No greater love exists than that of our Lord Jesus Christ. No greater sanctuary is there than the kingdom that he has so graciously offered. The boundaries of this world are only a thread that keeps us from fulfilling the potential that HE gave. Remember this my friends, the Old Testament is God's History of His power and His Story. The New Testament is God's History of the power he places in each of us as HIS Ambassadors. We carry HIS message, HIS heart, HIS Helmet, HIS Shield, HIS Word. God segregated the world first from the garden and then at the Tower of Babel. He began the desegragation at the cross. United We Stand, Divided We Fall. Stand tall, Stand Proud, Walk with the authority and power that HE gives you daily. Talk to HIM constantly. Let your thoughts be your prayers and your prayers be your thoughts so that what comes from the heart is from the throne of grace and will always honor GOD. "In His presence, there is joy beyond measure. At his feet a piece of mind can still be found...." We sing this often in our congregations. Let us sing it daily in our walk.

I wish you all the best. You have bit of a huge chunk and you are so young. Your goals are admirable and can be achieved but you need an accountability mentor. Not just a partner but a mentor that can enable you to focus and prioritize. You need a certified life coach who can help to guide you. Please email me for more information: foxglove123@comcast.net.

Great story! It reminds me of a really cute joke my brother in law told me; "how to you catch a unique rabbit?~~~you neak up on him!"

When you mentioned how it slipped in to your life, this man, and this relationship....that's sort of how it is...huh?

How wonderful and full of serendipity is that?

Keep moving forward in your wonderful new life!

I am so humbled by the stories here, so pleasantly, powerfully humbled!!!!!! And at the same time I want to shout from the rooftops: I'm losing weight with virtually no effort!!!!!!!!!

My reinvention is totally the result of a wonderful man and God bringing him into my life.

I watched a very ugly, angry divorce proceed starting at five years old. My mother was furious for years, and I only now begin to understand the nature of that fury. My father, I realize now, was not my father and insisted on silence about who my real father was.

That's another story. Let's just say that I was raised to be a career woman, alone. If a man came along, fine, but don't count on it and don't count on him to stay.

I was 35 before I met a man who shook my psyche up enough for me to even consider a relationship of my own. He didn't have the courage necessary though and so I stayed alone and mended the men friends who came my way. I was great at solving their problems and then letting them move on. No one wanted me; they just wanted to be friends.

A great believer in love and romance, will watch a good romantic comedy in a minute, I was stunned when love placed itself at my door during my 46th year. We had been friends first, and then when I lost my apartment (new Ph.D. who couldn't find an academic job), I moved in with him. Wasn't even thinking about love; he was my minister friend and that was all.

We lived together almost a year and then I realized I loved him. Hit me like a ton of bricks. Totally unexpected. Why did it happen? Day in, day out, unconditional love. Washed my dishes. Opened my doors. Loved me even when it was day 3 in my nightgown and no shower.

I saw how much he was carrying when I moved in and helped him gently evict an abusive mother and reclaim the life he'd put on hold to help her. We both had histories of abuse, neglect, rape, and we loved and cared for and nurtured each other. He told me that at 12 years old he had asked God to be the husband he knew he could one day be. Two marriages, two divorces and then, late in life, me.

What we have together is truly unusual, and the real change for me? I gained weight to protect myself as a young person and it turned into 400+ pounds by the time I hit 40.

Now, for the first time in my life, I am losing weight, EFFORTLESSLY, because the hole in my soul is being filled with fulfilling work (I am creating an intuitive counseling practice and I plan to open a literary arts center in September 2011) and the love of a man who truly worships me.

I am eating less simply because I no longer want more, and I have gone from 424.5, to 402.3 and just today I weighed and I am, ta da!!!!!!! Drumroll please: 393.7. I haven't been under 400 pounds since 2006.

Change is difficult; can often be unpleasant. But sometimes it slips up on you while you are living life. And then, oh then it can mask true joy!!!!!

