Shame. This is a topic of an episode I recorded or recorded many months back. It is relevant today as it was when I shamed first lifted its ugly head. Shortly after creation, shame arises from a cursed consciousness. This is the foundation of our shame, our minds, and what we think on. And from this cursed perspective comes projecting onto others. What is going on inside of us? Shame has a myriad names, loser, worthless failure loss cause forgotten idiot, uninvited to name a few. And in the hidden recesses of our mind, these curses are replayed situation that supposedly support. This view are rehearsed. Ruth Chels Simmons says daily habits create deep channels. This holds true to our thought life. And this is something that I've really thought a lot about the things we rehearse review, restate over and over again. Make deep channels in our thought life that takeover suddenly these lies become the story of our life. Our narrative, our story becomes one filled with shame and hiding away because we don't want to be discovered truly no area of our life is untouched by our thoughts. And some even go as far to say that these personal narratives are their truth or your truth. This phrase is so off base and its implication so far and deep reaching. I must call it out for what it is. A lie. Truth is unchanging. The circumstances of our life are always changing our story, our perceptions, our opinions, and our narratives all have merit and value, but do not call it your truth. That gives it too much weight and power in your life. It hijacks who you are with what you have been telling yourself through the years, Tommy Newberry states, the secret conversations you hold and the privacy of your mind are shaping your destiny little by little. Does that resonate with you? It certainly does. With me, shame is epidemic. I think we all have or experience it's ugly fruit. Even now, sometimes this is referred to the syndrome, you know, where you just don't feel like you're being authentic or real or you're pretending how many times have I told myself that I do not measure up to the task? Whatever that task may currently be. This is shame operating. There've been so many times in the course of, of a women to women meet up or have some other ministry that I'm involved in. And I tell myself not to go to that group that they don't want me there since they don't really know me. That's shame talking. How many times have I not reached out to that person or this woman? Because I tell myself she doesn't consider me a friend or I tell myself, don't mention that. Just let it be. And don't discuss it since they don't care. Shame does that. It lies to us convincing us that things that are most often just not true shame keeps us in, sequestered away. So as not to burden others, shame keeps us buried beneath the surface of the veneer of our life, false bravado or a shrinking violet, both are shame induced and they prevent us from entering into the fullness of life. Christ promised us shame is a bully. Shame is a jail keeper and delights keeping its prisoners in solitary confinement. In the midst of our busy lives. Liberation is found in scripture. Jesus told us that it was for freedom sake. He set us free. And since he is the son of God and the son of man, we know we can trust his words because why, how do we know that he created all things. He came to earth so that we might receive his gift and life in abundance. Shame prevents us from stepping over this threshold into this magnificent life. We might make excuses. We might come up with reasons why we don't, but it's shame that prevents us from moving forward. Liberation is God's truth woven richly into your inner most being, which is the foundation of freedom. The invitation and is life free from shame and living in abundance is a universal one. It is an all-inclusive call to all of humanity. Yet it is exclusive to those who accept the invitation and the free gift. Our thought life often filled the shame or governed by. It can never alienate us from the love of God. If we belong to God through Jesus Christ, we are his and in his care. And we begin to take the shame off and put grace on. Oh, you might think that you have done too terrible of a thing or the pollution of your thought life is just too vile or too shocking, but know this. It is impossible for your sin, your life. Anything you've done to shock the one Jesus Christ who died because of it. Jesus died in your place. So let's get back to grace. And until next time, this is Sandra Vernon.

Our prayers, easy to turn them into flowery platitudes of spiritual sounding rhetoric. People face difficult times and they asked for prayer and prayer is what we turn to when we're faced with suffering or calamity. These practices diminish the purpose of prayer. Prayer is defined as a spiritual communion with God per contains petitions and entreaties, but also worship and praise and worship. All that really means is thinking on spending time with having your mind focused on the thing that you say has worth, and God almighty. The creator of the universe is certainly worthy of all our worship. So after his disciples and I'm speaking of Jesus and his disciples, after his disciples asked about prayer, they wanted to know how to pray as they observed their teacher. Jesus, praying as an essential part of his life. As he walked this earth, Jesus demonstrated to them how to pray. And since the son of God prayed often daily, always how much more should we, how much more essential is this spiritual discipline for our daily walk yet I know is much more than what is practiced by most Christians. Yeah. Prayer is for Christians the way to commune and communicate and stay connected with God. God hears our prayers yet. He is not obligated to answer prayers of those who reject him. Really. It's not unlike a strange adult children running to their parents only for help when there's a problem or trouble. They're never seeking to build a relationship. Yet. Relationship building is precisely what prayer is about, and God has given us this beautiful privilege as a gift. This gift demonstrates God's longing to connect with each of us intimately and love only. God doesn't need us to help him in any way yet. He has given the practice of prayer as a tool, not to only commune with him, but to also co-labor with him. This is one way how we can participate in kingdom work. We co-labor with God. As we persevere in prayer, we participate God's purposes. When he, when we pray, we participate in warfare. When we pray, remember, God doesn't need us yet. He longs for us to enjoy the gift of prayer and the power of prayer by the creative design, the majestic beings, we know them as angels await their marching orders, which is garnered from our prayers. Now, um, this is not to say that God needs us so that his angels there to do the work. What I am suggesting and telling you is that go ahead, gave us this wonderful gift. So we can, we too can partner dissipate in the kingdom, uh, practices and kingdom work. So God doesn't need us. He can come in and his angels at any time to do his will and work yet. God also has prayers away that we too can participate. Take for example, this historical count of David, um, it's found in Dan or excuse me, Daniel, it's found in Daniel chapter 10, I'll read part of it. Um, and then just kind of summarize part as well. In those days, I, Daniel had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food nor did meat or wine. Enter my mouth nor did I use any ointment at all. And until the entire three weeks were completed, Daniel saw the horrible state that Israel was in. They were in captivity now. And so he was an earnest prayer and a vision came to him. An angel came down only. He saw the vision, but his companions, they heard it. They knew something was going on and terrified, ran away. It continues in verse seven. Now I, Daniel alone saw the vision while the men who were with me did not see the vision. And so they ran away and left him and here Daniel says, but I heard the sound of his words. This is the vision that showed up the, the angel. As soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face with my face to the ground. Now, first of all, if I may, could you imagine if you had this vision and this huge being that Daniel tries to describe is there before you and your companions leave you, they abandoned you. But here's what this angelic being said to Daniel to, or Tim Daniel. Yeah. You who are treasured. Understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand at your place for, I have now been sent to you. And when he had spoken this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, do not be afraid Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard. And I have come in response to your words. Isn't that amazing. It was because of Daniel's prayer that this angel was able to come. The angel continues telling Daniel this, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia was standing in my way for 21 days. Now, remember Daniel fasted for 21 days, there was warfare going on. Daniel was participating in a way he didn't fully comprehend till this vision. And so, as it goes on, and he was able to tell Daniel that after these 21 days that he was released and he was able to tell him that I have come to answer the concerns of your heart. And then the angel goes on to say, then this one with human appearance, speaking of the angel touched me again and strengthened me. And he said, you are treasured. Do not be afraid. Peace be to you, take courage and be courageous. Now, as soon as he spoke to me, I felt strengthened and said, may my Lord speak for you has strengthened me. Then he said, do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia. So I am leaving and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. However, I will tell you what is recorded in the writing of truth yet, there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael, your prince. So here at Daniel's been told, he's participating in spiritual warfare, seeing behind the veil picture of what was going on. And that's what prayer is ultimately about is participating in what God provided, participating and fighting in spiritual warfare through prayer. So do you see it? There was the cause of a three-week delay, why it was because of an evil spiritual force and it wasn't until Daniel persevered in prayer and fasting that God sent his angels and they were released to do battle because an evil angel also called a demon was opposing God's angel assigned to Persia evil, outweighed righteousness until Daniel participated because there are boundaries in the spiritual were almost all as well. And so Daniel was doing warfare and helping break down those walls. I like how the angel not only comforted Daniel, but encouraged him as well, do not be afraid Daniel for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were. And I have come in response to your words, prayer it's important. It is perhaps the most important thing we can do in the kingdom work of God's people. It is most often the very best gift we can give to another person. Earnest prayer, specific focused, heartfelt prayer built from a relationship with God are the effective prayers. Prayers are almost always warfare based. Ephesians six, uh, chapter six, Paul writes to the effusion church. So the church had emphasis for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual fork forces of wickedness in heavenly places, therefore take up the full armor of God so that you'll be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything to stand firm. So God's provision for warfare is not a physical armor, but a spiritual one. And since this warfare, we need the means to fight starting with standing from a belt of truth around our waste, which has God's word put on the breastplate of righteousness. We stand justified and righteous because Jesus declared us so strap onto our feet. The preparation of the gospel of peace, take up the word to be peacemakers, not peacekeepers. Take the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming errors, arrows of the evil one, put on the helmet of salvation speaking. Our truth of God's love and speaking God's truth to ourselves. So our minds are filled with those things, use the sword of the spirit, which is God's word and prayer. If we change our perspective and pet practice practices of what we used to think prayer was and learn what prayer really is. It's God's way to build relationship with us. We can avail so much more. There is truly power in prayer. We can pray for those things that burden our hearts. We can pray for those things that worry our minds. We can pray. We can through prayer release, all those cares concerns and worries into the capable, loving hands of God almighty. And we also can intercede or pray on the behalf of others to our heavenly father waits, to hear from each one of us, from me and from you. So let's avail that beautiful privilege of prayer. And until next time, this is Sandra Vernon.

