Pointing Fingers by Susan L.

I have a small confession to make. When I found out my book, "God and the Black River" didn't win or even place in the Word Alive Press 2012 contest it has set me on my heels a bit. It was my first book and it would have been nice to get some feed back but that doesn't happen. Logically and realistically it doesn't surprise me. I'm sure they had many books to choose from. Mine was about a touchy subject, mental illness and faith. For some reason the two are supposd to be mutually exclusive. I can personally relate to Job and the experiences he had with well meaning people who beat him over the head for his trials. Somewhere they mention God's punishment for Job's obvious to them sins against God. I'll give Job credit because he didn't take on the burden of false responsibility. That has been a large part of my discovery journey: actually differentiating between my mistakes or poor choices and letting go of others poor choices that were laid at my doorstep. Abusers are really good at blaming their victim. It is so easy to blame someone else for our actions rather than look in the mirror. In saying that, I've also come to the understanding that our thoughts and actions are often based on the "truth" we understand at the time Truth, like the Black River comes in many forms and is a fluid,living thing. To find the real truth, God's truth about us, about our experiences we only need to ask the question, "Why...?" It has been a process of patient revelation as I have learned God:s take on everything. And,yes, my truth has evolved as He grew me into the place of repenting having believed in the lies in the first place. There is much to see in a mirror. Oh, He only gave me as much truth as I could handle. "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32