Love and blessings,

Dr. Ni


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Dr. Niama L. Williams
http://www.blowingupbarriers.com
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drni
http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?drnisnews
http://www.squidoo.com/kickingbuttasadults

Hi Im Lorraine, from Va, am 62, and had to start over at this age as single woman.Really hated being alone and not with my man. But it forced me to call on friends that I hadnt seen in months and start networking with people I know.I work fulltime as a Mental Health Crisis RN, so work is very intense but so rewarding. I had to think of me, for a change, always been the super daughter , friend, mom. Now I'm learning to take time alone for me!! All the advice and counseling I give my patients, I am now starting to practice. I still struggle with aloneness, sometimes, am blessed to have 19 year daughter living with me. ALthough we dont see much of each other, it is nice hearing her music or laughter while talking to her buddies. She is working fulltime as special ed aide with children with autism, I'm so proud of her. She has learned from me, that you can be down but not out!!

I love your poem. I will be looking at your Website later today. I hope to communicate with you soon.

As I wondered around this country with my parents, new places to live, new schools to explore, new friends to have to make, no one ever told me that this was not the norm. I knew by my dad's tone of voice when he said something that we were on the go again many times during my formulative years. Because of this many of the things that others learned by being in the same place with the same friends I had no knowledge of. Sometimes I would say things that got the weirdest looks or an answer that I could not comprehend. Only when I became an adult with children of my own did I truly understand the gravity of what had happened to me and my siblings. I did not know what boundaries (except property lines) were. I never was told about "not going there". I blundered over and over again because I was so naive. Today after years of working hard on myself I have become someone that knows what it is to reach for the best because I have put the time into learning. Now I am a CEO of a non-profit that works with displaced families. I have put the abuse, the negelect, the unschooled thoughts, the hatred, the hurt, and the uncertainty of yesterday behind me. No, I am not perfect (only Christ is perfect) and I am disabled. However, I don't let the four walls confine me or the wheelchair define me. I spend most of my days connecting with others in the business world that can help me with the research and funding that is needed to run such an organization as mine. I network with people on many levels and in various places. I sit and listen to people and their stories and know that soon we will have our 38 homes up where families in NE Florida will have a place to stay until we can get their homes repaired, rebuilt, or replaced. Time does not stand still and many fall into the gray areas without the knowledge of how they can be helped. They don't know where they can be helped. They don't even know they can be helped. It is truly amazing that many think that displaced families are the homeless walking our streets when really they are our neighbors. While I am not where I want to be I am much further than where I came from. Five years ago I was working as a parking attendant in Jacksonville, FL, now I am the owner of my own business. I thank God for taking me under his wing and giving me this ministry to help families. This also gave me a voice that I had not had before. I was the wallflower, the introvert, the one that seldom participated in anything. My friend Tony says that this has unleashed a person I never knew, and I will not go back.

Where do I begin? MMMM...I grew up in a family of 10 kids, same parents, Irish Catholic, father English, typical Bostonian liberals who had a wonderful passion for justice and truth. I believe this was true in the core but the fact is that most of my childhood was filled with un-truths. Many stories you hear today are stories of abuse in terms of physical or sexual violence, that wasn't the case in my family. Being the 1970's there was so much going on socially and my family was right in the game. Nobody really had time for me. I was lonely and spent many days in the Library that was located directly behind my house. Along with the political scene there was also the drug scene...my older sisters and brothers moved out to Western MA to join others in the revolution. My parents had parties and I played waitress but somewhere along the line I felt as though I had disappeared or I wished that I had. I was an A student up until the 6th grade and this was the first time in my life that I think I actually re-created myself. I went from shy, quiet don't make a mistake to a raging teen who drank, drugged and didn't come home at night. At 14 years' old I left home and nobody ever really looked for me, I'm sure they wanted to but they couldn't.

7 years' went by and I had already experienced much more than any "normal" adult could imagine. I had two kids and was married by this time and decided after an overdose to turn my life around. Without going into all the details in the first 5 years after I made that decision I became a nurse, I got divorced and was a survivor of severe physical, sexual and emotional abuse. In the next 5 years I had done so much work on myself as well as earned my black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Within the next 10 years I continued my nursing career, struggled with my kids and managed my Tae Kwon Do teachers' school handling all of the classes, PR and business management. within the next 10 years' I received my Masters' Degree in Tae Kwon Do, re-married and opened my own Tae Kwon Do school in hopes' of reaching children before their dis-empowerment set in. It has been 8 years since opening the school and I recently hit a snag...a bottom. We are still very successful and well branded in the community but I hit a place where that little voice inside that started to nag me...