xjwsforChrist

Yesterday, I was feeling very blue. This is quite unusual for me, as I tend to be quite an upbeat, positive person, so spells of sadness or depression take me by surprise and are a real shock to the system. You know, I don’t believe in “putting on a face” or pretending to be ok; this “fake it ’til you make it” malarkey has never been something I’ve liked. I have to express what’s going on in my mind and spirit; crying out to God in anguish and sharing with others.

It was difficult at first to identify what had caused these feelings, but it was clear that bodily factors were largely to blame. I was exhausted, feeling unwell and simply needed to lie down and rest. I’d also received some bad news, and although it wasn’t terrible, I had allowed this information to affect my worldview; draining of it of colour and leaving it all a dreary grey…

I started cooking and listening to some music; making an effort to praise God through my tears. As I praised, cried, prayed and vented to my husband, the fog gradually began to lift and peace was regained in my heart. I noticed that this process started with one “happy thought”. This thought invaded my mind and dissipated my feelings of despair, brightening my outlook on life in general.

The thought was: singing. My husband and I are planning to start a singing class together, and when I remembered this, the thought of it was like a butterfly in my heart, stirring up joy where there had been darkness.

Then, I started thinking about how these small and beautiful aspects of life, such as music, dance, theatre, sports and other innocent diversions, have been discouraged and even forbidden to many who have participated in High Control religious groups. I was recently watching a video from the 2016 Jehovah’s Witness Convention that made my heart break. It shows a man on his deathbed, remembering a scene from decades before in which he was told by his father that he could not accept a scholarship to study the violin. Then, in a later video we find this man doing long hours of hard manual labour, visibly depressed by the effect it’s having on him. My husband, who is a musician, also watched these videos and was deeply angered. This is what happens, he said, when you rip someone’s dream from them when they are a child. A lifetime of weary, joyless tedium.

I saw another testimony on Youtube recently of a man in his fifties who described how he’d run away from his strict JW parents aged 17, as they wouldn’t let him become a musician. Even though this also happened decades ago, his pain and anger are still present, it’s absolutely tragic.

And what about you? Now that you have broken away from the High Control Group, how will you use your freedom? Have you begun to develop or discover your passion or hidden talents? Why not take some time to explore this, and don’t allow your circumstances to hinder you. It’s easy to think: “I don’t have the time or money to know where to start…”, but not everything costs money or is extremely time-consuming. I’ve found this list of “15 Ways to Explore Creativity” (http://artstuff.net.au/15-ways-to-explore-creativity/) that looks quite inspiring. Tell me: What is your passion?

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https://faithafterdeception.wordpress.com

Greetings FAD:

My Passion:

In my younger days as a youth and young man my passion was the ballet. I was a ballet dancer for nigh on twenty years. Absolutely loved it. Still do. The brothers tried to stop me from dancing but way back even then I thought “Hell, no, I’m not going to quit”—on the inside of my head. Try as they did to discourage my passion, I refused. Doesn’t mean they didn’t affect me—they did—but I didn’t quick until my body could no longer do it at the level that I thought I could maintain it. Another passion of my was photography. The brothers didn’t like me doing THAT either. But, again, in my head I thought: “Hell, no, I’m not going to quit taking photos.” That’s not entirely true, they affected me, and I slowed down, discouraged by them, and while I still do love photography, I don’t do it as much. The brothers were always discouraging about anything NOT “theocratic” like owning pets. They discourage owning pets because they were a responsibility and took time away from “kingdom interests”—field service. Same ol’ shit.

These days I tend to do calligraphy to keep my fingers in the art world. You can find my page at: https://www.instagram.com/the_scribe_armand/

Click on “Load” for more pages to be allowed to show up.

There you will see my artwork,: my calligraphy, my drawings, my puppies, my photography, envelopes I’ve addressed, Hebrew lettering, my watercolors, gothic lettering, some wedding work that I’ve done, a few photos of family members, but mostly my artwork.

--Armand

Beautiful work Armand!

Loz x

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"This is my son. LISTEN to Him!"

Good morning dear Loz, peace sister. And peace to you FAD....


I can vouch for our brother Armando. His ballet pictures are amazing. The grace and flexibility he has. Truly amazing talent. Yes, the younger days lol.......
His photographs ( the few I've seen) are professional. Still love the one of the bumble bee. And his calligraphy sells itself.

I must personally admit that whatever dreams and passions I had growing up I was never able to even entertain them. But as a JW I was married young, had children fairly young, ( normal for a JW) and my passion then and still is, is to be the best mother, wife, friend, companion I could be for my family.
I have always loved to garden. Still do.

My desires have changed some over the years. I am an animal lover NOW and would probably take in all the abandoned babies I could and nurture them lol. Not sure, maybe I would realize I " bit off more than I could chew" but I'd give it a try.

Anywho, ya'll enjoy this beautiful day!

Love, your sister and fellow servant of our Lord Jaheshua, Kim

Greetings, dear FAD, and peace to you! I had to give this one some thought, as I have several passions, some of which I might rank equally:

My passions are (in pretty much the following order):

- Getting to know, learning from, and sharing with others as to what I am given, Christ (and by default, his Father and mine, JAH)
- My husband and children
- My puppies
- Learning about almost anything else (besides Christ/JAH), which often includes taking (a) class(es)
- Helping others as and when I can, in whatever way I can
- Travel/road trips (both international and domestic)
- Having family/friends over (perhaps for a meal, fellowship, etc., but not necessarily)
- My work (I've always loved what I do, albeit not always those I've done it for)
- Good food (at home or away)
- Dining out (particularly new places we've never tried before)
- Pacific Redwood organic red wine from Costco

Nothing else. Well, okay, maybe renovating my old (and I do mean OLD) bathroom, right now. But that's pretty much it.

Peace to you!

Shellmar, on her own...