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Thursday, October 29, 2015

Deceleration

Last Sunday, October 25, 2015 I made a life changing decision. This has been on my heart for years. Yes,  years. My mother and step father had me baptized and dedicated as an infant. I was raised in the church and have grown up believing and relying on God as my higher power. I've made decisions that are seen to not reflect that belief, but I've always had faith. I've grown over the past few years, and within the last 8 months, I've really found who I am in Christ and who I want to be. So, in September there was the option of being baptized at my church, River of Life. I immediately signed up. My cousin was also being baptized in Idaho the same weekend, so I decided to attend his in support.

This summer, I made some choices I'm not proud of and acted in ways that I never would have before; or at least that's what I thought. I went through this "I'm single, stressed, and want to have fun" phase. I wasn't living a life that I was proud of but my stress was lessened and I was around a lot of awesome people and I felt my age; I didn't feel my responsibilities crashing down around me every second. I have worked through those feelings with the Lord and have been extremely raw in my pleas to be formed and renewed in His eyes. Because I wasn't baptized in September, I found myself thinking about it a lot and praying about it. So, another opportunity came up and I knew that I had a month before I was going to make a huge deceleration of faith.

Being baptized is a public display of your faith and a proclamation of how you plan to live your life. I was so excited to make a public announcement of who I plan to live for and the life I've chosen after some of the hardest years of my life. I know Jesus has forgiven me of my sins, He has done that since I first believed. But, I never really consciously tried to lessen those sins by living a pure or Godly life. Yes, I'm a nice person, I give and serve others, practice respect, ect. But, I've never really thought to myself before make decisions or real life choices "Is this going to benefit God? Is this glorifying His name?" So, making a deceleration and being baptized, I was making a promise not only to God but myself that I was going to live and walk a life that glorifies Him & I was going to raise my daughter to love and honor Him as well.

I had family & friends from Washington, Idaho, Seeley Lake, and Missoula there to support and pour out their love for the choice I was making for Laurel and I. It was a beautiful and very emotional morning. Since I discovered basking in the Holy Spirit years ago at CFO, I have felt a strong calling in prayer. So, I spent most of my morning and time at church listening to the Word in prayer and communication with God. I had my dear friend and leader of the single mom's group at church, Jeannine present (along with the other single moms). Gary & Heatherann, Laurel's grandparents were present by my side. The moments before and listening to Pastor Jason speak into my life about healing and using my hurt and my struggles to help those who are hurting and going through what I went through was confirmation of everything I experienced in prayer that morning. It was amazing to hear that confirmation, just seconds before I was washed of my old life.


God is so good! 






Thursday, October 15, 2015

Fears

There are so many blessings that come with being a parent. So many joys. So many laughs, kisses, messy faces. There are so many moments where I'm brought to tears out of disbelief that this is my amazing and perfect life. I'm taken back daily by the creation of my daughter and the little person she's becoming. I sit and watch her discover, accomplish new leaps and bounds in her motor skills, her voice, and her willingness to try new, scary things. She is her father's daughter like that; she stretches and challenges the limits until she's satisfied. People say she's like me in that sense but I don't look at the task and take it on immediately, I weigh out the pros and cons, come up with a plan, plan b, and then decide if it's worth it. If she is like this as an adult, I'll be envious but so incredibly proud. 

When all of this stops, when I'm alone at work, driving in the car to get my daughter, or sitting in the dark living room taking a moment to myself-so many emotions want to rise and show themselves. It's exhausting. I don't stuff them down often, I really don't. I know it's only been 8 months and that sometimes this kind of struggle and hardship takes a lifetime to accept and process. But, I feel like I make progress and then I take a couple steps back. I notice the anger I have when I don't have enough time in the day to take care of myself, Laurel, my house, and be able to truly just love on my daughter. I get so mad. I know I'm doing a great job, and my daughter is loved and happy. My school work gets done. My job is getting done. But help--help would be wonderful. I do ask for it when I'm stretched thin, my village is amazing. But there's this anger and resentment toward the other person that's supposed to be a parent. I think this will be the hardest lesson to learn-the hardest pain to understand. Because it involves my daughter being robbed. He's robbing her. Does he not see that? She deserve such an amazing father-she deserves the world and he doesn't see that or doesn't feel the need to become that for her. 

What do I do when I'm sitting at home and she does something incredible, completely amazing and she reminds me of him-which she does often-and I can't just pick up the phone and share the excitement? I can, but is that really my job? Am I supposed to rely every movement, every stride to him and then he continues to not be present? No. I don't. I share pictures and update him when he asks, but at what point do I stop getting frustrated that I can't share those moments with him-because I know his potential. I know if he wanted, he could be an incredible father. But because of what I know and what I've promised myself for my daughter, I will not enable him-I will not make things easier-I will not do what I've always done and cater to him. 

