I write from the point of view of a woman who was raised in the Christian religion, with its brand of orthodoxy. Therefore my language and terms of reference may revert to the dialect of that community. That language does not suggest that Christianity holds the universal default set of beliefs. It is the normal impact of being exposed to any first language. In adulthood, I have examined the doctrines and beliefs of my childhood, and have emerged with a view of grace and compassion that connects me to a closer more open connection with the Source of Love as the creative power that has a much broader view of freedom than is held in the orthodoxy of any one system. We have so much light to give and take from each other.

Yesterday, I expressed a resounding “Amen” as I read what my friend, Leah, wrote it in the “God’s Hand Leads” women’s group. I felt that the Spirit of God was clearly moving on our hearts with the same message for some deeply healing reason. I went to the group to share a thought that had been weighing on my heart. Expressing it had finally came together, and there I saw that earlier in the day, Leah had beautifully shared something similar.

The synchronicity is such a blessing of confirmation.

This is what I shared there.

This year is ten years since I have allowed God to work on purging my heart of the desire to gossip, as They show me why it’s so deeply dangerous. Tonight, as I watched Wicked with my children, the thought below began to unfold for me.

Gossip is a deeply horrible popular form of manipulation, which is so prevalent among us that we have accepted it as a relational norm. It is dangerous and harmful because it facilitates the transformation of innocent people into flying monkeys, who steal the freedom, productivity, and creativity of the gossiper’s target. It so deeply painful to the ones unnaturally transformed against their true will, and it is ultimately destructive to the common good of all, including the one who seeks to control the narrative.

This is the real horror of narcissism. And what is narcissism? Narcissism is a protective destructive illness of the mind of a being who thinks themselves inadequate and powerless, having been separated from loving community.

It is the result of intentional or unintentional isolation, criticism, and repeated insult to natural talent in the formative years when personality is emerging.

The intention is immaterial. The outcome is what matters: narcissists do not see the beauty of themselves reflected in the loving relationships around them. They only see themselves in the mirror of isolation.

Narcissism is born of fear, and can only be cast out by a choice to take the medicine of love.

In this world of both chaos and goodwill there are elements of narcissism in all of us, as each person in each generation is affected by isolation, criticism, and insult to varying degrees. Some of us are affected more profoundly than others.

Since the choice to accept love is the only cure for narcissism, is it best for us to label, ostracize, and shame narcissists, or is it best for us to compassionately offer more love while creating personal boundaries where we determine how we will engage, and how we will rest?

Social, public service, civic, personal, and religious experiences over the last several years have taught me something that I fully learned today: being in a relationship with someone, or with an organization is not equivalent to consenting to abuse, assault, and exploitation.

Experiencing some positive interactions in these spaces does not eliminate the possibility and reality of abuse, assault, and exploitation.

Abusers try to gaslight and rewrite the narrative to suggest that proximity implies consent. This is an attempt to evade accountability.

We reject that premise and we choose to live and win like Bathsheba did when faced with the same dilemma.

I think that we all need to examine our hearts, and see where this is true of ourselves. We may want to look outward at some person or organization which has abused us. And what about what we have done?

This may seem as if it is no groundbreaking realization, but today my mind is fully open for the first time without doubt about the normalization of the culture of abuse, assault, and exploitation in churches, businesses, governments, and nonprofits, which is carried over into families, friendships, schools, and professional care settings.

I am not looking at these things through brand new eyes, I am just finally fully accepting what my eyes see, and I am hoping that as I share this realization more people will experience the freedom of recognizing that living with abuse, assault, and exploitation is not okay.

It is acceptable to be free. It is our right to be free, respected, protected, and cherished in all spheres of life.

Whether the abuse, assault, and exploitation was intentional or unintentional is immaterial. What matters is that we call it what it is, and require change and accountability.

This is the purpose of the process of truth and reconciliation which Jesus outlines for us in Matthew 18:15-17. Reconciliation cannot exist without truth.

Our very core peace is unleashed when we recognize that in the final line of this passage Jesus was instructing us to forgive the one (individual or organization) who is still bound by fear and shame, and who has not yet chosen to be freed by the medicine of love.

