“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” –Peggy O’Mara
A father’s likes, for example, sports, politics, music, or cars, etc., becomes the language in which a father speaks to his children and which they speak to themselves.
The fact that many fathers do not listen with their hearts is why so many sons and daughters remain disconnected from their dads. His children may not like sports, politics, or music, etc., and therefore have nothing to say. I meet so many people obsessed with sports, politics, drugs, drinking, etc., because this is the only way that they can relate to or speak with their fathers.
Many people have no idea as to why they like or do these things, and rarely make the connection that they do these things because this was their father’s language – this is how they’ve learned to gain their father’s approval, acceptance, and his attention.
My father’s language was politics and technology. I found myself learning all I could about current political events and the latest technological gadget, so I would have something to say to my dad. I wanted my father’s approval — his acceptance and respect, so I learned his language. The sad part is that my relationship with my father was always in the shallows and never at the level and depth of heart and soul. Sadly, this became my language also between my own sons and daughter.
One day, I inspected a water-damaged home in Antioch, California, with the homeowner and his family present. All the decorations in the kitchen, family room, and master bedroom were covered with San Francisco 49er’s paraphernalia – I mean, it was everywhere! After I was completed with my task, the husband asked me:
“So, do you watch sports? … what do you think of those 49ers?”
I replied:
I don’t watch or like sports all that much.
His facial expression intimated shock and amazement!
I further replied:
… You like sports because this was the only way you could speak with your father and gain his attention and approval.
I glanced at his wife, and her face suddenly lit up with shock!
She quickly replied:
“MY GOSH, THAT’S SO TRUE!”
The husband just stood there, with his mouth opened, with the expression as though his best friend had just died!
You begin to learn how powerful for good, or evil, our father’s likes, especially when they become the mechanism of speech or language with their children. Right? Just as Peggy O’Mara wrote,
“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.”
The Bible points this out in the last book of the Old Testament, and in the very last two verses:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” –Malachi 4: 5-6.
Do you see?
If the fathers do not turn their hearts to their children, the earth will be cursed. What curses the world is silent fathers and fathers that do not speak from their hearts. This, in turn, causes children not to speak from their hearts also. Instead, their relationship with their dads is in the shallows. Very little, to no life pass from the father to their children. Sadly, this lack of transaction creates an emotional and relational deficit from generation to generation.
Proverbs 4: 23 puts it this way:
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”
If you’re a father, change the language from sports, politics, or anything that keeps your relationship with your kids in shallow places and listen and speak from your heart. From your heart flows the springs of life. Your kids can’t live successful, healthy, and full lives without the spring of life from your heart. Your words and language matter. It’s a matter of life and death!
We dads have the power of life and death in our speech with our kids, young or old. Our words have the power to build or destroy the future of our children. It is never too late to speak from our hearts.
Help build your children’s future and speak the language of love.
“Fathers, don’t irritate your children and make them resentful; instead, raise them with the Lord’s kind of discipline and guidance.” – Ephesians 6:4
When strangers or acquaintances abuse us, it hurts, but not as much as when it’s a sibling, mom, or dad. You see, all of our identity and self-worth are derived from family but especially from our parents. When their abuse is emotional, spiritual, verbal, physical, etc., it attacks the core of our identity.
Toni and I are battling 35 years of abuse with her family, and especially with her parents.
Toni’s father was a pastor for most of Toni’s life. What she encountered as abuse was spiritual and religious in nature, steeped in legalism and perfectionism. Her mother told Toni and her siblings to deny their feelings. To go against instinct – to submit beyond question. To fear fear. Accept failure but to keep quiet. To compromise inner truth for outer fakeness.
My story was filled, as you may know, with physical and violent abuse. I dare say, I prefer the abuse that I endured more than what my dear Toni, has endured, and still does to this day!
I’ve asked a question several times over the years when speaking at men’s retreats and gatherings.
“Which would you rather have, a broken leg or a broken heart?”
Everyone in the room, shouted:
“A broken leg!”
This is because most of us, sadly, are well acquainted with the deep pain of a broken heart and the countless years of suffering.
My wife’s heart, while broken during her adolescent life, is undergoing healing over her adult years as she walks with God. Her healing could be accelerated if her parents would join her in her healing journey.
Yet, her parents want her and me, too, to “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.” This silence and blindness to evil has allowed the unmitigated reign of evil over many in her family. It’s painful to watch, but prayer gives us our only hope.
However, religious abuse is hard to see, because it looks socially acceptable—it looks so spiritual! Sadly, the abuse that Toni is suffering has wreaked havoc on her innocence. Her frailty. Her femininity. On her mind. On her heart and soul. This caused her to feel spiritually dirty most of her life and hyper-subjective.
Because her abuse was from religious parents, it locked her into a prison of impossible expectations. A perfectionism that not even God would impose. Right? God’s perfection is imputed or placed upon us by the works of Jesus. Toni was expected to be perfect by religious means and not by divine decree. Sadly, this is the story of many children who are fathered by ministers.
So, how do we forgive mom or dad, or both?
“Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land and that it may go well with you.” – Deuteronomy 5:16
Remember, this is God’s command with no prerequisites. It’s his 5th commandment—smack-dab in the middle!
One reason God gives us this command is because parents, by design, are to be “lesser gods” to their offspring. The fifth commandment can also be applied to God.
Honor [God] so that you may live long in the land and that all my go well with you.
So, when we dishonor our parents, we also dishonor God, and we put great risks to our well-being and life expectancy.
But what about abusive parents? Are we to honor our abusers?
Here’s the question: Did God give us our parents, or did God give us to our parents?
It’s important to know, for several reasons.
The Allmighty of Scriptures is the Sovereign God. He’s the divine architect and the builder. He is motivated by nothing else than his will and purpose. Also, scripture is quite clear that God is very relational, right down to the individual — the individual parent and child. It boggles the mind, or at least mine, that God thought of you, me, and our parents before space and time!
“Before the creation of the world, he chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in his presence.” – Ephesians 1:4
“The Lord formed me from the beginning before he created anything else. I was appointed in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began. – Proverbs 8:22-23
You see, we simply cannot deny that God put us into the care, good or bad, of our parents. We also can’t deny that God, intimately knowing you before earth began, appointed you to your parents. God is involved in both choices of parents to children and children to parents. There is nothing random about it! We had no say in the transaction.
