Remember God loves you.
He has your back.
You are safe.
Praise be.

There is no ratio of sin,
No sliding scale,
Good is good,
Bad is bad,
Sin is sin,
No matter how big or small.
But have hope!
For all sin is forgiven
When we truly repent.
So pray to your God
Seek forgiveness,
Learn from your mistake,
Then move on,
A better person than whence you start

Mistakes
Are the lessons
We learn
On our path
To Greatness
🌈 🌟

When life’s a challenge
And all feels lost,
No hope in sight,
No clear direction,
There’s only one thing to do,
And that’s pray to God Almighty,
For He has your back
And will comfort and guide you,
If only you let Him.
🙏🏻

i want someone to wrap me inside the warmth of their body.
i want someone to protect me in the strength of their arms.
i want someone to hold my heart in the palm of their hands.
i want someone to still my mind.
i want someone to understand my pain.
i want someone to heal me.
i want someone to set me free.
I want that someone
To
Be
You

The hardest thing of all
During this fight between good and evil,
And yet the most important,
Is standing in your truth,
Holding the line,
Staying strong,
And being true to yourself,
Even when contrary to popular opinion.

Hugs
And
Affection
Are
Essentials
For
Life
And
A
Crying
Shame
When
Absent
For
The
Majority
Of
One’s
Life

This is me,
I am strong,
I am powerful,
I am courageous,
I make no apology for who I am,
For who I am
Is forged from pain and suffering,
The lessons were hard,
The road was long,
But led to a stronger, better, more empowered version of me.
So if you’re struggling,
Feeling weak and abused,
Hold strong,
Be steadfast,
Raise your head up high,
Look for Him who supports and inspires you,
Know your suffering will be turned into strength
And an inspiration to others.
For some it takes a while to reach this place,
To slay the dragons
And stand in our power,
But once there,
With God on our side,
Lo betide anyone who dares to put us down again!

Lost in the wilderness
Of my mind,
All adrift at sea,
Disappearing down rabbit holes
Of my making,
Stuck in a spider web of confusion,
Roaming deep dark paths
Of uncertainty, worry and pain,
Distracted by devilish thoughts,
Seductively drawn into the deep murky depths
Of the abyss.

An exceptional poet encapsulates the human condition from their own experience.
But the pain of realising how much you have hurt someone,
How worn out they are because of you,
Is almost too much to bear.

Hiding your God-given light
Is a tragedy,
A waste,
A deprivation.
Shine bright
Baby girl
For all the world to see,
And be
Who you are meant to be.

Look for the stillness,
The peace and
The quiet,
For that is where you will find
your purpose,
Along with
Hope
Faith
And salvation.

So quieten your chaotic demanding cynical monkey chatter,
Pause,
Take time,
To breathe,
And breathe again.
Then notice,
The diversity of
Sights, sounds and touch
That’s all around you.
The vibrant colourful hues of nature’s forest,
The gentle touch of wind’s breath upon your skin,
The melodic mesmerising waves of the sea,
The warming glow from sun’s golden orb.
Take time
To breathe
Long, deep and slow,
To go inwards,
To reconnect,
Mind, body and soul.
What is your body saying to you?
What message is it offering you?
What sensations are crying out
For you to listen, to hear, to understand?
What do you need to learn
From the deep wise voice
Deep inside you?

A life ill spent
Through no fault of my own,
But drowning
In a muddy well
Of confusion
And pain
And oblivion,
Obnoxious toxic stale fetor
Permeating every pore and inhalation
As people passed on by,
Stuck inside their own dazed state of busyness,
Unseeing, unknowing, unaware,
Until one had the grace
To stop and notice
The floundering and muffled cries for help
And reach out a hand,
Unnoticed at first,
Then wilfully ignored from deep
Feelings of unworthiness,
But their strength
tolerance
Steadfast manner
And the grace of God
Won through in the end,
Patiently reassuring time and time again
Their intention was true and honest,
They did care,
They could be trusted
To not let go,
The forged in stone connection could not be broken
By man or foe,
In spite of devilish attempts to the contrary,
So I reached out my hand
To grasp
This longed for beacon of hope,
Tentatively at first,
Fingertips brushing gently against each other, but
Slowly and surely,
Step by step,
Bit by bit,
Until the foregone conclusion,
And Phoenix like,
Though blind and bedraggled
With muddied feathers for sure,
I am risen from a well of melancholia and oblivion,
To the bright light of day,
Drinking in the hitherto unknown golden orb,
And breathing in the fragrant rose bloom
Of hope and emancipation.

The unknown
Is never as bad as
Reality

With incredible happiness
Comes great highs;
But also great lows,
For you cannot feel one
Without the other.

Words said in anger
Can sting and hurt
But words said in the cold light of day
Wound deep
And can never be forgotten

A heart is like a piece of parchment,
Being on the receiving end
Of a barbed word or
Spiteful action,
Crumples up the paper.
No matter how much you smooth it out,
It can never be the same again,
And each crease will be a reminder, a scar,
Of the pain and torment you went through.
It is your choice whether the scar causes further pain,
Repeating the trauma you went through over and over in your mind’s eye,
Or you see them as life’s rich tapestry,
A sign of your strength
An indicator of who you are,
A lesson learned.

Do not be sad and miserable
because she has
gone.
Rejoice and be happy
for she has
Lived,
And
Loved.
And in so living
She made you
Who you are
Today,
So give thanks and gratitude,
And know
That you will meet
Once again.

Is that me?
Is that really me?
That girl in the photo?
The one standing in her power,
Wrapped in chiffon and little else,
Looking confidently towards the future,
With her hands on her hips
And a glint in her eye,
Assertive,
Sassy,
****.
Yes.
That’s
Me!

