me just say, I am a young mother, maybe not as experienced as this mother, but I have two small boys and they will be teenagers one day. And while I know as mothers we try so hard to protect out children, you cannot protect them forever and from everything. I applaud what you are trying to do, but you are bashing and degrading these teenage girls and you don't know the reasons they are acting in this way. You don't know what's going on behind these pictures.

 

   Not to long ago I was one of these so called "teenage girls." Look I understand what you are trying to say here, and I agree its so important to respect yourself as a woman. But let me tell you how I came to be one of these girls.

   Most of my life and still to this day, in fact I heard it the other day. I have always been told I was the "accident child" that my parents were trying to avoid having another child and then I came along. And then I always heard how my little sister was the "Miracle Child" because my mother had her tubes cut, tied, and burned, and she said I was playing on the floor one day by myself and she told my dad that they should have had one more for me to have someone to play with. (I have three older siblings but there is a 8,9,&10 year age gap between us) And so my mother said God must have heard her because shortly after she got pregnant, some how her tubes grew back together. So I spent most of my life hearing and like I said I still hear it to this day, that I was the accident, and my sister ran around saying she was the miracle baby and she still says it to this day.

    I spent half my life walking this earth thinking that I was a big mistake, there have been times I wondered why was I even bothered to be put here? On top of that I never had the sex talk, I didn't have a good relationship with my parents at all. In fact I dressed inappropriately and carried myself in a manner that caused me to be deemed "easy" when I was in high school. I had rumors going around about me having sex before I even lost my virginity, it was all in the way I presented myself. But this is why, instead of trying to talk to me or teach me how important it was to respect myself and my body, I was told that I dressed like a whore, I act like a whore, so instead of trying to find the root of my problems, I just had something pinned on me, thus I turned around and I just acted that way until eventually I became easy.

    All the while I know that was not the intentions but pushing to much will make a person do the exact thing you are pushing to much on.

    I became a horrible person as I grew up, and I did NOT respect myself. I kept looking for someone just anyone to love me and care for me. So I gave myself to guy after guy, kept trying to attract attention by dressing provocatively and acting flirty. I was also horrible and mean, I caused so much hurt and pain to people, number one being my little sister, because I thought she was that perfect child, the "miracle baby" she was the one good kid out of all of us, and I was the mistake, so I basically made it my life's mission to ruin her life and her positivity. And what I ended up doing was ruining myself, I ended up moving out of my parents home at 16 just before I turned 17, moved in with some people that took me in, moved to a new school and started new. It took a while to get out of my old habits but I'm so proud to say through the grace of God, He found me and turned my life around for the better. Now I hope to help others. I don't want anyone to have to live with the hurt and pain I went through. I don't want girls to act like I did because they are looking for some one to love them. When all the while there is one man who will love them for who they are, Jesus Christ.
  
   My point in this is take it from the person who was one of "those girls." A lot of it has to do with the way you are raised, loved by your parents, talked to. A lot of these girls have hidden issues that no one sees, people see the mirror image and make an assumption.
   These teenage girls are living in a world that rewards and praises women who act and dress provocatively. Sex sells right now and its a horrible and true thing. Teenage girls who aren't getting the wholesome love and teachings on how to be a lady are looking to the wrong people for inspiration. How I wish I would have been different, had different people I looked up to. How I wish I would have known about the love of Christ and how important it was to God for me to show myself in a manner that made him proud and showed respect for myself.
  
   But this woman here seems to be ONLY pointing it out towards girls. This makes me so mad because guys do the same. I know they say men are more "visual" but I am sorry I have heard it from the mouths of women myself how they think this man looks so good, has a hot body and talk inappropriately of a man with no shirt on and strutting his stuff. Just because he is a male doesn't make it any more okay. Boys and Girls equally need to be taught about respect. Please stop pin pointing out just the girls.
    What my biggest issue is, you are judging these girls without knowing first hand why they are acting this way. You do not know their reasons for putting themselves out there in this way. Some of them, more than likely more than half of them, are acting this way because they are having their own issues that they are keeping inside. These girls need a good role model, someone to sit there and listen to them and try and help them. If they don't take the advice, then go ahead delete them, but do you realize you can delete them from your sons social media, but you can not delete them from the real world.
   These girls are all over the place, your boys will see them outside of social media, sorry to burst your bubble. You can not protect them forever, and honestly sitting here and trying to tell a girl what to do is just going to make her turn around and do the exact opposite. Take it from an expert!
    Your boys will run into these girls no matter where they are, and so will your daughter for that fact, she will run into these types of boys. How long do you think you can go through your sons social media and tell him who he should delete? I do hope that he takes it upon himself to do this without you telling him who he should and should not be friends with. But I also would hope that maybe they see someone who might have an underlying story, a cry for help and maybe be a good role model for them, not just push them away because they don't meet your standards.

   Look one day my two boys will be teenagers and I hope that when that time comes I have provided them with enough information to show them how to respect themselves and how to respect women, all the while also showing them that if something isn't right about someone, if it seems that there is another teen that is in trouble, that needs some uplifting, that needs to be taught how to respect them selves, I would hope they would either take them under their wing, show them the way, or find them some help, be it they say hey mom I have a friend whose acting in a way that isn't really respectful to themselves, I think they may need a good role model or some one to listen to them. Is that not so hard to teach also, rather then saying they don't act in a way that I like for you to see, you need to delete them.
   And like I said, I applaud what you are trying to do, your intentions, you seem like a close tightknit family and that is amazing. But degrading these girls, making them feel like they are worthless,  saying put on more clothes or your deleted, and all the while you have pictures of your boys in bathing suits in the same posts?? That I'm so sorry is so hypocritical.
   And do you know by telling these girls to put on more clothes or they will be deleted your kind of telling them they are not good enough for decent guys, thus they will constantly look for love in the wrong guys because they feel like they don't deserve a decent guy to be with. Shame on you for that. You have no right to do that to another person, how would you feel if there was a parent out there saying something towards your children that made them feel less then what they are? Its not a nice thought to think about. It pains me right now when my oldest son comes home from kindergarten and tells me he's being bullied or a friend made him feel bad. I constantly remind him how we must be nice to everyone because its not a good feeling when someone is mean to us, therefore we shouldn't make other people feel that way. And yes were only human we make mistakes but hopefully we have good family to teach us better, to teach us to uplift and take those on the broken path and put them on the path of righteousness with us. Not throw them away like trash.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
~Luke 10:27

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
~Luke 10:30-37

~Teach your children how to be good Samaritans~

 

"It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men."
~Frederick Douglass

 

 

Meditations From a Simple Path

 

If you are searching for God and do not know where to begin, learn to pray and take the trouble to pray every day. You can pray anytime, anywhere. You can pray at work - work doesn't have to stop prayer and prayer doesn't have to stop work. Tell Him everything, talk to Him. He is our Father, He is Father to us all whatever religion we are. We are all created by God, we are His children. We have to put our trust in Him and love Him, believe in Him, work for Him. And if we pray, we will get all the answers we need.

~Mother Teresa