Today, as I was driving and a familiar song came on the radio--I'm always taken back to moments of hearing that song and his commentary. Moments that weren't always bad. They were decent. But, today I got sad. I haven't been sad concerning him & our past in a long time-probably since he left. But today, something overwhelming came over and I couldn't believe I was feeling so sad. I had to sit at the grocery store parking lot and think through it-was I missing him? No. Was I missing our relationship? No. Was I sad because he walked out? No. Did I miss my friend? Maybe, but just the person I thought he was. Did I wish things were different? Absolutely not. So why, Chelsea, why are you sad?

Because my daughter may never get to even have the good memories, the good moments. I have moments of contentment with her father-looking back-I don't think I was every truly happy. I was forcing myself to be happy, to accept and embrace the love we had. I loved him, very much but I wasn't happy. What made me happy was loving him and trying to make him happy. So, will my daughter live that same life with her father? Will she struggle with wanting and trying to make her father happy but never truly have happy moments and memories with her father? Will they create happy moments and then as she gets older, will she realize that it was all fake? Can he love her the way she deserves? Because he wronged me, I'm so fearful he will do it to her, like it was done to me by my father(s). 

I know these fears and questions can never be addressed right now. I know our lives will fall into place the way God intends it to, but I'm so worried about how he will impact her life. I know the only way to ease this fear and calm my heart is through prayer and teaching my daughter of her Heavenly and Loving Father, Jesus. This is what I plan to do. On October 25, I will be baptized and it's more than just letting go of my past and promising to live my life for Christ, it's a declaration that I'll teach my daughter about how to be a Godly woman and about the One true, Abba Father. 




Dear Cheating Ex-



My heart aches for you. It aches for your loneliness and your insecurities. No person should feel so insecure in who they are. No one should feel less than. I'm sorry that you could not take all the love, dedication, appreciation, and friendship of our 8.5 years and realize how truly wonderful you are and how much potential you have. But I realize, no one can make you believe or trust that except yourself.

You see, I had to realize it for myself also. I had to discover my worth. I had to reach the lowest point and crawl up out of the pit of despair because I knew my life was worth it. It's hard. Realizing, trusting, and embracing your worth is one of the hardest experiences someone will go through. But I guarantee you'll find happiness and wholeness in life once you do. Keep trying.

I want to say thank you. These thank you's aren't out of sarcasm or to hurt you. They are truly appreciation for what you've taught me. I've learned to make the best out of every situation and to search and pray for a lesson or answer in every trial. You taught me that. Your actions surely broke a home, my heart, and what could have been a secure future...but more than that they created a healthier me. I had to do the hard work. I had to dig deep & overcome emotions, heartache, and complete loss.

Thank you for reminding me what and who really matters. Your actions had a domino reaction to everything in my life and at the end of ever tumble...it lead me to God. I strayed from my relationship with God; surely you know that. Your relationship became non existent also. We were in a sinful relationship; extremely unhealthy and God was not the center. We lost ourselves in who we were in Christ and because of that we lost ourselves as people and our relationship just became this empty shell of the two of us but nothing significant to contribute to one another or God's Kingdom. Because of what happened, I found myself crawling back on my knees to Christ. Trusting His love and plans for my life. This is probably the most precious lesson.

Thank you for hiding secrets, lying, and continuing to hurt me over and over. Because of this, you've made me more aware. Aware of my emotions, purpose, and what I truly deserve. It was up to me to stop giving you chance after chance. I admit, I should have stopped things a long time ago--I probably would have saved a lot of heartache...possibly on both sides. But, I know that things happened the way they were supposed to. Because of your unfaithfulness and disregard to my feelings or our friendship, I discovered how often I let people take advantage of me and I am now proactive.

I'm in this new season of life and it's such a beautiful time where I'm experiencing new things, meeting new people, growing as a child of God and a mother. It truly is one of my favorite seasons so far. It's reminds me of the moments following a storm when the wind gently breezes through the trees, the rain slows it's pace, and the grass smells as if it has become fresher. It's within that moment where you smile and wait for the rainbow to appear. 

This season wouldn't have happened without you. I'll be honest, I never wanted to give you credit for what I've been fighting for and the strength I've had to discover but if it wasn't for what you did--I might have never dug myself out. I would have sat in that loveless, dead relationship for years. Our daughter would have seen it and come to known it as normal. You hurt me, you broke me, and took away what felt like a lifetime of memories and friendship but your actions had me fight for my future. Thank you. 

I pray you find your way. Your worth. Your happy ending. Your purpose God has outlined for you. In the meantime, be aware of your actions. Treat others kindly. Love purely. Trust God's hand in your life. Our daughter and I pray for you every night. We pray that Papa finds what he has been looking for. 

In my prayers,

Chelsea