People judge you based on their own rules of play, on their own experiences, knowledge, fears, values. It’s nothing to do with you. It’s their journey to learn.
And you have yours.
You are who you are. Live authentically, live a good life, love others, love you, be kind, be selfless. Then it doesn’t matter what anyone else says because you are living from your heart. You are living God’s will.

An oyster starts off as pure and innocent,
Until an irritating parasite, wheedles it’s way in,
Instead of succumbing,
The mollusk covers it in layers and layers of elegant nacre,
Transforming it into something magical and beautiful and priceless,
One of nature’s miracles,
A strong iridescent unique pearl.

We must do the same,
Cover our failings and our insecurities and our sins
In layers and layers of kindness and compassion and forgiveness,
Till we too blossom and shine bright,
Becoming priceless in all our glory.

Whatever you say about me,
Whether you judge me,
Or condemn me,
I really don’t care.

I may choose to wear green with blue,
Or pink with red,
And a large straw hat.
Don a posh dress to the shops,
Or T-shirt and jeans to the opera.
I may sing in the street,
And dance in the rain.
I may stay up all night,
And sleep all day.
Work from bed in pyjamas,
Or take the day off
And swim in the sea.
I may laugh at your anger,
And cry at your humour.
Be assertive and strong,
Or bossy and proud,
Take a stand for what I believe,
Or simply let things pass me by.
I may be single and sexually active,
Or marry and abstain,
Or switch between the two.
I may be the life and soul of the party,
Or people watch from the fringe.
I may chat ten to the dozen,
Or say nothing at all.
I may spend time in your company,
Or decline for my own.
I may stay...
Or I may walk away.

It’s my life,
My choices,
My desire,
To do and be who I want day by day,
And which I choose is fine by me.

So whatever you say about me,
However you judge or condemn,
I simply don’t care!
For I’m Unapologetically
Me.

Life long lacerations
Battle won scars
Deep emotional trauma
Invisible yet touch tender,
All painfully gotten
Along this journey called life,
Ultra sensitive to a
Word out of context, a
Certain tone of voice
Leads to misinterpretation
Crossed lines
Lashing out
Barbed comments
Prickly words
Flashes of anger,
Admittedly
From a place of pain,
Yet repeatedly
Time after time
Bit by bit,
Understandably
Leads to withdrawal
Drawbridge hoisted up
Kept at arms bay
And the biggest fear of all,
Disconnection,
Though the opposite is what I crave most,
But there’s no one else to blame now
For I am the cause
The symptom
The trigger
The wounds red raw
And those barbs a ******
For trauma has a way of hanging around
Leaving its entrails behind

Never settling,
A dainty butterfly
Flits from
flower to flower,
Imbibing fragrant nectar, while
Revealing moments of glory with a
Flash of its multicoloured wings,
In betwixt the dull brown underside
Reflecting life’s drudgery
And the yin and yang of existence.

No more a scrap of a girl
Retreating in her shell,
No more a Cinderella
Not invited to the ball,
No more a lady in waiting
Hiding in the wings,
For I have cast off my cloak of shame and despair,
And I stand here now
As a fully fledged 51 year old
Beautiful,
****,
Sassy
Woman
💃

Should is a crippler,
“You should do this”,
“You should do that”,
“You should think the other”.
According to whom pray tell?
Do they know my mind?
What I’ve been through?
What I’m up to?
Who I am?
Do they have my best interests at heart?
No.
They only serve themselves,
To keep me in the box they have deigned for me,
To live up, or down, to their expectations,
So they can feel superior
And better about themselves.
**** that!
I am me.
This is my life, not yours.
I choose to be and do what I want.
Just because you messed up your life,
Doesn’t give you a right to mess up mine too,
To control me,
Keep me small,
Playing your tune.
So go **** yourself,
For this is me,
I am me,
I do what the **** I want,
With, or without, your approval.

Shame arises
When emotional needs
Are not met.
Ignored as a young child,
Misunderstood,
Misinformed,
Misjudged.
Taught you and your needs weren’t important,
Not seen, not heard,
Behave according to their high expectations,
Not be an inconvenience,
Not in the way,
For you,
Your thoughts,
Demands,
Wishes,
Desire,
Intent
Weren’t important.
You believe what this care giver says,
The person most important to you in your life then,
The one with lapsed responsibility,
Supposedly caring for your mental health and well-being,
Who encouraged you to believe you are not worthy.
Learnt to live life apologetically
According to others’ will and demands,
Let others do what they want with you,
While hanging your head in shame.
Enough I say!
Now is the time to change,
To live life for you,
Make demands,
Be unreasonable,
Put yourself first,
Desire,
Throw yourself into what you want to do
With wild abandon,
To live,
Love,
Be,
Do,
With passionate intent
And purpose.

Snatched
Glimpses and
Remnants
Times past,
Floating in and out of consciousness,
Some uncomfortable,
Some bad,
Some horrific,
Leaving confusion,
A lump in the throat,
Unable to swallow,
Knowing not yet to what they relate,
Just a
Feeling of
Cold,
Sickening,
Clammy,
Fear.

Apparently opposites attract.
But maybe men and women
Are so poles apart,
Their brains so completely
Miswired to one another,
That they’ll not see eye to eye,
And never truly understand what’s going on for the other.
So there’s the quandary.
Do we avoid for an easy, albeit lonely life,
Or do we muddle through the misunderstandings and miscommunications,
The pain and the lows,
And hope and trust for a better outcome on the other side?