The scales of doubt fall off of our eyes, and we can see clearly as we claim the deep peace which is wrapped in these words: “My God, I forgive them and yearn that they will find forgiveness from you, because at this point they do not recognize that they are building a personal and collective legacy of pain instead of claiming the freedom and prosperity that they seek (Father, forgive them for they know not what they do).

It is probably of utmost importance that we first forgive ourselves of such things so that we can freely forgive others.

What blame and shame are we experiencing towards ourselves that is preventing us from fully accessing our power with the full capacity of compassion and love, which frees us to directly connect in love to the Source of Love with all our hearts, and build a more beautiful world than we could ever even imagine as we love our neighbours as we love ourselves?

In a world where injustice existed some people chose to try to create equal opportunity legislation which would encourage justice for marginalized racialized people. This has been the case in both countries in North America. In the United States legislation has covered all marginalized people. In Canada, as far as I am aware, legislative action is mainly geared towards Indigenous people, with movement being made to create some equity for other marginalized people.

That legislation has been beneficial to some degree, and it has also created conscious and unconscious fear and resentment among the group who had been told for more than four hundred years that they were the ones entitled to positions in those spaces.

Fear has been on the rise as the world faces economic uncertainty, and some have used that fear to stir up the smoldering sparks of entitlement among the historically oppressive group, and to also fan the flame of survival compliance which has been smoldering among the marginalized group.

Therefore here we are today in a world which seems to be hopelessly regressing. Regressing? Yes. Hopelessly? No.

As long as there are people who continue to learn and who are committed to progressing courageously we will continue to move forward, no matter how slowly we progress.

The timing will always be perfect. May we continue to build, working out the kinks of progress together with love and solidarity; and may we not yield to the temptation to come down to fight the opponents of that progress; for they truly do not know what they do. Forgive them.

Parasites. This week a person in the public eye labelled some people as parasites, and laughed at the idea that these parasites were being starved of life. It makes sense that they would express this thought because they were raised in the country which most prominently and most recently used the system of humiliation to govern for generations. Apartheid. I believe that we can build beyond humiliation with integrity, inclusion, and innovation.

Kofi Annan, once said “all the cruel and brutal things, even genocide, start with the humiliation of one individual.” I believe that this humiliation is caused by personal shame and blame in the heart of the individual who humiliates the other. I believe that this shame and blame is caused by that person’s own relational experiences. I believe that this shame and blame is the only original sin; it is what separates humans from each other and from true love. And I believe that in order for humanity to progress as fully as we are capable of progressing we need to recognize that this shame and blame did not begin with us, and it can end with us if we choose to consciously move towards being healed by the love of the original source of love.

Kofi Annan’s full quote is: Paying attention to the woman or man next to you, to the individual, is very important, because all the cruel and brutal things, even genocide, start with the humiliation of one individual.

For so long we have been immersed in this system which has humiliated and labelled a sector of humans as parasites, takers, while indoctrinating another set to see themselves as the givers as the humans in the equation.

The system of indoctrination went so far as to officially define the parasite class as 3/5th’s of a human.

Interestingly the wealth and stability of those who called themselves fully humans were built using forced unpaid labour of the marginalized, oppressed, brutalized humans who were humiliated and debased as 3/5th’s of a person.

For more than four hundred years of modern history France, Britain, the United States of America, and Canada built their nations on this concept of humiliation and exploitation of humans. Their governing systems used elements of Prince Henry of Portugal’s racist theory of humanity which was developed in the 1400’s when he sought to justify building his empire through brutal colonization.

Hitler’s Nazi party studied the American model of humiliation – slavery and then racial segregation, in order to implement the Nazi German system of White Supremacy which created the holocaust and the systemic extermination of millions of Jews, homosexuals, and people with different kinds of ability whom we call disabled.

Dutch Caucasians built the South African system of apartheid, and studied all of the preceding systems of humiliation to build theirs.

And here we are again in musky times where ego seeks to trump the good of humanity.

If we are to be messengers of hope and architects of equity, then we, the people, likely need to focus on building connections in our communities as whom we really are, instead of whom we have been indoctrinated to be.