Fall six times rise seven. This has been a refrain for my life, and perhaps it resonates with you as well. It's my paraphrase from a wisdom writing of Solomon these past few years. Well, a good majority of my life really I've had physical issues and challenges and lately is I am doing the things to regain good health. It seems I take one step forward and then fall back several yet. As long as I keep plugging along, I will reach my goals. I can fall six times, but if I rise seven, I win my health challenges have been more like dealing with Nat swarms rather than a dragon such as cancer or some other fear diagnosis and thankful for that. But dang it. NATS are annoying. As a child, I was often described with compassion and sadness as a sickly child gamma globulin shots. When I was a toddler, several rounds of antibiotics in early grade school due to strep throat later in grade school, a virus with a raging fever that had my hair falling out weeks later. And of course the usual chicken pox, mumps colds, broken foot in junior high, and later on scoliosis was discovered and they required that. I wear a full back brace 23 hours a day. You might recall a movie way back when in the eighties about a gal in high school wearing a back brace, that would have been me after that orthodontics at the time could offer no help to the huge gaps in my teeth though. I got braces after high school, when a new orthodontist moved into my small town, then I contracted viral meningitis, not once, but twice as a 19 year old, there was concern that it might be multiple sclerosis and decades later when I was hospitalized yet again for meningitis, for the symptom care. Um, I had one doctor who was delighted that he could actually grow the meningitis bug in a Petri dish. Thanks to me. He had never had that in 25 years, guests, something good came of it. I also had kidney stones, a severe car accident that left me with broken ribs and a concussion accompanied by a beautiful scar on my forehead that my husband lovingly is my ax wound. I went through the sun roof of the glass when the car flipped. Um, I had a scare with bone scans and to determine if what I was experienced was, uh, rheumatoid arthritis or Paget's disease. It was discovered later that it was an MMR booster that a state required me to have before teaching. And that gave me the symptoms that I was experiencing concussion for. One of my special needs children that I was teaching that had me out of work for three days rear ended. And it was impact with whiplash. Chronic sinusitis treated the way too many antibiotics or anxiety was treated for both hospitalized with a cardiac issue. And of course there are my riding accidents, always my whole, my fault, not my horses. One ride I broke, I broke my clavicle, another, a tailbone injury and then broken toes because horses like to step on toes concussion again from a cliff dieting act incident, which was a near drowning situation. And most recently discovered that H pylori is a real issue. Thanks to over antibiotic use that has been, uh, preventing my body from using B and D vitamins. So my lab numbers are always in the basement, severe reaction to make medication that took me months to recover from. And prior to that, I experienced a significant hip muscle injury while attending a workshop that left me unable to walk for several weeks. And I'm currently dealing with what could be an antibiotic antibiotic resistant infection. Now I'm sharing this all with you, all these little mats of my life in hopes that it may resonate with some of you and what you're facing and give you hope and encouragement that it doesn't have to be a hopeless situation. Most often as an adult, I get some momentum in my health and journey. And then wham, I am slammed down again, whether it's an illness or, or an injury, but now armed with the promises in scripture that I know are secure, because I know he who has written them and I can trust his good character. So wham. Yep. I might get knocked down, but I will rise again. The wisdom, right things found in scripture, remind us that we were not created to go this life alone. I have found that my dear husband has been a great source of encouragement and support for me. He has been my, uh, by my side, through so many of these health issues and with love and great patients see me through each one of them. Dear friends are also walking alongside of me in this Odyssey. I thank God for each one of them offering care, concern, compassion, encouragement, patience, and understanding. And also when I need to hear it most gospel truth and not a pity party participant. So this is how I get slammed down with health issues, but have the motivation to rise. Again. Solomon writes in Proverbs 24 16, and this is what I paraphrased for a righteous man falls seven times and rises again. But the wicked stumble in time of calamity. The number seven in scripture is a number of completeness. It also reminds us that we can fall several times and still rise again. The prophet Micah states do not rejoice over me. Oh my enemy, though, I fall, I will rise the white dwell in darkness. The Lord is a light for me. Isn't that a beautiful promise. I love David's poetry and songs. He writes in the 37th song, the steps of a man are established by the Lord. And he delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the one who holds his hand. So as I struggle with some of these things, that's what I imagine and know to be true, that God will not abandon me. He's right there with me, virtually holding my hand. Paul writes a letter to the Corinthian church and wow, is this powerful in this letter to this, uh, the second letter to the church, um, Paul writes, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power of God and not hope will be from God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted and every way, but not crushed perplexed, but not despairing persecuted, but not forsaken struck down, but not destroyed. Isn't that awesome. See, each time a fall and a rising again, afflicted, but not utterly crushed. There have been days and weeks and even months where I have been afflicted, but I've never been crushed perplexed, and often perplexed with these health issues I experienced. They make no sense. They are annoying NATS of my life. And it seems I have a swarm of them. Most of the time, I have friends who are facing dragons of life like cancer. Well, we're perplexed, but not despairing. There's no room for despair. When we follow the one who holds our life in his hands for when we are Jesus followers, we know we can trust him for the outcome and care. And when persecution comes our way, we who belong to Christ know we will not be forsaken. We may be struck down and I have this, had this feeling of being struck down time and again, but I am not God's faithfulness. And his loving kindness has provided me with a community of believers and all I need to get back up again to wrap this up. There is a song by one of my favorite groups, mercy ne this chorus resonates with me so much. This goes out to anyone who's down for the count. It's not over. Don't give up, don't throw in the towel, just remember who you belong to. Then let me remind you how this ends. We win. I love this too. As the song continues, we get pushed down. We get beat up. Kind of sounds like what Paul was writing about to the Corinthian church. So afraid life's going to keep us up against the ropes, but hang on. There is hope because if Christ is inside us, it won't be a fair fight because deep down we know how the story goes. We win. This is how I can rise up with hope. Each time I am smacked down with health issues or some other calamity. And I hope that this gives you some hope as well. Trust in God, trust his word. He will never leave us or forsake us until next time. This is Sandra Vernon. Thank you for tuning in to the art of connection with me, Sandra Vernon, founder of faith, society, sharing messages from my heart to encourage personal growth and fulfillment so that each one of us can become the best version of ourselves.

God's love for humanity. It's amazing. The following poetical verses one of my favorites, was shared by my dear friend and mentor Helene. She shared it with me many years ago and it's something I still meditate upon frequently. It's written by Zephaniah and it reads the Lord. Your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will rejoice over you with joy. He'll be quiet in his love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Isn't this truly amazing. I read those words and I try to wrap my mind around it. It's just such an incredible and beautiful truth. And it's all inspiring. The creator of the universe thinks on you this way. He thinks on me this way. That to me is just truly difficult to comprehend. God is in our midst. He is not distant. And if you belong to Christ his holy spirit indwells, you Emmanuel God with us heaven here on earth because of his indwelling spirit. He is a victorious warrior. We have no worries when we are on his side, God rejoices over us. He rejoices with joy, which I am reminded that there is little in my life that is remarkable to rejoice over it. Yet as our loving heavenly father, he rejoices over me and over you and over us all, maybe because he loves us not due to our merit in a song written by king David. God is essentially reminding us that though. We may not know him. He knows everything about us and still loves us and still wants a relationship with us. And this is in David's Psalm 139. God will be quiet in his love, just muse on this for a while. Isn't it wonderful just to sit with someone who loves you and no words have to be spoken, no performance. You can just be. And this is how God loves us in quietness and peace. God  also rejoices over us. Exuberantly was shouts of joy. Zephaniah writes and reminds us. God loves us so much that he shouts with joy. Think about that to me, that is just so incredible to think that the creator of the universe would shout with joy over me. And then also sit and in quietness, just reign his love down on me. Even at our most deplorable, God loves us. He loves me. He loves you. He loves humanity, all created in his image to reflect his character here on earth. Jesus died before we knew our need of him, that his love, he declared to those who follow him, that we are now innocent and free. Again, referring to Psalm 139. David, uh, reminds us that we are not a mistake for all of our days are written in his book in God's book. And it's as relevant today as when it was first written and there were life might not look like anything of value or anything of worth God who can only speak truth and cannot lie states. That what he created was very good. And that's, he is. Speaking of is you and me. We are part of this creation by God's hand by God's spoken word. And the thing that I love to think on is God spoke everything into existence, but mankind humans, we are his image bearers, and he took exceptional care in our creation. He actually formed us with his hands and breathed his breath of life into humankind. That to me is just amazing. God calls his people, his treasured possession. Let that sink in a bit, a treasured possession. Now God was speaking to the Hebrew nation. When he made this proclamation, yet we have a gift and a privilege of being grafted into the family of God, through Jesus Christ. We too can be his treasured possession. Do you have a treasured possession? My children are treasured. My grandchild is treasured. Oh, how I love them? All my heart is full. I treasure my husband and our relationship. My little bit of treasury is just a glimpse of God's treasure and of his people. So the little bit that we treasure, which seems at times all consuming is about a fraction, but a glimpse of how God treasures us. And when we treasure something, how often do we think on that person or that thing that we treasure a lot. And sometimes it's all the time. God states in the song mentioned earlier. My thoughts towards you are as countless as the sands of the seashore. Again, don't just listen to that as a platitude. But think about that, that his thoughts toward you toward me are as countless as the sand of the seashore. Do you think that your treasured possession is countless as the sands of the seashore? I know I don't because I get too distracted with other things. Yeah. God thinks on me. And his thoughts are as countless, as counting grains of sand in all the seashores and all the world. And here's another thing God never slumbers, his eyes never closed in sleep. His thoughts are always toward us. He never grows weary and his love for us and the picture of a shepherd carrying a lamb. God gives us this illustration because he carries us close to his heart. If we let him what a beautiful word picture or given us to meditate upon and muse infusing our minds with this truth. There's so much beauty in scripture that reveals God's character bit by bit, at least spend time. And the more we read, the more we learn, the more wonderful we see the who and how our God is. He truly loves us with an enduring unchanging love, think on these things. And until next time, this is Sandra Vernon.

