I Will Go Forward With Love

"Ain't no giving up 'round here."

I will not give in to appearances or circumstances.  Faith is easy when things are going well.  I have been in a season of atonement.  I haven't done everything right; I haven't always made the best decisions. I have always had pure motives, however.  Pretty much all the time. Malice doesn't suit me.  I simply cannot be bothered to hate you.

Like so many of my sisters of color, I've been buffeted by The American Dream. It becomes more like a mirage with every year that passes, but even here, even now, the spark of courage that has always been within me burns brightly.

The way forward is not at all clear.  I have run in to many dead ends and brick walls, but I was not put on this earth to be defeated. This is a time of trial and tribulation.  If I did not know that I undertook sincere prayer almost daily right after Thanksgiving, I could be accused of using God for a crutch.  I once made the error of stating: 

"I want a testimony that will make a heathen say hallelujah, and an atheist say amen!"

As my grandma Lucy would say, "What I do that for?" I have had the hardest time.  I've lost dogs and property and relationships and once in a while, my dignity was really stretched to its limits.  I made it through that, and as emotionally wrung out as I feel right now,

at least this is not a brand-new experience for me.

I shudder to think what is going to happen with (formerly)gainfully employed  parents who have to face the reeve of the shire and his yellow documents for the very first time.  The world looks very different when all doors have become closed to you.

I am actively seeking higher ground.  Some of us have always lived there. Will you make room? Times are becoming tumultuous.  The Scripture tells us that we should help if we've got the ability to do so.  There's someone on the brink of disaster near you.