January 5, 2016:

Went to the gym last night and feeling great today. I’m feeling very calm. Aside from an incident that happened at a coffee shop I’m at where a guy walked by the table I was sitting at, with my computer out and grabbed my tea, thinking it was his. After I told him it was my tea, he placed it back. I was a bit bothered for a while by his reaction but quickly realized that he had only made a mistake, thinking it was his. It’s not a big deal but upset me for a bit until I realized why he had done it. It is a great day today. The sun is shining brightly. And I am feeling grateful. This morning, I did fifty crunches and twenty four back extensions lying on the floor. I’ve started to realize why, in the past, I would have difficulty when I was just in my day to day life after I would do these exercises. I was doing them forcefully and really exerting myself. I suppose I was trying to get the best result that I could from doing them. I am learning though how important it is to treat your own body with love and respect. In even doing these exercises, I’m learning how important it is to be gentle with ourselves. Everything we do, should be from a place and foundation of love. This comes a lot more naturally when we have a firm foundation of love to build from. This is why it is so important that children need love in their developmental years. It’s been a consistent theme in my life but I particularly noticed it this last week when I went to Niagara, that after I spend time with people who nurture and establish my self-worth, I feel great after. This is not just because I feel positive but because I have had that experience of love, which is so nourishing to the soul and heart. Children and good people are hurt and killed every day. This is not the state of things as God intended. But while we’re here, let’s let our lights shine. I found another encouraging verse in Scripture: “For the sake of your soul, you should not be ashamed to speak the truth. For there is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that brings glory and grace” (Sirach 4:24,25). Keep fighting for and standing in the truth. I know it may get to a point where we feel, for I myself have felt this far too many times in the past, that God has abandoned us. I know how deep the despair can run if we release it. We need to remember that God did not come to abandon us. He didn’t create us to abandon us. He created us to have a relationship with us. And He came again to redeem us and to save us. Let’s keep faith and strength in the truth of His great love.