Hi, this is Sandra Vernon with face society. And you're listening to the art of connection, woman to woman, heart, to heart messages from my heart to yours, because we, women are all about relationships and connections. This podcast brings you hope in becoming the best version of yourself so that you can build positive relationships So much more. This is titled to one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists and Danny Gokey. The lyrics are just phenomenal. I would encourage you to listen to the, to this song so much more. The question that goes with the song is what do you think about God? He is so much more than we can think or imagine. So who is God to you? Because many people will say they believe in God is he's in some lofty unattainable unreachable place. Does heaven caused you to think of clouds and harps and cherubs? Maybe God has become only a symbol to you, perhaps a cross hung around your neck or a Sunday. Ritual of going to church. What I can say is that he is so much more than we can imagine or comprehend. He has far more than we have ever dreamed of, but that may be part of the problem we don't think or imagined thoughts of God. Now I'm not suggesting, suggesting that we try to construct his physical characteristics. We can speculate he was from the middle east so we can speculate what he might look like. And I'm not suggesting that we do that. I just want us to think on and come to know who he truly is. God is with those who are behind bars. He's also with those who are sitting at bars and those who own the bars, God is with the wealthy as well as the poor. He is with us on the mountain, top experience of life, as well as when we are navigating the valleys. He is with the downtrodden, the wounded, the hurt and the lonely God is full of loving kindness. One of my favorite artists, as I said, Danny, Gokey has this song more than you think I am the lyrics, paint a picture of God that we often do not think about. He is not just a judge who condemns evil, but he is a loving God who reaches out to the needy and who reaches out to those who seek him. God is able to do far more than we could ever imagine. God is far more wonderful than we could ever dream. He is far more awesome than we can comprehend yet. He us in to learn of him. That to me is amazing. Those are the things we need to be thinking about. The creator of the universe. God almighty invites us in to learn of him, to get to know him. And since he is God, the creator of all things we to created in his image are to be creative. And part of that creativity is imagination. God is our fortress. Can you imagine a fortress? Think about that. What is a fortress to you? High thick walls, protection, security. God is our fortress. God is our refuge. What would a refuge look like? That would protect you from all harm. God is that to us, our refuge, God says he will hide us under his wing. Now this is not to say he has wings, but his poetic verbiage lens, our imagination to that of a bird. Have you ever seen how the parent bird will cover her chicks to protect them? God does far more than this, but he paints for us a picture that we can imagine. And each of these word pictures, and there are tons of them found in scripture, invites us to imagine what God is like as he gives hints of himself and about himself in his word, he truly is more than we think he is. He is trying. And this meeting that he is God, in three persons, one God, three persons, God, the father, God, the son, God, the holy spirit. He is omniscient. He knows our thoughts. He is omnipresent. He created time for us to live in and by that he is outside of time and therefore is with us always. He is omnipotent. He is all powerful, comforting to know that he can take care of us. God truly is more than we think he is. So let's check aside any false beliefs we have held dear and evaluate them. According to scripture, that's the standard to live by because that's the standard God gave us. He gave us his word. He has preserved it through the decades upon decades. Let's then take advantage of this privilege to get to know God through his word. True. So much has been signed, said, and done in Jesus' name. And most often not by his will, that we must return to the source. God's word to learn the truth of who he is. And here's some of my favorite gems that I've put into my own words. Personalizing it. This reading, um, is from the devotional style, thought by thought translation of the new living translation for study. I said, I choose a word by word translation, such as the new American standard, 1995 edition. So here's from the new living translation. God knows everything about me. That's both frightening and a comfort. I can't hide from him. He knows everything about me, but the beautiful thing is he still loves me. He still sent his son to die in my place, doing something I could never do. He knows everything about me. God knows everything I do. God thinks about we so often his thoughts cannot be numbered. These are all from Psalm 1 39. God knew me before I was born. Jeremiah. The prophet writes, God knows and has good plans for me. Jeremiah continues. God loves me with an everlasting love. God tells me that I can ask him. Now that is now. That is not a, I can't even say what I was going to say now is not that a wonderful privilege that God tells me. I can ask him anything. These all were from Jeremiah, the prophet, and then to continue in scripture looking to the new Testament in Matthew. Uh, well he records Matthew records in Matthew. Uh, the temp chapter are not two sparrows sold for a cent and yet not one of them will fall to the ground. Apart from your father telling us that God knows even when one of his sparrows fall to the ground, but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not fear. You are of more value than the sparrows, everyone. Therefore, who shall confess me before men, I will confess him before my father who is in heaven. That's pretty comforting to know that he cares for us. He knows even when the sparrows fall and yet he will not forget us too. That's a good reminder. Matthew also says in earlier chapters, I'm looking at chapter six, um, that God already knows. He already knows our needs. Let me see. I'm taking them home to turn there. Matthew 6 31 do not be anxious. Then what shall we eat? What shall we drink or with what shall we close ourselves for all these things. The Gentiles eagerly seek for your heavenly father knows you need all these things, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow. For tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. I love that reminder that God knows our needs. And then in, uh, Corinthians and in the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul and I like this to reminding us of God's comfort and care blessed, be the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in all affliction. And he does it for a reason that continues so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort, with which we ourselves had been comforted by God, isn't that beautiful. He comforts us and then we can therefore comfort others. And then another letter that Paul writes to the Roman church in chapter eight, but he writes beginning in verse 35, who can separate separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword just that is written for thy sake. We are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things, the tribulation, the distress, the persecution and famine, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. And Paul continues for, I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come nor powers nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, pretty amazing truth there. And so when he speaks to this, he means absolutely nothing. If we suffer calamity, it will not separate us from God nor change who he is. Life or death or angels or demons will not separate us from God. If we belong to his family by invitation, we cannot be separated from him. No fears, no worries, no anxieties, nothing in creation can separate us from who he is. See God truly is so much more than we can think or imagine, but we can start by doing that, thinking on God, learning more of him and of his beautiful, wonderful character that can never change. God is truly a God to be trusted until next time. This is Sandra Vernon. Thank you for tuning in to the art of connection with me, Sandra Vernon, founder of faith, society, sharing messages from my heart to encourage personal growth and fulfillment so that each one of us can become the best version of ourselves. As we contribute to the world around us follow face society at Instagram and on Facebook.

