Sue Parisher's Blog, page 4

Needed: Positive Thoughts

​During the dark, depressing days after I separated from my abuser, I found two approaches that helped me break out of my depressing thought processes. With all that is going on with the Coronavirus, I hope sharing an excerpt from my book is helpful:
 
One philosophy that worked for me (during my depression phase after leaving my abuser) was to “tackle the elephant one toe at a time.” During those early recovery years, many competing life issues fought to overwhelm me: my finance, living situation, childcare, job, car maintenance, parents’ health, divorce proceedings, and my children’s health. 
​When I tried to work on many projects at the same time, I felt like I was just running around in circles without really getting much of anything accomplished. So, I tried to categorize and triage the exhausting list of things I needed to do. Concentrating on and competing one or two things at a time game me focus and a sense of accomplishment.
 
Something else that worked for me was finding one positive thing during the day and focusing on that. Often it was a smile or a hug from my children, an hour without thinking of my past, or a day in which my boss found no fault with my work.
 
I realize that if I looked at my day with an open mind, I could find something there to bring one good thought and smile. Then I could focus on that until the next positive thing happened. I wrote these positive thoughts in a journal. On  days when I had trouble finding a positive thought or event, I went back and read ones from previous days from my journal.

Below, you'll find another blog from a couple of years ago that is so relevant to this topic. Instead of seeking joy- it addresses how to lean on God and trust in Him even when bad things happen to us. These two actions- seeking joy and leaning on God work in tandem during tough times. Companion Blog Following God, yet Bad Things are Still Happening to Me

My most asked question during my transformation from domestic violence victim to survivor over the past 11 years is this:  If I give my life to God, believing and following Him to the best of my abilities, why do bad things still happen in my life? Why doesn’t God, the one who can calm the sea and perform miracles, remove all the negativity out of my world once I pronounce my belief in Him? Read Now

Childlike Optimism

A few years ago, I asked my daughter to make an Easter card for my mom. At the time, my mom was suffering through the later stages of Parkinson disease and I thought a handmade card would brighten up her nursing home room five hours away from us. 
 
Dear Nana,
    I hear you’re not doing so well so I gave my mom a stuffed animal for you.
     I hope you like it and don’t worry you are going to get through this.
            Love always,
 
The innocence of my daughter’s understanding of what was going on was so emotional for me to grasp. Domestic Violence and Faith After AbuseWas it her faith, knowing her grandmother was saved and going to heaven that was allowing her to genuinely believe her grandmother’s pain and suffering was going away? Or was it childlike optimism that allowed her to truly believe her grandmother was going to get better? It’s hard to look back and say. All I know is that tears flowed uncontrollably months later when I packed up the stuffed animal on my mother’s night stand after she passed away.  
 
I need a gigantic dose of childlike optimism right now with all that is going on in the world and my community. It saddens me so thinking of how the coronavirus is effecting victims left at home in isolation with their abusers; it pains me thinking about those who made the tough decision to get away yet are still co-parenting with their abuser during these stressful times.
 
People are losing their incomes; stress is high, food and basic supplies are not always available, children are not able to go to school, and many are going stir crazy staying home. There’s minimum hope in the news or most social media outlets. I am finding it extremely hard to find, yet alone hold on to, any long-term optimism right now.
 
See, I don’t have the childlike everything is going to get better mentality anymore. Years and years of life’s disappointments have stripped this innocent feeling from me. Yet, I am grateful that at least now I know where to find it; in my faith . The Bible tells me:

Psalms 46:1 says “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble”Isaiah 40:31 says “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."Matthew 11:28 says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” 
I need to focus more on reading the Bible and staying in my praying stance a lot more than continuously reading the dreary news updates. I need to stay more vigilant on my community and what I can be contributing to comfort those who’s situations are significantly worse than mine is. I need to stop worrying about how I am going to get through this and instead focus on how God is going to walk me through it all.
 
I hope you will join me as I pray daily for our domestic violence sisters all over the world,
 
Sue  
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When World Events Cause Triggers

I’ll never forget Raven’s football player Ray Rice and his story of domestic violence in 2014. Only a few years after I was separated from my abuser, the triggers were uncontrollable as Ray’s story seemed to be told, rehashed, and replayed everywhere. I got the impression that for the first time, our story of abuse took center stage on a huge platform.
 
