Through God’s Eyes

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dawna

Happy Tuesday

How are you all doing on the amazing Tuesday evening? Everything is going good here with me. Still trying to get my time management under control, but, I’m a work in progress.

I’ve been listening to so many devotional books lately. I’ve been immersing myself in more Christian music and while on my nature walks, I’ve been talking to God more. Something about being out in nature really draws me close to him. I can’t help but be so grateful to Him and express that gratitude as I am always in awe of his marvelous creations.

Have you ever stood at the base of a tree and just looked up? I did that yesterday and though I know the tree has it’s height and doesn’t really touch the sky, as I stood at the base of this huge tree and looked up, I couldn’t see the top. The branches were as big as tress themselves and the leaves made the tree so full. The wind was wisping through and you could hear the rustling of the leaves. It was almost like God was talking to me, reminding me of his magnificence.

I needed that reminder yesterday. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I forget how awe inspiring He is along with his many creations, it’s just sometimes, I believe I fall short of expressing my gratitude. I get caught up in other things and neglect to express being thankful for all He’s done for me.

While on my walk yesterday, I was listening to my Audible book, “A confident heart,” by Renee Swope. As I looked up at this tree and it’s enormous trunk, Renee was talking about how God doesn’t have to forgive us, we aren’t worthy of his forgiveness, we are worth it.

God created us to be his children and though we are imperfect due to the sins of Adam and Eve, that is, if you believe the Adam and Eve account, we were created by God. He sees in us our full potential, even when we don’t see it ourselves. He has unconditional love for us.

I think the closest we ever come to seeing what God sees is when we hold our newborn babies. When a mother gives birth and the doctor places that new life on her belly, she sees everything perfect in that baby. As time goes on, the mother, while in most cases still loves that baby or child unconditionally, we do begin to see their faults.

God on the other hand, he may see our faults, but he still looks at us through the eyes of perfection. Sure, he knows we mess up and all, but he sees beyond that. He sees us to the depths of our soul.

When a baby is born, they’re beautiful. They’re innocent and they are the most precious gift. We are forever, that precious gift in His eyes, even when we sin. God forgave King David who not only committed adultery and impregnated Bathsheba, but he had her husband killed to cover up his sin.

There’s nothing we can do that God won’t forgive. What a lesson in forgiveness, compassion and unconditional love. How quick we are at times to not forgive someone over even the slightest of transgressions, but God forgave an adulterer and murderer.

I suppose it would do us well if we took on the quality of forgiveness and perhaps tried to see things through a broader lens much like our creator.

If we take a moment to try and see things through the eyes of God, maybe it would soften our hearts a little. Maybe we would be more patient. Maybe we would show more kindness and maybe, more peace would avail in our world that seems to be so unkind right now.

I know there are good people despite the things we see and hear on the news. I know there’s love and peace amongst family, friends and neighbors, but we all live in a world full of uncertainty. I wonder what it would be like if we stopped from time to time, took a deep breath and just let things go. Let go, Let God.

Standing beneath that tree yesterday helped me feel His presence. It reminded me of His power and love and it reminded me of just how small I am in comparison to His other creations, yet, he still sees me. He sees my worth.

My dear readers, I hope we can all experience and enjoy God’s magnificent creations. I hope we can all take a moment to see through His eyes. All we have to do is look around. Creation is everywhere.

Just my thought. What do you think? I would love to hear from you. Drop me a comment or give me a like if you enjoyed the blog. It always makes my day hearing from my readers.

Well guys, I need to take another walk now. The pups are a bit anxious. Until next time, don’t forget, open your hearts, listen and evolve today++

Who would I be….

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Dawna

Happy Thursday,

How is everyone doing on this amazing Thursday afternoon? I do hope today is finding you well, safe and happy. I wanted to thank you for taking time to read today’s blog and I wanted to encourage you to follow this blog so you don’t miss new content, which will be coming on a more regular basis moving forward. Please feel free to drop me a comment and if there’s a certain topic you’d like to have me talk about, leave that in the comments.

Today I wanted to talk about something that is close to my heart. You see, not long ago, I was involved heavily in a cult and in that cult, I feared God. I feared doing anything wrong, not because I have ever been afraid to die, but I feared being destroyed.