[00:00] The past, how do you view it? How does it impact your life? Do you find yourself dwelling there with sweet memories or perhaps the past haunts you with regrets or the what ifs or should have been? The past is powerful. It can be wielded as a powerful tool for growth or conserve as shackles keeping us in bondage, impaired and imprisoned and preventing us from living a joy filled life. I liked this quote. Past is a place of reference, not a place of residence. Does this quote resonate with you? Your unique past can be used as a reference point to learn and grow or are you residing there in the past hidden away with memories, both sweet and bitter. The past it raises its head often and tries to loudly declared that this is the way it is, the past. It can be used as a tool for shame to slither in with regret and condemnation impacting life now and the future. [01:14] The past use this way serves no purpose but to ensnare and entangle each of us preventing us from living life on purpose and in our purpose. Ann Voskamp says that no amount of regret changes the past and no amount of anxiety changes the future. Sandra Vernon here and you are listening to the art of connection. On today's podcast, I will be talking about how the past can be used as a reference point while living in the present, as it also impacts the future. So the past. What comes to mind when you think of the past? Are you thinking of your time as a new bride or in a new career or perhaps further back to your school days? Perhaps you think about your time as a mom, joyous times yet often filled with regret because you wish you would've done this or that differently. With each memory. The question often arises as to why did I do this thing this way? [02:22] Or why didn't I do this thing this way? Why did I allow my children to have smartphones so early? Why didn't die allow my children to have smartphones earlier? Why didn't I push my children to stick with learning music? Why did I push my children's stick? With learning music, you get the idea, the past dredges up wise, which really there's no answer except that you did or you didn't do that particular thing at that moment. It's in the past. There's no answer to the why and it's okay because I am convinced that we do our best at the moment and each season of our life. Hindsight, looking back, as the saying goes, it's always perfect. It's always 20 slash 20 vision. Looking back on the past, there is more clarity, and I'll talk about this more in a bit, but looking on the fat back on the past, it does not do any good to ask the why questions. [03:30] There's no real opportunity for growth with the why questions, why keeps us stuck in regret and oftentimes with that regret is shame. The question that does help in looking at the past as your reference point, the question that does help are the ones that start with what? What can I learn from this experience in the past? What insight might I glean from this situation? How might I have done things differently and what can be applied to the now? Because no amount of regret, the asking the why questions, why did this happen, why did I do this? Why didn't this happen? No amount of those questions or those regrets will change the past, but only further wound our soul, the past. It impacts the person you have become just as water flows through a canyon. Over time it carves out the channels whether deeper or wider. [04:36] So to the past, it creates channels in our soul that run deep and wide. If we focus on it too much, and here's what I'm suggesting for us today, not to live life. Looking back, can you imagine driving and using only your rear view mirror to drive? It would be catastrophic. So my suggestion is that we live life forward. We learned from looking back, but we are designed to live life forward. You and I can always look back and think of the myriad ways we could have done things differently. This is where the hindsight is 20 slash 20. You now have more information, more wisdom, more experience now than you did in the past. So of course you may have done things differently given the opportunity, but how does that help you? Now? It doesn't. It does nothing but keep you in slaved to regret. [05:39] So here's what I suggest. Look back on the past, if the memories are fond and sweet and bring you joy, enjoy them. Let the emotions at the time in the past be felt, but then move on, pondering sweet memories when they letting them cut the deep and wide suite channels of memory to visit and enjoy, but even with sweet memories, we are not to linger away our life living in the past and the parts of your past at bring you pain and I'm convinced we all have pain in our past. I would like to suggest that you allow yourself to visit the emotions, feel them, perhaps even share this with a trusted friend or a wise and trusted counselor, but do not navigate your life in these painful places. Do not live in the past. Have regrets. Do not reside here in the past. That is not what leads for the past is a reference point from which we learn. [06:46] It's not a place to reside, and when you live in the past, especially the negative, painful past, your world becomes smaller. Your life becomes more entangled with bitter emotions that should not have the power it does over you. When you must visit the past as a reference point, remember, that's all it is, a point of reference from which to learn and not to question why. If we try and reside in the past, the entanglement, the stories we begin to create or retail ourselves and embellish harms and wounds our soul, so rather than residing in the past, we must use it as a reference point and then ask ourselves, what might I have done differently that I can apply to my life living forward? What can I learn from this event in the past? How might I develop more empathy for others who are now going through what I went through in the past? [07:53] What choices are before me now that my past will help me make a decision? And if seeking forgiveness is necessary, then do that. Sometimes it is appropriate to go to the person with sincerity and face to face asked for forgiveness. In other cases, it might require a phone call or a letter because of distance, but I strongly advise against direct messaging or texts or any other quick electronic way to communicate that request for forgiveness. If you do not think it wise to seek the personnel you wounded because there may be a real possibility of wounding them again by dredging up things they wanted left alone. Perhaps just write a letter to them with no intention to send it and then ceremonially destroy it. Don't let regret and bitterness holds you in the past by not seeking forgiveness and if you need to forgive someone, do that. [08:58] Forgiveness doesn't mean that you forget the pain a person caused you, but rather that you are no longer choosing to allow that person that caused you pain to have power over you, that you are no longer replaying in your mind the consequences. They should suffer for the pain they called you, caused you, and I can say most of the people who caused me pain, really deep pain are not even aware they had yet, if I remain mired in the past, the pain and flipped it on me in the past wounds me still, the only way to relinquish this power over me is to forgive and then I interest God to take care of the rest and this whole process. It's always better together. Seek out that trusted friend, perhaps read her the letter you want to send and either have her help her edit it, toned down the intensity and harshness and unnecessary verbiage will whittling it down until it just a concise message that needs to be conveyed and send it or most of the time, just destroy it. When you destroy the letter, you have the satisfaction of your friend who entered into your pain and you've been heard and understood. [10:24] I have done this time again, time and again, I've poured out on paper, my pain, my rage, my wound, my hurts. I poured it out until it was empty. Of all the bitter emotions, I allowed myself to feel all the emotions and did not judge myself as I felt them. I just poured it all out and after I finished I will then take the letter out to a our fire pit and ceremonially burnet symbolizing that I was done with this part of the past. I wasn't gonna live it any longer [11:01] and if I felt compelled I would then write a wise minded letter keeping the emotions of the past in check. Even then I would not send this letter, the mild version until I had someone read it and edit it or advise that I just burn it to and leave it be. It is a fine balance of when you share and when not to, but I found it. I find it so powerful just to pour my emotions out on paper if only for the purpose of getting it all spilled out on paper and then destroying it. So it is that fine balance of when to share and when not to. When it is beneficial for the recipient and when it is not. In most of my personal cases, I have found it's better to pour out pain on paper and then just ceremonially burn it to ashes and then let the past be. [12:00] If it rears its ugly head again and I've had that happened, I remind myself that it is gone. It's but ashes, and on the very infrequent occasion I go through that whole process again of pouring it all out on paper and I love ceremonies. They are important to life ending chapters, starting new ones, burning those words of painful past. Turning the words to ashes is Cathartic for me and I returned to [inaudible], cancel quote, and I'll finish it. No amount of regret changes the past. No amount of amount of anxiety changes the future and she ends with any amount of gratefulness. Changes the present. My dialysis say it also impacts our future and heels are passed. So I am this podcast thinking of you, dear listener, don't let the past of your life rule you. Don't let your past rob you of the joy for the future. [13:05] Use your past only as a tool to learn and grow and heal. Allow the past to be used only as a reference point, not a place to reside. You are meant for so much more. You are beloved, unique and wonderful residing where you do not belong in the past. We'll keep the wonderful you hidden away from the world. Your gifts and abilities and talents are needed. Don't stay hidden away in the past. Let your beautiful you shine through. Until next time, you've been listening to the art of connection. I'm Sandra Vernon, your host. Please consider subscribing to get the latest and all episodes of the art of connection. You can follow me on instagram or facebook at faces it. Give me a hello on a post telling me you just listened in and I would love to hear from you.

Do you ever feel out of control? Sometimes? Do you get frustrated with the things you attempt to control, knowing or quickly realizing that you can only do your part and cannot control the entire situation? Control when we feel out of control or have no control over certain things, we become frustrated, irritated on, done. On today's podcast, the issue of control is the topic. I'm Sandra Vernon and you are listening to the art of connection, so I'm today's topic. I'll be speaking about control out of control or in control. It is a stressor of life until you realize this secret. This is a good news and bad news scenario. Okay? Sounds a bit crazy. I know, but hang in there with me. The whole issue of control is just a perspective shift. Really. That's all it is. I want to challenge you to make a perspective shift cleaned to the perspective that it is good news, that there is not a whole lot in your life. You and I can control. That's really good news. It lets us off the hook. How is that you ask? Well, as we let ourselves off the hook from being a champion for every cause, from taking care of everyone's problems, from attempting to control everything in our realm, we learned this as really good news because there's a whole lot in life that is not within our control though we'd like to and those things that are not in control or in our control. Those are the things that bring us frustrations. So for instance, we cannot control how our children behave 100 percent of the time. I'm sure many of you have experienced like I have going to a diner or to a party and only having your children behave in a way you know you did not teach them to behave or we can't control how our spouse interacts in social events. They may say certain things or do certain things that us we're. We're thinking, oh my goodness, why did he or she do that, but it's not in our control or it's not in our control how politics are done or how people treat one another and the list goes on. I would like. I would imagine you can think of more scenarios of things we would like to control, but we can't, so what is within our control, a very powerful bit is within our control. It is so powerful. It makes changes to our life in our thinking. So what is within our control, our thought life. This is within our control, how we manage our thought life is within our control and our response to life circumstances and life's happenings and the outcomes in life. This to a degree is within our control. How we respond to each of these circumstances, happenings or outcomes. We can control our response. We can control our thought life and we can control what we're going to fill our thought life width. So we are each in charge of our thought life. We each are in charge of how we will manage our thoughts and how we will fill our minds. What Diet will we feed our minds and our brains. This is within our control and how we respond to these things. This too is within our control and that's really good news. The things we can control are amazingly powerful things and we can to a degree control how we spend our time. We can control our thoughts and our responses and the actions that follow our thoughts, which leads me to the three key words as it applies directly and specifically to our individual lives. Here are the three perspective changing words. Remember, these three words apply to our thoughts, our