2022
2022 was a tough year for many. It was for me too but also one of the best because I became a grandma for the first time!
Here you see the latest addition to our family on my lap. He will be 1 year on January 20th! Oh how time flies!
Healing through writing a book?!
Also this year marked a major healing of my memories. I got an idea to write anonymous letters to the people who had hurt me in various ways in the past - things that happened years ago and I have no way to fix now. Maybe they are deceased, I don't know how to contact them or it happened so long ago that it would be silly to bring it up now. I needed closure.
The letters were written in a book form with each letter a chapter. I started by explaining to myself the situation that had caused the pain, and tried to understand how they felt, why they did what they did and then I proceeded to tell them how things could have been better, according to me. I then told them that what they did has no power over me now and I choose to forgive them. Lastly, I pray a prayer, leaving my emotional pain in God's hands. (Check out Praying Medic's book "Emotional Healing"!)
It sounds crazy but this is what this method did for me: memories from the past no longer hurt when I think about them. These people are now totally forgiven by me. It is awesome to be totally free! Of course if there is someone close to you who you need to talk to in order to be able to forgive do it. In my case it was years of negative experiences that had a hold on me from way back when.
Jesus tells us to make sure to forgive others if we are to be forgiven, I have tried, let me tell you, but some memories were so painful that I still had emotional pain even though I have made up my mind to forgive them ones who hurt me.
What is real forgiveness and what does the Bible say about it? Here are some power verses to meditate on:
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. - Colossians 3:13
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. - Luke 6:37
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you- Ephesians 4:31-32
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Forgiveness is a wonderful thing. It frees you up on the inside and puts and end to victimhood, feelings of inferiority and emotional stress. I wish I had done this years ago! I had tried many times to forgive past wrongs while the people on the other end weren't available to confront but now I figured it out. I am not a victim. We are all a victim of a fallen world where we all feel insecure and do stupid things. I knew that and I wanted to let these things go but now I was able to get closure.
What a great feeling!
I don't know if I ever will publish Letters to You Know Who, which is the name of the forgiveness book I wrote, but this I know....it was a life changing experience.
MUSIC 2023
Music kind of went slowly forward in 2022 but now I am wrapping up three songs to release this winter: Seek Truth (a spoken word song based on 1 Corinthians 13); God Loves Rock n Roll (a blues song with Mark Jeghers as a guest on the slide guitar); and Love Lifted Me (an electronic ABBA like song that is a testimony of a friend of mine from Nashville.
You can listen to the end of Love Lifted Me here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z9x7qv9w7fqjaiy/230103inthestudio.mp4?dl=0
Later this year the plan is to continue writing the Change My Mind Book and start releasing an acoustic album called RAIN. It will be released one song at a time. We'll see how many and when...time will tell.
Some of the original songs that will be included in the upcoming RAIN album:
RAIN (It's Beginning to Rain Outside) (Pop)
You Picked Me Up Again (country ballad)
Anything (ballad)
When We Begin to Praise (Gospel)
......In total I hope it will be about 10 songs.
The idea is that it is better to release more often than less often (to keep a sort of momentum) and to avoid complicated arrangements that eat up my time. Until now, a track can take me up to a year to release because of the kind and amount of tracks. I plan to simplify the RAIN album so that you get the songs faster. If I see that one or two take off I will consider doing a remix with more tracks to back them up and add them to the final album.
Well that is the news about 2022 and the plan for 2023. I hope and pray that you have a blessed 2023!
Sincerely,
Liz