To me, it seemed to be more of a curious, intriguing, I can’t believe it happens kind of story. Not a narrative that came with supportive help and actual call to action for change. But, I often hoped that something impactful might develop as a result.
 
Regardless of what did or didn’t happen, the continuous talk about the subject for months on end started a continuous trigger that had no boundaries within me. I never knew when Ray’s situation was going to be brought up at work, on the sports channel my sons continued to watch, or online as I read the news. 
Triggers After AbuseMy heart aches as I feel like I’m falling into another world-event-caused trigger situation. The Corona virus is impacting our worlds completely. As I sit here vividly remembering where I sat with my 3-week-old daughter watching the Twin Towers collapse during 9/11, I realize the time I am currently experiencing will forever be ingrained in my heart. And the triggers will impact my future forever.
 
Anyone who reads my blogs knows I write about triggers a lot due to my internal struggle: 

Will my triggers control my world or will I have the strength to stand up to and minimize their effect? ​

My shopping bag of triggers is refilled daily; I never know how heavy today's bag will be.
 
But here’s what I do know: the greatest weapon I have against my triggers is God’s word. God’s word reminds me:
 He will protect me: “Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.” Proverbs 2:11 He will comfort me: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 He will calm me: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27 He will strengthen me: “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 
And the greatest way to activate God’s word within me is through my morning devotion and prayer time. As I journey through this season of Lent, I am learning a lot from reading Mark Patterson’s book Draw the Circle, the 40-Day Prayer Challenge. 
 
I have had a couple of people ask me what my morning devotion and prayer time looks and feels like. Please let me know if you’d like me to write about this next week.
 
Blessings and safety to all,
 
Sue ​ #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */Subscribe* indicates requiredEmail Address *

Coping Skills for Navigating My Anxiety Attack

​Last week, one of my blog readers asked me if I could share a few of my coping skills that I utilize during an anxiety attack. I love this question: it really made me go back to the basic question of how am I incorporating all the things I’ve learned in the past into the world that I now live in.
 
It’s an ongoing debate within me: have I navigated around my triggers to the point that I control my world to minimize the impact my triggers have on me? Or, have the coping skills I’ve developed enable me to be able to live a productive life in my current environment? 
After an Abusive Relationship - AnxietyCoping skills or controlled environment? I don’t think it’s an either-or question. I think my ability to live less anxiously is due to a combination of both.
 
Remembering my identity: After leaving my abuser, I accepted being an anxious person. For me, my anxiety became a kind of panic meter; the more anxious a situation made me, the more I knew I had to do something (or not do something). The level of my anxiety dictated how I handled a situation. But my anxiety no longer identifies who I am.

​I no longer consider myself an anxious person; I am a person who has anxiety. I am a child of God. Removing the identifier of being an anxious person and instead giving God the power to identify who I am frees me of a lot of negative energy in my mind.
 
Staying in continuous prayer: Just as I feel the anxiety to overwhelm me, I start to continuously pray for God to walk me through the anxiety. Praying for God to walk me through the attack is different than asking God to take the anxiety away from me. Walking through the attack with God implies I must act and do something. Getting through the anxiety attack isn’t a passive experience; it’s not I’ll feel better when it’s over so I’ll just passively wait for the attack to pass by. That’s what asking God to take the anxiety away from me is.

Instead, during the attack I must present an active effort on my part to seek God’s guidance, listen to what He is telling me in my heart, and lean on the powerful Holy Spirit to give me the discipline to follow through on the tough things I am being asked to do. Staying in continuous conversation with God keeps my mind occupied on positive energy versus negativity of anxiety.
 
Resting my head: Years ago, I fractured my ankle which required me to rest, elevate my foot, and slow down my ability to move around. During one of my early anxiety attacks, it occurred to me that my head is injured and it too should be rested. This was before I knew the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. For me, resting my head includes:

Staying off social media; taking a break from Facebook and on-line stimulationMinimizing being in noisy, busy environments; counter silence with LOUDLY playing Christian musicMinimizing venting. Talking about the situation with a trusted person is helpful; venting, rehashing the situation to the point that it grows bigger and more painful than it originally started is counterproductive for me 
Focusing on being PRESENT. I listen to the birds sing, feel the wind blowing against my face, enjoy the beauty of all that flowers during the spring season. I try my hardest to stay intentionally aware of my environment.
 