responses, our actions. So what are these three words? I am responsible, responsible for my thought life, responsible for my actions and responsible in my response to circumstances and outcomes. These are the areas of life that are within our ability to control and therefore we can say, I am responsible, I am responsible for my thought life and what I fill my mind with. I am responsible for my actions and how I choose to treat others. I am responsible and it is within my control to determine my response. In any given circumstance, I am responsible for how I will spend the 24 hours given to me each day. Those are pretty powerful things that we are in control of and it will change our life. So more good news I hear by relieve you of the idea that you must be in control of and responsible for everyone else. I encourage you to work on the areas of your life that you can control. You can choose what to think on, what brain food are you feeding, your hungry mind? We can fill it with dark and angry things. There is certainly an open buffet menu of that around us or we can fill and feed your mind with positive things, true things, things that edify and build up. One another encouraging and helpful things that help us grow. We can choose what to listen to and what we will fill our mind. For instance, what type of music with its powerful message do you choose? Listened carefully to the words, what type of podcast? What type of opinion journalism do we pay attention to? These all impact our minds. What I'm suggesting is something that must be practiced just as our physical bodies need nourishment to function well and enjoy good health. So to our minds and science confirms what we already know, that our mind and our bodies are interlinked. Her body's in a sense our Avatar, while our mind, our soul indwells, our Avatar, how we care for our body, or we can call it our Avatar, impacts our mind and soul, just as what we fill our minds impacts our soul and how we move about life in our body, beaten down with stinking thinking is eventually revealed in the care of our body, such as never really getting dressed, not walking about with confidence and joy. Stinking thinking is within our control to exterminate, but like any extermination project, it takes work. So choose how you will respond to any given situation. It's a mindset that we must practice and make a choice to do. This is not to say that you must anticipate each situation, but that you purpose to respond in a positive light rather than the worst case scenario or a negative light. And oftentimes this means pausing before responding. So let me give you an example or two from my life. For instance, if I expect a friend to call me back, ready with some news and, and, uh, perhaps having some kind of social plans and she doesn't call me, I can immediately jumped to, oh great. She doesn't really care about me. She's angry with me. Um, I'm not that important to her or I can pause and think she's probably busy. Perhaps something came up. Perhaps there's an illness in her family. This is where I can choose how I'm going to respond to a situation that's out of my control. I don't know why she didn't call, but I did take the time to respond in a way, putting myself into her story and what may have been. I'm learning that to take the time to stop and think before I respond makes a huge difference. And also I'm finding the practice of putting myself in to that other person's story helps also stopping and thinking in a way, walking in their shoes before I respond or jump to negative conclusions. So I purpose in my mind to respond in a way that's going to be in a positive light and perhaps be empathetic towards what my friend might be going through so we can also choose how we will spend our days. There are commitments such as work and childcare and we need time for sleep and nutrition. We choose how to fill the hours of myths, these commitments, and it's amazing to find that we actually have many hours that we can choose how to spend time and how we're going to fill our minds. I like to suggest to my ladies with a face society to do a daily delight and this is something that I am encourage women to continue to do. Why? Because it's not only good for us physically and mentally, but it also nourishes our soul, that the challenge is to pursue 20 minutes of delight each day and it pays off in huge debit dividends as well as it affects those around you. The daily delight challenge simply requires you do something for 20 sustained minutes, something that you enjoy. It could be reading a book, watching a movie, sitting on a park bench and enjoying the fresh air or out with a friend for coffee. Do something that you can delight in each and every day and watch how your mind shift changes. In essence, you are getting your cup filled so you can pour it out into others' lives. It's not a selfish endeavor. It's actually a very positive good endeavor. This daily delight pursuit, so daily delight. This too is within our control. It is a choice to add it to how you will spend some of your 24 hours and it's just 20 minutes choices. In summary, the things that are in our control are what we will think on, how we will respond, what words will we use? How will we spend our days and the actions or deeds within our days. So what will you think on affirmations? If you were to journal all your thoughts, what might you find? Are they positive life giving and life building thoughts? Just think of some of the self talk you do. Do you honor and celebrate your daily accomplishments regardless of the size and scope, or do you more often remind yourself of a negative messages heard through the years or do you remind yourself that I didn't get anything done? I only got the laundry folded. Celebrate that to begin the practice and cultivation of positive thoughts. I like to use index cards with statements that encouraged me. We need to speak to ourselves as we speak to others that we care about in a positive, uplifting, building up manner. It takes practice. For instance, with exercise and affirmation. Every day I exercise, I get stronger and more healthy and not this not this message. I need to exercise so I won't be or stay fat. That's a negative statement or this affirmation. I will read one song and one proverb each day. Not this. Don't say this to yourself. I haven't yet done this, but I need to do this so I'm a better person or I should get to this every day. Don't make it a should. Make it a positive affirmation. I will read one song and one proverb each day to build my mind. Eliminate any negative bent on your message to yourself. Write down the message you want to speak to yourself. Look for any negative words if need be, rewrite it, and if you need help, you can dm me at face society on either instagram or facebook. I would be happy to help you out here. It does take practice, but it's so worth it. Brain food, books, podcast, music. They all impact our thought life, the thing we are in control of. If you're ready to make a change, it is time to do an evaluation. Then a clearinghouse of what you fill your mind with what you put in your mind will spill out in words and actions and attitude. So ask yourself, what kind of diet are you giving your mind and how will you respond? Think of the other person's story. As I said in my example, try to put yourself in their shoes before responding or jumping to a conclusion. This prevents us from responding in irritation, annoyance or anger because their story, their opinion, their perception difference from years. No matter how strong your conviction is that you are right, ask the other person more about their story. Yes, they may use the contemporary catchphrase their truth, but we know it's a story or their perception or their opinion. Listen intently. Listen, ask questions and then be slow to respond. Slow and thoughtful. This takes practice, but with anything, if it's worth pursuing, it takes effort and again, this will pay off hugely in your relationships. Think about what words will you use. It's a practice to be positive and using uplifting words. Slow to speak, slow to respond, slow things down on your end and allow yourself time to formulate words that are for Edification, Aka building others up with practice and over time you'll change your default response from the negative to the positive, and I guarantee all of us default to the negative. It's what we do naturally, but I challenges ladies to think on the positive practice. Fill your mind with those positive things and then how will you spend your days, your schedule, your time, your days are within your choice and power to control your schedule shouldn't run you. You should be able to run your schedule. There are work day hours, childcare and family time, sleep, meals, and we have some ability to control these events, but more importantly, how we'll use the rest of your time, meal time and family time. We have the power and a bit of control. How this is spent, is it hurried and hectic with a dash of chaos or perhaps it's even nonexistent? Is it within your sphere? It is within your sphere and realm of control to change this. This goes for time with children and time with family sleep. This is a priority because our brains more than our body needs. The average eight hours of sleep each night to function well. This to a degree is within our control, but how we use our nighttime ritual to cultivate good sleep is within our control too. I highly recommend limit the blue screen time. Eliminate any kind of blue screen time, at least an hour before bed. Wind down from work, no working right up until you hit the Hay. There are things we can control in the nighttime ritual that will help with sleep and your work day, your employer, or if you're self employed or an entrepreneur, you dictate the hours you work each day, each week, but within those hours is flexibility. How you spend your time that's within your choice and the remaining time. How do we spend it? It is within our control to choose what to do with these hours on average, after we get our sleep, after we have our meals, after we do our work, we each have a surplus of about 30 hours a week. I was surprised at that statistic, so how will you use this gift of time? Let's make it perfect, purposeful living life with intent. These things are within our control, but it is a weary process of change on our own. The only true way to have the sustainable change is to have a new nature, a new mind, and a new life. When you get a new home item like a vacuum cleaner or a closet organizer or Taurus toys for your children, there's almost always the manufacturer's directions. The designer of the product provides directions to either put the item together and let you know how it is best used via the design, so too with our life. Humanity is by design. The manufacturer of life knows how best we live it according to his design to be fully satisfied, we must be fully fulfilled in our nature and this is done in Christ alone, created in his image by design. We are most happy and fulfilled living life according to the manufacturer's directions. So first we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. Then we're able to love others. We learned to put off the old way of living, Aka the self centered, self absorbed way of living and put on the new way of living in Christ Jesus. This still requires some self focused and that we reflect and meditate and no longer let the things that hinder our purpose remain in our life and what might these things be. A lot of them, it's different according to each person. It is a personal thing. Specific for summit maybe absorbed the time of the gym and getting a ripped body for others. It might be eating not for nourishment, but just to feel better. For some, it may be absorbing with the absorption, with the being the best mom.

Stay at home mom, homeschool mom. These are good things as long as they are, as long as they're not all consuming things that hinder us from our God ordained purpose in life, so renewing our mind. The areas within our control are the areas that Jesus asks us to surrender to him and in so doing there is peace. There is purpose and there is a sigh of relief that we don't have to fix it all. We do our part, filling our mind and our thoughts with good things and making our words go through this same gatekeeper of evaluation. Before you reply to someone or even want to speak things, ask yourself is what I want to say true is what I want to say. Honorable. Is it commendable? In other words, is it all a good benefit to the listener and in doing our part, we then allow God to do his work in our life because to love others? Well, we must first love God, loving God and abiding in his presence is what empowers us to each to reach out to others in love and compassion, so feeling out of control. It is an uncomfortable feeling to put it mildly, like a whirling dervish. We try to do so many things, fix so many things, control so many things that we feel are left feeling on done and out of control and sometimes our our emotions run a mock, not a pleasant place to be or dwell, and sometimes we are frustrated at the lack of control in our life. It is annoying until we remember this frustration signals that we are picking up things that are not ours to deal with today. I am this episode encouraging you to control what is in your realm, your thought life, your response to life, your action in your life, and how you're going to spend your time. I'm here to help you in this journey to awaken to the purpose of your life. Drop me a DM on face. Sit either on instagram or on facebook, and if you'd like the opportunity to work with me, I'm here for you. Thanks for tuning in today. This is Sandra Vernon with faces it and you've been listening to the art of connection. Please consider subscribing to the art of connection so you can receive the latest episodes or even those back in the archive, and then if giving a rating that would be terrific too. I would really appreciate it.