Rather, God, in his wisdom, has appointed us to our parents, knowing fully that he will establish the commandment to honor them without hesitation and reservation. And that this commandment comes with a two-fold promise — all will go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.
But still, the question of forgiveness for our mom’s and dad’s abuse is unanswered for millions of hurting children of all ages, churched or unchurched.
I do want to address child abuse for those children who are still adolescent. It is not dishonoring to mom or dad if you seek help. This is for those children who are being physically or sexually abused by one or both parents. Speak to a pastor, teacher, school counselor, or coach. These people are required by law to notify Child Protective Services. Your safety is of utmost importance!
But for adult children, whereby we have moved out from mom’s and dad’s house, or perhaps they’re deceased. It’s not that forgiveness is optional. Rather, it is a necessity! Forgiving them is also about honoring them.
Many years ago, while living in Antioch, California, I invited my mother over to have a conversation. It was my plan to recall all the abuse that I had suffered by her hand.
It was just me and mom, sitting together in my home office when I began to unload on her. I was not angry or hard on my mom. I spoke from my heart and carefully described my hurts and scars.
Beginning at age 18 months old, I recalled quite accurately the violent physical abuse my little body suffered in the fit of her rage. I continued each remembrance, each story, as though it had just occurred; from 18 months through my 18th year! At the end of each story, with tears of remembrance traversing my bearded face, I said:
“Mom, I forgive you.”
… My mother just sat there, emotionless, and then replied:
“I don’t remember any of that.”
While her response was painful, I was not completely dispirited. You see, because my forgiveness wasn’t just for her, it was for me, too. While my exchange with mom was difficult, it came from my heart, not to condemn her, but to restore her—to restore us. To move the offense out of the way between mother and son. So that I could love her again. I didn’t need her permission to forgive her, as it was me letting go of all her hurtful acts.
Another twelve years would pass before my mother confessed and agreed to her abusive behavior. Her awakening happened just a few short days before she passed on Mother’s Day, May 11, 2008. It was just my mom and me again, but this time we met in her home. Unquestionably, God was there with mother and son. Both our hearts were tenderized by her battle with pancreatic cancer and softened by God’s mercy and grace. I again forgave my mother, and she humbly accepted my forgiveness as I accepted hers.
How do you know you have forgiven? When you can love them again.
It’s humanly impossible for us to forgive those who have treacherously abused or wronged us. Forgiveness is only possible through God’s grace and empowerment from Jesus Christ. And through Him, we can love again those who have wounded us with broken bones and shattered hearts. It’s called Agape Love — the love of God working in and through us.
My mother didn’t deserve my forgiveness, God required it of me. He knew it would bless me with a good and long life on earth. It was my opportunity to honor my mother. Grace, mercy, forgiveness, and God’s love are what triumphed here. It is what empowered me to do the impossible, which was to forgive my abuser—my own mother.
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” – Isaiah 49:15
Just a few days before my mom’s death, God rembeberd me, and my mom, too. He rescued us both!
Here’s another helpful verse of Scripture written in the last Old Testament book and in the last two verses of the last chapter of Malachi:
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” – Malachi 4:5-6
God softened my heart, and in turn, he softened my mother’s heart. Because of heartfelt forgiveness, my land is no longer cursed. My life is free from bitterness, resentment, and hate. I can honestly say that I miss my mom. She would be 92 years this past February, 25, 2025. Without a doubt, she’s basking in the presence of God, fully forgiven!
What about you? I encourage you, too, to forgive. Even if your parents and abusers are dead. Even more so, forgive them. You see, if they have died, then they’ve met the judge, and justice was measured upon them. All that is left for you is to forgive them and let them go so that you, too, can live well in the land.
Unforgiveness harms no one but yourself. It rots away your present life and eats away at your future. That’s the definition of a cursed life. Kick pride out of your life. It’s killing you! Humble yourself, and God himself will lift you up!
Now you know what to do when parents abuse.
Have courage, my dear friend, trust in God’s Word, and hold tightly to His promises. Though mom or dad may have forgotten you, God never forgets!
Forgiveness is your pathway to living a long and healthy life in the land!
If you do nothing, it won’t be long before you, too, become an Inhuman. Stand up today. Tomorrow will be too late.
inhuman. / (ɪnˈhjuːmən) / adjective. Also: inhumane, lacking humane feelings, such as sympathy, understanding, etc; savage, cruel; brutal, not human – lacking pity, kindness, or mercy.
The rise of Inhumans is not futuristic dystopia. It’s already here! It is unmistakably all around us and in our faces. Caged merchandise, bold shoplifters, the elderly beaten in broad daylight, smash-n-grab mobs, and perverted justice are just the tip of the iceberg.
The rise of inhumans has led to the September 10, 2025, martyrdom of Charlie Kirk. The August 22, 2025, brutal stabbing death of Ukrainian, Iryna Zarutska. The fatal shooting of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were killed in DC on May 2025. How about Frank and Maureen Olton, ages 76 and 77? They were brutally murdered in their home in Bellerose, Queens, in September 2025. Tragically, the list goes go on and on.
Our once great cities smell like sewers. Roaming hoards of homeless; drug addicted, and walking dead are everywhere, and in every city and town.
The controlled mass media and deep-state operatives of both parties are intentionally benefiting from whatever crisis promotes their narratives and agendas. They do this by design and intention to advance their power and lessen our liberties.
A culture of death gives the globalists cover to treat us like human chattel—beings without worth, without souls, and without meaning.
Take HBO’s, “Real Time,” hosted by Bill Maher, for instance:
“People who aren’t pro-life, there pro-choice. They don’t hate women. They just made that up—They think it’s murder and it kind of is—I’m just okay with that. I am, I mean, there are 8 billion people in the world. I’m sorry. We won’t miss you. That’s my position on that.” – Bill Maher, April 13, 2024
The state has no use for autonomous, self-governing individuals. Neither does Hollywood, for that matter.
The State needs nothing more than a collective, hives of human bots – humans separated from their humanness, led only by lust and animalistic instinct. How about the seven or more migrants that assaulted two NYPD officers? These criminals were released without bail, then fled New York and are headed to a sanctuary city in California!
When the video gaming industry develops games glorifying death and mass shootings, the value and meaning of life is diminished.
