As my daughter sings all day every day...

"About to do something new. I Know I can do it, hop skip, let's get to it...letssssss GOOOO!"

💃🏼💓✨🫶🏼

The missing context left out of this initial post: I didn't grow up religious. Yet I was surrounded by religion. I was controlled and gaslit for most of my childhood years and I couldn't get out on my own fast enough. What I found, was an incredible company fueled from the inside out by servant leaders. I was like a kid in a candy shop for the first time. I had many moments of accountability where I was forced to grow and change. I was led by phenomenal people with golden hearts who saw something inside of me I couldn't, and still at times struggle to see. This environment built me up little by little until I couldn't handle the relationships which forced me to be small anymore. Then I got married, had children, started identifying as a "Christian". And through many numerous experiences, those structures and mindsets which saved me and raised me in my early adult years - eroded away. The abuse i'd experienced during childhood was reinforced under the name of "faith". I was taught forgiveness. Which enabled me to allow in really abusive relationships. Not because they'd changed. Not because there was any accountability. But because my heart was being pressured to forgive and forget. And I did. I truly did. For a few years...it seemed great.

I was given a powerful role model, but also taught a lot of rigidity and hate.

And yes, seeing others as less than - less chosen - less saved - is a form of hate and division.

I didn't see that initially. I wanted to be one of the chosen. I wanted that community. I wanted that faith.

But I had questions. And I saw a lot of hypocrisy. And I was judged and made to feel wrong or bad for asking what I needed to in order to understand a religion, a belief set that I simply was not taught as a child.

This again reinforced the abuse i'd endured growing up - the kind that told me my feelings were wrong and never valid, the dysfunction I could see clearly was okay - normal, even. That I was the problem and I just needed to keep myself and be quiet when I was in pain.

I was not safe to be myself, that was the message.

If I played ball, I read the book, I stuck to the shadows and kept my questions to myself - then I was loved and accepted

This was reinforced every Sunday, at every small group. We went from church to church as a family thinking we'd find one who was truly living out God's message of "love thy neighbor". But all I kept finding was... "Love thy neighbor....IF". AND "But only...." And just a lot of judgement and condemnation.

So then I spent a couple years meditating. And finally most scripture came to life. I started to hear in the Spirit. And everything took on a whole new meaning. But some didn't.

And so I started asking my questions. I had a lot of them. And again learned that the churches I'd been to and the relationships I'd formed through them was not okay with that.

But I was.

So I started reading and researching various walks of faith. I started to listen to people with different backgrounds to understand more deeply. I started to unravel the verses and beliefs that were not resonant or true to me.

And bit by bit....a pattern emerged.

Instead of division, instead of differences, I began to see similarities.

The truth I've found shows me that God sent out many messengers with the same messages. And still does to this day.

Every human being is one of them. Especially when they get out of their own way.
Some messengers teach us how to love ourselves.
Some messengers teach us how not to behave.
Some messengers teach us how to love others.
Some messengers teach us how to have hope and faith.

We stand to learn so much from each other.

And sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I see through the pain of my past and forget that we are truly, at our core, all the same.

We are all drops to a single body of ocean.
We are all branches to the same tree.

I am you and you are me.

Yet we are different.

And those differences don't make us more or less accurate or more or less saved or more or less chosen.

They make us colorful and vibrant and varied.

They stand to teach us so much if we let them.

So if you made it this far, I honor the differences and similarities between me and you. And I have love for you and the light you bring to this space 🙏🏼🌻✨

@EmbersfromAsh

GM, frens. Have a beautiful day. <3

Happy birthday to our friend Elspeth! If you have a moment to send her joy, peace, love, a hug of light and energy, she deserves all of it. This has been a year of her choosing her inner peace and I hope this birthday is filled with love and hope and abundant peace 💓💓✨✨✨

Notable coincidences for your fancy 👇🏼. Buckle up. Or just hang on. Whatever floats your boat 🤣

Pope dies after JD Vance visit.... wearing a GOLD tie

This world is mental.

No, literally.

If you look into the operation of the physics which govern all of creation, it is abundantly evident that we influence the way we experience life by the way we choose to think about it.

While it is easier to connect over complaints and while it is easier to talk about and focus on what is not working or what we've lost or who did what ....

What we focus on....is what grows in our experience.

Yes, our thoughts are that powerful.

So instead of asking "what else could go wrong?"....

Try asking "How could it get any better than this?"

And the next time someone surprises you by their kindness, instead of saying "there are so few good hearted people any more"....

Try saying "Thank you for your kindness, I really appreciate that there are kind hearted people in this world".

Gratitude is a magnet. And a powerful one. But so is entitlement.

Entitlement repels people, circumstances and experiences which could bring abundance.

Gratitude attracts people, circumstances and experiences which do bring abundance.

One hack to building yourself an unbreakable mind....

Find anything and everything you ARE thankful for. It could be as simple as breathing.

Go get a pencil and paper. Seriously. Just do it.

And write "I am thankful for....."

It could take you 5 minutes to make a significant list of things that you can choose to focus your gratitude on.


Then repeat this and watch the list expand and grow ✨✨💓💓🌻🌻

@EmbersfromAsh