seek and find peace before acting

@Justin Peters the end goal is for me to respond thoughtfully instead of emotionally....so yes a breath and a prayer and feeling calm and at peace before responding is what I'm looking to do.

Don’t accept the half fulfillment of promises

@Justin Peters I believe that often, before a complete breakthrough or fulfillment of a promise, there are often half-fulfillments or counterfeits that come disguised as the real deal, designed to take us off course, often right before the victory comes. When I was really sick but knew in my heart that God meant to heal me, there were many opportunities I had to settle for "better than I was before" but not completely well. Had I accepted that as all I was worthy of, I would have given up believing and striving for complete healing. I have been totally healthy for over 15 years now (after 15 years of a very serious food allergy and autoimmune disease where I found myself in the hospital about every other year). I'm glad I didn't give up and decide the promise wasn't for me or settle for partial healing as enough. An example on the flip side is that at one point, because I doubted my worth, I accepted treatment within a relationship that was a counterfeit or partial fulfillment of what I deserved, and eventually accepted and even rewarded treatment that was worse than I deserved because I had embraced the situation as "good enough" or what I deserved or was worthy of (or not). In this case, instead of consistently fighting for and steadfastly believing in the better relationship I (and my husband) deserved, I let myself believe that what I had was all I deserved or was able to achieve. This was a lie that I shouldn't have followed. It led me to become a person I shouldn't have been out of anger and resentment that my life wasn't what it should have been. Yes, part of it was my husband's choice, but I still had to take responsibility for the part of me that accepted it instead of really believing that I was worthy and deserving of something better.

I forgive myself for trusting the wrong people, and for also closing off and not trusting the right ones.

I gave quality time to two of my kids today even though I felt behind in other areas, and enjoyed it rather than worrying about the other things I could be doing.

@Justin Peters they teach me how important relationships are, and how hard conversations and forgiveness can transform relationships if we are willing.

I think it’s easy to follow what we know, but from experience of turning around bad parenting I can say we can always decide to change and heal from our own childhood wounds in order to be the parent to our kids that we didn’t have but wanted. But it’s not easy.