The biggest thing I’ve learned with recent anxiety attacks is that eventually, sometimes sooner and sometimes later, they do have the ability to end. If I consciously work on minimizing the impact it has on my world, it will end and I will regain complete control of my thoughts again.
 
I’d love to hear what strategies you use to minimize anxiety attacks,
 
Blessings to all,
 
Sue
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Navigating My Anxiety Attack

​Last Saturday I heard myself snap at a comment my 18-year-old daughter said. My reaction to her was unemotional, insensitive, unnecessary, and extremely rude. Definitely not deserving.
 
I quickly recanted: “I am sorry sweetheart, I am not really mad at you. What I really am doing is fighting off an anxiety attack. Can we work on this later?”
 
I am not thrilled my daughter has to navigate her day around my anxiety attack. Just a few weeks ago she commented on how happy she was that I was able to get through shopping for her prom dress on a busy Saturday morning in an extremely noisy and busy store! She said she was so proud of me for not having to have to take “quiet time” to sit away to calm my nerves; she was so excited I could enjoy the entire experience of trying on dresses with her. Hearing her tell me this breaks my heart. 
​Fortunately, I know the main source of my anxiety attack; I attended a funeral for a little child and found myself drifting back to the horrors of my daughter’s fight against her cancer. For me, knowing the source is a great indication of the growth I have encountered during my transition to survivor.
 
But identifying the trigger and controlling the anxiety are two separate things. Feeling stronger than other times in the past, I confronted this anxiety attack with a deliberate approach:
 
I felt the attack. Knowing that my ability to fight off previous anxiety attacks hasn’t usually been successful, I instead tried to identify it for what it was: a painful trigger from my past. But, I also have learned that pushing the attack aside, plowing through it, brings the memories back stronger at another inconvenient moment. So, instead, I identified the source and let my mind remember that the horrors I experienced watching my daughter fight her cancer battle are real. My anxiety attack had a source and it had a “life.” Once the anxiety hormones shot up within me, there was little I could do to stop the rush. But, I now know that if I work on regaining control of my thoughts, the anxiety hormones will reside and I’ll regain my non-anxious thought pattern again. 
 
I prayed through the anxiety attack. Instead of praying God please take this away from me, I prayed God please get me through this. This deliberate shift in my prayer from God take this away from me to God walk me through this greatly calmed my spirit. I felt empowered; I could get through this anxiety attack if God walked through it with me. The attack was still debilitating, but my fight against it wasn’t lonely.
 
I kept pressing forward knowing the harder I stayed in tune with the anxiety, redirecting my thoughts and actions as quickly as possible, the smoother the attack will run its course. Common sense told me to avoid doing certain things, which I did. I activated my coping skills. I isolated myself to avoid any further unnecessary stimulation and agitation.
 
Within 48 hours, I started to feel my mind calm down. By the next day the residual anxiety hormones were still there, but barely affecting me.
 
Thank you, Father, for carrying me through this anxiety attack,  
 
Blessings to all, Sue

Giving Up Sugar for Lent

​Prior to writing this blog, the thought of giving up sugar for Lent baffled me on so many levels. Sweets and I have such a long-term relationship; Cookies are so comforting to me after a long day. Oreo cookie ice cream instantly un-stresses the worst situations going on around me. A handful of peanut M&Ms cures any horrible pity party I am having.
 
Three years ago, I tried to give up sugar for Lent. I talked about my unbelievable attempt with anyone who would listen. I truly felt like I was accomplishing a notable accomplishment. In retrospect, I was doing a lot of talking but not putting a lot of action behind my words.
Transformation from Victim to SurvivorThe main problem with my attempt wasn’t really the sugar cravings, it was I justified in my head trading my non-sugar routine for an increased chips, crackers, and peanuts routine. In essence, I didn’t really give up anything, I just traded one desire for another. At the time, all the talking in my head convinced me that this made perfect sense.
 
