Victim's strengths

 From Flying Free

Abusers target victims for their strengths. Here they are:

1. She has the kind of character that puts the needs of others before her own.
2. When she makes a commitment, she sticks to it. She is faithful and trustworthy.
3. She takes responsibility for herself and those around her. She's a woman of integrity.
4. She is generous to a fault - giving more than she takes and doing it with pleasure.
5. She is kind and compassionate. Empathy oozes from her pores.
6. She is intuitive and sensitive to the emotional environment around her. She picks up on tone and body language, and she adjusts her approach accordingly.
7. She is forgiving. She will forgive and forgive and forgive - without being asked. Her love is deep and wide.
8. She is patient and long-suffering. She will endure the attacks of her abusive partner, believing in his potential as a human being.
9. She is courageous. She survives the rejection of her love and the dehumanization of her spirit, and still, she goes into each day with hope.
10. She is resourceful. She takes what she is given and multiplies it even though she is offered only criticism and rejection in return.
11. She doesn't want to betray her abuser. She is loyal and doesn't desire revenge. All she wants is to be treated with honor, as a human being.

Silver spoon

 When you are

not fed love

on a silver spoon

you learn to 

lick it off knives.

~Lauren Eden

Souls

 From Impeccable Umeh

KEEP THIS IN MIND:

When two souls fall in love, there is nothing else but the 

yearning to be close to the other. The presence is felt 

through a held hand, a voice heard and the sight of a smile.

Even though it is a simple touch.

Souls do not have calendars or clocks, nor do they

understand the notion of time or distance. They only know

it feels right to be with one another. This is the reason why

you miss someone so much when they are not around.

Your soul feels their absence, it doesn't realize the

separation is temporary.

Taking care

Someone said to me

You like taking care of people

because it heals the part of you

that needed someone to take

care of you.

That hit me hard.

Meant to be

What's meant to be

will always find its way.

Always.

Than I deserve

"I must learn to be content

with being happier than

I deserve."

~Jane Austen,

Pride and Prejudice

Numbers

I pretty much love everything this man has said...

Bob Marley once said:

"Money is numbers and numbers

never end. If it takes money to be

happy, your search for happiness

will never end."

Push you away

 From A Home for Lonely Souls

When they push you away, don't beg them to stay

Fighting to be loved is the biggest waste

Of time, effort, and emotional space.

Owned her

he owned her

not because he

could ever take her,

but more she gave freely

every bit of herself 

to him.

~JmStorm

Dream of you

 Asleep or

Awake, I dream

Of you

All the same.

Always yours

My heart is

yours and it

will be always 

yours

Wherever I am

In my mind's eye

You are with me

In my heart

You are here

Distance is meaningless

We exist outside time and space

You are part of me

As my blood or bones

Wherever I am

So are you

~Wyatt

His

 From the sun and her flowers

i could be anything

in the world

but i wanted to be his

Unstoppable

Unstoppable they called her

but I saw her stop

I saw her stop

many many times.

Sometimes

I thought she had stopped

for good

but no

she always found a way

to resurrect.

To rise again.

Not the same

never the same.

Each time a little more determined

and a little less vulnerable.

Unstoppable they said

but I think

it was in the stopping

that she found

her power.

Wake up

I don't want to go to bed with her.

I want to wake up with her.
And, that makes all the difference.

~Kirk Diedrick

Difference

There is

my heart,

and there is you,

and I'm not 

sure there is 

a difference.

~a.r.asher

Overflow

 Trauma teaches you to expect

and accept the bare minimum.

In this new season, may you

adjust your standards and

learn to receive the maximum.

You are worthy. You are

enough. You deserve overflow.

~Dr. Thema Bryant

Not almost

 You deserve to be loved

and chosen - not almost

loved, or almost chosen.

~Bianca Sparacino

Made her beautiful

and perhaps

what made her beautiful

was not her appearance

or what she achieved,

but in her love

and in her courage,

and her audacity

to believe

no matter 

the darkness

around her.