I was taught that the God I worshiped at that time was one that expected me to be perfect, or as perfect as I could be. I was taught, or made to feel like everything I did in His name wasn’t good enough. I remember one minister giving a sermon saying, “are you sure your giving your all to Jehovah?” Is your all, good enough?”

With statements like that, from an early age, I felt I had to be perfect. I lived my entire life with the mindset, everything had to be just so. I think I developed OCD from being raised feeling like everything I did, wasn’t good enough. To top that off, I was born a girl. Women in the cult were taught to be in complete submission to men and with that came the underlying belief system, we were to be quiet and not voice our opinions, and if we did voice them, then our fathers, brothers, husbands, they were the final decision maker.

When I finally left the cult at the age of 45 years young, I left believing 100% that I was going to be destroyed by God. I believed that no matter how good of a person I was or tried to be, it didn’t matter, because I wasn’t living the life of a cult member, a member of the religion in which I learned to be terrified of our God and creator.

I’ve made some stupid mistakes along the way to finding grace in God. It took my mess ups to realize, God still was there for me and he had been all along.

With this blog, I want to help people realize that we have a loving creator and if you aren’t a believer, that’s okay too, I’m not here to change your belief system. I’m only hear to share my experiences and by doing so, I hope you find comfort in your own core belief.

On my journey to finding comfort in God, I have found that I can freely talk about Him and to Him. I can thank Him and not feel like I’m being fanatical. I enjoy waking up each morning and thanking God for a new day. I thank Him for all the provisions in my life and I thank Him for showing me the way. I always ask Him to keep guiding me. I thank Him for His forgiveness when I know I’ve fallen short.

I am beyond grateful for my new found relationship with God.

This brings to mind a beautiful song sung by Lauren Daigle. “Thank God I do.”

When I was at my lowest point, the point in my life where I didn’t feel loved by anyone, I had given up on life, my life. I simply didn’t care anymore. Then, John came along and he helped me find the relationship I so desperately needed and wanted from God and from a man. John became the man who showed me love and on that path, I began to see that I was capable of being loved, not only by a man, but by God.

“I’ve seen love come and I’ve seen love walk away. So many questions, will anybody stay? It’s been a hard year, so many nights in tears. All of the darkness, trying to fight my fears, alone, so long alone.”

What I didn’t realize, when John came into my life, was, he was sent by God to love me and in that love, I learned God loved me first and h=He made sure to give me a man that could help me past my fears. God gave me someone who was patient, kind, loving and compassionate, but most of all, He gave me someone to hold me tight, so tight that I could feel his heart beat and His love.

“I don’t know who I’d be if I didn’t know You. I’d probably fall off the edge. I don’t know where I’d go if You ever let go, so keep me held in Your hands.” I think God holds me in His hands. He knows me better than anyone, so He sent me John. When John sees me spinning, he reminds me of his love, but more importantly of my creators love.

“I’ve started breathing. The weight is lifted here. With You, it’s easy. My head is finally clear. There’s nothing missing. when you are by my side. I took the long road, but now I realize I’m home with You. I’m home. I don’t know who I’d be if I didn’t know You.”

Though I doubt my worth from time to time, God is right there reminding me He’s there for me and when I can’t even begin to wrap my head around God actually loving me, He gives me the reminders that I so lovingly and desperately need. Who would I be if I didn’t know Him? Thank God, I do.

It is because God sent someone into my life, that I have learned not to fear Him. I’ve learned an entirely new way to talk to God. I’ve learned how to really build upon my belief in Him and though I fall short, He still loves me.

“You’re my safe place. My hideaway. You’re my anchor. My saving grace. You’re my constant. You’re my steadiness. You’re my shelter. My oxygen.”

I pray every day that I can continue to build on my relationship with Him and I pray He will open doors for me to share His word with others, but more importantly, I pray He uses me to share my experiences of overcoming religious trauma, so that others will come to see what a loving god He truly is. If it be His will.

As I conclude here today, I hope you found something positive to take away in reading this blog.

Until next time, I pray God will keep me and you held in His hands .

