First, I’d like to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mommy readers waking up this morning. It’s your special day! I hope that you’re treasured today and told how wonderful you really are. I mean really…as a scientist, can someone explain to me how any of us could physically be here if it weren’t for our Mothers? As a mother, I’m all the more humbled and appreciative of my own, and can begin to understand her sacrifice.

Years ago I attended a wonderful church in Virginia, USA and the Pastor would say in his sermon,

Whether your birth was an “oops” or planned, you were born and that’s all that matters now. The circumstances surrounding your birth are in the past, and you cannot change them! But you CAN change how you live your life today. You CAN choose how you live your life and how you spend eternity.

That’s odd I thought, because I actually knew people whose parents told them they were accidents, unplanned or unwanted. If you’ve ever met someone who’s still struggling to overcome the damage of a traumatic childhood, then you know that those warped “confessions” cause scars that run deep into adulthood, and can overshadow any great personal success or professional achievement.

So I’m sitting in church and listening/thinking… Hey, don’t judge, you do it too! Pastor’s wrapping up, but over the course of the year I hear the same things: let go of the past, make better choices, and choose wisely because response is key. Then this call and response song from my days in the children’s choir starts periodically humming along in my spirit, and the lyrics are,

Whose report will you believe?

We shall believe the report of the Lord

His report says I am healed

His report says I am filled

His report says I am free

His report says victory

-Ron Kenoly Whose Report Shall You Believe

So in usual fasion, I’d like to circle back to this subject and deep dive into it with my friends at The Exceptional Life. There are men and women who’ve overcome more bad and terrifying experiences before adulthood than any of us will experience in a lifetime. But as my Pastor put in my spirit, we are here now.  Alive, all grown up and able to make our own choices!

For some, the realization that life isn’t fair starts in childhood. As a young adult my early emotional life resembled a ship without a captain on the open seas. I felt ill-equipped and constantly knocked around when the storms of life created incredible highs and lows, and had few periods of calm. But as I sat in church God began to softly knock on the door of my heart and ask, how long will you hold onto bitterness and hatred toward anyone who’s ever done horrible things towards you? I was afraid because on my own I wasn’t strong enough to let go of those bad times and memories, but through prayer and faith I trusted my heart and mind to the Lord and completely surrendured. In my mid thirties I finally decided I was too old to hold other people responsible for my pain, and took full control of my future and destiny! Ten years later I’m still praising God everyday for setting me free from mental, emotional and spiritual turmoil and bondage.

My life has purpose and direction now, and isn’t that what we all strive for? To live a victorious, exceptional life? Yes, there’s the occasional cloudy day, and you and I will still experience times of conflict, but these days my response to defeat and stinking thinking is this,

   …”Everything is possible for one who believes.”       Mark 9:23 (NIV)

Blessings,

CED

Featured image: My Mom and I. Washington, DC. 1972.