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| Milkweed captured on a morning walk. God provides for the birds, bees & butterflies He also made provision for us, by his Grace by faith we reach forth & take it. |
Lets face it, there is so much we do not understand about the world we live in and the human experience. Like many Christians who grew up in small conservative communities with limited education, I was very naive to the "ways of the world" and therefore was very vulnerable to being taken advantage of because of my Christian principles and ideals to be kind and to always believe the best about everybody. I truly believe in doing good, even to those who hurt or me or does not have my best interest at heart. What I did not understand was how to separate the individual from the bad behaviours, where to draw the line of being a doormat and being a good Christian, thereby accumulating much disappointment and pain along the way. Taking positive actions to grow myself spiritually, psychologically and emotionally was not only vital to making me the person I am today, but it was a matter of survival. Then I realize that it is not good enough to "survive", I want to come out at the other end feeling great, as well as being an influencer who will contribute to the "awakening" of others on their earthly journey. This has been a lifelong spiritual journey.
As I have learned along the way, no change in behaviour or personal growth can take place without
AWARENESS or DESIRE. I have also learned that many people are not interested in solving their problems or making their lives better, even though they will say so with words. In behavioural therapy it's called a crutch, there people use their circumstances - health, financial, relationship woes - as a way of garnering pity, financial help, or other emotional support. Mind you, this is not a conscious decision, it is mostly unconscious, unless there is direct scheming and manipulation happening. I have also learned that people become addicted to their drama ("the soup") and get so comfortable with it that even though they would like to have a different life they are afraid to change. Without a doubt change is uncomfortable, and then there is the saying "better the devil you know" which is a classic excuse for staying stuck with the drama.
We know that spiritual warefare exists because we read it in the bible, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" Ephesians 6:12. How many really mediate on this and truly dig into what it really means and how spiritual warfare affect us in our daily lives?
How do we handle situations where we have lived honestly, have people's best interest at heart and been nothing but good to them and they turn on you without any explanation and then spread lies on you, even while you are still being good to them? In addition to my own personal experiences I have heard so many stories, enough that, but for the Grace of God, to make you give up on humanity! This is where AWARENESS and UNDERSTANDING come in. But to reach a place of wholeness where you can have compassion and love these souls and see the "spiritual warfare" at work you have to "heal your own soul. This takes effort, you have to be INTENTIONAL, but it is very rewarding for it is the only way to PEACE of mind and CONFIDENCE that the Lord your God got you! The movie #WarRoom comes to mind.
When you love people, you naturally want the best for them, and without proper knowledge, you become vested in them in such a way that if may affect you in many negative ways, you take ownership for the outcome and feel responsible when things go bad for them. This often leads to abusive, toxic relationships - financial abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse and even physical abuse. This, I believe is how we develop negative soul ties. In the spring time I attended a High Tea at The Old Mill with @nicolesalmon (+Nicole Salmon), a Minister and Life Coach. The main topic of discussion was SOUL TIES, even though I was not aware of this ahead of time. This session was very informative and the group of about a dozen women had a very healthy discussion, mostly to do with romantic soul ties, but this is not limited to romantic relationships. Negative or even destructive SOUL TIES can exist in every kind of relationship.
There are two important lessons I learned that I will share with you, where you can look for patterns of SPIRITUAL WARFARE and NEGATIVE SOUL TIES in your life. In his book, Ageless Body Timeless Mind, @Deepak (+Deepak Chopra) taught that Awareness or Awakening happen to people at different stages of life, there is nothing we can do to make it happen in our time, no matter how much we love them, and no matter how much we want them to succeed and be happy. We have to let them live their journey. This is acceptance when I love this person enough to stay out of their way so they can live their journey. That is how God deals with us, he does not force his will on us! Deepak also wrote that one of the greatest joy we will ever experience is when we witness a loved one "come into AWARENESS" on their own. I have experienced this so many times, it is just an amazing feeling, and even better when you can acknowledge it with a praise without injecting self into it (this is likely to put a damper on "the moment").
The second lesson I want to impart to you is that we do not "OWN" our children. Children are people who come into our care to love and raise to become adults. Once they reach the age of decision making we do not have any control over their lives. We can keep praying and sowing seeds of Godliness, good character and what it takes to be a successful citizen and a good human being, but it is not up to us. Deepak wrote in the same book that if the foundation has been laid, often times the kids make it okay, it is the parents that get messed up in the process - messed up with ruined health from worry and more. This is a tough one to get, but it is worth the effort. This same principle applies to wayward relatives. I have seen people make so much sacrifice to help relatives get a better life or even saved them from disastrous outcomes and the subsequent behaviours and mistreatment is "beyond the pale", and you have to ask how could this be? Sometimes no matter how much we love someone, we cannot save them from themselves but we have to love ourselves enough to know where to draw the line. I have also seen family members attacking another family member for simply not bending to the will of those who feel entitled, and not even knowing if the one who was attacked had the capacity to render what was felt entitled to. Emotional intelligence is the same as spiritual wisdom, when you discern that you are being the target to be used or abused, you have an absolute responsibility to say NO. Doing good must never leave you with the feeling of being cheated, used or taken advantage of.
Last Friday (August 24, 2018) I got my copy of the book I Know What Prayer Can Do personally delivered by the author Cordell May Thorpe (@cordellthorpe). As always, we had a great chat, and what do you know, the topic of SOUL TIES came up! We did not get into the subject other than acknowledging the impact on our lives and the need for more teaching and discussion on the topic. I started reading the book and already it is hard to put it down! There is much work to be done, because the "warefare" is raging, we must equip ourselves to be effective in battle!
Trust this will bless somebody today,
MissSam
Monday August 27, 2018