Light ran wild

within her,

and that was the way

she came alive,

and it showed up

in everything.

Meaningless

In my mind's eye

You are with me

In my heart

You are here

Distance is meaningless

We exist outside time and space

You are part of me

As my blood or bones

Wherever I am

So are you

~Wyatt

Stay

STAY

Tell me it won't always

be this way.

Tell me it will only 

get better from here.

That on your side,

there are still

beautiful things.

That sometimes when all

falls silent, I cross your mind ~

and you remember

all our good times.

And it makes you smile.

I will know then

that I'm still here.

I promise, I will stay.

Bare minimum

 Just because I do not

require much does not 

mean I deserve the bare

minimum.

Random things

A list of random

and unrelated 

things to remember:

~Time heals

~Mountain winds sound exactly like ocean waves

~You are worth everything now

~Walls can be destroyed

~The sun always rises (and is always beautiful)

~Children know the answers

~There is music in everything

~Logic doesn't produce magic

~Somewhere, somebody loves you

~You don't need to choose mediocre when fire exists

~The moon orchestrates our nights and tides

~Trees can grow through rock

~Your heart expands when it's broken

~You should do it now

~Victoria Erickson

To love her

 Wow just wow!

When they ask me

on my deathbed

what the purpose of life is,

what it was for me,

I will turn my eyes to them,

shed a natural grin,

and reply the only way

in which I know how,

"to love her, and to

do so in a way that even

through death she will

never be without me."

~Christopher Poindexter

Plant His

 By John MacArthur

Psalm 37:4 says Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

That doesn't mean He'll fulfill yours, it means He'll plant His.

Always do

i don't have an explanation

as to how you pull me in,

you just do.

you've always had a gravity

that i've never been able

to overcome.

~JmStorm

Who you are

You are more than enough,

not because of what you've

done or what you will do, but

because of who you are.

~R.M. Drake

Proof

She is

stronger than you think

mightier

than you know

wiser

than she lets on

more real

than you can see

and she has the ability

to find beauty in things

that are rebellious,

a little bit dangerous,

yet steadfast

and loyal.

I am

proof

of that.

~P.T. Berkey

Intertwined

 She seeks the light

He sleeps in the dark

They're miles away

Yet inches apart

This balance of power

Causes a spark

For they're chaos and beauty

Intertwined as one heart.

~M.F.

Bandaids

 And one day I decided that instead of continuing

to put bandaids over bullet holes that I would

clean and mend my wounds, even if it meant it

would hurt for awhile before it got better.

~JD Lynn

Love languages

Beautiful love languages:

Respecting someone's time.

Showing up over and over.

Responsiveness.

Bringing soup.

Loving someone's animals.

Listening.

Presence.

Walks.

Utterly believing in them.

Reassurance without being asked.

Notes.

Comfortable silence.

~Victoria Erickson 

Broke

I mind less that you broke

the thing we were

and more that you broke

the thing we could have been.

~Kristina Mahr

Unmistakable

Let your Christianity be so unmistakable,

your eye so single,

your heart so whole,

your walk so straightforward

that all who see you may have no doubt

Whose you are and Whom you serve.

~JC Ryle

Investments and bills

 Some people are investments and 

some people are bills.

Read that again.

(I find it funny the word "bills" because of "Bill")

Follow up

 Good follow up to The Giving Tree

The tree said, "No, it's time we set some boundaries."

And the tree was happy.

Grown up

 You're not grown up

until you know how to

communicate, apologize,

be truthful and accept

accountability without

blaming someone else.

~Carlos Dominguez

Something

most people want

something from you.

the best people bring

something out of you.

and that's a very

different thing.

~topher kearby

Didn't plan

it's often the places

we didn't plan to go

and the people we

didn't know we needed

to meet that end up

changing our lives in

the most beautiful ways.

