"I've been burdened with blame.. trapped in the past for too long. I'm movin on"

Some things I've learned:

• When God tries to show you that a relationship is bad for you, don't stay in it to try and fix it yourself. There are signs, don't ignore them. "There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to destruction" -Proverbs 13:12

• I am a woman of principle. I not only have a learned knowledge of who I am and how I should be treated, but I also have an understanding. I know who I am in the eyes of God and I understand my worth. I am firmly committed to not living beneath my privilege. "NEVER settle for less than God's best for you"

• I know where I am going and I know what I want, and I won't land until I see my destination and get clearance from God "Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain, but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord shall be praised (Proverbs 31:30)

• When you allow the love of God to change your nature and transform you into the principles woman he intended you to be, you blossom into a beautiful flower that others will want to admire. And the beauty of a flower is that it just is. It doesn't bend over backwards, it doesn't perform, buy gifts, make phone calls, or make the first move. It doesn't do anything special to get attention. It just stands tastefully in its place.

• LOVE looks patient and kind. Love looks honest and truthful. Love looks determined to go the distance. Love looks hopefully and enduring. Love looks like it holds on no matter what. LOVE does not look jealous or proud or rude. Love doesn't look irritable. Love doesn't look like a quitter, and it never looks as if it loses faith in the object of its affections. God wants women to be treated in the same way He treats us. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son" - So, if God felt giving was necessary to prove his love for us, what should we expect from men?

• If a man is not completely submitted to God, he will not have the capacity to love you in the way you want to be loved. He will be moving in his own understanding instead of being led by the Spirit of God. This leaves you at the mercy of someone who has no accountability to anyone other than himself for his selfish actions. Find a man who's heart is so tuned into God that he won't mistreat you because he knows that God is holding him accountable.

• Do NOT be a missionary dater. Meaning: you cannot change or fix a man. Only God can do that, so let him be the missionary not you. Instead, focus on inspiring and empowering him to rise up and be the man that God has ordained him to be, and when he doesn't. LET HIM GO.

• Lastly, don't remain in situations where it's clear that you are not being appreciated for the gift that you are. You are the gift, don't hang around a guy who thinks he's doing you a favor by being around and gracing you with the privilege of loving him. Get rid of that guy.

All the terrible things that a man you love does to you are only done by someone who never understood your value. He wouldn't recognize love if it walked up to him, slapped him in the face and spelled out his name. Who needs that guy? The only true love that guy will be finding is himself.

Reflection- atheism

In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as

atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships.

The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for

maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be

it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four

Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty

much anything else you worship will eat you alive.

If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in

life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It’s the

truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always

feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths

before they finally grieve you….Worship power, you will end up feeling

weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb

you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will

end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.

— David Foster Wallace, Commencement Address to Kenyon College