Everyone Needs Compassion

Linking up with Charlotte at  Spiritual Sunday  and Laura....Brag on Friday

"Walk where your heart leads you" GAO XINGJIAN  

I've got plans for this year...goals....dreams...
to live with purpose...to make a difference....
to use everything I've gone through to shine a Light wherever I can...so others can find freedom too. A few things in the works which I'm both excited and nervous about.....

-received an email about the women's group I'll be running starting next week...registration is full.  Talking to all those women makes me feel like bungee jumping...but the desire to show hope pushes me to not chicken out. 
-I spoke with a chaplain of a women's prison who just finished reading my book. He was blown away by it and now we're meeting this coming week to discuss how I might be able to help incarcerated women in desperate need of hope. Gulp!!!

-an old friend I lost touch with found me. He's had a tough life....spent most of it in and out of jail. Something happened to him when he was ten which changed and hardened him. But now he's a believer and travels all over the world telling people about his faith and the freedom he found in Christ. He asked if I'd write his story. The weird thing about it.....he had written me tons of letters when he was incarcerated in the last prison....letters I've kept. In the back of my mind I always thought...one day I'm gonna write his story. His story is amazing. I want to honor what he lived and both of us want to help others to know the hope and freedom that comes from the touch of His gentleness.  

Everyone needs compassion..a love that's never failing...everyone needs forgiveness...the kindness of a Savior

Spiritual Sunday "Freedom"

Linking up with Charlotte and Ginger who every week host Spiritual Sunday

"When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like god through the trees, and over de fields and I felt like I was in heaven." Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman.....a slave....fought for freedom....hers...as well as others. Tubman put slavery behind her....taking a risk....trusting God...and moving towards freedom. She knew the dangers.....but she chose freedom over slavery anyways.  And once she was free....she knew she had to share it with others. Again and again and again Tubman went back to help  others along that same road to freedom.

I sort of feel like Tubman. I've never forgotten when God reached down.....far down into  darkness....broke the chains that kept me a prisoner locked in shame and fear....and freed me with amazing grace. I remember afterwards standing outside....looking around - the trees, grass and hills looked like velvet. It's as if I had never seen them before. Having been enslaved....then freed felt so darn good.

Like Tubman....I want others to feel and experience what I have.  I promised Him...I'd go back....and help anyone who wants to be liberated...and feel the awesomeness of freedom. I promised...I'd tell what He did.....show that road of His amazing grace. It's taken me awhile to find the courage....to tell where I was.....and how bad it was and what He did....but now.....that's all I want to do......so others can find freedom too. I'm so thankful He made the way through amazing grace. 

My chains are gone....I've been set free....

Sacrifice

 Linking up with Charlotte and Ginger who weekly host Spiritual Sunday

"Those things which are precious are saved only by sacrifice. David Kenyon

Sacrifice.....I'd do anything for my kids...to keep them safe....to make them happy.....to give them whatever they need.  I'd even take away their pain if I could.....and fight for them if anyone tries to hurt them.  When they want or need something.....I try my hardest to make it happen.

Sacrifice....it's what parent do for their kids. 

Sacrifice....we do it out of love. 

Sacrifice....we want the best of the best for them.

Sacrifice...it's what He did for us....

Sacrifice.....Because of how much He loves us....

Sacrifice....He paid the price....bought our freedom....did what nothing else could....

Sacrifice....

He chose to walk that road....out of His love for you and me....

Changes

Thanks Charlotte and Ginger for hosting these awesome Spiritual Sundays. Want to join in? Post and add your name at Spiritual Sunday

"I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back"  Erica Jong

I've felt it....since last year....probably longer...a niggling inside...knowing it was time for a change...to leave the familiar...and take a step in a new direction. It was there....nagging at me....everyday. I knew it...but I sat on the fence....afraid....wanting the security of the familar...and of what was comfortable. 

But more and more the comfortable started feeling uncomfortable. I constantly felt the tug....the pull...to go in another direction. This week...I took the risk. I resigned from my job.  But not before I was told I had been given enough compensation for what had happened to me.....all those years terrorized....and struggling to survive. He's provided in overwhelming ways. 

After I resigned....a call came....a woman....well known in the community....wants to help me tell my story insisting others need to hear...that nothing is impossible to overcome. 

Another call came. Another woman. Someone in a city not too far away...a pastor's wife....she was given a copy of my book. Wants to meet....has people in her congregation that need to hear my story.

