Times When You Sit And Wonder
You will question relationships.
I felt compelled to answer a thoughtful question on Twitter recently. “Ladies: what gentle advice can you tell a single guy about relationships?”
I have been married a long time to the one person I was sure could do no wrong. I was wrong. Ha!
Wrong looked like getting an electric knife for a Christmas gift. In the big picture and years later it hardly matters. A memory of the future lets you laugh before you get there.
My reaction to the Twitter-er’s question was, “Let the happiness begin.”
Forget The Essential Oils
You will question values.
No one tells you when you’re giddy in love that happiness in a relationship takes on many forms. One of them shows up when you need it most: as essential strength that has quietly developed with each passing decade.
There is the form that settles around you when the outside world pushes its boundary. Intertwined relationships refuse to allow you to fend for yourself. They urge you to keep going when you want to quit in the face of discouragement.
And there is the truly steady form that stays by your side when you’ve vomited on the floor. It’s one of those humbling relationship-builders. Let the happiness begin!
Who’s Your Best Friend?
You will question your worthiness.
When I was about nine years old, I asked Shirley Ferguson if she’d be my best friend. She said no. Simply that. “No.”
My dog has never said no to me. Maybe that’s why I like animals so much. But we as humans long for meaningful humanrelationships.
I think I was devastated at the young age of nine! Rejection colored my world for who knows how long. From a child’s perspective, rejection leads to insecurity and vulnerability.
What we say matters. We never know how far inside the heart a kindness can reach.
Are you aware that one of the common denominators of human trafficking victims is vulnerability? As an advocate for the fight against human trafficking, I’m raising awareness of bondages issues that make vulnerabily a target for predators.
Bondage Takes Many Forms
You will question your security.
Assurances are good things — financial, physical, emotional guarantees. Do you have them?
For my son as a youngster, questioning his security came as a result of my reading to him the storybook Where The Wild Things Are. If the pictures didn’t scare him half to death, the room-sized wrap-around poster of the wild scenes did. Let the wild rumpus begin!

My son might not want me to divulge his life’s work. Suffice it to say you would crack up if you knew. He’s long since stood up to his fear of the wild things.
There’s A Giant Of An Enemy That Uses Lies As Its Lure
You will question the source of strength for living.
Lies trap us in fear, and they trap us in addictions of every description. They rob our self-esteem and ruin our confidence. They keep us in inner bondage.
When human trafficking occurs, we see too many lives lost to the horror of inescapable bondage. One is too many.
God offers us power to combat bondage.
There is an episode in l Samuel 17 of the Bible. David confronts the immense form a man—the giant Goliath — with his dependence on God.
Basically, David stands up to the giant by saying, “Who the heck do you think you are?”
In verse 45, he warns the giant, “You come at me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts/so that all the earth may know that there is a God/that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; the battle is the Lord’s . . .”
God provided David with the strength to prevail. He does the same for you and me.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?(Romans 8:31)
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