Lessons Learned

What doesn't  kill you will make you stronger. True or False? True! The last year has been for lack of a better word, AWFUL for our family. Honestly, that is a nice word to describe the year we have had. At times it seems like we have a huge target on us and if something bad was out there we got it  bulls eye and all.
 One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose. So when things are not going the way I planned or dreams seem to be "broken", when I don't think/believe I can do this anymore I remember this scripture. I also remember that God can take ashes and make them more beautiful than you ever imagined, IF we keep on keeping on and keeping our hope and faith alive.

We are coming up on a couple of dates that I would just soon forget but the fact is that these dates will always remind me what I don't want to remember. Make sense? I don't want to remember the sadness, the brokenness, the heart ache, the not knowing. But ironically through this journey it's the brokenness and everything that went with it that brought me closer to God. I was totally dependent on Him.
Life will always be full of peaks and valleys. The peaks are those wonderful times in life that we never want to end. The valleys are those times we usually are thinking "Why?" But if it wasn't for the journeys we take through the valley's I don't believe we could ever truly appreciate our peaks in life.

.  I thought I would share some of the things God showed me this past year.

1. God first in all things!
2. Pray!
3. Love!
4. Forgive!
5. Never take those we love for granted
6. Don't let the busyness of life take you away from what is important...your family.
7. Work as a team not against one another
8. Think about what your actions and words before you do or say anything. 
9. Don't judge
10. Don't believe everything you hear. There are always two sides to the story
11. Have a safe person you can share everything with
12. Seek wise council
13. Remember Satan will always attack your weakest link. Be prepared! Go back to 1-4
14. Don't give up
15. Don't sweat the small stuff
16. Share your fears, concerns, worries with those it concerns. Be honest!
17. Confront kindly
18. Listen
19. Tell your spouse and kids you love them everyday
20. Make those you love feel valued.
21. Honor and respect those you love
22. Remember to forget the things that really don't matter
23. Talk about it. Don't ignore that BIG elephant in the room
24. Fight the good fight
25. Appreciate the lessons you learned.

I hope this helps anyone who may be going through a valley right now. If you need prayer let me know!

BULLIES

Today someone I love very much was beat up at school. Their OK. It was caught on camera. ---will survive the punches but the emotional scars are going to be hard to forget. There was no reason for this. Why? Because --- is fun, smart, kind? Because --- would help anyone, anytime anywhere? Not very good reasons to hurt someone.

Everyone one knows bullies are weak, that is why they choose someone like this person that I love more than life itself to attack. Bullies are sometimes molded by what they see at home. Maybe they are be bullied by someone in their family. There are no excuse to hurt someone. I would love to meet them and say all of this to their faces. But since I can't I have a written a letter to these bullies.

" I have a lot of questions for you. Why this person? What did --- do to you? Did it make you feel good to hit ---? Did you feel tough when you choked ---? Did you feel cool, think you were impressing someone?

For whatever you think ---'s weakness is, it makes you look weaker.  ---'s kindness makes you look like the jerks you are.  ---'s goodness makes you look like the pitiful. And ---'s intelligence's makes you look like the sad fools you are.

See --- will go on to do great things, while if you keep this up this will be your life except you'll either be behind bars or dead because no matter where you go there will always be someone bigger, meaner and stronger than you. Remember that. Your a bully. You only pick on those who pose no threat to you. I've been around a long time and I've never heard of bullies picking on those who are bigger and stronger than them.

Some day, if you have conscience, you will think back to this day and all the kids you hurt for no reason. You will feel shame, regret and remorse. And what if you have kids and someone does this to them? You will feel like me and our family feels right now. Angry beyond words. Wishing you could go and embarrass and humiliate those who did this to your child.

But this never solves anything. My prayer is that you will choose to break this chain. Choose to make a positive difference. Tell --- your sorry. See sadly you've won this battle because --- isn't going back to school. That breaks my heart. ---- is kind, extremely smart and would have made a good friend if given a chance. To bad for you. He would have helped you with your homework and from where I stand, you need all the help you can get.

Tim Be Told - Lament (Studio Version)

My daughter loves this song and asked me to listen to it. It is now one of my favorite! It speaks a powerful truth that to many of us want to ignore.