Transitions are a part of life. We each go through them and for many of us, it is a transition from maidenhood to marriage and motherhood and like me, you may have arrived at Maven Hood. These transitions make life a roller coaster ride for sure. Today's guest is a woman who was familiar with adventure and life transitions. Her kindness and ability to reach out and connect with other women is a blessing. Before marrying Adriane was a missionary and when she returned state side worked as an educator. She is a wife to Keith and step mom to two delightful teenagers. Adrianne is also a partner with her husband in Strategic Edge Life and business coaching. She's an avid reader and loves homesteading. Their 30 acre Waggoner Woods farm, in her free time. Adrianne enjoys being creative in the kitchen. You may also find her reading on her front porch or taking the four wheeler out. Rides with her husband were enjoying coffee with girlfriends. It is my distinct pleasure and honor to have Adrian Wagner joined me today. Welcome Adrian, and thank you for joining me as your guest. It's my pleasure. I'm delighted to be here. Sandra. Well, that's great. Well, I'm going to just jump right in. I know we have lots to share. Um, you have some exciting stories to share with your adventures. So let me just jump in with this first question or statement rather, tell me about your travels both as a missionary and an adventure. Okay, well, I started off traveling at a fairly young age. I was about 13 years old and I traveled to Barcelona for a mission trip with my church. Um, it was during the 1992 Olympics and after two weeks in Spain we, uh, were able to share the gospel with some people that were in Barcelona for the Olympics. And then we have a friend of mine and I traveled by train through the Pyrenees mountains in Spain to a small coastal village in France called gay. And I ended up staying with some of my mother's friends. Um, this woman's name was patty and she and my mother knew each other from growing up in Los Angeles and um, they were friends from our church, your home church and Patty had married a Frenchman and she traveled back to France every summer. They were dancing. He was a choreographer and she was a dancer. She was a ballet dancer, so every summer they would go back to France. And um, when I was traveling to France for my first time, uh, we stayed with the family and their relatives. So actually patty wasn't there, but, uh, it ended up being the relatives of her husband. So, um, and stayed on the, on the beach and this small coastal town. It was just lovely. And, um, after a week of staying down in hurry, I took a train with my friend and we went up to Paris and that is where I met up with Patty and patty showed me around Paris. We visited the museum. She talked to me about the history of France. We walked the cobblestone streets and eight and the cafes of Paris. And quickly I fell in love and this started a long term appreciation for the French language and culture. So I returned back to my home in Los Angeles and I started my freshman year of high school that following year and I signed up for French one and that started, um, many years of studies, a French. I continued throughout high school and into college and ended up getting a degree in French. So she played to the seed that I eventually watered. And, you know, I've really enjoyed that part of, um, of learning and growing. Following high school graduation, I spent three months in Switzerland. Um, I was studying the Bible and I'm following my three months there. I ended up going to India on a, another mission trip, um, while I was in India. We served in some of Mother Teresa's orphanages and we shared the gospel with the Indian people. I was 18 when I went and, um, these two trips back to back, uh, they were. Both were life changing, opening. I'm going at such an impressionable age. And, um, I returned to Europe to do some sight seeing, um, after India I visited Florence and the Amalfi coast in Italy. Um, and I did that with some friends and I felt at home being Italy, I, I'm half Italian, my dad is all Italian and I felt right at home being in that culture, I loved the warmth than the art and of course the delicious foods. So that was a lot of fun. I returned to the states and I started college and after some indecision about what to study, I landed on elementary education because I loved working with kids and I had the French major. And during college I spent two summers on the coast of Normandy beaches studying the French language. And while I was there I took a couple weekends to do some exploring and um, visited London and Amsterdam. Um, wow. Yeah. And so I completed college in 2002 and I had a boyfriend from college. We had broken up, but he remembered from our time together that I liked. I was interested in Africa. So he put me in touch with a school in Senegal, Africa. And I ended up teaching a, it was an international school, but it had a Christian emphasis. It was like a mission school. And I spent a year there and I taught third graders. Um, they came from many different backgrounds. I heard a variety of different languages in my classroom. They're from all over the. And um, I just loved it. It was a lot of fun. So my favorite part of, of my travels was just broadening my view of the world and meeting people, seeing new things, hearing different languages. And um, of course the art and architecture were unique and beautiful. And um, I, I just appreciated that. And the food was great. It was great to have exposure to all those different flavors. Well, that, that makes me wonder in, and we'll want to ask this question. Have you, um, you said the food and of course just the beauty of all the different lands you saw, but I, I wonder, did you find like having a meal, was it different? Like did they, do the different cultures approach the mealtime differently than perhaps we did in the state? I'm sure you can relate to this because I know you and Robert went to France this recently within the past couple of years, but I loved the way the French people approach meal time. It was an experience. It was not just sit down and fill your stomach. It was a, it was something to enjoy. It took hours and they would savor it with good wine and good conversation and long into the evening. And um, it really set the stage for the way I like to eat at home, which is don't rush, take your time, enjoy the company and enjoy the food. I really, that's one of the reasons why I love to cook is because I want it to be an experience for the people that I'm feeding. So, um, it's just, it's fun for me. I really enjoyed that part of France. And um, another example was when I was in Africa, they had a tradition of eating what they call it, eating around the pool, and they would have a big plate or a bowl that would feed up to 10 people. And you would have people sit all the way around in a circle and everyone would use their hands and they would eat from this communal bowl. And um, I enjoyed that too, that I thought that was a really interesting way of sharing community and sharing life sharing food. And um, uh, so that was, that was a lot of fun too. Oh, I like that. And I like how you're, you've incorporated that in your home because I think it's a lost art to have the family dinner or time together and we're so rushed with different things. But I like how you've incorporated that just from your adventures and your travels. And boy, as a mom, I'm listening to you, you know, do your missionary travels even as a, as a teenager, young teenager. I know you were accompanied. I know you had chaperones, but still I'm like, oh my goodness, what a great adventure. And I'm sorry, what, what, uh, what country in Africa? Guyana, which is on the coast. It's on the western side. I'm kind of in central, a little bit further north, but um, but, um, on, on the western side. So. Okay, well, and, and I know you said that you just enjoyed all of them and I didn't fully realize all the different countries you had visited. Um, and, and really in a short time, it's, it's amazing and I loved hearing that story. Now, did you have a favorite country or a favorite, something during your travels? Was there one thing that just stood out more than others? There was, I had to talk to when I read that question because of all the places I've visited. My favorite place is um, I'm, I'm, I guess you just say I'm the Stalberg, but my family, my grandparents are from a coastal town in California. It's from the Monterey Peninsula and of all the places I've been to, I love that area. It's just, it's casual, but it's sophisticated and it's just beautiful. The coast is so pretty. It's rocky. It's a little bit chilly. There's a lot of fog. So I do love the Monterey Peninsula and probably due to the fact that I have a lot of special memories there with my grandparents, but I'm also just because of the beauty of the area, but when I traveled on my own, I'm abroad. I love the city of Positano. That was my favorite city and that's only a mouthy coast in Italy. Um, it's also a coastal town and it's built up into the rocks and I'm just overlooking this breathtaking view and um, so that, that was something that stood out to me. Yeah, that sounds wonderful. It sounds marvelous and I'm hearing with each of your stories just how you've connected, um, with, with people over, you know, over food, over art, over reaching out when you're doing the missionary work and I just love hearing that. Um, did you find though, when you did some of your travels, I know you're very fluent in French, but did you find in your travels, was language ever a barrier? How did you. My French, when I first went to France, I actually didn't speak any French because I had just been exposed to the language. And the culture when I was 13, so at that time I had to just rely on a, it was interesting when I was visiting with those people, we would have to just try to get by because they didn't really speak any English, so we would just do our best to try to communicate and, you know, I don't even know how we did it and when I think back, but um, we, you know, we, we respected each other and we enjoyed each other's company even though there was very little we could say so, um, but then there were some people in other, more of the larger cities. Um, a lot of those people did speak English. So, and that was one thing I found in all of my travels to Africa and all over and of course in India, but, um, people spoke English and I was impressed with how many languages they spoke. I mean, so it is different than what we're used to here in the states because people will just speak second languages sometimes five or six languages fluently. So I was really impressed with that. Um, but, so I found that between my knowledge of French at different times and then also just other people's knowledge of English I was able to get by, but I did have some interesting and funny experiences at time. I can imagine. That's great. Well, tell me a little bit about your life. So we've heard about your travels and I love to hear that. Boy, it's inspired me to want to go travel some more. But um, tell me about your life and work before you got married. I know you, you mentioned that, um, when you went to Senegal you were, you were a third grade teacher, but then you came back state side. What did you do when you return stateside? So, I have done a variety of different things. I think that I inherited a very adventurous spirit from my maternal grandmother. She was just a free spirit and she loved to travel but she, she loved to just try new things. So all throughout my twenties and thirties I moved a lot. Um, I was in both southern and central California, of course in Atlanta. And then in Dallas, which is where I got married, I met Keith, I didn't get married there, but I met my husband there. I was there for three years before I met Keith and I moved to Arkansas. So lots of traveling. Um, and in many of those places I did teach elementary school. Um, I also taught junior high a little bit when I taught. I taught some French, so I taught junior high, um, French. Um, but I, I dabbled in a few other things. Um, I also managed a French antique store in Carmel, California. And I worked in customer service at a lighting company in Atlanta. Okay. Well, again, Adrianne, I'm just hearing and I love this just because here we are on the