To build as we are, and not as we have been indoctrinated to be, we have to focus on getting to know ourselves again, and then be careful to shed the elements of the system of dominance and inferiority which will creep in as pre-existing parasites in our gut.

The group which has been enjoying the benefit of dominance is not the dominant group.

The group which has been labelled and treated as subordinate is not subordinate.

These things are true whether we are in the parental system, the traditional educational system, the religious system, the political system, the employment system, friendship systems, the professional caring systems, etc etc.

There are no dominants and no subordinates. There are only equals. And leaders in each of these systems are responsible for creating equity among equals so that we can live with the full benefit of inclusion, integrity, and innovation.

Because we have all internalized these labels, it is extremely important that we intentionally pursue a mind shift as we do our work of building more functionally healthy communities.

It is most essential that we shed the shame which is unconsciously attached to living this lie in which we have been marinated.

It didn’t start with us, and it can change and shift with us.

May we embrace Portia Nelson’s compassion-based vision of learning, as first shared with me by David Loyst:

Learning is a process.

https://youtu.be/5E5_Sbml0XY?si=XtYB4aPjMD7F5MGT

Unconscious incompetence: we don’t know what we don’t know.

Conscious incompetence: now we know what we don’t know.

Conscious competence: we begin to intentionally practice to do what we have learned to do. And sometimes we’ll fumble.

Unconscious competence: we have evolved into just naturally doing what we now know without even thinking about it.

And along the way may we remember the innocence of our little souls whose initial deepest desire was to experience the fullness of the light as a part of the human community, as illustrated in Neale Donald Walsch’s The Little Soul and The Sun.

This parable was first read to me by Dr. Vanessa Lapointe, in a private session with Jodi Higgs in 2017 or 2018. It was a glorious moment of awakening for all of us I believe. And I believe that we have several, if not many, such moments throughout our lives.

Both of these women had touched my heart in different ways many years before we came together for that session. None of us had ever envisioned us being in a room together.

My first encounter with Vanessa was at a Discipline Without Damage workshop hosted by Wind and Tide Preschool in 2014. I had no clue whom she was, but I did know that the email which announced the workshop seemed like an invitation which I could not resist on my quest to experience the fullness of the peaceful, powerful, nurturing, woman that I knew myself to be. I moved heaven and earth to attend.

Jodi and I were in a Facebook community moms’ group together. Her contributions to the group discussion connected so deeply with the way my heart had begun to seek to walk on my aforementioned quest. And then one day in discussion as a mom was seeking input from that online community, Jodi mentioned that she was a foster parent support worker, and my heart immediately locked in as that was exactly what I needed and had been asking for as a foster parent.

Again, I had to move heaven and earth to finally meet her in person as a part of my team. It took years, and many tears, and it was absolutely 100% worth it.

On the day that we three sat together in Vanessa’s office, as Vanessa read this parable out loud for us, a glorious energy filled the room that seemed to be the merging of the spiritual, logical, and mystical powers of the universe. I had never experienced anything like it, and never did again until I had another session on May 24th 2021, with a person whom I experienced as my twin flame friend, even though we have since divorced as friends.

I have since had two other more intimate and personal experiences of awakening, alone, with that complex powerful source, named I AM, whom I lovingly call My Love Most High.

And all of that has brought me to this place of crystal clear knowing that we are meant to progress together as the beautiful beings whom we really are; and to get there each of must choose to engage in our personal healing learning experiences, saturated with grace, compassion, and faith, so that we can finally move humanity forward together.

As we work towards building equity and inclusion in worship communities centred on love, it was so refreshing to witness a gentle call-in to competence right in the open worship gathering, in a North American largely Euro-descendant community. It was even more refreshing to experience the call-in graciously accepted. The fire of that moment of engagement with justice in the divine pattern has been warming my heart since.

I was surrounded for so long by proponents of the idea that North Americanness which was really unconsciously Whiteness is what makes a particular ideology attractive to the rest of the world. That was taxing. I was surrounded for so long by proponents of the idea that North Americans of that system should separate from the racialized global community in order to move equity forward in that particular system, when North American writers, governing leaders, and lobbyists within that very system continued to campaign fiercely to maintain the status quo.