When millions of babies are aborted out of convenience and birth control – when they are slain, dismembered and tossed in the trash, or left alone without intervention to die, or their precious body parts are sold to the highest bidder, the value of life is tragically diminished!
When Hollywood continues to produce film after the film of murder, death, suicide, and gun violence after gun violence, the value of life is lessened.
When politicians cry out for gun confiscation, leaving the innocent defenseless, the value of life is threatened. Creating soft target groups by creating “gun-free zones” only entices those sold out to the culture of death to act out their heinous and demonic manifestos.
When the crazed Leftist and democratic mayors demand prisoners to be released, police departments are defunded or abolished, and law and order are replaced with crime, chaos, rape, and murder, America suffers.
When emerging politicians preach the end of the world in 12 years, and the only way to avert disaster is financial ruin, and depopulation, we become nothing more than “carbon footprints,” and the sanctity of life is abolished.
It’s times like these when one realizes that we’ve lost the Republic, and the conservative voices of the elect, no matter how loud, does not affect those that govern.
We have reached the bottom of degeneration, and the voiceless innocence of the unborn has once again been lost. Those of you prefer the freedom to choose death versus the inconvenience and responsibility for life, which has signed the death certificate for our nation.
Furthermore, in our crazed ignorance and selfishness we have devalued our own lives, which, when it too becomes inconvenient for the State, will also be quietly and clinically euthanized for the greater “good” of those that worship death.
When it is of more value to kill your body to harvest your organ or eliminate your “carbon footprint,” it will be done without your consent. The State, and not your doctor, is in charge of your “healthcare” now!
Do not be deceived and be so naive; abortion is indeed birth control and has little to do with “family planning.” Nearly 60 million abortions have occurred since 1973, and it is a holocaust and not healthcare. Even though the hideous nature and actions of Planned Parenthood are laid bare for the world to see, nothing changes.
To those who’ve remained silent against the murder, dismemberment, and trafficking of the unborn’s body parts and organs shall bear the same fate as those who practice such evils.
Hundreds and thousands of innocent people being murdered in a heinous “dark age” fashion, we call it something other than what it is – we call evil everything other than what it is.
The death culture, which is unfortunately being utilized and funded by key governmental agencies, including the likes of George Soros, promotes the devaluing of life to expand and to justify greater top-down control over free people.
To the 278 million so-called believers and people of faith in America, where is your light? Where is your salt? Do you not realize that if judgment comes, and indeed will, it comes first to the House of God before it comes to the houses of unbelievers?
Get your affairs and houses in order and prepare yourselves for terrible days ahead. The Left is pushing our country into civil disorder until death, and violence floods our streets.
History is full of stories of bloodied kingdoms and failed nations. We will be no exception.
Unless you speak up and rise from your slumber, they’ll keep it up until our liberties are gone, all the while we stand silently by in the culture of death.
If you do nothing, it won’t be long before you, too, become an Inhuman. Stand up today. Tomorrow will be too late.
The rise of Inhumans is here and it’s not a Marvel comic book series!
The very things you are hiding may be the healing hope of others.
Have you ever considered that your wounds may be a perfect gift from God that can serve others in profound ways?
“In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.” – Brennan Manning
It is not the breaking of our bodies that should be our focus— not the illnesses we may suffer from time to time—no matter how severe. It’s not our sicknesses we should buffer or how broken we may become while here—there is something else to consider—something other is near.
It’s not the betrayals or deceptions we may encounter, even if our hearts have been shattered and our souls are emptied and filled only with fear. The life that remains in us, which may be covered with grief, pain, and despair, is like the snow-covered flowers in winter, shall be unveiled when spring again fills the air.
For even the faintest heartbeat and most shallow of breath, there lies hope. Life does not come easy, even for the most wealthy, yet life is a choice to be made. And if we so choose to believe it, beauty shall be our reward each new day and each new year.
Authentic living shall bring forth such brightness to dispel and vanquish such desperate despair.
Our most gloomy nights filled with impatient anger can be transformed into powerful meekness and care; such sweetness to our bitter sorrows are waiting; such eternal wealth for our poverty is near, and such fullness to satisfy all hunger, to our souls shall there be the grandest affair.
All for those who shall be rewarded of mustard seed faith to compare; of glories unknown to the healthy, but for the sick such treasure laid bare; for beauty and ashes shall be traded, but none for the self-righteous to spare.
So kiss your chains, which binds you to all sorts of suffering, and thankfully say: “Good morning” to the pain, which lingered throughout the night and, yet, remains into the days, weeks, months, or perhaps years. In all things, even the bad and the ugly work out for our good by God’s care. This does not add to his glory, for He is complete in all attributes he bares, but it does add to your ultimate healing and refined glory to be credited and to be shared.
We who believe, and are true sons and daughters of God, are broken to be given and to become children who bear a lesser yet increasing glory of the Most Glorious Father of our hearts and souls.
So let’s not waste our suffering on complaining and blaming, but rather let us all rejoice in our transformation, which is to follow if we endure and do not despair!
Your brokenness is making you beautiful and a wellspring of Life for other sufferers to drink from. That, my dear sisters and brothers, is the Christ of all Healing, The God of all Comfort, and the Everlasting Father of all fragile Hopes.
The greatest gift that God could give required his only Son to suffer an ignominious and terrible death so that through Christ’s suffering, we would have everlasting life.
He was beaten, broken, and bruised for our healing that he may be given in place of our punishment for the Joy set before him.
My friends, you are that Joy!
My business takes me to people who have lost their homes and sometimes their loved ones to fire, flooding, or earthquake. Knowing this, I’ve added the following words to the reverse side of my business card:
“Living a scarless life is not living at all—sometimes, our greatest triumphs lie in our greatest defeats. In all things, I am a child of God and never a victim. I do not, therefore, interpret tragic circumstances as mishaps but as a divinely scheduled trip to God’s beauty salon.”
… God’s breaking is so that you may have something to give—something of eternal value. You are becoming His handiwork!
The heroes of our faith and Saints of Old are watching!
“I went round the city and I looked at everything. I said to the leaders, the officers and the people, ‘Do not be afraid of our enemies. Remember that our Lord God is great and powerful. Fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters and your wives. Fight to keep your homes safe.’” —Nehemiah 4:14
I know that you have been absorbing a great deal of information and news, good or bad. I know, like Nehemiah, you too have looked at the condition of our cities, towns, neighborhoods, and schools. Do not be dismayed to the point of indifference. You are desperately needed!
