{"id":5628,"date":"2015-02-09T10:15:48","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T16:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lovingonme.com\/?p=5628"},"modified":"2017-04-03T10:25:52","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T15:25:52","slug":"lifes-anchors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/2015\/02\/09\/lifes-anchors\/","title":{"rendered":"Life\u2019s Anchors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"susan-church-marquee-1000\"<\/a>Have you ever felt like your life is like a boat, traveling uncharted waters where the world shows you all its beauty\u2026and its wrath? In the beginning, you are a novice. Then you slowly learn how to steer and take charge of your own sails. You come inland to discover a new place and space in your life, but in the distance you see storm clouds. You don\u2019t believe they\u2019ll ever come your way. But they do.<\/p>\n

Moments throughout my 43 years of life have swept me up into hurricanes of fear, uncertainty and anguish so deep that I could hardly breathe. Just when I thought I couldn\u2019t hold on any longer, the eye of the storm would deceptively bring a sense of calm and blue skies attempting to break through dark clouds.<\/p>\n

In the stillness, I would exhale. \u201cAh\u2026maybe things will get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stillness would never last long because it was only a matter of time when the winds would pick up again. Unknowingly, the anchor of His love was holding me and keeping me safe.<\/p>\n

Repeated conversations with myself went like this:<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we go again. What is it now? Why is this happening? Will there ever be peace? How do I break the cycle? How can I serve others if I can\u2019t even \u201cserve\u201d myself?\u201d<\/p>\n

How many of you know exactly what I\u2019m talking about?<\/p>\n

Recently, I came across the marquee of the little neighborhood Waterview Baptist Church that always holds a big statement. This latest one got my attention:<\/p>\n

God uses the rainstorms of life to heal the drought in your soul.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“Whoa\u2026OK God, I know you\u2019re talking to me,” I said to myself.<\/p>\n

We all have our storms, but do we all have anchors? For me, God\u2019s love is my main anchor (Hebrews 6:19). But it took me a long time to figure that out. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I\u2019ve had many blessings all throughout my life for which I am beyond grateful. And I\u2019ve always believed in God. But childhood experiences shaped my mindset and led me to catch the disease to please, grow up too fast, have a superficial faith, burn the candle at both ends, and most importantly, not love myself enough.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been a glass-is-half-full person. My close friends and family will vouch for me. But they\u2019ll probably also tell you that I accepted the unacceptable in my life for too long. By no fault of their own, generations before me didn\u2019t know any better to raise me to love myself and to command the utmost respect for myself. I was always trying to fit my will into His plan versus live His will for my life.<\/p>\n

Time and time again, the storms would rage, and my anchor in Him would still hold.<\/p>\n

\"OYAnchor\"<\/a>Last year, my daughter presented me with the greatest, most divinely appointed birthday gift of all time. Besides the fact that she\u2019s my greatest gift of all, she is also a typical teenager who makes me question if I\u2019m making a difference in her life and if I\u2019m doing anything right in my mission to break the cycle of our past. As an amazing visual arts magnet student, she answered my question. God spoke through her to remind me that I am doing a good job. She wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Momma, you are the anchor that keeps me grounded\u2026your faith and strength in God keep me going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, I am Loving on Me. Every tear, heartbreak and sleepless night has brought forth the unveiling of an unstoppable woman. I am not even the same person I was a few years ago. I am unstoppable.<\/strong> I am stronger, more clear-headed and free than I\u2019ve ever been in my life. Without a doubt, I wouldn\u2019t be here sharing my soul with you if I had not experienced the storms.<\/p>\n

I still want to set sail in my boat daily into unknown waters, waiting with excitement to see what else God has in store for me and how he\u2019s going to continue shaping me into the woman He created me to be. The difference now is that I have my anchor. Do you have yours?<\/p>\n

P.S. Here is a sample of my playlist and book list that inspires me. I hope it will inspire you, too. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

Music<\/strong><\/span>
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Flood by Jars of Clay
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Oceans by Hillsong United
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Stronger by Mandisa
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Survivor by Destiny\u2019s Child
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A Beautiful Day by India Arie
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Respect by Aretha Franklin
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blessin\u2019 Me by Avery Sunshine
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Hallelujah by Johnnyswim
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Diamonds by Johnnyswim
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Live While We\u2019re Young by Johnnyswim
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Take the World by Johnnyswim
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0To Be Real by Cheryl Lynn
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Beautiful by Mercy Me
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Hurt & The Healer by Mercy Me
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I Look to You by Whitney Houston<\/p>\n

Books<\/strong><\/span>
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Bible
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Streams in the Desert Daily Devotional (I\u2019m reading it for the fourth time!)
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Confident Woman book and devotional by Joyce Meyer
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Undaunted by Christine Caine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever felt like your life is like a boat, traveling uncharted waters where the world shows you all its beauty\u2026and its wrath? In the beginning, you are a novice. Then you slowly learn how to steer and take charge of your own sails. You come inland to discover a new place and space […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":12117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"switch_like_status":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[204997546,114917237],"tags":[204997753,10051,7816,204997752,204997751],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/susan-church-marquee-1000.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eAxC-1sM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9324,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5628\/revisions\/9324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}