Life. It rolls along allowing you to think that you have it all figured out.  

Then…

CURVE BALL. 

We have all had them.  Some we see coming straight for us. Many…dare I say, most… we don’t.  But anticipation doesn’t soften the blow.  It doesn’t lessen the wound.  And how do you TRULY anticipate a curve ball being thrown at you anyway?  Isn’t surprise the entire point of the ball curving when it looks like it’s going to be smooth sailing…right down the middle.  Home run.  Game. Over.

But…

Life happens.  That part of life that is real and ugly and devastating and beautiful and powerful, somehow all at the same time.  That part of life that leaves you wondering how in the world you will ever go on, and equally how you’ve been able to survive so long without being beamed with an inside pitch before this moment.  Life was so “easy.”  Life as you knew it anyway.  But this pain, while unexpected, surely wont last forever.  Will it?  Surely there will be a day when things are “normal” again, and you regain your ability to breathe naturally. Surely.

However…

Life isn’t easy.  Life isn’t fair. And life CERTAINLY does NOT care if you like the “pitches” it throws at you. Life will beat you down. Take away your dignity. Destroy your hope. Extinguish your joy. Trample your spirit.  Dilute your love. Pillage your happiness. Life can quickly abduct everything about you that makes you…well…YOU. Life will permeate your heart and mind, and fill them with thoughts and feelings you wish weren’t even possible…much less yours.  Life will beat you down…if YOU let it.

So…

Don’t let it.  Sure, we all feel sorry for ourselves from time to time, and sometimes it certainly feels justified. But, and this isn’t something any of us likes to hear, it is eternally true that someone else always has it worse than we do.  Even when we don’t want to admit it.  Even when it feels like our world is caving in.  Even when we WANT to be miserable, because it’s so much less painful than accepting the truth.  We are not the most desperate person in the world.  We don’t own the patent on misery.  When don’t hold the record for worst heartache in history. None of us. Not me.  Not you.

Remember…

There are children (and adults) literally starving to death in this world.  I know that is an example used so often of how things “could be worse.”  An example we often choose to overlook, or easily do not relate to, so we ignore…in spite of our loving hearts and best intentions…willfully.  The unimaginable tragedies the furor of this world has rained down on so many. So many of God’s people. So many of the lost.  So many hearts and lives changed and destroyed by pain and suffering. We easily forget to grieve for them, or possibly, in our haste and distraction, choose not to think about them a regular basis…there are so many. I don’t  need to name the litany of problems this world has.  The overwhelming grievances that so many could share. We are all flawed and experience pain.  Some more than others.  But this life is hard. And beautiful. And blessed.

How…

JESUS. Jesus. Our Lord and Savior. Jesus.  Jesus came. He lived. He died. He rose. But He suffered.  He suffered for US. For you. For me. For those who have been, and those yet to be.  He paid the price for us. He died so that we can live.  Did you hear me?!?

HE DIED SO THAT WE CAN LIVE!  

1 Corinthians 15:55-57                                                                                                            ⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?    Where, O death, is your sting?”    ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

To My Sweet, Dedicated, Loyal Friends and Prayer Warriors…

I have been wanting to write for awhile.  I thought I wanted to write about what it must be like (I have an idea, but can only speak from the outside looking in) to be the big brother, or any sibling of a child with special needs.  A child who needs extra attention.  Extra patience.  Extra time. Extra room to make mistakes.  Leeway you weren’t given. Extra chances you weren’t allowed. Understanding you weren’t afforded. Attention you didn’t receive. Especially if you are a big brother who was showered with more love than one would ever imagine. A child who never had to want for kisses or hugs, or a moment of his mother’s time. A boy who was solely adored and cared for without having to spare a drop for his little brother. Much less a bucket full.  Yes, yes.  I know. I hear you rolling your eyes already;) That’s what EVERY older sibling goes through.  Agreed.  They have to learn to share the wealth.  The love. The toys. The parents. The attention.  I hear ya!

