Conspiracy Theories: On Behalf of the Duggars

I debated whether or not to write about the Duggars. I love their show. People who have 19 kids are either cuckoo or awesome. I have 5 and peeps think I'm insane. Whatever... This isn't why I decided to write this post.

Honestly, I feel bad for the entire family. Yes, the oldest son did some nasty things to his sisters and another girl between 2002 and 2003. He was 14 and 15 at the time. And Josh isn't hiding what he did either like a Weiner or other celebrities who have down something sexually immoral. Sadly, this is something that was taken care of a while ago whether the authorities did the right thing or not.

I guess what I want to say here is, we all have skeletons in our closets. Some of us have more than one closet full. I have a few of my own. During my teen years, I was a moron. In my twenties, I was half a moron. And even in my thirties and forties, I've had moments where I've reverted back to that moronic-state. I have several lists of sins. Trust me.

And every family has problems. I know I've shared issues on this blog about my own. Daughters number 3 and 4 struggle with drug addiction. When one appears to be doing well the other one falls completely off the wagon into the never-ending-addiction-abyss. Believe me, we all have something we're not proud of from our pasts and within our own families.

The Bible says, in Acts 13:22, that King David was a man after His (God's) own heart. But later, this man had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed in battle to cover up what he had done. But the cool thing is, God saw it all and spoke to David through a prophet.

This brought David to repentance and God forgave him. But because of his sins he experienced a lot of heartache regarding his own children. The child he conceived through adultery died. Later in life, his son Amnon raped his daughter Tamar, the sister of Absalom. And Absalom avenged his sister's rape by murdering Amnon. He also tried to have his own father killed so he could become king.

We all sin. We all fall short. We all screw up. And we all have consequences to pay even after God forgives us.

But this whole thing irks me about how the media is handling it.  Is it because Josh and his family are confessing CHRISTIANS? What if Bruce Jenner had done this when he was a 14 year-old? Would the media go after him?

Are the masses who sit in front of the boob-tube going to see every Christian as a child-molester now? Is this one more skeam to paint Christians in a bad light?

I've really been thinking long and hard about this only because so much has been happening to Christians here in America and around the world. Even our military men and women get fired for having Bibles and scripture verses on their computer screens. And of course, overseas, Christians are being crucified, burned alive, and beheaded.

What is going on here?

Anyway, before I go I'll leave you some quotes from the Bible.

Matthew 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

NEWS SOURCES

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/31/opinions/pearlman-duggar-abuse/index.html

http://www.inquisitr.com/2133806/amy-duggar-on-josh-duggar-molestation-scandal-pray-it-away-josh/

 

Hope everyone has a great week! See you on Thursday!

Hugs and chocolate!

Shelly

Cleaning Out the Bitters

Generally, I don't care much for Holidays. Back in 98, when my younger daughter's dad left, I decided then I would drop them altogether. They held too many bittersweet memories for me anyway. Who needed them?

Things really changed after he left. Besides, it reminded of God's so called goodness. I blamed Him for everything that went kapoot in my life. Not to mention, the church people were cruel when it all fell apart. I was totally alone. Not even my family offered a shoulder to cry on.

It didn't help that the ex had all the five girls for Christmas and Easter every year plus every weekend.

Those days were especially dubbed for cleaning out my closets. It kept me from missing them and gave me a good excuse not to have to spend any spare minutes at mom's. She's another story that I've been writing about over at Two Fur-Peeps and a Writer, www.shellysnovicewritings.blogspot.com/ .

As for getting together with other family members it usually spelled disaster. So and so didn't speak to so and so and on and on. Everyone within my family had their own little clique leaving me somewhere in the middle. 

There is no excuse for bitterness and anger or trying to make people be something they'll never be. Everyone is what they are. No one can make another person self-reflect and apologize. One can only do that for themselves. Something I learned since I had a few bitters growing on my own unhappy tree. But it took time.

So for years, I spent holidays quietly at home. In 2005, I ressurected Thanksgiving. It was always my favorite holiday and least commercialized. It also forced me to reflect on and count my blessings. And stop ... Being so bitter about all the crap that had exploded into my life. Kaka happens! And since we can't change the past. One must go forward. Right?

I also discovered that God wasn't at fault here. Bad things happen either because of our own personal choices or someone else's. And if any of us are guided by our own selfishness to do or not do something, well ... God had nothing to do with it. If we didn't ask Him in the first place to do or not do something, why get upset over it?

The path to forgiveness has been a long one. And I know I'm not there yet. People and family can be downright mean, self-serving, and critical. But so can I. Although, I've been diligently working on those areas. 

For every wrong someone has done to me, I can say I've bounced a lot of bad basketballs off of them. 

Yeshua told us to forgive someone seven times seventy. To forgive is to love thy neighbor as thyself. If we can't forgive others, how can we possibly expect God to do the same for us?

And yes, our family members are our neighbors.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and all went well with their families this year.

I had a very special visitor on Thanksgiving Day.

His mom and dad tagged along, too. The mom is my youngest daughter, Sticky Bun.

And of course, my dad came. Hair Ball claimed him as his own for the day.

Is anyone out there working on forgiveness? 

Hugs and chocolate, all!

Shelly

How Writing Helped Me Overcome Bitterness

Over the years people have hurt me. There were times I actually thought I had been birthed into the enemy camp. Who needs enemies when you have to live in the same house with them?

Oh and then there were the beloved ex-husbands plus their villainous parents. While I couldn't choose my family, I walked into those nightmares blindfolded.  And not necessarily for love. 

When I finally decided to get serious about my writing, I began with the intent to write my memoir. 

 It was a really bad Monday-night-movie-on-Lifetime- for -Women -Network -kind-of-story. I can't even admit that it awed me any.

My editor at the time mentioned, "Man, you're angry. You need to rewrite a lot of this."

And so I did. But still, it came out angry. 

My editor handed it back to me. "You've got talent, kid. But no one will ever publish something this angry. Re-do it."

So I pitched out the whole memoir idea and made it into a fiction piece. She was right. I needed to let go of all my anger. 

I figured I would approach my fiction piece with humor. It did help. My editor loved it, but it still read somewhat angry. 

"Kid, you've found your voice," she said. "Go back and climb into all your characters' heads and figure out why they are the way they are. No one in life is a hundred percent evil or bad. 

And if they're flawed there's always a reason. Find out why."

 

So that's what I did. I wrote their back stories. Doing this gave me a new perspective on everyone that ever did something rotten to me. After doing this I was able to forgive and let go of any grudge I held onto.

To forgive is a good thing. 

Has writing helped you overcome something?

Hope everyone has a Happy Monday! I'll be at The Salon today. But I'll be around. Hoping to finish the rest of my A to Z posts tonight. I've been having issues with my internet again. Wish me luck!

Hugs and chocolate!

Shelly