Welcome Back! If you have read my previous posts, then thank you for letting me share my story with all of you. It's healing in a way, to be able to share my past, and what my family and I have been through. I honestly couldn't have gotten through it without my complete reliance on God. He strengthened me, and always answered my prayers, reassuring me that I was doing the right thing by leaving, and that he was calling me out. As I said from the beginning, it is my sincere hope that someone who reads it, may benefit from it. There are literally thousands of others out there like me, who have similar stories. Most of you weren't raised in a cult as I was, however, it seems that every day that passes we are learning more and more things that shock us about our world, and nothing is what we always thought to be true. In fact, this last year I have often thought to myself, I can't believe I'm going through this again...and once again, it is my faith in God that has, and is, carrying me through. I'm not going to use this platform as a place to express my political views, as most of you who know me personally, know I definitely have them....but I do want to share with you things that I have found have really helped me, when I was struggling the most.
After my experience with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and coming to realize that I had been lied to and deceived my whole life, about most things that I believed to be true, I learned to question and research EVERYTHING! So when Covid hit, and things didn't make sense to me, I started researching. Once again the feeling of falling down a rabbit hole so to speak, was all too familiar. I was shocked at what I was finding, and was even more in shock that this could be happening once again. When I was questioning the Jehovah's Witness beliefs, I was labeled an "apostate" by the church elders and others, in order to keep my friends and family from listening or taking me serious about anything that I had found. It was a tool that is used to discredit and to discourage critical thinking. Similarly, like thousands of others around the globe who wanted answers about Covid, I and those like me, began to be labeled as a "conspiracy theorist" when we started sharing our findings. Now the label is common place on the daily news. All of this, in an effort to undermine and discourage anyone from doing their own research and from finding the truth. Just like I said when leaving the Jehovah's Witness faith, the truth should be able to withstand an examination, if it is the "truth". And after everything I have been through, one thing I hate the most is deception. So if something doesn't seem right, or seems off, I will always look for solid reliable information to find the truth about it.
Cognitive dissonance, a term I learned when researching the Watchtower, is in full play today. I've experienced this personally, when my parents were trying to share the truth about the Jehovah's Witnesses doctrines with me, but I couldn't process what they were trying to share because it just wouldn't compute in my head, and what I believed to be true felt threatened. What is Cognitive dissonance you say? It's when people get upset when their beliefs are challenged. It's a mental conflict that occurs when your beliefs are contradicted with new information. Alarm bells go off in your brain when you feel threatened on a deeply personal and emotional level, which causes you to shut them down and to disregard any rational evidence that contradicts what you had previously believed to be the truth. This conflict activates the part of your brain that involves personal identity and your emotional response to threats.
Perhaps you have experienced the same thing? We have been told so many lies, its hard to know who or what to believe anymore, and some things are just too awful to want to even begin to process as truth. I found myself glued to the news, trying to understand what was happening, only to be mad or upset with what I was hearing. Since the election though, I've turned off the news. I have come to the conclusion that it's just propaganda, better known as "fake news media". I can trust none of what I hear, and very little of what I even see. My husband though, still likes to watch one of his favorite news programs in the evening, and so I will watch that with him, but for the most part I have decided to spend my time listening to, and watching other things. Let me tell you, it has definitely helped my stress level to just turn it off. So if you are finding your upset, and stressed out from watching the news all the time, I would highly encourage you to do the same thing. That's not to say that I'm not still getting the news, as I still want to know what's going on, but I am not getting it from the traditional media sources who have proved to be nothing but talking parrots, getting their scripts from the same source. I have chosen to get my news, from Telegram, which I briefly scan through from time to time. At least I'm not listening to it all day as I was before.
The other thing that has really helped me, is that I made a conscience decision to start listening to the Bible on audio when I was working around the house. I'm not proud to say, that at 54 years young, I have never read the Bible all the way through from start to finish. Sure I have read many scriptures over the years, but I never took the time to actually listen or read it all the way through. I would keep track in my notes, where I would leave off and I would pick up on it again the next day. I found it so enjoyable, filling my head with positive, uplifting things from God's word, rather than filling my head full of things that were causing me anxiety and distress, that I didn't even believe to be a accurate source from any more.
In time, I decided that before I did anything else I was going to get up, pray, and read a little from God's word. That small change has been one of THE BEST decisions I have ever made. My mind is at peace now, and I am no longer stressed out about what I see happening on the news. Two different, lovely ladies I admire, said that's how they start their day, and so I decided to give it a try. It has made such a difference in my outlook, and gives me something different to think about that's positive all day long. One scripture that comes to mind that was shared with me is in Isaiah 26:3-"You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You.."
We've all been through a LOT, especially this last year. Many of us are continuing to go through and face very difficult trials. Satan is definitely working overtime trying to divide us, and to discourage us, and to make us feel hopeless. But by keeping our mind fixed on God, he will keep your mind at peace, as we go through these difficult times hard to deal with. So that is what I wanted to share with all of you. Keep the faith my friends, and know were in this together. God will carry us through. Much better days are ahead of us! Have a great week my friends!
~Peace & Joy,
Lisa
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