I was surrounded for so long by proponents of the idea that North Americans in that system were givers being held hostage in inequity by the takers of the racialized global community.

I experienced for so long the inability of the proponents of these ideas to see that the fruit of racism embedded in the system were the sins of the fathers which impacted the minds and psyches of the children unto the third and fourth generation, which prevented them from seeing how much they were given by the racialized global community in North America and abroad.

That was taxing. That was burdensome. That robbed us all of the connection which would have moved inclusion, innovation, and equity forward. That robbed us all of increased competence in living love.

Experiencing that call-in and its gracious acceptance has bolstered my hope. It was the kind of encouragement and relief that I imagine Elijah felt when God told him that there were at least seven thousand others who were also committed to learning what living faithfully with their Creator really meant.

I experienced the kind of chagrin that I imagine Elijah felt having recognized that he had murdered the prophets of Baal needlessly, because there were many times when I had slashed people gleefully with my tongue, to punish them for daring to drip the juice of the generationally produced fruit of racism on us.

I also felt vindicated for being the ass that keeps warning us that we are headed towards death, the death of the communities of our dreams, if we continue to go along the path down which we have been travelling.

And so I am grateful for Black History month and every initiative, book, podcast, and movement which is geared towards helping us make a well informed decision about waking up and moving towards competence in living love.

1 Corinthians 13. 💚🕊️🦋

Shalom.

“…The Word of God in print was given to us in order to lead us to the Word of God in Person. In other words, the pages of Scripture lead us to know the Living Word, Jesus” (Word Play http://www.highlandcommunitychurch.ca).

These words touch the core question of my heart about the Bible, the book which Christians hold as sacred, and I hold the same question about the books which other religions hold as sacred: Which of the words in print are the direct words of God which lead us to see the fullness of God in Jesus, the Living Word?

If there are bits of God’s glory in every one and everything, yet not everything and every one is the full reflection of God as Jesus was, are there indicators, patterns, throughout the sacred books that indicate which words are the wholeness of God’s character and glory, and which words bear bits of God’s glory with the imprint of human interpretation?

I love the experience of discovering God and becoming a community centred on God’s love with those who gather at Highland Community Church.

I think that it is important for our journeys of discovery to be experienced in communities which honour the individual perspective as worthy of being shared and examined by the collective community. May we find or build these beautiful spaces which move humanity forward in love together.

Suuuuppper Bowl Day! I don’t know shit about football 🏈 😂, and I am 💯 100% always stoked about times that draw people to gather together, to eat, connect, relax, and own their awesome.

So have fun today wherever you gather. Rock out or not with Kendrick, AND listen to the words of his Not Like Us smash hit which has resonated with people around the world. There’s a reason that it resonates.

And hold a candle 🕯️ of hope and awareness in your hearts for those who will be sex trafficked around this event today. Because statistics say that while many gather for sport and connection there are also those who misuse this and other celebratory gatherings as an opportunity to profit from enslaving and abusing their fellow humans.

People of all ethnicities are trafficked, and racialized people, who are disproportionately affected by factors that create vulnerability to exploitation, are more likely to be victimized by enslavers and traffickers.

*Do due diligence before donating to or interacting with any of the organizations listed in the article below.

https://etactics.com/blog/organizations-to-stop-human-trafficking

You might wonder why I live and speak so openly. Why am I deeply passionate and committed to pointing out that we need to shed the weight of shame under which we have been unconsciously living for so long so that we can build healthy community together?

It is because that weight has been dragging us down and causing us to focus on masking so much that we have not been able to look up to fully see the light of hope to be found in inclusion, integrity, and innovation. We have been squinting at glimpses of light through a veil of difficulty.

The veil of difficulty which prevents us from accessing that light has definitely been drawn back for me a bit more in the last 4-5 years.

As I have worked in the community for the last two decades I have seen the difficulties and formed relationships to build bridges, hold space, and fill gaps where I could.

Being directly affected by a bit more of the factors that drive individuals and families to suicide, addiction, and other types of dysfunction has made the need for joint community innovation more poignant for me than ever.