Let’s face it; I’ve given up so many things during my transformation from victim to survivor; is it really important for me to give up one more thing? Is it really that important to give up the one thing that “helps” me get through the challenging parts of my day?
 
This year, in preparation for a real, 100%, no pretend, honest effort to give up sweets for Lent, I decided to do some reading on what Lent represents.
 
What I missed three years ago was the deep, spiritual significance of Lent. The purpose of Lent is to sacrifice like Jesus and prepare my heart for Easter.
 
Lent is a special time of reflection and faith. It is an opportunity for me to practice self-discipline and remember the sacrifices Jesus made.
 
Lent is not an exercise in trading one passion (sweets) for another; I now feel the nudge to believe that the purpose of my giving up sweets for Lent is so that my world is so significantly impacted that I look to Jesus ALL DAY LONG. If I turn to Jesus, even if it’s just to say Hi and I’m grateful for all that you have done for me, every time I crave something sweet, I know I am turning to Him so many more times than on a normal day. Lent becomes an opportunity for me to lean more on the Holy Spirit for the discipline to accomplish something. In doing so, I know I will be connected to prayer more often throughout the day; I hope for continuous dialog within my heart! My heart growing to become better positioned to accomplish the task and receive God’s wisdom and grace during the next 40 days.
 
After doing a little more reading about Lent, it occurred to me that my “giving up” something during Lent wasn’t focused correctly three years ago. I was focusing inward versus upward.
 
So, for me, this year Lent creates an opportunity for me to:

Test my will power and lean more on the Holy Spirit for strengthConnect more to pray for my stress releases and anxiety control versus foodShow God gratitude for all that He has done for me by taking better care of my body 
Thank you, God, for your unbelievable patience with me as I come to know you better,
 
Blessings to all,
 
Sue

God's Prodding to Take a Step

​It was back in 2011 and I had just finished reading The Purpose Driven Life. I knew the irony of me, a domestic violence victim, reading a book by someone who publically disagrees with divorce, yet I couldn’t put the book down. My book is underlined, tabbed, and highlighted. I was absorbing every word.
 
At the time, my take away from the book was this: everyone needs to be in a Bible study. Okay, seems reasonable, I thought. Off I went the next weekend to find myself a Bible study in the large Methodist church I attend in eastern North Carolina.
Faith and Domestic Violence​Long story short, there wasn’t a Bible study for domestic violence victims. There wasn’t a Bible study about boundaries, lies women believe, or any other tools I could use to assist me in understanding why God allowed this to happen to me and how I move forward from my abuse.
 
Not willing to take no for an answer, and feeling a little empowered, I asked the lead pastor (who later wrote the foreword to my book.) Embarrassingly, he agreed that his church didn’t have a Bible study for me. At this point I am starting to get a little mad; I met with the associate pastor in charge of Bible studies. He listened to my questioning confusion very patiently. He agreed there should be a Bible study but, in all honesty, he couldn’t think of a Bible study that would fit my requests. “That’s unacceptable” was all I could say.
 
The associate pastor recommended I write a letter to “the church” expressing my concerns and frustration. We agreed to meet the following week.
 
I worked so hard on that emotional letter to “the church” expressing my concerns, frustrations, and gigantic feelings of being victimized by the church. The retired LTC snapped into me and I was on a war path to saving something!
 
Yet, when we met the next week, he didn’t really read the letter. Instead, he asked me what I thought about writing the letter. Hesitantly, I told him that while writing the letter, I heard this faint, but subtle nudge in my heart to write a book. It was a whisper; soft and faint, but definitely there.  
 
Oddly, the associate pastor didn’t laugh off the message that was placed in my heart. Instead, he encouraged me to go for it. His message was so crystal clear: if God told you to write a book, then write a book.
 
Here I am now, hundreds of hours of writing later, and I’ve published a book. And started a blog. Connected with hundreds of women on Facebook who are in some part of their transition from victim to survivor. I’m currently preparing for three speaking engagements within the next few months.
 
Honestly, if someone had told me years ago I’d be doing all that God has placed in front of me, I never would have believed them.