But it’s been a little different for Aidan.  He couldn’t wait to be a big brother.  He couldn’t wait to have a playmate.  He couldn’t wait to meet Brody.  He didn’t know any differently. He still doesn’t, frankly. But he has been put on the back burner more than once. More than twice. More times than I can count. From the day we came home we knew that Brody was going to need more attention.  We knew that he would have more difficult needs.  We left Aidan with family, 3 months into Brody’s life, to spend a few weeks in the hospital and only saw my sweet boy that I had never gone a day without seeing, twice.  He was five. To keep it short (well..short-ish), I will simply say that he is spoiled and loved, and he doesn’t want for anything…except a little more understanding sometimes. To be put first occasionally. For things to go HIS way, not what’s best for little brother.  And he misses being important. At least, feeling important. We love him more than ever, but we expect a lot from him, because Brody is so much work, and needs so much of our time. We love them both, but by default, Brody gets the most attention, because he needs it more.

So, I thought I was going to write about how it must feel to be Aidan.  I have been planning it and running it in my head for weeks.  I had the video already made.  And then I started typing.  I started typing, and I couldn’t think about anything but the joy my son has when he is playing with his little brother.  The love he shows Brody when Brody is being impatient and screams at him. The happiness he has when playing with Brody, even though he wants Brody to be a “normal” almost 4 year old and be able to play with him the way most 4 year olds do, but Brody can’t.  The kind and hopeful spirit he shows when he talks about how special his brother is, and how much he loves him.  The hope he shares that his brother will be and do anything and everything that he could ever dream.

I started typing.  I started typing, and I realized that what I really wanted to write about is what can happen when you see the world through the pure heart of an innocent child.  A heart that life hasn’t destroyed, or beaten down.  A heart that still wants to love.  A heart that still wants to hope.  A heart that is filled with joy.

Yes, the world has beaten all of us down.  We have all been hit by multiple curve balls…bruised…scarred…damaged…destroyed. But there is joy.  There is hope.  There is love. There is grace and mercy.  There is Jesus.

I have been wanting to make this video for weeks.  I literally ran out of music WAY before I ran out of pictures.  I have 3 times the pictures of these boys than I used here. They love each other.  They need each other.  They bring each other joy.  Thank You, God, for these boys.  Thank You for Your son, Jesus.  Thank you for His sacrifice.  Thank you for Your Holy Spirit who brings us comfort and peace.  Thank you for salvation.  Thank you for eternity.  Thank you for this life, and the promise of hope for the future that we see in the love we have for our children. Thank you, Lord.  Thank you for your Son.  And thank you for mine.

If you have made it this far in this post, please watch my video of my precious boys! Also, I admire your endurance and patience to indulge in my ramblings to this point.  If you can’t watch the whole video, at least start at 4 minutes or so, and finish from there;) 

I leave you with this…every word of Romans 8.

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives lifehas set you^[a] free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.^[c]And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerlyfor our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for usthrough wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us,who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns?No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So much better from where I started at a 15 minute mile! And people keep telling me they “can’t” lose weight and don’t “have time” to exercise. Hey, neither do I! And this is not judgement, because I spent the last 7 years of my life not taking care of myself. Make the time. 15-30 minutes a day, and move MORE throughout the day. No supplements, no gimmicks, no weight loss fads, and no weight loss company needed (Although if you use them with healthy eating and exercise, you will certainly get no criticism from me). Say no to the sweets, overeating, and fattening foods every other time to start, and gradually work your way to healthy! Your body, your mind, and your FAMILY will be so glad that you did! AND…I will be here CHEERING YOU ON:)

My “journey” has been like this:

August 18, 2014: 197 lbs (size 20)
*started eating a well balanced
healthy diet and gave up sweets and fattening foods completely

October 2014: 185lbs
*added exercise by just moving more during the day…not formal exercise

November 2014: 178lbs
*started walking 3 times per week; lucky to get a 15 minute mile and walk 4 laps (a mile) without passing out!

December 2014: 167 lbs
*started jogging SLOWLY, but surely; began adding a few sweets and sugars back to diet as treats

January 2015: 156 lbs
*continued healthy diet with occasional treats (Wednesday night McDonalds dipped cones with my Aidan;) tracking steps on Garmin, and averaging 16,000-20,000 per day (depending on my exercise)

February 2015: 148 lbs
*hit a plateau for a few weeks; talked with the most in shape person I know, Will, and he recommend I add some sprint to my “runs”; I also added more intentional protein to my diet, and started eating only “real” food; no boxes, no microwave meals, no preservatives

End of March 2015: 138 lbs
*jogging more than walking now, eating out occasionally and still have the occasional treat throughout the week;)

April 2015: 132 lbs
*stuck again! Maybe this is where my body wants to be…but I started toning exercises consistently (key word right there!) but I got busy and didn’t walk/jog for 4 weeks!