My heart burns to tell...and show that in Him...there's freedom....no matter how dark it looks. I took a step in faith...and feel a song in my soul..that I'm on the right road.....
I only want to follow where He leads. Show me your ways O Lord...... 

Spiritual Sunday "Hope"

Chalotte and Ginger host these great Spiritual Sundays. To join in just post and add your name at  http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/

"When you say a situation or person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God."  Charles L. Allan 

In April 2008, something happened....triggering memories I had fought hard to forget....

I started writing.....needing to get those memories out. I wrote in the third person.....in the dark...sometimes all night.....and most of the day.  I forgot to eat....even forgot to feed the kids. I struggled with why God would let me remember when I wanted so much to forget. I ran in the hills near our home....in the rain...in the heat.....everyday......desperate to outrun the pain.. There I heard His gentle whisper....'you're stronger now.....it's time to tell.' 

More than 400 copies have sold.....it won a national book award and was one of three books that recieved an honorable mention to The Word Guild's highest award. It's in nine bookstores in the province where I live and available in five hospital libraries.  I've recieved tons of gifts, dolls, jewelry, cd's, books, notes, emails.....people telling me....my story....my words....inspired them....gave them hope....

Janet

Wow. What an awesome book! I read it in two days. I"m not a reader so for me to read it that fast it has to be good. I was reading at work on nights and I had to get up and go to another room at one point, tears were falling down my face...your book has helped me to open up and gave me so much hope! It has made a difference in my outlook on my situation. 

Lisa

I got your book yesterday afternoon...I read late into the night and this afternoon....yours is such a beautifully written book, one that resonates with me on so many levels. I loved the descriptions, felt like I was right beside you, experiencing every situation with you. At times it was hard to breathe. Other times, I was moved to tears. Many times I was frightened for your safety, touched by your endless bravery. And then I was inspired.....I found the detail of the coaching advice affirming the very processes I am currently working on in order to change my own negative belief systems. I don't believe in co-incidence, your book came to me as a message of hope.  

Wanda

.....as I read your book...hidden wounds over my own wounded past began to surface and I KNEW that I would have to deal with them. I had come such a long way (I thought). I had written books about the healing of a soul....but reading through the section covering the time with your counselor, I felt I was there and she was gently leading 'ME' out of a dark hole into the light. Your book will touch many lives....I know...it has turned my world upside down. 

 
I had kept the secrets......choosing to live with the crippling shame and fear rather than to tell.....worried what others would think.  But I learned  - He redeems everything....and uses our worst experiences to bring hope....

My daughter fiddled around and made a short video trailer for my book. It's her first attempt. Funny thing.....I won't let her read my book until she's 18. She's only 14. 

Spiritual Sunday "It's Time."

I want so much to be all that He called me to be. I feel horribly inadequate most of the time, but I'm moving forward. I owe Him. I owe Him my life. This past year, I've written what He did, where He brought me from, what nothing else could to do....the freedom, the hope - Only Jesus could take this Jewish girl and make her fly..I never told the horrible things that happened, how I lived, how much I looked to death as a way of obtaining the peace I desperately sought....My book, In the Eye of Deception will be published mid November. I am still afraid of people in my world knowing how awful and bad it was....but my desire to show the touch of His gentleness...the awesomeness of Who He is...what He can do.....is greater than all my fears. It's time.....It's time to tell. Time to show His power....Time to let go of the shame, the secrets.....I've been trying to set up a website if anyone wants to check it out. Any comments or feedback woutd be so appreciated as it's still under construction. Guys, have a Christ centred weekend.  http://www.gentlerecovery.webs.com.

if you want to participate in Spiritual Sundays post to your blog and click on the link http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/  and let Charlotte and Ginger know.

Thankful Thursday

I'm totally thankful for:
- living in a free country - a country in which I can voice my opinion and challenge what I don't agree with. So many around the globe don't have this privilage.
-the close bond between my teen and myself. She's a great kid. A day never goes by without her telling me how much she loves me. I learn from her and she makes me want to live my best life.
-my work - I have this awesome freedom to give people hope and to make a difference in the lives of others and I get paid for what I do. Too cool.
-for the freedom and emotional healing in my life that only God has been able to do - nothing else could. Not prison, not a psych ward, not meds, not any professional, not any rehab - only the grace of God. It blows my mind how incredible and powerful His gentleness really is.
-Being able to run, and see, and feel, and move - too many people are hurting physically.

want to participate: click on the picture.          Have a great day. Sarah