Do not allow what you are seeing and hearing to take you off your mission as husbands, fathers, and godly men. Do not allow yourselves to drift away from the Lord. To the contrary; fight to recapture your heart. Then fight to win again the heart of your wife. Fight for the hearts of your children. Fight for your country.
If things are broken or at odds between you and your wife, fix it now, but not with your “toolbox,” but by listening to her heart. Have compassion for her, and make her safe in your presence and absence. Please, men, let your wives into your heart and speak to them with kindness and wisdom. She’s your partner, and I can promise you this that there’s no one else better suited to be in your foxhole and camp than your wives.
Be gentle and patient with your children. Your actions, attitudes, and words should show them how much you love them and that they, along with your wives, are more important than your man-toys, sports, politics, or even your ministries.
You set the climate of fear or peace in your homes. Choose peace and fight to hold onto a climate of peace in your house. After all, “a man’s home is his castle,” so protect and defend it, but more so, your family which lives in it.
“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.” —Saint Francis de Sales
Show your wife and children through your right actions that your trust is in the Lord. This is your job as a man of faith. Your trust in God becomes their trust in God. Your good father-heart points them directly to the Father-Heart of God, which, by the way, is where they find their identities.
Things are going to be rough these next several months. Our nation and it’s people will be tested beyond belief. But hold onto your belief in God, in your marriage, and in your children. They, not your careers, video games, sports, and politics, are your mission. The country will right itself, or perhaps not. This, however, doesn’t change the man you are, nor your mission.
Cling to God and to his Word. Love your wives unconditionally and sacrificialy. Be gentle with your children, and show them great patience. Tell them with words and action that you love them.
Be stouthearted. Be brave. Be courageous. Be men of God. Brothers in Chist. Hold to Truth. Armor up with God’s promises. Hold to the peace that comes from trusting God.
Remember that you are not alone. The God of the Angel Armies lives within you. Your brothers are not far off—we’re in this together!
Lead your families well. It’s up to you, and no other. The term “husband,” means “band around the house.” Be that physical and spiritual band. You can do it because you are on the Lord’s side—you are men!
Again, get right with your wives and children. No excuses. No worries. Be courageous, be men, and make God and heaven’s armies proud!
Demons are shuddering. Angels are gathering. The heroes of our faith and Saints of Old are watching. They are with the Heavenly Hosts, cheering you on to victory!
Sometimes, it’s the simple prayer of a desperate heart that changes everything!
I know my Heavenly Father has me where he wants me, in his capable hands. But sometimes I forget. It’s not always easy to place my life and my prayers into his hands. When the struggling is over, and I rest in who he is, I find peace and the assurance that he hears my prayers.
I can, and do, at times, recount the prayers in which he’s answered. Since, in most times, my prayers are about major issues, they indeed are worth remembering and thanking him all over again. But those desperate, little prayers are just as meaningful too and worth remembering.
This is why the first word His Holy Spirit teaches us to say is “Abba Father,” which actually means “poppa,” or “da-da” in Hebrew. He wants that kind of trust and familiarity from us. The God of All Creation invites us to call out to him as an infant, frail, dependent, and trusting.
My favorite title in all the world is “Daddy.” It was my precious daughter, Tessa, who’d call me daddy, while my boys would call me dad or pops. Daddy is the title that would melt my heart and soften my face.
I truly believe that our Heavenly Father loves us to call him “daddy,” “poppa,” or even “da-da.” I think he wants to hear that name and title from you. I believe that Abba may be God’s favorite name.
One lonely and rainy morning, I was traveling to Castro Valley, California, for work. It was 5:30 a.m., still dark, as I was approaching Vasco Road in Brentwood. I had been prayerless for weeks, as I had drifted away from God. I desperately wanted to pray, but I had lost my words and was filled with shame.
I remembered a simple prayer that I read in a book by Brennan Manning, titled: “Abba’s Child” – The Cry of The Heart For Intimate Belonging.
I began reciting the words:
“Abba-Father, I belong to you—Abba-Father, I belong to you!”
Over and over again, this prayer bubbled up from my desperate and lonely heart.
With the rain pounding my windshield, tears began streaming down my face, making it harder to see.
With more than a few dozen cars ahead of me, I came to a stop at the dreaded lighted intersection of Camino Diablo and Vasco Road. While traffic was inching along, I kept desperately praying that simply prayer, “Abba-Father, I belong to you.”
In my desperatness, I added, “I am my beloved’s and he is mine, his banner over me is love,” taken from the Old Testament book, Songs of Songs.
I finally made it to the intersection, as one by one, each car negotiated their turns. The rain still pouring down, I completed my turn onto Vasco Road, heading towards Livermore to catch HWY 580, still crying and praying with all my heart.
As soon as my headlights illuminated the car in front of me, their license plate frame brightly reflected to me the following words:
“ABBA’S CHILD.”
I had to wipe my eyes, just to confirm what I was seeing was real! My heart became instantly alive again. My soul began to soar! I heard God, loud and clear, in the depths of my heart and with my own eyes!
God had heard my simple but desperate prayer. He reminded me in that moment at Camino Diablo and Vasco Road that I am still his child.
I am Abba’s Child! God’s miraculous reminder changed me in an instant and restored my soul!
God hears our prayers! Even when we’ve brushed him off or drifted far away from him. Abba-God rushes back at the sound of our cries—at the sound of our awkward prayers, he comes back into our lives just as a real daddy does.
I ask you to look at the photo below and imagine yourself in Abba’s embrace. Now, release your fears, worries, concerns; your sicknesses, and diseases; your loss of love or marriage; your suffering and finances, and all your loneliness and let it all go into Abba-God’s strong and sure embrace. Take a deep breath, relax—let it go, he can handle it all.
“The steps of a [good and righteous] man are directed and established by the Lord, And He delights in his way [and blesses his path]. When he falls, he will not be hurled down because the Lord is the One who holds his hand and sustains him.” –Psalm 37:23-24 Amplified Bible
Do you see? You belong to him, as a legitimate son or daughter—you’re his responsibility.
Now thank him and sleep well tonight, and when you wake up, remind yourself of this little prayer:
“Abba Father, I belong to you—Abba Father, I belong to you.” I am my beloved’s, and he is mine; his banner over me is love. Amen
The riots you’ve engaged in throughout America’s major cities, universities, and college campuses are not necessarily battles against migrants, legal or not, or Israelis vs. Palestinians.
