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Blogger Trip to Haiti

Date: October 08 - October 12

Mary travels to Haiti with several bloggers to highlight Help One Now's ministries there.

marydemuth

Life giving, heart scattered walk in nature (and s

Life giving, heart scattered walk in nature (and streets). What are you doing for rest today?

Really good light. Really spoiled dog.

Really good light. Really spoiled dog.

I’m reminded of how important it is to remember

I’m reminded of how important it is to remember that the photo of that person we criticize on social media is a human being, a person, someone who is well loved by family and friends. Social media has become a violent word place, where we sling insults without thinking.

When I received some disparaging and unfair words recently, at first I wanted to retaliate.

Then I decided the best thing to do was to withdraw completely from that platform, lick my wounds, and work on letting the words go.

And then I thought about myself, and how easy it is for me to wield words. I pray that I will tender my words with kindness and compassion, remembering that people live on the other side of those little square pictures, and that those people have feelings and are worth being dignified and loved.

Of course we can disagree, but as I mentioned earlier, perhaps social media is a terrible place to argue because we can’t hear each other’s voices, see each other’s expressions, look into the eyes of the ones we so flippantly wound.

Social media has done a great job of telling stories, but it has also de-humanized folks, and we’ve taken advantage of no immediate retaliation. We spew words without fear of getting called out on it because we seldom see the tears, the insecurities, the angst that our words directly cause.

Oh to be kind. It’s such a rare thing. Oh to give the benefit of the doubt instead of jumping to conclusions before we pick up a phone and call, or get in our car and drive to the person’s home (not to stalk, but to embrace.)

In Not Marked: Finding Hope and Healing after Sexu

In Not Marked: Finding Hope and Healing after Sexual Abuse, I illuminate the way to go from shame-filled to joy-filled, from traumatized to finding enduring peace.

This isn’t theory. I have lived it. I've traveled this path and offer a uniquely qualified, insider’s view of the healing process.

Then I go deeper—because often you’re not the only one who has suffered. My husband Patrick comes alongside me and offers insights into how spouses can love a sexual abuse victim toward wholeness, and how this will bring your relationship a whole new level of strength.

Not Marked will help you:
· Find the courage to share your story—maybe for the first time.
· Stop comparing your brokenness to others' wholeness.
· Understand the specific way God designed you to heal.
· Identify safe people to entrust your healing journey to.
· Embrace utter honesty about your abuse, even if that means anger toward God.
· Discover how prayer helps you move from angst to alleluia.
· Find the powerful antidote to bitterness.
· Let go of accusatory thought patterns and grasp God’s affection for you.
· Uncover an ancient pathway to healing.
· Live the effervescent life you’ve longed for but could never quite grasp.

You do not have to be forever marked by sexual abuse.

You are resilient even if you believe all your strength is gone. You are worthy of being made whole—even if you can’t believe it’s possible. And you are a stunning work of amazingness—even though your heart can’t even start to grasp that. Yet.

This is your time. The moment to start the journey of the unmarked life!

Get a copy of Not Marked — wherever books are sold.

#notmarked #itendswithus #abusesurvivor

Come take an evening walk with me in my autumn gar

Come take an evening walk with me in my autumn garden. So grateful for a yard still blooming. It brings me hope and makes me smile.

What brings you joy today?

You know when a verse just stands out to you all o

You know when a verse just stands out to you all of a sudden? That happened recently when someone read part of our Scripture passage at church. This is the verse:

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31).

The word that stuck out to me was clamor, so I looked it up on Strong’s concordance: Kraugē connotes loud noise, great emotion, and crying. In this case Paul uses it in connection with relationships. We should not be boisterous; our conversations should be peaceful.

However, I wondered if I could also apply this to the way I treat myself? I mean, after all, my relationship with myself is my longest standing relationship!

What would it mean to refrain from clamor in my head? What would it look like for me to let go of my anger toward myself? My hollering at my insecurities? My wrath toward my own woundedness?

The older I get, the more I realize just how damning these angry internal voices are, and the more I see how I need to quell them, speaking kindly to myself. After all, I am human (as are you!). I will never live up to my expectations. I certainly won’t live up to biblical expectations, though I certainly try.

This last weekend one of our pastors said something that really struck me. We don’t need Jesus as a standard of behavior—we need a savior. In other words, Jesus didn’t exist to show us the impossibility of how far we fall short (though we do) and then berate ourselves or make ourselves try harder. No, he lived that perfect life to show us our need for him.

I’m reminded of these haunting words Jesus said in the upper room discourse: “For apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

You cannot un-clamor myself on your own. Only Jesus can.

You cannot live a godly life by your wits—only in surrendering to Jesus can you grow and be sustained and graced.

My prayer for you today is that Jesus will empower you to be exceedingly kind to yourself today. That you would begin, with his help, to treat yourself as kindly as you would a dear friend. (And I’ll take some prayer for this as well!)

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