art of connection and I'm hearing how every advent of in every stage of your life, like you're making these connections with people and, and of course being a school teacher, you're, you know, you're really connecting with these young lives and making an impact. So that's cool to hear that. Now the next step, and I know you had mentioned, so through your twenties and thirties, you then got married and getting married as delightful, but it's a transition and it can be a challenge. What did you find were some of those challenges for you, you know, living a single life and then now getting married and not only getting married, but all of a sudden you're a mom too? Well, Keith and I have loved each other deeply from the start, but we haven't always seen eye to eye and um, we've had a lot of things to work out. We did get married later. This was keith second marriage and this was my first, but I got married at 36, so I had lived a lot of my life on my own. I was used to my independence. Um, and um, we came from very different backgrounds. Me growing up in Los Angeles and moving around to many different large cities and Keith is from a small town in Arkansas. So we had a lot of things that we saw differently in that regard. Um, we have a blended family so we have some different issues that you would find if you were to just get married without kids. So that's something that we've had to navigate through. And to top it all off, we're both very fiery, so this has created some conflict over four years of marriage. But, um, we have tried to remember to stay humble. We apologize often and we try to love each other the way that God loves us and um, so that, that's carried us through, um, and we learned a lot along the way and try to do things different each go around. So, um, yeah, it's been a lot to, a lot to grow in. I've, I feel like I've been on like a fast track to learning and growing in maturity, but you know, that's kind of comes with the territory with marriage. Yep. Absolutely. And I think what you've just hit on a key thing with marriage and in a relationship is if you're putting the other person first and loving them the way God loves us, kind of all works out, then, you know, even with the struggles, even with the challenges. So that was really cool to hear you say that especially, you know, as you said, you and you and Keith came in later in life. Um, I think when, you know, you're in your early twenties, you kind of grow together, but when we've made it through our twenties and into our thirties and get married, as did I, it's different. You, you kind of get established. But it's really wonderful to hear how you and Keith, you're strong personalities, but you're still making your marriage work and thrive because you're loving each other as God loves us. Yeah. It's a journey and we're always learning new things. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I, I love, I love my husband and I love, you know, I love marrying marriage with him. It's, it's an adventure and it's, um, it's wonderful. That's great. And you said for years, is that right? January it'll be for. That's wonderful. Well, also I know something about your husband that he does indeed have a thriving coaching counseling business that you're a partner with him in it and he has often attributed his ability to do what he does because of his partnering with you. So what is your role in the business? Well, I have many different roles in our marriage. Keith is on the phone all day. He works long hours, long days. So I, I field a lot of his emails and I respond to the ones that I can. I also leave him a list of the ones he needs to get back with. I will handle his schedule changes. I'll get his new clients taken care of. Um, I'll check in with this current clients to hear about their progress and any feedback they might want to share about their experiences and coaching. Um, I handle all of the paperwork and manage a lot of the, behind the scenes details, um, any curve balls that are thrown, I try to handle those. Um, so there's not really one thing that I do, there's a lot of things, um, but it, it is exciting work and I feel like we get to love on people and help people navigate through life's challenges and um, you know, be on the cutting edge of just a lot of great stuff. So it's, it's wonderful and I'm, I'm always learning new things, um, from Keith's clients, from just work and everything that it brings. So, um, it's, it's an honor to be a part of it and um, it's something I'm very thankful for. Well, it is and it's so exciting and as I had said that your husband attribute so much of what he's able to do because of you and that you guys are partnering together in that and, and helping him really connect with his clients too. And so that's just another terrific thing. I realize another transition you went through was to leave the Dallas Fort Worth area and you've grown up in and pretty much been in large metropolitan areas and now you're out in the country and you're truly homesteading. And that alone is just a huge transition. So what was that like when you, when you left Dallas Fort Worth and now you're in this small, I can't even call it a town, but you're definitely rural and you definitely are homesteading. So what was it like with that transition and how did you begin to make connections in your new home and area? Well, um, it has been a transition Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, and I'm used to the hustle and bustle, you know, and I, and I love that. I get energy from it. Um, I love variety and complexity and change. So moving to Romance Road and Romance, Arkansas has been a transition, but I have fallen in love with country life. I actually enjoy and savor the slower pace and the moments of peace. Um, and as of right now, I can't imagine life any other way. Um, to give you one example of something that I, I just find charming. Our neighbor across the street, they, um, whole hosted a wedding shower, or actually, no, it was a wedding reception, wedding reception for their daughter. And so we had all the community come out and we had country music playing and buckets full of crawfish and all different sorts of conversation going on and it was a cultural experience for me. I had never had anything like that. So those are some of the things that we get to do in our neck of the woods and um, it's, it's new for me, but I'm always learning new things from the people and um, it's, it's been great. And thankfully Keith and I get to do a lot of traveling. So I feel like I get the best of both worlds. Yes, that is wonderful. Well, did you find, um, just because. Yeah, as you know, we live on a small farm here in New Jersey and we would have people come from the city and whether it be a Manhattan or Philadelphia and they were just, they would remark about the smells and they would remark that there's no lights on the streets. There's no streetlights. Was, was that a huge change for you and how quiet it was? Why is, I mean you can't see any neighbors and um, it's, it's just different and you feel it is kind of isolating, but, and in some ways that's not a bad thing, you know, so just to feel unplugged and um, and just away from all of the activities. So, um, and as far as the smells are concerned, well I don't know so much about that. We did have some chicken so I don't know, we've probably got a little bit of smells from that, but we'd love to get some more animals on our property. I think it would be neat to get some horses or um, made it some cattle or goats. We'll see. Oh, well that's, that's awesome. Um, and then also because again, you're, you're used to these large metropolitan areas and now you're in this very rural country setting. Um, so how did you get plugged in with your community? Like what are some of the things that you've done to get plugged in and connect with your community? And a big part of our life is Keith's family here, living in Arkansas. He has a lot of family in the area. And, we spend a lot of our time with his mom, she lives nearby, um, and Keith has promised to care for her after his dad died. So that's a big part of our life. We spend a lot of our Sunday meals with her or pop in on her and I'm trying to look after her and take care of her or do whatever we can to support her. Um, so, and she's become a friend of mine. She's a very special lady, um, but we also travel about an hour and a half, um, from where we live to visit some other relatives. So like I said, family is a big part of keysight. His kids, you know, that's another big part of how we spend our time or when his kids are with us. His kids attend a private school. It's a great school. So we've gotten to know some of the people through, through there. And um, we're also building, I'm building some friendships with ladies at church. I'm in a Bible study and I serve alongside some fantastic women. So, um, we, we get to socialize. I'm primarily in those circles, um, it's growing, we're trying to build more and then of course with Keith's business, um, he just has some wonderful clients so we just, we feel connected even though we are kind of out in the country, we still feel like we are connected to a lot of people. So, um, it's, it's something that we had, we still have to be intentional about it, um, because it would be easy to just kind of hide away in our house and not see anybody, but, you know, I, I've made it a point to really want to get out and, and visit with people and build those relationships because, um, I just need that for my wellbeing. I need that to feel like I, uh, like I'm connected and I have a place where I belong. So that's important. Absolutely. Oh, that's wonderful. Well, one final question for tonight. I would like to know, and I think our listeners would like to know, what do you like to do for fun or relaxation or entertainment or all the above? Well, um, you mentioned this earlier, but one of my favorite past time since we've moved out to the country is going on a four wheeler ride with my husband. We do that probably three to four times a week. We go out during his lunch break, he has an hour and a half in between clients on most days. So we will, take a ride around our property, go the dogs will come with us and we'll just get out and get some fresh air and um, that's just wonderful to get out in nature and um, have fun, get a little mud on our beats. So that's always great. Um, and um, I, you know, I'm, I'm trying to think of some of the other things that I really enjoyed doing in my free time. I mentioned some of them earlier, but I'm, I'm, I'm always trying to learn new things. So broadening my horizons, opening my mind up to new ideas. I'm reading is a big part of my life. I, and I'm having people in our home, we love to do that entertaining. So, um, it's, it's a variety of different things. Yeah. Well that's great. I love the idea. That sounds wonderful too. I could see horses in your future because you could go out and do that too. We'd love it. Well, Adrian, I, if people wanted to get more information about you or about your husbands and your business and where might they find you on either social or some social media platform? Could you, you can find more about you guys on facebook or instagram with my name. Adrianne resell Waggoner. Um, or you could find any more information about our business. Strategic Edge coaching through Keith's website. Uh, it's Keith M Waggoner. Um, and that is k e I t h m as in Morgan, w a g g e o n e r Dot com. And I am hoping to become more active on social media. It's kind of one of my, one of my goals. So hopefully you'll get a chance to, if you do check me out, you'll see some new information on there. That's terrific. Well, Adrian, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Joining me tonight on the art of connection sharing your travels. I learned so much more about you that I didn't realize and just sharing with us how you're connecting with other people and how you're being intentional with your time tonight. You Bet, and for all of you that joined us, thank you so much for listening in on the art of connection. This is Sandra Vernon with Fe Society. You can find me on instagram or on facebook with face society and also with the art of connection. Please consider subscribing to this podcast and if you have time rating it as well because that certainly would help me out as well. Thanks again.