The real battle is for your mind and the corruption of your youth. The riots are merely symptomatic of how far the Leftist and Marxist ideologies have replaced your free thinking and commonsense. They’ve simply melded communistic ideologies and Islamic-jihadism into a deadly potion of hate.
You don’t see it, but we do — you’re so consumed with hatred and racism that its made you ugly!
Your minds have been assaulted, and your wills, your voices, and bodies are under psychological control. You’ve been duped into believing that their “end” is justified and that you’ll be accepted by taking up their “means.”
Don’t you see?
They’re appealing to your hurts—to your betrayals—to your brokenness caused by loved ones. They’re penetrating your wounded psyche, so as to impregnate your mind with Marxist and Islamic ideologies, which become fertilized by your anger, fear, and pain, until you explode and rage against society, or any antithetical political person, or group.
You must be aware by now that “Free thinking” and “tolerant” Leftist and Marxist people don’t exist. Rather, they coddle you and corral you into a groupthink mentality, which is how they mass produce you into a homogenous collective, whereby you become tolerant of each other but intolerant of everyone else.
Their expectation and plan is for you to cause division and that you use your feelings and misguided passions as weapons against neighbors, friends, coworkers, and family—those people you’ve once loved. The Left lurk in the shadows, wooing you into their darkness. They get to keep their tenured positions and ranks as “professors,” “educators,” and “politicians,” while you do their dirty work!
Leftist and Marxist ideologies demand the enslavement of your body, soul, and mind — your freedom of thought and action is an illusion. They’re only after you and your new comrades as the uninformed collective to incite riot until riots become revolution and rioters become revolutionaries.
ANTIFA and RUP are not fighting against Fascism, but for Fascism. Whether you accept it or not, ANTIFA and Raza are the cloaked and masked soldiers of the Fascistic political Left. Many were homegrown and millions illegally imported via mass “migration.” You are actually destroying freedom, liberty, and our Constitutional Republic. This will not bode well for America’s future and for your’s, too!
They instill fear and apocalyptic doom into your psyche in order that they may channel all your youthful energies towards their goals of societal collapse. You become their puppets all the while creating an illusion that you’re in control. But you are not. You and your comrades are under their power and (man)-ipulation.
The Elitists Cabal has bewitched you into dehumanizing ordinary people as animals, ready to be slaughtered. They have turned you into mechanized-mind-numbed robots, hell-bent on revolution without just cause or logical sense. You are in an alliance of all that is evil against all that is good. They’ve redefined their evil as the “collective good” so that you may believe their unrighteous intentions are a righteous and worthy cause.
Don’t give into their Incideous puppeteering — they’re trying to develop you into an army of lifeless and mindless puppets, so that you can kill life without remorse. You are being prepped for a bloody revolution.
Here’s a historical fact … After revolution, the uninformed collective is always murdered off. The Insidious Cabal, after gaining their power, will have no more use for you. They’ll kill you to prevent you, as their former revolutionaries from becoming soldiers for a more noble cause against them!
Rioters and Revolutionaries, just stop for a moment and question what you’re doing and for whom you’re doing it. Please understand that you are losing your humanity and humanness, all for the sake of another man’s revolution and for their madness for power and control.
Just watch the videos of your comrades and fellow rioters, committing assault and battery against fellow citizens, politicians, and authorities, scaring students, parents, and administrators. These people are simply standing against the slaughter of 1,400 Israelis and the kidnapping of the innocent. They simply want the criminal element of illegal immigration to end. Honestly, who’s more inhuman, those that riotously beat and murder others and damage private and public property, or those who simply support the innocent and the laws of our nation?
You are merely powerless and useful pawns in the eyes of the elitists, and they have no respect towards you — absolutely none at all!
You are not making history, but as their lemmings, you’re destroying it!
R.I.O.T. for Truth through the power of love and not hate. Make your life about the Righteous Invasion of Truth rather than the disastrous father of lies and the rise of a Communist State.
This can be your liberation day — This could be the day that your war ends.
There is a great Shakespearean quote from one of my favorite war flicks, “To End All Wars.” Released 2001, starting Robert Carlyle and Kiefer Sutherland. Based on a real-life story of Allied soldiers in Burma who were held captive by the Japanese several years before the ending of World War II.
During a touching and dramatic scene prior to their rescue, when all hope had been beaten out of the POWs, American B-24 bombers flew over the prison camp. Suddenly, like large fluttering snowflakes, hundreds of leaflets from the Allied forces decended down onto the camp.
On each of the leaflets held a message of hope and liberation, announcing the end of the war and the impending arrival of Allied forces. The reaction of the Japanese soldiers was to immediately abandon the camp and retreat into the jungle.
The POWs bewildered, as their captors fled, being severely weakened from malnutrition and abuse, couldn’t believe what was happening. As the significance of the moment dawned on the terribly broken men, a fellow POW began quoting the following:
“For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition from this day to the ending of the world. But we in it shall be remembered; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” –Henry V Act 4, Scene 3, St. Crispin’s Day
I want you to know that while you may be suffering alone; confused, bewildered, dried up on the inside, and losing hope, your rescue is coming. You are not alone! While we’re not all held captive together in a prison camp, we are all together in spirit. Each tear we silently shed is our “bleeding.” It is what binds us together beyond space and time. It’s what makes us brothers and sisters. We all have our own stories as to how we’ve become broken, abused, and imprisoned. Your story does matter and is critically important!
It’s in the remembering and the telling of your story that could change everything — It did for me.
In the 2007 movie: “Reign Over Me,” starring, Adam Sandler as Charlie Finemen, a man who was completely lost because of the horrific and sudden death of his beloved wife, Doreen, and his three little daughters, Geena, Jenny, and Julie, in one of the doomed hijacked planes of 911.
Charlie runs into his old friend, Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle). The two had shared a dorm room while at a dental school, for two years, and now, nearly five years later, and having lost touch with one another, they bumped into each other by chance, on a street corner in New York.
Alan Johnson, surprised at Charlie’s state of grief and lost-ness, tries to help his old friend recover. He ends up getting Charlie to see his therapist friend, Angela Oakhurst (Liv Tyler).