May 17, 2015: 127 lbs (size 6)
I did it!!! I lost 70 pounds, and 7 pant sizes in 9 months! And then today, I ran a 9:07 pace on my first mile. It’s not fancy,and I want to get where I can keep that pace for all 3 miles in a day, but it’s a start.

I am not saying any of this as a “hey look at me” in any way, and none of it is really all that impressive anyway, but people keep asking me how I have done it. The truth is, I’m not even really that proud of myself. I should have never been where I was in August to begin with. But life gave me more than I knew how to handle and there I was…obese, tired, frustrated, having many medical issues, and frankly, unhappy. My brother Will never once made me feel ashamed, and always encouraged me. He inspired me. So I prayed for God to give me a desire to lose weight and get healthy. His answer to me was so very clear I almost heard it aloud:

Anne dear,
I have already given you every reason you need to get healthy. I love you no matter what, but I am not going to make you skinny, even though that is what you are really praying for. (God knows our heart you see…) You have everything you need in your life to develop a desire to be healthy. Have I not already given you so much? Open your eyes precious child…see what I have laid out in front of you already. I want you to focus on the blessings and quit blaming the challenges and the hardships every time you need an excuse for not caring for yourself. I love you unconditionally, but you must also love yourself, and love and trust ME enough to make the change in yourself. I will walk with you, I will listen to you, I will forgive and love you, but YOU have to quit making excuses and make it happen.

Remember that I gave you food to feed your body, but you only need Me to feed your soul…to ease your heartache…to help you hold it all together when you just want to cry and give up…to comfort you through the toils of this life. Let Me be the nourishment for your soul and the respite for your worries. I love you no matter what. Remember? I sent my Son to save you. That is how much I love you. Trust Me. You can do this. Honor me through it.

I know it sounds so silly. And I know that probably isn’t even how God talks. I honestly often wonder if He palms His forehead and shakes His head in disbelief when He hears my prayers. The point is, God didn’t make me skinny. He knew that was what I wanted, for it to just “happen”, but that isn’t the way it works, nor should it. He reminded me that He has already given me so much more than that, and taking care of the body He gave me, should be a desire that I have as a result of honoring all of the blessings I have already and continue to receive.  I spend a lot of the time I am exercising talking to God. It has become a time of worship, and a time of prayer in my life. I think that is one of the reasons it has also become such an important part of my days. God knew I needed this, and he answered my prayer the way I needed it answered.

So, my challenge to those of you looking for a way to lose weight, is: find a reason to get healthy. This doesn’t mean skinny. I am NOT, nor will I ever be skinny. But I am getting healthy. Obesity is NEVER healthy, no matter how we try to explain it to ourselves. (Again, NOT judgement…I spent MANY years there!) Everyone can do something, and it won’t always be the same as what someone else does for their health.  We owe our families, our spouses and children, our co-workers, and our God, better than neglecting our health though. I am not saying that being overweight means we aren’t honoring God in our lives, or that we don’t love Him enough. I am saying that there is no reason to stay unhealthy (health within our control) when there are things that we can do to change that part of our lives. I always made it an either/or thing. Well, I might be overweight, but look at all that I do here, and everything I take care of there. Nope. That doesn’t cut it. Take care of yourself, too! It makes all of the other things you have to take care of, that much more productive, and enjoyable!

I want to be held accountable. I need to be reminded that this is an important part of my life. It is okay to take care of me. In fact, it is imperative. It isn’t selfish to take a little bit of time to make sure you are a priority to yourself. (I do mean LITTLE bit of time, because if you’re like me, that is all that there is!) If you need me, I am here. If you want me to jog with you, walk with you, eat with you, talk with you…call me! I would love to! I am certainly no example of how to lose weight, nor have I done anything special. But I did it…am doing it, and you can, too! You are important to me…to God…and there is no time like today to start making your health important to you!

Thank you all so much for the encouragement you have given me along the way. It seriously means a lot when someone reminds you that they love you. I have sucked so much prayer and compassion out of so many of you the past few years! I know you are exhausted with me, but please don’t stop!  I am still a work in progress! I want to encourage you the way you have encouraged me! Please let me know what you need from me, and it’s done! (Unless it is a lot of money…I only have a small amount of that, but if you need it, you can have it)

My love, and I wish you… GOOD HEALTH!