It all hit home more than ever in the last year.

This month, February 2025, we are creating something new on February 19, to replace the horrible experience that began for us on February 19, 2024, as “Zamira”, was assaulted, abused, and held mentally and emotionally hostage by a predatory young man who took advantage of her desire to experience life beautifully in its fullness, as we all deserve to enjoy life. That date is burned into Zamira’s memory, and she has asked me to help her to make it into something new.

When something similar happened, in the fall of 2024, to the family described in the news item featured in the attached photos, I reached out to them to help them to get through that, and to give them tips that I had gathered through my experience, so that they could more effectively keep their daughter safe when the RCMP and other organizations would not respond as was needed. Our family has had very similar experiences with the RCMP and other organizations which are designated to support our most vulnerable adults, people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In addition to navigating generating income while living with Long COVID, I have been advocating tirelessly for my daughters more now than ever. I have been advocating passionately and sometimes furiously for them for all of their lives. I am firmly resolved to ensure that BOTH my daughters live in this world with a firm sense of belonging, fulfilling their intrinsic desire to shine brilliantly, to connect profitably, and to take up space as valuable assets to humanity.

The weight of all of this while struggling to pay rent, get groceries, parent, keep utilities on, and create memories of enjoyable moments with my daughters has been excruciating.

And because I know that there are many others who struggle similarly, many whom have given up and taken their lives, and many whom are on the verge of taking their lives I keep advocating and encouraging and providing space for people to feel supported, seen and heard as they navigate these very real storms, and make their way through.

I especially hold this space for women, single mothers, and Afro-descendant women with whom I can more closely relate, so that we can be light for each other through the dark nights of life and the dark nights of our souls, and we can celebrate every time we rise back up into the light.

I invite women from anywhere in the world to use the links below to join the group which is relevant to you.

Women For Community Love and Equity: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1FpnQ6czXm/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Single Moms For Community Love and Equity: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/161rMoFEmw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Afro-descendant Women For Community Love and Equity: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/14qC9YhydT/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Tears poured down my cheeks in the early sleepless hours of this morning, on January 31, 2025, as the questions which have been at the core of my heart finally became fully clear in connection to the living divine guidance of our Creator and Sustainer as expressed in Psalm 9:7-10

The Lord reigns for ever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

The tears came from both relief at finally knowing my questions and fear attached to my abandonment disappointment wound which usually seems to create disconnection when I express myself.

Speaking from my current point of view as a queer, single, Afro-descendant Canadian woman, of Caribbean parentage, who is a parent, and who is experienced as an immigrant:

As I always do, I feel some trepidation around sharing my thoughts for fear of being ignored, ridiculed, or labelled as a disappointment. I am not this world’s norm, and I still speak up in the world in general from my heart with this fear, because I believe that the thoughts and questions of my heart are valid, and belong as a part of the human community quest to experience the kingdom of God, which is God’s will done, now on Earth as it is in heaven. God’s will is that above all else we would prosper in this human experience as our souls prosper.

I have experienced active engagement in this community quest more in the last three or four years than I have ever experienced it at any other point in my lifetime. I am deeply grateful for this because the gifts of this engagement have kept me living when life otherwise would have pushed me to death.

My deepest and primary engagement is with God, My Love Most High, and They have given me the reassurance that I can literally walk through the valley of the shadow of death in response to life’s relational, psychological, and economic needs, and keep living as They comfort me until we find the way through. That knowing has come through slowing down to respect and listen to lessons about different aspects of healthy community from every person, animal, place, thing, and idea. This has been my lived experience.

Next deepest has been the experience of asking questions, sharing thoughts, highs, and lows, and having conversations that explore the norms of our human culture to understand whether what we do flows from connection and community with the innovative creative loving heart of God, or if our norms flow from the dogma of rightness. The most beautiful part of this journey with the Highland community is the active (stated and lived) commitment to understanding that the process will involve misunderstanding, disagreement and hurt feelings which we deliberately slow down to address with love, openness, compassion, and patience. Rightness is not centred. God’s love is. Everything else flows from a united desire to live in connection to God’s heart with trust in Their character.