Charlie finally consents to see the therapist. Charlie seems not to be listening to Angela’s recommendations and asks if his counseling secession could be over. Angela consents and says:
“If you want it to be, Charlie.”
So, Charlie gets up from the sofa and is nearly out of Angela’s office when he is stopped by her. She gives him one last piece of advice:
“Charlie, before you go, I’d like to say something. Look, the fact is you had a family and you suffered a great loss, and until you discuss that and we can really talk about that, this is all just an exercise. I can be patient, Charlie, but you need to tell someone your story. It doesn’t have to be me, but someone.”
Charlie did begin to tell his story to his friend, Alan Johnson. Although painful, it began the recovery of a long battle with grief and loss, whereby through this tragedy, he had developed PTSD.
I strongly encourage you to find someone to tell your story to a therapist, friend, pastor, priest, or rabbi. If not, reach for pen and paper and begin your own memoir. As you may eventually discover, your own story is worth telling, and suddenly, your desert may turn into an oasis.
It’s never too late to start. I started writing my story at age fifty-four. The writing and telling of my story have given me a greater understanding and clarity that I did not have before I began to write.
Author and speaker John Eldredge responded in an interviewer when asked the following question:
Interviewer:
“Why is it so important for us to view our lives as a story?”
John Eldredge:
“We’ve tried to sort and solve our confusion with tips and techniques, principles — a truth here — a proposition there, but it doesn’t really work. I’m suggesting that we’ll get a whole lot farther down the road to clarity and understanding if we look at things through the lens of story.”
I had, tried all the empty “tips and techniques, principles; a truth here or a proposition there,” and have found that these things may offer some relief, but do not take us as far as we need to go in our journey. It is the telling or writing of your story and, as Mr. Eldredge has suggested, looking at your life and, “all things through the lens of a story.”
I have written my story in many articles that I have posted and published. They are all my jewels and pearls of life. It is my sincere hope that I’ve spread them before the needy, the brokenhearted; those in dungeons of despair and those imprisoned with guilt, and not to those who would cheapen them — who would embellish themselves upon my misery and that of others. But even so, to such people, I bid you come, and take what you want, for the greatest of my treasures lay not in Wall Street, or on Main Street, but in heaven.
I encourage you to consider your life as a “story”. It contains all the chapters of your life, with good days and bad days. With chapters of pain and agony and pages of suffering, chapters of recovery and joy and pages of contentment. Your story is made up of all your events of life and when you are brave enough to take a peek, you may begin to see there has been an Author all along, doing something in you through each and every chapter of your life.
And even though, at least so far, this has been a short version of my story and journey from severe child abuse and the development of PTSD early in my life, there has been and remains an Author and Artist throughout all the years of my life.
God has intricately woven and written my story, using all the chaos and heartache, loss and pain, seasons of happiness and great joy, months of loneliness and despair, years of poverty and wealth — the list goes on and on.
For nearly sixty-six years now, nothing in life or in the dying has changed this one important truth:
Christ is our only answer and our only hope!
Turn to Him, who is well acquainted with grief and sorrow. He bore it all, not for title or position, but that He may become a Savior worth trusting and a Lamb to gentle your condition.
Begin your journey of hope and healing and call out to the Abba of Jesus. He is the end of your search for hope and healing and the cure for your hurting heart and soul.
Trusting Him may just begin a new and beautiful story.
This can be your liberation day — This could be the day that your war ends.
“A wound that is not wept for is a wound, which can not be healed.”
My son Jordan and I listened to several of John Eldredge’s podcasts on the way down to Bakersfield a few years ago. We talked about how good It would be if we could get a weekend retreat scheduled to help men and boys with their brokenness and father hunger.
One thing that Jordan and I have learned in hosting many retreats in the past, is that if a man is to be healed from the father wound, or to draw closer to the heart of God, going to the mountains and spending a little time away from the familiar and from responsibilities provides an excellent environment to find clarity and healing.
There is a clear biblical mandate in scriptures for fathers and sons to turn their hearts towards each other, as written in Malachi 4:5-6 and in Luke 1:17.
Did you know that God closes the Old Testament with Fathers turning their hearts towards their sons, Malachi 4:5-6, and then opens the New Testament with the same message in Luke 1:17? As a matter of fact, a broken and wounded relationship between fathers and sons leads to a cursed life. In turn, a cursed life causes the wounded sons of Adam to detest and avoid the Father Heart of God. And, like Adam, we are driven away from God and cover our nakedness (shame) with a false life and endless pursuits of Eve (the woman).
Eve becomes a surrogate; a pseudo-god in place of the Father Heart of God. Her comfort replaces the comfort from Father God, and her beauty replaces the glory of God. So, man sees his reflection in the woman rather than in God. He grades himself and his masculinity in the responses and opinions he receives from women.
I find it interesting that God created Adam apart from Eve. God walked with Adam for some time before he created and presented the woman to him. If a man is to walk with God; if he is to be fathered by God, he must let go of Eve. He must cease his pursuit for her comfort; for her beauty, and her maternal instinct to satisfy his father hunger.
A woman can not bestow masculinity, nor can her maternal instinct heal the wounded masculine soul. He is father-famished, and mothering this type of wound will further emasculate him, extending his adolescence years and perhaps decades beyond the stage of normal boyhood.
Read the following short conversation between Nullah, a little half breed Aboriginal boy, and Drover, an Australian cattle driver from the movie Australia:
Nullah: You a man, Drover?
Drover: Yeah, I try to be.
Nullah: Sometimes man got to get away from woman.
Drover: Maybe.
Nullah: That’s why you go droving.
Drover: I go droving ’cause that’s my job.
Nullah: If you don’t go droving, you not a man.
Young Nullah has learned from his grandfather, King George, an old Aboriginal man that a boy can not become a man until he leaves his mother and completes his walkabout into the wilderness.
Drover, played by Hugh Jackman, later explains to Lady Sarah Ashley, played by Nicole Kidman, that Nullah needs to go on walkabout and that without ceremony (walkabout) the boy will have no love in his heart, he’ll have nothing; no dreaming, no story, and no country.
And this is the problem with our culture. Boys do not, in a healthy way, detach from the woman, which should be initiated by the father’s invitation. The ceremony between father and son never happens, and so, the son remains a boy with no love in his heart, no dreaming, no story, and no country or belonging. As a matter of fact, for far too many boys, there is no father to speak of. And so, men awkwardly and inappropriately remain attached to the woman as mother rather than as an equal. Romance becomes incestuous and confusing, as men become seekers of mothers rather than partners.