There are many movements that promote empowering we women, yet with each new wave, we seem to lose our way a bit more. A good majority are not more in the foundation or anchored with the core issues. So on today's podcast I will be speaking about the power of femininity, feminine Queens and Feminine Warriors. We are meant to be feminine and Warriors. We are meant to be warriors in a uniquely Feminine Way. Warrior, Queens, Warrior, princesses, crowned and gowned yes, but being gowned were ready to fight too, and I don't mean to fight in a combat battle style that we think of when we say fight. The women do serve in this role and attempt to prove that we can do it all yet capable doesn't always mean we should now stay with me. Don't get mad and turn off. Please hear me out. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should or that it's the best, and this applies to many other women's movements in our contemporary culture, and these aren't necessarily grounded in the foundational issues, but have peripheral temp attempts to prove something. There is a war that rages single, married with kids or without. We each play a role in this cosmic battle called life. It is not about eradicating the men and their masculinity, although there are certainly seems a movement to do this very thing. Men are needed to operate in life in their unique ways. We need their contributions to life and this world, not according to the current feminist dictates, but according to creation mandates, the war that rages. It's subtle and unseen. I know far too many angry women who with just a few additional inflammatory issues, rage at the injustice of it all. Certainly there are injustices, but these are not alleviated with anger or trying to totally dismantle what it means to be masculine. Women. We're not always right and men are not always wrong. The men who have been deplorable need to take responsibility for their horrible actions. Women, not all that men do is deplorable because not all men are rotten. Guys, our role as women has over time been misunderstood and misrepresented with culture shifts. There has been waves of feminism to reclaim what our roles are currently. There is what is known as the third wave feminism and perhaps there's even a fourth movement and it seems with each new wave we've drifted the mark of the issues, our anger and our raging at the injustice of it all has taken away from the core issues, so like with the first edition history books, subsequent additions often drift from the first hand account. It's not as accurate and with each addition, that's after that, it becomes less accurate. This hold true for the feminism movement and more on that in a bit, but now what I see is a movement that could be called feminism as it is comprised of women and those supporting femininity. This rise and call to action aims to establish what femininity truly is from a firsthand account. It is an unseen seldom notice battle, but it is there and it has a cost. Whether we actively are participating or not, and with all this, it affects our soul. Are you feeling weary and worn out? Heartache and soul pain overtaking your life? An unsettled feeling of wanting to do something or knowing that there's more to this life because this unseen battle for femininity has a high price. It's been raging for decades, millennia because unnoticed, and even if we don't join in the core issues, still beckon to be addressed and we feel it at a very deep level. So ladies, where do you go when the ache of your heart begins to make itself known? That there's got to be more that these injustices with the femininity at movements attempt to address. Where do you go when that unsettled spirit announces the need for attention. Some of us do get involved in movements and they can be good. They can be a force of good, and then sometimes we fall into buying something in the attempt to feel better or perhaps indulging in food or we might get lost in a book or a TV series or daydreaming and fantasizing about a different life. Or perhaps you just allow your life to be consumed with business. Because if we stay busy, we don't have to deal with these hidden soul issues. We're too busy to address them. Some of you I've seen go into super woman mode and try to do everything and all by yourself and you do a decent job with it. The appearances show that because then if we do it all, if we are that super woman mode, then we won't feel undone yet our soul still speaks differently and the longing is still there, so on the surface we may appear all together because we are busy, seemingly efficient, professional, and perhaps tough as nails. We are trying to prove that we can do it all and that we do all that men do, but on the inside we are losing ourselves. This conquest of what it means to be a woman. So we find ways to sue sue our souls and our minds. We do this, as I said, with fantasy food or some other numbing addictions to try to remedy the ache, the desire in our heart and these activities.

They're not benign. They entangled themselves in our lives and in our hearts choking out the life we wish to live as they become relentless addictions or default habits. Perhaps our default response to life and hurt and pain and the struggle of what it means to be a feminine warrior, so each of these activities become an issue when we turn to them for solace in an attempt to find a sort of source of fulfillment, to know what it means to be feminine or a feminist. So what exactly is this battle we are involved in? What role do we women need to play in this cosmic war? What is our part in being a warrior, in partnership with others, regardless of gender. The battle began thousands of years ago and it is a war that continues to rage Adam and eve partners in all that God created fully living in the design for each of their unique lives. They enjoyed fellowship with God, walking with him in the garden. Adam, first of creation had life breathed into him by God Almighty and Eve. God's crowning glory of his creation because he pronounced it. It all was very good when he arrived on the scene, but what eve did, she did her own thing and Adam, he abdicated. He just watched. He did not take up his role as masculine and eve tried to usurp her role as feminine and the consequences have affected and impacted humanity and all of life ever since you can read about this account in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis in the Bible, so now that all of human humankind destiny has changed, so has our role as women, and it began as a slow erosion of what femininity and masculinity we're designed to be the consequences they have been growing exponentially ever since. If you read the biography of Jesus, you learn he elevated women to their proper place in culture, a culture that often degraded women and treating them as second class citizens. Jesus did more for women's movement than any wave of feminism. It's worth worth reading the account about him. The historical account. Alls you need to do is pick up one of the gospels. It's in the new testament of the Bible and read Matthew's account or marks or johns. These are firsthand accounts of Jesus's life with Luke, a second town to count. He interviewed people and had a firsthand account, but he wrote it and it's second account, but that's an aside, so these firsthand accounts of Jesus's life alltel about his stories of how he elevated women. Jesus was a supporter of women and perhaps I could even say the original founder of the women's movement really just read his biography, but you must read it enlightened by the culture of that era to see what he did for women and you will be amazed at what he did. There is the account of the woman at the well. She was from the race of the Samaritans who were in constant contention with the Israelites. Least two races. They would avoid one another at all costs, even walking miles out of their way to avoid one village. Yet Jesus went straight through a Samaritan village. Met this woman. She just happened to be at the well midday to avoid the other women. Why? Because she had a tarnished reputation. She's had five different men in her life. Yet Jesus began to speak to her, which is taboo anyway, and more so because she is a Samaritan, so not only Jesus shouldn't have been speaking to a woman, he should have especially not have been speaking to this woman, but he spoke truth to her and she was amazed and her life changed, and then there was a woman with a bleeding issue. It's been said that she may have been hemorrhaging going through the change of life we don't know, but he deals with this. She's had this issue for 12 years. The doctors haven't been able to do anything for her and she's out of money. No one could help her, and she spent all her money. She had on a cure. She heard of Jesus and learned that he was walking through the town, saw the crowds following him. She only touched Jesus, him of his cloak and was immediately healed, and then Jesus took the time to acknowledge her and her faith. This during an era where whirlwind were never to be noticed or acknowledged or seen yet, Jesus lifted her up by his word and his kindness and she was healed. And then there was this woman condemned for adultery and ladies, you and I know it takes two to commit adultery. Yet this account of what Jesus did for this woman only has the woman publicly accused. I've heard it said that she was drugged out probably in the act of adultery. Where was her partner? My point in sharing this is to listen carefully what Jesus did for this woman. So the crowd had already picked up stones to throw at her, stoning her to death for adultery. And Jesus calmly told the crowd that the one who has no sin and he meant did no wrong, did everything right should be the first one to cast the stone. One by one, the stones were dropped, and the woman remained in Jesus's presence, Jesus, the only one could have cast the stone standing before her. Officer forgiveness and compassion Jesus tells her to now go and sin no more. He didn't expect perfection when she came, but he offered love and compassion. So Jesus has done a lot for women because women were important. We are the crowning climax of creation after each creation act. You can read this in Genesis, God proclaimed it was good, but when he created eve, he said it was very good so we women were important and that's why the battle is important too, and women's role in life reveal what we reveal more of God's character created in God's image as his image bearers. What we women by our nature tell others about God, is that he is relational. He desires and enjoys intimate relationships. He nurtures and cares for his people. He has a heart for romance and he too has a beauty to unveil. These are all things we women do by nature and it is because this reflects part of who god is. Every woman to some and varying degrees enjoy romance and relationships. We nurture and demonstrate compassion. Each one of us has a beauty to reveal a beauty that indwells us that is beyond just the physical beauty. We long to be noticed this. This is confirmed with social media as we curate photos and selfies and touch ups to present our most lovely physical self. We want to look our best. We want to shoot for looking pretty and some of us still pursue this and some of us have given up, but beauty, it's a delicate thing and the physical beauty, it will fade and go into cover, but the soul beauty that I'm talking about, the soul beauty that each one of us has, it's delicate and it will retreat into protection if threatened, and this happens far too often, this hiding this, this insulating against the pain takes many forms, some of which I referred to earlier and sometimes it just erupts in anger, so perhaps we become ultra tough acting as if we have it altogether, but we have a sneaking suspicion that we are operating as a fraud or maybe we become more reclusive and seek the hermit lifestyle where we feel isolated. Insulated but safe femininity. Think of women depicted in art, beautiful form, beautiful spirit, peaceful her essence captured in her reclining, relaxed pose. Women in classic art had a softness about them. Gentle eyes, relaxed pose and face. She is inviting, peaceful and at peace with her femininity. Art communicates about the era and classical art captures women in their full power and beauty of femininity. We women have the power to inspire others to be better. We nurture comfort and invite others into deeper relationships with a message of peace, women operating and true femininity and true feminism. Demonstrate a facet of the message of God's prismatic character. All will be well. Beauty flows from the inside out and is often reflected in our appearance and part of the beauty and feminine power is the gift of presence, unguarded undistracted, fully present and engaged. Now, think of men depicted in our strength, in action, doing work, warring battles, etc. This masculinity demonstrates another message about god that he will come through, that he is our victorious warrior. So our unique roles reflecT portions of god's character. These roles have come under attack, hiding the created order of things, and we thereby miss having god's character revealed to us and through us to others. Eve denied her created nature and essence of women when she reached to grasp and take control, and this has trickled down to us reaching, grasping, striving. Sometimes we are described as bitchy or clinging, annoying. Codependent, we have relinquished the power of being feminine and grasping for something that does not fulfill. We women often feel like we are too much because we hear it. We're too emotional, too sensitive, too harsh, too controlling too over the top to cleaning too bossy or there other messages we received that we are not enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough, not smart enough, not popular enough, and what we are called to do is to be a woman who arouses the best in her man and the best in those around her. We're to wield our feminine power, not competinG with men or competing with other women, but to use our gifts and talents and abilities to reach and bless and encourage others, and this is where we are fulfilled and this is where a joy filled life comes. Equality, equal pay for equal work. That's a good thing, but meeting quotas so that women are represented in different forums isn't what we should be fighting for because meeting quotas does not create equality in any realm. If quotas are the goal than equal competence, competency is not. We want to fight the good fight of what it means to be a woman that uses her unique and alluring gifts and talents. Feminine queens, feminine warriors. This is who we are. This takes courage to live in our true identity. It is a brave woman who steps out in this role against the tide, leaning into our unique feminine mystique, and that's my challenge for me and for you to live in that feminine power that reaches out, blesses, nourishes, nurtures, and loves others and leads the way of a loving relationship. Thanks for tuning in. This is sandra vernon with face society and you've been listening to the art of connection. Please consider subscribing. I would really appreciate it and also if you could take some time and give me a rating, that would help me too.