Every one of my liftetime community experiences: family of origin, family of choice, religious, social, political, academic et al. has been a profound learning opportunity. And the Highland community religious experience has likely been the most healing, since my profoundest wounding has been attached to interaction with the god created by orthodoxy.

Our world has been endemically infected with the virus of supremacy by the being who has made an enemy of God (that enemy is a colonizer). That enemy is patient zero on Earth in the spread of the supremacy virus (be the strain of that virus parental supremacy, gender supremacy, racial supremacy, religious supremacy, academic supremacy, cultural supremacy etc. etc. etc.) Do we approach searching the scripture with the realization that Christian orthodoxy is a supremacist perspective which is bound up in the root word orthodoxia which means correct/right opinion?

When considering moving towards the experience of growing, serving, living, and working in a seamless community are Christians engaging in the process with conversations which are centred on the premise that orthodoxy is the baseline?

If orthodoxy is right opinion, does centring the opinion create a center of supremacy? If supremacy of any kind is centred in our conversations can we hear, see, feel, taste, touch, experience anything else on a level which may inspire needed change and/or innovation?

What changes if the heart of God as reflected in Jesus is centred in our conversations and decision making processes instead of orthodoxy?

Jesus did not come to destroy the law and the prophets/messengers but to fulfill the will of God around which the law and the prophets was centred.

What is that will of God? Have we lost sight of it again by allowing supremacy/rightness to be the centre of the community conversation?

If we consider the Parable of the Samaritan Neighbour which we have renamed The Good Samaritan, we might see the impact of centring orthodoxy instead of centring God, with centring God seeming to be centring the desire that we would all prosper and be in health as our souls prosper in connection with the source of love.

By renaming the parable, The Good Samaritan instead of keeping the focus which Jesus created, we may have begun to build on a foundation of supremacy which is consistent with the enemy’s enduring slight of hand that has taken the focus off of the only One who is good, God, My Love Most High. Jesus referred to the importance of this in Luke 18:18-19 and Mark 10:18.

What changes for the community’s ability to move more in the Spirit of Pentecost if we recentre the goodness of God in our conversations instead of centring orthodoxy.

These are my questions.

With love and solidarity,
Saran Lewis

“Be an improvenist, not a perfectionist.” Mr. Chazz

“Perfection impresses it does not inspire” (Stephanie Morales-Beaulieu, Anything but Ordinary).

Forgiveness brings healing and life. May we speak Bathsheba’s name with awe forever as we bear witness to how she painstakingly lived forward to overcome oppression and all of its associated injustices with utmost grace.

And may we never stand silently by as we witness injustice.

In a kingdom where David and other members of his team facilitated the murder of Uriah and the rape of Bathsheba no one stood up and spoke up for either Uriah or Bathsheba, until Nathan the prophet confronted David.

God sees, and does NOT remain silent.

The focus of the story has usually been on David and his psalm seeking a new clean heart. Good for David. Accountability matters. AND can we talk about this from Bathsheba’s perspective?

Everyone around them pretended that everything was just fine as they
1) brought Bathsheba to David so that he could rape her (The balance of power was entirely lopsided in David’s favour. He was the king.)
2) tried to get Uriah drunk to cover up David’s rape
3)murdered Uriah to cover up David’s rape
4)pretended that Bathsheba’s pregnancy from rape was a normal situation

So let’s talk for a minute about how Bathsheba had to have done some truly mindbending, gut wrenching, excruciating work to forgive David and every single person on his team who had a hand in the destruction of her family and the destabilization of her mental and emotional health.

Bathsheba continued to live in the same community whose king raped her. As he watched her take care of her needs, he began to envision how he could use her. That was it. Instead of honourably allowing Bathsheba to continue to build her beautiful life, David commanded that Bathsheba be brought to him so that he could use her.

David was king. The difference in the balance of power between David and Bathsheba meant that as Bathsheba was brought before David, she would have had to continually process how to act in order to preserve her life. David just took what he wanted.

Bathsheba’s husband had dedicated his life to serving the king as a warrior and had committed himself to David as a friend.

