What color is God? What color eyes does God have? What color is God’s hair? What size is God? When you think about the image of God, what does God look like to you?
So God created mankind in his own image,
Genesis 1:27
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
The easy answer is what you want to believe, but the truth is beautiful and a powerful reminder that we are all related to one another. Each one of us does carry the image of God within us. It is our soul. When God “breathed life” into Adam (man) that life was the living soul. The body is formed by biology but the soul is formed by God.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
What did God equip your soul for? What did you want to be when you were a child? For me, I wanted to be a writer. It was an easy choice for because when I was only five years old, according to a doctor, I should have died twice in one night. I had a fractured skull and concussion but it was missed by the first doctor. She told my Mom to take me home and let me get a good night sleep. The next day I my parents took me to the children’s hospital where that doctor said how lucky I was to be alive because I not only could have died twice, but that I should have based on the injury and missed diagnosis. After that, I had a hard time talking. Kids being kids, were cruel and I ended up only speaking when I had to, choosing my words carefully so I wouldn’t have to talk too much. Writing was easier than speaking,
God has plans for all of us. Some of us do not follow where our soul leads us and they remain unhappy. Others, always seem to know exactly what they are supposed to do with their lives and they are happy. Right now I am thinking about all those who served in Afghanistan for almost 20 years. They are struggling with the outcome and wondering what all their sacrifice was for if the country returned to Taliban control, just as it was 20 years ago.
The thing is, it is not the same as it was because military men and women gave them a chance to change. Some rejected it. Others had longed for it and did everything they could to make the lives of others better. Afghanistan will never be what it was because of what all of you did for their sake.
Each one of you, risked your life for those you served with and volunteered to join the military knowing all the hardships you’d have to endure along with all the risks to your life. That desire came from your soul and God equipped your soul to be able to do it, as well as putting into place all you need to heal from all of it.
Surviving trauma is hard and everyone needs help to heal. I can attest to that because I survived over ten times as a civilian who never served in the military. I did not willingly put my life on the line. You did. That comes with something most of the people in the country will never know. PTSD can strike after one traumatic event. How many times did you have? Each time for me was different, but each time I was changed by what I survived. So were you. Each time took a piece of me away and for a while, replaced it with a stranger I did not know. The same thing happened to you.
For a while, that stranger was the demon telling me I should not have survived it. It told me God did it to me, so I wouldn’t see that God saved me. It told me He turned His back on me, so I wouldn’t turn to Him for help to heal. When the demon was active, I started to become angry bitter and judgmental. God had other plans and continued to open my eyes so I would see that demon was lying to me to take over my soul. God won and the demon left. I was no longer the same as I was when was a child, but my soul was.
Your soul is too! Do not look back on all you did as a waste or anything to be ashamed of. Vietnam Veterans have to learn that the hard way. Their service was honorable and their sacrifices gave the people a chance they never would have had otherwise.
When you survive traumatic events, you have a chance too. A chance to turn to God to help you heal so you can use what is in your soul to help others find their way back to Him and see the purpose in their own souls, or you can allow yourself to become something you were never intended to become, bitter, angry and judgmental, rejecting God instead of turning to Him.
Jesus sacrificed His life to give you a chance to heal, be forgiven and showed you the way to forgive others. He paid the price for everyone but not everyone used that chance to He gave them to be at peace with God and others. Doesn’t that show that doing something out of love for the right reasons, is never a waste of anything?
Carry on, you will always remember
Kansas Carry On My Wayward Son
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life’s no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you
Remember, it’s your life…get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD
Yesterday I sent The Lost Son, my 4th book to be edited. I am resuming daily postings here again. I will let you know the progress on the book as news come in. For now, nothing else I can do on it but wait.