That was 2 years ago TODAY!

I still weep when I think about this moment, and some of the tears are still pain from my desire for Brody to not have ever had to experience any of this, but the majority of the emotion I feel today comes from the overwhelming joy I feel for this amazing little boy’s life.

I will always be thankful for the doctors who performed this life saving surgery on my baby. I am eternally thankful for you all, whether you sat with us through the surgery, came to visit, called, sent gifts, messages, love, prayers…prayers. I often wonder if this hadn’t happened, would I have ever TRULY understood the power prayer can have. Would I have ever actually FELT how the prayers of SO MANY others affected me and my family? I am so blessed that THIS is my life. I am so thankful that I was given this beautiful little soul, who has taught me more about life, love, prayer, and what trusting God is really like, than I had ever experienced before I held him in my arms.

I will never be perfect, but I have learned so much the past 2 years about SO MANY THINGS. My heart is still being chiseled to what will hopefully be a much better version of what it is today (which is much better than it was before;), and I still get angry, sad, frustrated often, when I shouldn’t. I am still learning to find JOY in every moment. It is easy to find the joy in this little boy’s life, and his precious brother’s life, but the everyday things that irritate me are a little harder. Sadly, those are things that really don’t matter at all. But what a selfish attitude to have. God is good, every moment…it is me who fails to see and acknowledge the good in the little stresses of life. But I am still learning so much from the pain and joy of the past few years.

TRUST GOD FOR EVERYTHING!
PRAISE GOD FOR EVERY MOMENT!
Never fail to acknowledge that HE is in control and HE knows so, SO much better than you (I) do.
PRAY!
READ YOUR BIBLE!
LOVE! By all means, love. Love God, love your family, love those you don’t even know. But when God says love, He doesn’t mean just sit in your home and think, “I love people” He means for us to show it, and to honor Him through it. For those of you who find this super hard to constantly do…you are not alone.
But we have to get there, we have to love, and maybe it just starts with being kind or truly praying for someone else on a regular basis. But…we have to get there.
We will NEVER be perfect while we are on this earth, but we have to constantly be trying to honor God in every moment.

You all know that I could go ON AND ON AND ON AND…but…what I have really learned more than anything, it is that I need to love more, the way Christ loves me. The way you all LOVED me and my family enough to pray so diligently and offer so much of yourselves over the last 2 years. The way God loves my child even more than I could ever imagine, and the GOOD that He wants to come from this beautiful little life that He gave me to raise and care for.

I didn’t realize how fortunate I was when I married my husband, and the amazing children that God would trust to our lives. It baffles me at times to think about how fortunate we are.

PRAISE GOD. TRUST GOD. LOVE GOD. LOVE OTHERS. There is so much bad in the world, we MUST be the good…the good that shows the world how GOOD our GOD is!  (Yes, I know I have a lot of work to do still!) And so many of you have lived that “good” in your love for my little boy and our family!

How blessed I am to also have been given such beautiful, daily reminders of how great our God is…

Dear friends and family,
My husband is a police officer. An honest one. A good guy. Someone who would NEVER, EVER do anything to harm someone intentionally, and frankly would give his life to save another. He goes to work with a bullet-proof vest and a gun on, not because he is a bad guy, but because he might meet one. He doesn’t know most of the people he encounters and has no idea whether they are “good” or “bad” and many times has to make very fast decisions about how dangerous a situation might be. He isn’t perfect, but he is a good person and wants to do what is right.

I hate his job. I hate that it takes him away from our children with its crazy hours and 6 months out of the year when he is on nights. I hate that it makes him cranky at me sometimes, because of the ridiculousness and craziness he had to deal with that day. I hated it when a police officer came to my house in the middle of the night and woke me up ringing the door bell over and over, and beating on the door because my husband had been injured and was at the ER. I hate it that he has had to have knee surgery twice because of being injured at work. I hate it that people call him while at work and make him go to places where other people are doing drugs and causing a scene, drinking and driving, fighting, threatening to kill people, beating each other, stealing, and so many other things that make his job a necessity. I hate so many things about his job, but I love him for doing it.

He is just a “normal” cop with no agenda on the job, and he leaves 2 amazing kids every day and goes to work to deal with other people’s woes. He leaves with a small chance, yet SO MUCH bigger than yours or mine, that he might not make it home that day, because of a “normal” day at work.