I have firsthand experience with this. You see, I lived a parent-child relationship for the first fifteen years of my marriage to Toni. It was a wise counselor, Jim Matthews, who pointed this out to Toni and I during a crisis therapy session. Oddly, Toni was the mother I’d always wanted, and I was the son she wanted to fix and mother. I was terribly unfathered and a broken man. We almost lost our marriage many times throughout those first fifteen years.
At one point, Toni stepped out in faith and ceased mothering me, which allowed me to fail or succeed until I became the man she needed and deserved. Without my wife acting as my mother, I had to grow up, or I’d lose my family of three sons and one daughter. My legacy and my children’s future were at stake.
In a miraculous way, and due to the courage of my wife, I became the man, husband, and father my family needed and deserved. This is why I have written this article, to tell others that change is possible, even in the most damaged life or marriage, there is hope and healing. My good friends, Dustin Scott Guerrero and his wife Angie Orlando-Guerrero also have an amazing and beautiful story of healing and restoration that is powerful and inspiring. Their’s is the kind of story that would make an amazing Hollywood movie!
You see, a real woman does not want a grown man to follow her around like a lost boy or puppy. When the cuteness wears off, she awkwardly becomes a mother, rather than a lover of a true man. Relationships become difficult when a man can not give, but is in contestant need to receive.
A man must detach from Eve in order to become attached to the Father Heart of God. Without a father in the life of a boy, the boy becomes lost and wounded. When the boy ages into adulthood, without initiation and ceremony, he hides his unfathered and boyish heart with the fig leaves of false masculinity and posing.
Wounded boys and men like this need healing. Jordan and I have witnessed the miracle of healing and restoration of men’s hearts to the Father Heart of God in the space of a few days. God can and does heal by just one word. After all, did not God speak the world into existence by the Word of his power?
“For He spoke, and all things came into being. A single command from His lips and all creation obeyed and stood its ground.” –Psalms 33:9
“His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high…” –Hebrews 1:3
Yes, God can do a miracle in a man’s soul with one word!
Also, do you see the connection between “His Son is the radiance of his glory,” and “you, being, or becoming His son,” reflecting his radiance? This is something that only the Father-God can do. This is not the woman’s place or role in a man’s life.
A real woman desires a real man. However, so many women have settled for boys trapped inside the body of a man and so become mothers. This cycle repeats itself over and over again. Women searching for real men and real men searching for real women, but finding only the adolescent forms of what whole men and women should be. Only God can stop this cycle, and it starts with the healing of father wounds in the hearts of men and women.
The enemy has spoken words of power also, and so stricken and wounded the hearts of people by using wounded fathers and mothers, too, to wound the heart and soul of their offspring. Thus perpetuating cursed boys and girls, which grow up with insatiable (impossible to satisfying) desires, or appetites for sex and drugs, or eating disorders. The hole is a God sized hole, which only his wholeness can fill. But since many significant wounds originate with the father or mother, they are driven away from the Father Heart of God and the nurturing and maternal presence of the Holy Spirit.
John Eldredge, author and speaker, wrote the following:
“A wound that is not wept for is a wound, which can not be healed.”
And so, we live a life without tears, without compassion and love for our own wounded hearts and souls. We all die silently while God has delivered to us our only remedy, that is, Jesus Christ.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” said Jesus –John 14:6.
The Father is the principal destination, and the Son is the vehicle, or passage way to the heart of Abba-God. (Abba is Hebrew for: Papa or Da-da, an endearing term for Father).
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” –Romans 8:15
“Because you are now part of God’s family, He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts; and the Spirit calls out, “Abba, Father.” –Galatians 4:6
For those who have the Water of Life, start watering. For those of you, my dear friends, and those whom I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting, drink deeply from the Water of Life, and you will never go thirsty again.
Jesus said, “… Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.” –John 4:14
If you want to hear more about this amazing Water and the Father Heart of God, message me, or ask for it from others who are drinking from this Well of Life and who are acquainted with the Abba of Jesus.
Don’t remain in slavery, and do not give into fear, but receive the Spirit of Life, of adoption into the family of God — into the Father-Heart of God.
Do not silently hide, or dismiss your heart, become the man you were meant to become, and simply pray and ask God to father you in the way you should go, and you will find peace and wholeness.
Our God is no deadbeat, Dad, but the Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, and the Prince of Peace! –Isaiah 9:6
Becoming a true and whole man is what every real woman desires — she’s after the authentic you!
“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.”
Could it be possible that the very ugly and scary things that you are facing this very moment can, if you’re willing, become a peal of great value?
You can not climb to the heights of joy unless you first plumbed the depths of despair. Yes, even your despair can be valuable. It is the pressures of despair in the depths of your soul where something precious is being formed.
This little article should be read as a road map, a map showing you the way to find joy when joy is the furthest thing from your mind, will, and emotion.
I’m a pretty optimistic guy with a fairly even-keeled personality. I didn’t choose to be this way. I am fortunate to have been born with a sense of optimism. When I was younger, I used to have surges of optimism, but now in my sixties, not so much.
How about loved ones; family, friends, and acquaintances that have the opposite? Instead of optimism, they suffer from depression and anxiety, and because of this, they’ve become pessimistic. Trying to cope with periodic or ongoing bouts of depression and anxiety can be hell on earth. I have seen what it looks like in the faces of my loved ones.
So here is the thing, as fortunate as I am to be optimistic, upbeat, and positive, I must choose joy, just as much as one suffering from depression must choose joy. There is a problem with both polar opposites. Both depressive and optimistic personalities, in their extremes, are void of joy.
You see, being controlled or mentally dominated by optimism or depression leaves no room for joy. Joy, real joy, is a choice. The choice is not easy for the depressed and the optimist.
But far too many people bypass joy for a new lover, new home, or even a baby, hoping they’ll find happiness.
The scriptures, more or less, indicate that joy is a command from the heart and mind to the soul, or vice versa. Even a command to our bones! Yep, I can attest to that; being sixty-something, I have a lot of aches in my bones; my bones speak to me; no, they really do, they make all kinds of sounds when I walk!