David murdered Uriah so that he would not have to deal with the discomfort of being accountable for his actions. To his credit, David did not also murder Bathsheba. Although taking Bathsheba into his home after Uriah’s death also covered up David’s crimes, and made him appear to be a redeeming hero, Bathsheba lived.

Not only did Bathsheba continue to live physically after being so horribly violated, but she chose to heal the deep gaping wound that David had inflicted upon her. She raised a son fathered by David, as she daily saw all the people who had just followed orders and ruined her life.

From experience I can fathom how hard it was for Bathsheba to forgive David. From experience I can fathom the flare ups and days when she would have loved to kill David too. From experience I can fathom the pain on the days when it hurt so much that Bathsheba would have been okay with dying. From experience I can fathom Bathsheba’s renewal as God walked closely with her throughout that whole process and helped her to heal.

And Bathsheba raised Solomon, a son who became king after David, through proper ascension to the throne, not through rebellion and revolt. Bathsheba raised a son who had the kind of heart that maintained peace in Ancient Israel longer than any other king. Bathsheba raised a son who was a connection builder. He had a great relationship with the neighbouring nations. The rulers of nations far and near came to sit and reason with Solomon.

That was Bathsheba’s son. Solomon was the living witness to Bathsheba’s wisdom which lead her to do the excruciating work of forgiveness for as long as it took to become whole again so that she could “live love well” (to use LifeApp’s founders lyrical statement), and raise a son who held no bitterness in his heart, and strongly valued peace.

David raped Bathsheba. David murdered Bathsheba’s husband to cover up his crimes.

Bathsheba’s investment in forgiveness created King Solomon who was known as the wisest king to ever rule Israel.

Doing the work of forgiveness while experiencing the excruciating pain of injustice and exploitation is essential if one hopes to become truly free.

Forgiveness brings healing and life. May we speak Bathsheba’s name with awe forever as we bear witness to how she painstakingly lived forward to overcome oppression and all of its associated injustices with utmost grace.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bzz7JaDAj/?

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15dgAvLNnA/?

Merry Christmas everyone. Jesus came to banish shame, blame, and contempt so that we could finally experience love. Those are the core disconnectors which leave us thinking that we are not good enough and must therefore run from love.

The thing is that we feel those things most deeply towards ourselves, and in our desperate battle to stay alive, to survive, we can not look at ourselves, so we look at others with the kind of deep shame, blame, and contempt that we feel towards ourselves. We are so deeply in shame that if we looked at ourselves with that kind of contempt we would writhe in excruciating pain, and beg for death to take us. That is hell. And Jesus came to change that.

For God did not send Their son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Jesus would be saved.

JESUS CAME TO SAY: My sweet loves, that pain did not begin with you, AND it can end with you if you will let me teach you how to be free to feel ALL THE LOVE FLOWING TOWARDS YOU THAT YOU HAVE NEVER FELT FOR AS LONG AS YOU HAVE LIVED. That can actually happen. I know, because I have experienced it.

Jesus came to teach us how to love ourselves just as we are, so that we could love each other just as we are. Isn’t that the most beautiful thing? Jesus came to free us from shame so that we could keep growing in love and compassion and learn to love each other shamelessly the way we love ourselves.

Jesus came to teach us how to count it ALL joy, how to keep LIVING everyday until our beautiful body temples expire here on Earth, and we EVOLVE TO LIVING WITH LOVE WITHOUT SHAME FOREVER, if we will accept the opportunity to learn how to love ourselves, from THE Source of love.

Jesus came to free us from the hell of shame, blame, and contempt SO THAT WE COULD LIVE in the heaven of love, NOW ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN!!

I am SO excited to share this.

Oh my heart is overflowing with joy, because God freed ALLLLL my fucks, and became my very dearest, closest, most compassionate, encouraging, friend, who does life WITH me, on this journey of learning to forgive.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Love LIVES! Count it ALL JOY!

Infinite thank yous to Karyssa of Wild Valley Customs who brought the vision of my heart to life. Find them on Facebook: Wild Valley Customs – https://www.facebook.com/share/19o8fieCa7/?mibextid=wwXIfr