So, family and friends, I am sure that you don’t care how I feel about this, but I am going to tell you anyway that I love you. I do. When you say awful, AWFUL things about ALL police officers when you are disgusted with an EXTREMELY small fraction of officers who make bad choices, or when you are angry about being pulled over, or whatever your personal complaint with the police might be…I love you. I love you so much, but honestly, it makes me so mad at you sometimes. It makes me mad that you only care about how his job affects YOU. It makes me mad that you are more concerned about bashing cops than considering how your vile and hateful comments might affect a completely innocent officer with a family who loves him very, very much. And by affect, I don’t mean his/our feelings. I mean how you or others actually treat police officers as a result, in the current disrespectful culture we live in.

People wonder why cops are so much more likely to quickly “neutralize” a threat these days. It isn’t because they all just want to shoot people and get away with it, or because they are all “arrogant *********”. (I am so sad to constantly hear ignorance like this) I believe the reason is because the threat is more likely to do harm to the cop, and the public, than ever before. We live in a world of sparse consequences and plenty of blame for authority while few repercussions are actually levied against the real offenders. We live in a world where the media reports are 95% negative about the police and 5% positive (Those aren’t actual statistics, but you get the idea:)

The point I am trying to make is, there is a time and a place for criticism of the police. I have even done it on many occasions, and completely support it when it is deserved. But to simply hate the police and incite anger and more hatred toward them because you want what you are saying to be true in order to fit your police hating agenda somehow, or because you would rather it be true because you have never like police anyway, well, THAT makes me angry. And there are many of you on my friend list:(

So, please forgive me for thinking that you are selfish and immature when you go on rants about the police without having a clue what actually happened, or because you got a ticket and the officer was a jerk. And please forgive me when I want to kick you in the shins (I won’t, but I want to!;) for saying things about “all cops” that not only demean my husbands character as a police officer, but frankly as a person as well. And please, please forgive me when I want to scream and shout that YOU HAVE NO CLUE what the police actually do or deal with on a regular basis (Yes, even in Russellville, Arkansas, so I can’t even imagine what it must be like in a big city).

Please forgive me, because I love you so much but I get upset with you when you are so unnecessarily mean, because I am a mother who sees the father of her precious children leave for a job that I hate, and I know that he will probably be absolutely fine, but what if he isn’t? How will I tell my children? How will I raise them? Would they remember him? Would they know how much he loved them? It seems dramatic, but I bet that every police officer’s family has had those thoughts…if only just once. I am also a wife who each day sees her husband put on a vest that may (or may not) save his life one day. He is my person, and I need him. I am in love with him. I want him to always come home to me. I am human, and I get mad when you bad mouth people you have never met, because you “hate ********* cops”. I get angry when you make MY husband’s job harder by promoting anti-police rhetoric, because it makes you feel satisfied or smart to do so. I don’t like getting mad at you and I definitely need to work on that, I get it, but I also need your forgiveness for feeling this way toward you, because it is real and sometimes it is raw.

By no means am I saying that the police shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions. There are some people that shouldn’t even be cops. There are police officers all over this country that do have their own agendas and even many who break the law themselves. There are bad police officers. There are bad traffic stops, bad decisions, bad choices, bad judgement calls made every day. And when it is intentional or careless, I have a SERIOUS issue with it. But understand first, that cops are human, too…just like you. And I don’t care whether you believe it or not, MOST cops aren’t bad. If you can’t see past yourself enough to acknowledge that, then I am sorry that you are so intent on being wrong. But please, quit lumping my husband in by default, with all of your rants about how “all cops are ********” or “cops are just on an ego trip” or any number of things that you say to sound like you have it all figured out.

I love you. I love you so much. Sometimes I just wish you didn’t say things that were so hurtful to my family. That’s all. I love you and I pray that you forgive me for being mad at you when you say stupid things. Yes. Stupid. I say stupid things too, some of which were probably in this post, but thankfully, there is enough grace to go around for all of us.

Attacking and promoting hate, and sometimes even violence (I read it all of the time!) against an entire group of people (in this case police officers), because of the actions of a few, or because of the misinformation given about those actions that caused you to make a one-sided judgement, is hate. Plain and simple. So, I love you. And I am trying to constantly remember that…

LOVE will always conquer HATE. Love conquers all.