back to our regularly scheduled mourning and weeping in this valley of tears
The problem with giving advice to angry and suffering people is that rather frequently the thing they need to know to improve their position is the last thing they want to hear and not something they have the capacity to internalize or accept
Unfortunate truths you can tell people that would help if they could hear what it means and not just what it sounds like
- You were the victim, and it wasn’t fair, but it’s over now. Nobody came to save you, and I’m sorry, but it’s too late for anyone to go back and do it different.
- You’re suffering over something that cannot be resolved. You’re allowed to feel angry, or outraged, or betrayed, but there will eventually come a time that you don’t feel that so violently anymore, and you’re going to want to have something good left to go back to.
- You can’t make anyone love you the way you need to be loved. That’s how a lot of good things end. Not with a clear sign, something blocking the road that says “do not proceed”, just a splitting of the path that’s still moving somewhat in the same direction.
- You can’t fix them. Nothing you can do will fix them. And if they fix themselves, they can’t do it for you- they have to do it for themselves as well, because otherwise a day may come when they’re alone, and as long as they live, they are their only true constant. So you can support, and you can encourage, but the hardest part is up to them. And sometimes they can’t do it even with your help.
- Sometimes letting go of someone feels like mourning at their funeral before they’ve died, and every time you see them after it’s like talking to a ghost that doesn’t know it’s dead. Sometimes that happens. You’ll both still wake up tomorrow anyways.
- I understand that you’re afraid, and that you’re afraid for good reasons. And I understand that being brave isn’t as easy as just turning that fear off, and you would if you could in a heartbeat. But the thing is, as long as that fear is able to dictate your choices, it will have power over you. If you don’t believe you can try to fight it, if you accept that it will always be in charge, you let the frightening thing stay present in your life. It will exist as long as you stay paralyzed. And that sounds cruel, but it isn’t something anyone can fix for you.
- The person you may let yourself become after experiencing the terrible thing may very well grow into a much bigger, much more terrible thing, and someday it will swallow the first terrible thing whole. And all that will be left is something far worse for someone else. And you will not be able to shrink it down by explaining where it came from, because terrible things that are dead and gone are never as terrible as terrible things that are alive right now in front of you.
- No matter how much or how little I love you, I still do not have the ability to help you the way you need to be helped. I might be the helper you want, but I am not a helper you can get. If you are to be helped at all, you will need to accept that it will come from someone else.
(via this-smile-is-real)
I try to not let politics define my blog. That sounds tiring and exhausting, if I’m honest. My interest in politics is the long term ramifications and how the past shaped the present, in any case. When I’m online, I want to be distracted by funny memes and uplifted by good, Christian encouragement, so that’s what I try to do with my blog. I get discouraged when I’m surrounded by a lot of politics, because it reminds me of the bad shape this world is in, and I figure a lot of people are like me in that.
It’s not like I hide my beliefs or my political positions. I speak out against heresy in the form of Mormonism and that has, to some extent, defined my blog. As has my frequent and unapologetic posting about Christianity. I’m pro life, anti prostitution and sex work and pornography, and I think all that comes out in my blog pretty clearly.
I don’t want to be known as a right-wing blogger. But I don’t think I can just go back to posting memes and trite Christian sayings anymore. What’s the point? What do those do, outside of distracting us? I don’t know. How do we talk to people who would rather see us dead? What choice do we have? I will not compromise on the truth or speak anything less than it, and yet that kind of truth often falls on dead ears, and I hate speaking when I know I won’t be heard. It’s why I don’t speak with my leftist friends about Jesus or politics.
What do you do with no clear way forward? I’m not actually looking for suggestions. I just am vocalizing stuff that’s been running through my head the past two days. This is a turning point for so many people, myself included, but I can’t see what’s around the corner, and I dislike that. Who are we becoming, what will we be known for, how will we live our lives, when will we see the full effects of Charlie’s passing?
(via cyraniadebergerac)
If you’d like to, reblog this post if you’re a practicing Christian
(via caminosdelatarde)
Love going to museums of medieval art as a Catholic. It means going Mother! hello Mother! hello Mother! :) every time I turn around or enter a new room.
(via romancatholicroymustang)
yo. can i request prayers for several different things
- The crippling permeating loneliness that walks hand in hand with this part of my cycle is back again. Sigh. Please pray that I can just power through it
- A new job opportunity came up for me to be a housekeeper at the convent. It’s more efficient for my family and is a better fit for my temperament and personality, plus I know the Sisters well and would love to spend more time with them. I need to send in my application, but I would really like this job and also, if I get it, the prudence to quit McDonalds tactfully and that it would all go smoothly.
- Finally, I’ve recently been informed of an opportunity to attend college on a full ride through an essay competition, but to be frank, even though the college sounds wonderful and right up my alley, I have no desire to attend, having already made plans to apply for and being halfway through the admissions process to my dream college. The problem is, this college doesn’t have nearly as much financial aid, and unfortunately I don’t know what’s transferrable. I’m not going to make much money anyway post-graduate (being a teacher and all), and tuition has always kind of been the spectre hanging over my life since I was very young. I’d like to request prayers for clarity and prudence, because it feels like I’m stuck between the rock of a college I really have no interest in attending and the hard place of trying to pay for the college I do.
Thank you so much!
(via traumacatholic)
I dont normally make prayer requests on tumblr
But my friend is having a really hard time right now and I’m at the point where I’m putting his name on the prayer roll so I might as well do this too
About a month ago his muscles basically lost all strength to the point where he can’t really walk and his strength is shot. (Legitimately didn’t have the strength to open a water bottle) The doctors don’t know what’s wrong yet. I’m really scared for him
So yeah. Please pray for him.
(via paula-of-christ)
Please pray for my brother in law, he had an accident at work and hurt his neck
(via become-mop)
prayer for one of my best friends; her husband has been hitting her and abusing her sexually on the daily and I really don’t know what to do because I think eventually he’ll kill her. she doesn’t think it’s abuse, and the police can only do so much.
(via become-mop)