My low self-worth would have talked myself out of doing anything this giganticMy PTSD would have become way too overwhelmed with the task(s)I would have allowed the spiritual warfare to force me to give up as the attacks intensified at each milestone 
But, that’s not what God asked me to do. What He asked me to do was take a step; follow Him in doing what He was asking me to do. He didn’t open the doors until I was ready; He didn’t overwhelm me in the big picture until I was prepared to respond.
 
All God did was ask me to follow the whisper He placed in my heart. The rest of “my story” in following His guidance is coming together years later.
 
So, I wonder, what has God placed on your heart that seems so outside your comfort zone? Is there something He’s been whispering that needs to be prayed about?
 
Blessings to all,
 
Sue

ps.  Click for more posts about faith and domestic violence.

Waiting for the Great Guy to Return

Trigger Warning! - Adapted excerpt from Rock Bottom and FaithlessMy first Valentine’s Day with Tom was in 1987, back when we were dating. It was a memory I held in secret and pulled out every once in a while, to try to soothe my fears and pain.
 
We were stationed in Korea at the time, and he couldn’t decide what to get me. So he got me one of everything.
Perfume…
A big box of candy…
Flowers….
Jewelry….
A huge, beautiful card…
And a six-foot-tall stuffed polar bear.
 
I was overwhelmed. I had never felt so loved. Imagine being showed with so many gifts so early in a relationship – this was surely a sign of greater showers of affection to come!
 
I held that memory tightly during the moments I watched his steady breathing after he had fallen asleep… moments after screaming filthy names at me
Holiday Triggers: Memories & Lies
​On our third Valentine’s Day, when we were snowed in at Fort Lewis, Washington, Tom walked to the store a mile and a half in the snow, telling me it was to get me flowers and a gift! What a loving and thoughtful gesture. (I later found out the real purpose of the walk was to get himself cigarettes, but I learned to easily forget that part of the memory.)
 
Over the next few years, three or four times he bought me a bouquet of I’m sorry flowers. They always brightened my mood as I proudly displayed them in the kitchen (even though something in the back of my mind said they were sending the message that I was supposed to ignore all of his bad behavior). 
The Lie: If I Try Hard Enough, the Nice Guy Will Return​Sadly, those examples are a sampling of the few nice guy stories I can remember from our twenty-one years of marriage.
 
By the time our second child arrived, Tom was so tired of buying me I’m sorry flowers that the last batch of flowers he gave me came with a huge disclaimer. Tom was not going to apologize anymore.
 
At the time, I thought for sure this was another one of his rambling, spontaneous statements. I never believed he meant he was never going to buy me flowers again. There was no way he really meant that.
 
But he did. He told me he wasn’t wasting money on flowers anymore, and he meant it. Apparently, I didn’t deserve them.
 
But I continued in denial. My husband wasn’t so bad. After all, he was an army officer, people throughout the military units we were assigned to respected him so much. Those horrible stories in the news about men abusing their wives were terrible, but thank goodness, my marriage was fixable. My husband was really a good guy- that’s what everyone in the military units told me. 
Seeing Truth Clearly
It was when I was able to give words to the truth that I was finally able to bring clarity to my world.
 
Here’s the painful truth I had to process: Tom was a cruel man who wanted to hurt me, and he wanted to make up excuses to do it.
 
I was manipulated, controlled, abused, and afraid. That “good guy” that I fell in love with so many years ago, he’s gone and he’s NEVER COMING BACK. No matter how hard I try to please him, no matter how hard I try to “do things right,” his anger and control issues are going to be taken out on me.
 
If anyone reading this finds themselves realizing a painful truth, please consider reaching out to:

Called to Peace Ministries The National Domestic Violence HotlineInformation about local DV shelters 
Stay vigilant in your surroundings, your actions, and the actions of others,
 
Blessings to all,
Sue

Transforming from Victim to Survivor

Looking Upward Versus Inward

I feel stuck in a revolving door of tiring and consistently selfish thoughts in my mind lately. That’s how I ended my day yesterday; totally focused on two situations in my world and how the situations impacted me. Honestly, when I woke up this morning I found my mind drained of anything positive; just yuck rolling around and around waiting for me to jump on some negative thought and toss it around for a few hours. I woke up this morning knowing there was a fierce battle going on in my mind that needed to be addressed.  God took advantage of my morning devotion time to bring a painful truth to me: I am in a season of selfishness. I am in a season of looking at my world through the lenses of how situations are going to affect me and me alone.
 
