After the Story - Choices Like Rivers - Episode 54

Nancy Jackson (0:00): Hey, everyone. It's time for after the story with Nancy Jackson. Are you ready? Episode 54. As I said earlier, we all have deficiencies by design.

Nancy Jackson (0:17): Some of us have trauma like Sharon. These deficiencies pull us together. We lean on each other and on God. Here Leslie is being a great friend. She is providing Sharon the space she needs to talk while offering the right encouragement all the while.

Nancy Jackson (0:37): We all need friends like her. We all need to be a friend like her. At my age, I've had some very good friends that I would trust with my life. And there were some that I thought I could trust in that way who only wound up betraying our friendship. We are often very eager to trust and offer our heart in friendship, but let me say that we need to be careful and test the waters.

Nancy Jackson (1:09): Know for sure that they will indeed hold them true before you divulge your most precious heart secrets. Leslie is right here to encourage Sharon to let it out. We have a tendency to hold things in. We heap unforgiveness upon ourselves. We heap condemnation upon ourselves.

Nancy Jackson (1:30): But we must know that those things come from the enemy and not from God. We feel we need to be condemned because the enemy tells us we do. We feel that our actions are unforgivable because the enemy tells us that they are. This just happens. We don't even realize that it is happening.

Nancy Jackson (1:54): We hear those thoughts and just incorporate them into our hearts without even knowing that they are a lie. Getting the fact that God loves us, that he forgives us into our hearts and our minds, will help us to recognize when those adverse and self condemning thoughts come to us so that we can reject them quickly. If you are carrying something and don't feel comfortable sharing with your friends, that is okay. Sometimes, oftentimes, the very best way is to find a good counselor. If you go to one and don't feel a good connection, then feel free to try another one.

Nancy Jackson (2:36): You are not bound to stay with a counselor who doesn't feel right to you. When you find one, stick with them for as long as it takes for you to feel healed. It is a neutral space where you can feel comfortable sharing without reproach or fear of it being exposed. Always know, too, that you can come back later if you stop going. That is a common practice and often necessary as old forgotten wounds rear their ugly heads again.

Nancy Jackson (3:09): As a friend, I hope and pray that I can become a better friend, one who listens and who can keep a secret at all costs, one who is never condescending or impatient with how long it takes a friend to heal. I also pray that I always subtly point them back to Jesus, the true healer. Subscribe to this podcast plus my other podcast, The Story with Nancy Jackson, where you will hear the actual, professionally narrated novel that syncs with after the story. Link is in the notes.

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