“Make me hear joy and gladness that the bones You have broken may rejoice.” – Psalm 51:8
“The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, And a good report makes the bones healthy.” – Proverbs 15:30
“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” – Proverbs 16:24
Joy is medicine to our body, heart, mind, and even our bones!
Like all medicines, many of us must be reminded to take it, perhaps even forced. Ah, but when you do follow the doctor’s orders or your wife’s, the medicine helps with whatever ails you. And so, you must also choose joy to receive all of its benefits.
I did a word study on Joy in the New King James Version of the Bible. Did you know that the word “joy” appears 192 times in both the Old and New Testaments? Just studying the word “joy” brings you joy!
But still, choosing joy in the midst of depression, worry, sickness, betrail, and even divorce seems almost impossible. Trying to reign in our emotions when our mind and body seem out of control is like trying to rope a bull elephant!
So many people suffering from depression, anxiety, and traumatic events, such as betrail, divorce, etc., show the signs of their condition in their bodies and even in their bones. Everything aches, and most things lose their significance, such as food, relationships, and even life itself. But this is why joy is so important and why the Bible mentions it 192 times!
Sacrificial joy, that is, choosing to be joy-filled when things are not right, is real medicine. As I mentioned earlier, joy is a medicine that sometimes you must force yourself to take.
I had written an article a few weeks ago titled:
“My Allergic Reaction To Asking For Help.”
This is a story of my unintended flight down a set of stairs, whereby I had ruptured and shredded my quadriceps above my left knee. They snapped like a dried twig! Well, it wasn’t the painful surgery that gave me grief; it was nausea from the general aniestic!
I absolutely hate nausea. It began post-surgery, and as soon as my wife took me home. The orthopedic surgeon hadn’t prescribed any anti-nausea meds. So there I am, writhing in nausea, dizziness, and fighting the urge to throw up. Toni saw how terrible I looked and felt. It was late, but I begged her to go to the pharmacy and bring home some anti-nausea meds.
While Toni was away, I was so desperate that I turned on a Christian Radio Station, K-LOVE, and listened to worship music while alone in my living room. I struggled initially, but I started to command my body, heart, and mind to be joyful. I began singing praises and thanksgiving to God, thanking him, even for the dreaded nausea. In a matter of few minutes, my nausea vanished, and my pain began to diminish.
Soon, Toni showed up with the anti-nausea meds, but when she handed me the bag, I said, “Oh, um, I’m feeling much better; the nausea is over.” She looked a little perturbed, only because I sent her on a wild goose chase for drugs that I didn’t need. I should’ve started with joy.
Early the following year, I contracted a form of the H1N1 virus. I had never been so sick. I reached a point where I got my inner house in order, so to speak, because I actually thought that I might die! While burning with fever, I again started to praise God and sing a joyful song to Him. It wasn’t at all easy or even natural to push through, but nonetheless, I did.
I lay there on my sickbed and began singing Psalms 100.
“(A Psalm of praise.) Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands…
… I will enter into His gates with thanksgiving in my heart, and into his courts with praise: I will say this is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice in Him and be glad.”
Yeah, I actually thought I might be entering the Courts of Heaven that night, but God had other plans. Forcing myself to express joy helped me to triumph through that dreaded virus.
Actually, to “rejoice” is just that it means giving joy to God until it is given back to you. To rejoice in the Lord is the worshipper becoming gladdened, exuberant, and jubilant by taking great delight in God. Heartfelt Joy is reciprocal. It is also contagious.
The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. – Zephaniah 3:17
For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. – Proverbs 3:12
God sometimes brings correction through the things we suffer because He knows that suffering can produce the precious commodity called joy. Just like an oyster and a grain of sand, which to the oyster is an irritant. From this irritant comes a pearl.
Probably one of the most impactful examples of this was on, of all places, America’s Got Talent TV show.
Jane Kristen Marczewski, known by many as Nightbird, (December 29, 1990 – February 19, 2022), on AGT, viewed by millions, and a recipient of the coveted “Golden Buzzer,” told the world the following after she sang her original song, “It’s OK”:
“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.”
The audience, and especially Simon Cowell, were stunned. I was, too.
Really, Jane’s words were so powerful because they were true, not just her truth, but right from the Bible. They are God’s truth, and that night, they were spoken by a frail and tiny but courageous woman. I think the shock of it all was profound because it was spoken over the backdrop of her story; her battle with cancer.
Jane had learned the power of joy and happiness in spite of the cancer eating away at her future.
Happiness or joy is now, not later. It’s in the middle of your darkest nights, dreariest days, and deepest despairs. Joy and happiness are choices. Yes, hard choices. If they were easy, they’d have far less value with no real healing and no inner peace. That night, Jane Kristen Marczewski became God’s pearl.
God allows irritants to enter our lives, too. He does this with intricate perfection and purpose.
“Thus says The Most High, The Exalted One who inhabits all eternity, and is holy, and holy is his dwelling with the humble, and with the weary of spirit to give life to the spirit of the humble, and to give life to the heart of the suffering ones.” – Isaiah 57:15
When we are at our worst, choosing joy is most powerful. The Isaiah verse above tells us The Most High God, The Exalted One, who lives in all eternity while He dwells in a high and lofty place, He is near the humble, the sorrowful, and the sufferers.
When we command our body, heart, mind, and yes, even our bones to rejoice in God, He gives life. He refreshes. He restores, and He reciprocates our sacrificial joy. “He will quiet us with his love.” “He will rejoice over us with gladness” and even “rejoice over us with singing.” Because God is not a distant deity, He is your Heavenly Father, and he is much nearer than you can imagine.
Like the oyster, we can’t see the development of beauty inside our lives. Our struggles with depression, anxiety, worry, and overoptimism distract us from the work that God is doing. Instead, we feel abandoned by God, orphaned, and on our own. The truth is that God is there with us in the midst of our pain. It requires us to believe and trust in God’s promises. The Bible says God would rather dwell with us than with kings and queens.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:18
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” – Psalm 147:3
He would have to be very close to you to heal your broken heart, bind up your wounds, and save your crushed spirit.
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” – Psalm 145:18
Then God sends us His Son, Jesus to rescue us…
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.” – Luke 4:18-19
Don’t live life without joy.
“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.” – Jane Kristen Marczewski, “Nightbird”
Choose joy, and in a very short while, you’ll understand. Maybe you’re becoming God’s Pearl, too!
Call To Courage 