~topher kearby

Starve

 Already posted but good reminder...

I've learned the best way 

to end something is to let

it starve. No response, no

action, no altercations, just 

don't feed it. That's where

the true power lies.

A drop

 You could give some

people a drop of water and

they'd still appreciate you.

You could give other people the

entire ocean and they'd still

take you for granted.

Damage

 We all do damage.

Character is determined

by how we repair it.

~Piney Winston

For us

 God created us simply for the

joy and love of it. He loves us

not instrumentally - for what he

can get out of us - but for us. So

it is the height of wisdom to love

God for himself alone, and to

value human beings not simply

for what we can get from them

but as beings who reflect the

image of our maker.

~Tim Keller

Limits

 You can't hurt someone

constantly and expect their

energy to be the same. Even

people with good hearts

have limits.

Get out

 A toxic environment is more likely

to change you than you change it.

Get out of it.

Others

 The decisions and

disobedience of others will

not cancel God's will for

 you. Other people's actions

will affect you, but no one

can prevent what God

wants to do in and through

you.

More and more

"God allows

suffering to

come into our

lives to refine us,

as it were, to

teach us how to

be more and

more dependent

on Him."

~R.C. Sproul

Hidden treasure

 "We must 

read our 

Bibles like

men digging

for hidden 

treasure."

~J.C. Ryle

The point

 The point is not

(and will never be)

to stop the grief.

That's like stopping the ocean.

The point is to find ways to swim.

Nothing

 "Nothing whatever, whether great or 

small, can happen to a believer without

God's ordering and permission.

There is no such thing as chance, luck, 

or accident in the Christian's journey

through this world. All is arranged

and appointed by God. And all things

are 'working together' for the

believer's good."

~J.C. Ryle

Wintering seed

 Think of yourself just as a 

seed patiently wintering in the

earth; waiting to come up

a flower in the Gardener's

good time, up into the real 

world, the real waking.

~C.S. Lewis

2024 prayer

A Prayer for 2024

God,

We thank you for all that You've done, and we 

look to the future with hope.

Our world is full of brokenness that only You can

mend, so we pray for opportunities to boldly

proclaim the hope we have in You.

We pray for believers all over the world - that

they would be unified in You, loving and

supporting each other.

In all things, help us to fix our hope on You this

year.

Give us strength to persevere, courage to share

Your good news, and peace in knowing that You

are always with us.

In Jesus' name, Amen. 

Packaged

 The man whispered, "God, speak to me," and a meadowlark sang.

But the man did not hear.

So the man yelled, "God, speak to me!" And the thunder rolled across the sky.

But the man did not listen.

The man looked around and said, "God, let me see you." And a star shined brightly.

But the man did not notice.

And, the man shouted, "God, show me a miracle!" And a life was born.

But the man did not know.

So, the man cried out in despair, "Touch me, God, and let me know you are here."

Whereupon, God reached down and touched the man.

But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.

Don't miss out on a blessing just because it isn't packaged the way that you

expect it to be.

Triumph

 Note to self:

Heed the Lord's instructions and

focus on His provision. He knows

exactly how to help you. It's His

responsibility to help you overcome

and lead you to victory. He placed

you in these circumstances for a 

reason. Forget the what-ifs. Obey

the Lord and He will help you

triumph over your trials.

~Charles Stanley

Something greater

 The Lord will never leave you 

empty. He will replace

everything you lost. If He asks 

you to put something down,

it's because He wants you to

pick up something greater.

Strength

You forgave someone who wasn't even sorry.

That's strength.

~curvyladyprobs

His control

 God closed the lion's mouth for Daniel.

He parted the Red Sea for Moses.

He gave Sarah a baby.

He raised Lazarus from the dead.

Nothing you face today is out of His control.

Trust God.

Yes and no

 Note to self:

Every time you say "yes" to

something that involves time,

energy, or money, you say "no"

to something else that you 

won't have that time, money or

energy to spend. Make sure 

that "yes" is worth it.