I do hope you are having the greatest of days and until next time, open your hearts, listen and evolve today++

Religion and a relationship with God,

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Have you evolved today?

Happy Thursday,

How is everyone doing on this amazing Thursday evening? I can’t believe how long it’s been since I blogged on this this page. I’m so embarrassed that I’ve allowed so much time to get in the way of chatting with all you wonderful folks. I’ve missed this page and it is my goal to write again at least 3 days a week. I hope if you are a returning reader, that you will continue to read moving forward. If you are a new reader, I hope if you are new to Haveyouevolvedtoday, that you enjoy the writings here. Please feel free to comment and give me any feedback, I love hearing from you all.

On a side note, I’ve been writing tons on my lovelifewithdawna@wordpress.com page. I hope you can check it out sometime. I take a different spin on things over there. On this blog page my goal is to talk more about being spiritual versus religious. I’ve heard it said, it’s not about the religion, it’s about the relationship.

I strongly believe this statement. You see, I believe more and more each and every day that it is our relationship with God, the Universe, or whatever entity you believe in, rather than than the religion you belong to. Now before you get upset, let me say this. I believe religion is good. I believe having that community and having a belief system is important, however, I think at times we get so caught up in the customs of a religion we forget the importance of the relationship with our creator.

“Religion is the rules, regulations, ceremonies and rituals developed by man to create conformity and uniformity in the approach to God. Spirituality is God’s call in your soul.”-Iyanla Vanzant.

This isn’t to say that religion is all bad, it’s simply, or I’m simply trying to point out that sometimes we get so caught up in religion, we fail to remember the reason we are supposed to be a part of a religion and that reason is to have a relationship with our creator, God, the Universe or whatever deity you believe in.

“Religion is a candle in the darkness, spirituality is the sun that illuminates it all.”-Paulo Coelho. Religion most certainly can lead us to a relationship with God, especially with like minded people being in our circle to encourage us to keep on the path to knowing God, but being spiritual is where we really want to be.

I know for me, being raised in a cult/religion, I feared God and not in a healthy way. I feared God to the point I never felt good enough. What I failed to learn or what was failed to be taught to me was that God is love and that he’s forgiven me long before I ask him for forgiveness. Once I left the religion of Jehovah’s Witness, I found comfort in having a relationship with God. Knowing I could talk to him and truly pour out my heart in prayer to him, I began to forgive myself of my mistakes. I began to talk with God as often as I could or can. I talk with him on my walks, when I’m home alone, even when I’m driving. I’m excited to wake up each morning and thank him for the home he’s provided for me and for the people who have stayed in my life, despite leaving the religion.

I’ve been shunned and it still hurts, I won’t lie, however, when someone from my past religion chooses to walk the other way or not acknowledge me, I pray and I express to God that I’m thankful he’s shown me that shunning is not something loving, in fact, it’s something so harmful, then I ask God, if it be his will, to open the hearts of those that I miss and still care very much about in the religion.

My relationship with God is more than I ever expected. I am comforted by him and the relationship I have with him. He is truly my refuge when times are difficult and he continues to bless my home, my family and my love with the man he brought into my life.

While religion has many good points, it’s not ever meant to replace or dictate how we build our relationship with our creator. Religion is generally organized and involves rituals and practices focusing on a higher power or God.-nih.gov. Whereas spirituality involves a personal quest or meaning in life.-nih.gov.

If you belong to a religion, I hope it’s one that brings you closer to God or whatever deity you worship. It’s wonderful to have the community that religions offer, yet it’s equally, if not more important to focus on our relationship with the one we worship.

I hope wherever you are, whatever you believe in, I pray you have the comfort in your relationship with the one you worship. It sure does make life so much more amazing and I am beyond proud of being able to give God credit in front of others, whereas, in my past life, I feared it.

I feel I’m evolving every day into a more spiritual person, less religious and more open to receive God’s message in my life. I do love visiting church with the family from time to time, as I love the community of being in a congregation, however, my relationship with God does mean so much more.

My dear readers, I am beyond excited to be back here on haveyouevolvedtoday@wordpress.com and I look forward to writing more in the coming days. Until next time, have a blessed day/evening. Hugs…