you are only as strong...

You are only as strong as you set your mind to believe. 

You are only as strong as your weakest link.

"I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live." Ecclesiastes 3:12

Have people hurt you? Have you lived some of your life of pain? What determines your pain? Who determines your own weaknesses? Have you ever realized that YOU determine your OWN happiness? This concept makes me so at peace. Why would you let someone who hurts you control you? This is the only realistic view if you are living a painful life through the hurt of a family member, friend, enemy, worker, student, companion, child, husband, wife, grandparent, etc. Does it make sense to let the people who hurt you continue to destroy your own happiness? Why are you wasting your own precious time that God has given you to worry about what others say/act/speak, etc. All in all, if you are one to left worrying about the person who has hurt you or inflicted pain on you (and we have all worried about it) deep down you are letting them control you (in a very weird sense, of course). But it is the truth.

Think about it. You are left worrying about what someone else thinks and says. Gossip and lies. All the lies. If you know that the gossip, the rumors, and the lies are false, why waste your time defending and backing up yourself? Only ONE person (besides yourself) knows the God given truth, and that is God himself. Only one person has the opportunity to make judgments and opinions, and go ahead... guess who that is. So why do we as humans think it is ok to run our mouths and continue hurting others to make ourselves look better on the outside? Are we really hurt that deep inside that we have to change contexts and go to the extent of making others feel bad and destroy the names of others (let alone your own family, your own friends)? Who are we to judge others and make judgments on others? It is something that is so hard for our society to grasp yet so taken advantage of. It's something I myself have been struggling with for a very long time. And I haven't yet figured out an outcome that has worked because I have seen too many people in my life hurt through the influence of family members and friends. And it continues bothering me.

The only advice that I can give you is one that my dearly respected and loved mother has always given me- "only you can control your happiness." It is your duty and yours only to determine your happiness, your anger, your frustration, your pain, your hurt. So what are you going to do with it? Lets all try and make the world a better place- forget the past, move on with your future, forgive & forget, and choose love; not hate. Because in the end, only you can determine your own happiness.

With love,

Catherine