~Dr. Henry Cloud

Rip yourself

You should

not have to

rip yourself 

into pieces

to keep others

whole.

Aren't you

By Max Lucado

If you aren't you, we don't get you. 

The world misses out. 

You offer a gift to society that no one else brings.

Push me away

 If you push me away,

I won't be here

when you decide, I'm worth it.

I won't be here

when you decide, I'm the one.

My heart doesn't have

what it takes anymore,

to be an open house

to broken souls.

I was never an option,

I refuse to be treated

like I'm worthless.

Complete

If I lie against your chest,

and you lightly trace

the curves of my spine

with your fingertips,

and we breathe a sign

of relief as our souls

call it a night and mould

back into each other,

then I think this is 

what they mean when

they describe love as 

feeling complete.

~Almaz A.

Far too much

 I spent most of my life

believing that I never did

enough, when in truth, I was

doing far too much.

It was just for the

wrong people.

~Kalen Dion

Already lost

 If you have to fight to be given

priority, then you have already lost it.

You have lost that bond.

~Rahul Kaushik

Their action

 Sometimes you gotta put aside

what you feel for them, and pay

attention to what their actions are

saying they feel for you.

When we're old

 And when we're old and you say to me:

"How did we get here together?"

I will answer you:

"Because instead of yelling, we talk...instead of running away, we look for solutions. Because everything and nothing was the same, because we cried and laughed together. Because one day we promised to stand for better and for worse and above all because love grew over time in the form of an affection that never dies."

Your shadows

 You've sat in your shadows

For quite long enough,

It's time to wake up now,

And dust yourself off.

The world has been waiting

To see who you are,

The person that's hiding

Behind all the scars.

You're more than the person

They thought you could be,

Worthy, deserving,

Of love, life, and peace,

So rise from the darkness,

And step in to the sun,

It's time that they see you,

For all you've become.

~Christie L. Starkweather

Still

and even when no one

was looking, I was still kind,

when there was no proof,

I was still good.

I do everything with

all of my heart, even when

my heart is invisible.

~Stephanie Bennett-Henry

Rose bushes and thorns

We can complain because

rose bushes have thorns, or we

can rejoice because thorn

bushes have roses.

~Abraham Lincoln

Ever stop

It is so easy

for me to love you

that it frightens me.

I've never been good

at anything.

But I've never wanted

anything as much as

I want to hold you

every waking minute.

And every night

while I sleep.

The question has ceased to be

"How do I love you?"

and has become

"How would I ever stop?"

~EC

Both

If you live for

the next world,

you get this one

in the deal;

but if you live only

for this world,

you lose them both.

~C.S. Lewis

What you deserve

I've read this before and didn't quite get it, but will try again...

As much as I wanted true love,

part of me was afraid

I didn't deserve it,

but true love isn't about

what you deserve,

it's about who your soul needs

to grow with

in order to find itself in another.

~Mark Anthony

So important

So many years of education

yet nobody ever taught us

how to love ourselves and

why it's so important.

Eventually

No matter how good your heart is,

eventually you have to start treating people

the way they treat you.

More highly

Posted by Airport Hannah

When Katt Williams said:

"If you wanted me to speak more highly of you, then

perhaps you should have treated me better...You don't

get to narrate MY story of MY experiences with you."

I felt that.

Sacrificial

 From Flying Free Now

What I thought was

me being "sacrificial"

and "Christ-like"

was often me just

tolerating terrible

behavior against me,

and not knowing how

to establish healthy

boundaries

Get ready

 God is fixing

the broken

pieces in 

your life.

Get ready for

restoration.

God is

preparing

you for 

everything

you prayed

for.

Keep going

Keep going love.

All this hard work will be worth it in the end.

Taking care

 Fall in love with taking care of yourself.

The door

 The door you prayed for will be opened by God in a better way.