Where did this change of my thought process come from? I thought I always put my family first? I thought I always put work priorities first? Isn’t that what I was groomed for; putting others first and my needs second?
 
Where did this obviously selfish thought perspective come from?
  Freedom to have my own thoughts? Years of counseling and inquisitive questions about how does this make me feel? My selfish, sinful nature? 
Regaining Control of Thoughts After Abuse
Honestly, it’s a combination of all of the above. Freedom to have my own thoughts is such a great gift! Yet, the obvious problem is that my thoughts should be aligned with His word.
 
Again, for probably the umpteenth thousand time in my recovery, God is reminding me to put His word first. He’s reminding me to put His guidance, wisdom, and grace first. He’s allowing me to respond to my world as I see best but He wants it to be as a reflection of what the Bible calls me to do.
 
To align myself with God’s message on my heart, for at least the next week I plan on:
 Spending at least 15 minutes a day outside observing His beauty and awakening my sensesAdjusting my morning bible verse for devotion to Psalm 63:1 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for You, in a dry and parched land where there is no water”Standing guard with my mouth as spiritual warfare is sure to push me to speak or act in a way that does not glorify God 
 
God wants to be an integral part of not only what the world sees me doing, but how my mind responds. The message this morning was crystal clear: God saw what was going on in my mind/heart and He was not being glorified within me. God wasn’t calling me out for my actions (yet), but cautioning me that going into situations without focusing on His word potentially doesn’t bring about a faith based response for others to see.
 
Blessings to all,
Sue 

Waiting on God’s Timeline: Easier Said than Done

My daughter has been conditionally accepted at the two colleges she’s applied to. Her grades, volunteer time, church involvement is all great; but her ACT score is too low. Both schools have indicated what she needs to bring her ACT score up to and then she’ll be accepted. Definitely easier said than done.
On Regaining Control of My ThoughtsYou see, my daughter is a cancer survivor having received chemo and radiation treatments when she was two and three years old. The long-term effects of her treatment are impacting her ability to master a standardized test. Fortunately, my daughter realizes this also; her test score really does not reflect her academic abilities nor who she is.
 
But as I talk with her, discussing the path we may or may not know God has for her, I realize how much easier it is for me to tell someone to wait on God to reveal His timeline than it is for me to pray this for myself.
 
I know my constant planning and re-planning is residual thought process’ from my days living in an abusive environment. This firestorm of constant planning became so second nature to me during the abusive years; it has taken a lot of work and listening to my inner thoughts to first recognize that I am still doing it and second, stop from doing it. As I began my journey to faith after leaving my abuser, I knew I was supposed to turn to God and trust Him, yet all those years of living in an untrusting relationship hindered my ability to trust anyone trying to help me move forward.
 
As I was talking with my daughter last weekend, I heard the calmness in my approach; God has a plan and what we need to do is trust Him and pray for guidance (to ensure we are hearing correctly). But after the conversation, I felt (and still do) hypocritical. How many times have I screamed out for God to reveal His time line for my situations yet I can so peacefully speak calmness for someone else?
 
So, here’s what has been placed on my heart: in order for me to devote my life 100% to God, I need to turn off the contingency planning and trust Him for what and when things are going to happen in my life. Turn. It. Off. Completely. This situation reminded me that:

Yes, there was a time when I needed to stay on high alert for planning; but that season of my life is overYes, there was a time in my life when I felt alone with no one to turn to; but that season of my life is overNow, I need to turn to prayer and God faster and more earnestly in ALL aspects of my life. 
I am glad God used my daughter to bring this message to my heart. Seeing her daily until she leaves for college allows me to receive constant reminders of His message. She’ll be a daily reminder for me to turn to Him quickly and first. She’ll be a reminder that all that contingency planning that keeps my head spinning around, is no longer necessary. God’s got control of my life!
 
Feel free to leave a comment below on struggles you are having trouble trusting God with,
 
​Blessings,
Sue 
[image error]Proverbs 16:9: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”