Don't let the thorns get in the way, remember they have a purpose.
In life, sometimes we encounter all types of situations and wonder, why on earth have I been placed here? If you're wondering about your existence, then you've landed on the right blog.
There was once a time in my life, when I lacked a certain level of confidence in my own abilities to accomplish dreams or to succeed because of the many thorns (self-sabotaging thoughts and words of others) that plagued my mind. You see our thoughts (what's going on in that head of yours) become our words (we can speak life or we can speak death not just to others but to ourselves without realizing it) and our words dictate our actions -- we do what we were thinking and saying. I have surely had my moments of listening to the nay-sayers (myself included), but then I had to go back to my original gardener, because something didn't seem right.
Sometimes to really get a grip on life, we just have to STOP, DROP and ROLL back to the beginning and try again.
This time though, I wasn't alone. Through prayer, counsel, confessions & declarations, support, and reading testimonies of others, I too took a leap of faith to try again from the beginning. Daily I would pray "Father, if You can hear me, load me up with blessings, love & self-love, courage to face obstacles with confidence and help me see the light at the end of the tunnel, because I can't see my way on this journey. In Jesus Name, Amen." Believe me, He heard me, still hears me and still speaks, but best of all, He answered and still answers today.
It was about two (3) years ago, when I ended a very tough and heart-wrenching relationship with him who I thought was it for sure, this time, especially after a five-(5)-years hiatus from dating and relationships [mistake of my life, but that's for another blog] only to be cheated on - again - that I noticed a pattern of unhealthy relationships in my life and made a conscious decision to end that cycle by going back to the beginning. I needed to gain better insight on why I was attracting such poor choices in my life. It didn't end there, after what seemed like bad a low-budget movie of my life, I became very sick and physically weak, that I had to seek medical attention. At that point, I just wanted to sell off all my belongings and just crawl under a rock or leave the country and vanish away. Those moments (sigh) are what I refer to as dark and oppressive, yet they became some of the most liberating moments of my life. It was during those days, by divine intervention and in answer to prayers, I found strength to keep pressing and striving for better days. I was determined not to give up - this time - on me. I eventually let go of bad relationships, associations and even habits - a sort of personal detox that happened for about one (1) year.
When I finally bounced back, or did I really? It's more like when I finally realized, nothing was really wrong with me after all; I discovered it was a fight for my destiny and the devourer just wanted to end my life. That fight produced thorns, but I've come to accept them and you know what, they're not so bad after all. Instead, they now serve as protective mechanisms for my mind, soul, body and spirit.
Today I see myself and situations that arise through new lenses - I was designed by the best Gardener of all, to be a ...
Radiant
Overcomer
Succeeding
Every day
Regardless of what life or others fling at me, I earned my thorns and cannot be trampled upon. So don't despise the thorns in your life, they have a purpose - to strengthen, protect, and create awareness of what a ROSE you are.
From a Rose to a Rose ...
Miss JelC