My "A TALE OF GRATITUDE - LIFE EXPERIENCE CONTEST-10 SBD PRIZE POOL" Entry

in #gtgcontest6 years ago

I’ve had what a lot of people would consider a tough life. I had one alcoholic verbally and psychologically abusive parent and one physically abusive parent. I was abused almost daily as a child, whether it was verbal, physical, or other abuse, by the people that were supposed to protect me, my family. I had the misfortune to have my neighbor kill himself in front of me and found my aunt dead in the tub after she’d been there a few days in my early teens, trauma’s like those stay with you. As a child I thought either God didn’t exist or that He hated me for some reason. As I got older I decided that God didn’t exist because if He did and let all those things happen to me then He didn’t care about me, so I wouldn’t care about him.

I joined the military after I completed high school and got to travel for the first time. My first tour of duty was to Macedonia, we had to go to the sight of a mass grave being emptied out, that visual and the smell are something you can never forget or describe adequately to someone who’s never been near one, but it stays with you forever. There were buildings in ruins, homes with bullet holes through them everywhere, dead animal carcasses rotting along the sides of the roads, it was ghastly, but it made me so appreciative of living in Canada.

My second tour of duty was to Bosnia, where our vehicles came under attack on more than one occasion. There were a lot of locals that appreciated us being there, but there were locals that resented us being there as well and we never knew which ones we’d run into when we had to go out on convoys. It was scary, but it was rewarding as well because we helped a lot of people and thankfully I was on deployment with a lot of wonderful people that I’ll be friends with for the rest of my life.

When I got home from my second tour my husband and I were having issues, difficulty reconnecting and we even talked about getting a divorce. It was at that time that I surrendered everything up and asked God to be real, to forgive me, to help me through it all. The moment I did that it was like a huge weight was lifted off me. I felt so much lighter, so at peace and I knew He had taken the burden off my shoulders. It was an amazing feeling. :D

When I had to leave the military due to injury I didn’t know what I was going to do, but by that time my husband and I had worked through most of our issues and decided we would move to New Brunswick to be closer to his family, as I wasn’t close with mine. We decided to buy a plot of land and build our forever home. We started our homestead and haven’t looked back since. :D

Now don’t get me wrong, we made a lot of mistakes along the road, but we kept plugging away and eventually we got to the point where we could have our little herd, our piglets, and our chickens all living happily on our homestead. Now we are anxiously awaiting the birth of our first calf on the homestead. All this to say, God is good always, even when we don’t realize what He’s doing or what His plans are, they are always plans to make our lives better. I think sometimes we get in His way, but He always gets us back on track when we ask Him to.

Life isn’t easy, He never promised it would be, but each of us must choose if we want to let the bad things define us or just help shape us. I chose the latter thankfully. :D

I’ve learned to appreciate every single blessing in my life. Now don’t get me wrong, there are days when things are going bad and I have my momentary “pity party” or get angry, but then I remember my blessings and decide to think of those “bad” things as temporary obstacles, nothing more, and then things start to get better because my attitude shifts and gets better. :D

God bless you all. :D Have an awesome day everyone! :D

Word count 733.

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Beep! Beep! This humvee will be patrolling by and assisting new veterans, retirees, and military members here on Steem. @shadow3scalpel will help by upvoting posts from a list of members maintained by @chairborne and responding to any questions replied to this comment.

Thanks for visiting. :D God bless our military members, past, present, and future, and their families. :D

Amen. I am so blessed by your story @frostyamber. God bless you more <3

Welcome back lovely lady! :D Thanks for visiting. :D
Awe, that is so nice to hear, thank you very much @shirleynpenalosa. :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

Holy!
I just read this post just now. I've missed this inspiring post two days ago I guess, luckily I scrolled your feeds so I found this.
You"re a truly survival my Friend. You are right!, life is never flat, you will always face many problems as long as you're still breathing.
But what makes different is the way we solve the problems itself, do we strong enough to do so? Or vice versa.
Fortunately you realise that living is all being grateful of everythinghing we have. It's all about accepting, doing our best and be grateful.

So, Instead of complaining about your circumstances, just get busy and create some new ones. Do something you love, just like this homesteading daily posts. You've inspired many people.

This is what we have to do in life, surround yourself with positive vibes then you'll have a positive mind which finally lead you to be a great person.

Up and down in life is a must because as I said before life is never flat, but never ever the word "giving up" is crossed on your mind because the strongest people aren't always the people who win, but the people who don't give up when they lose.
Thanks my friend!!!
God bless you ❤️

Welcome back my friend! :D Thanks for visiting. :D
Wow, that is very kind of you, but to be 100% honest I too have moments where I want to give up and am quite negative. Thankfully those moments don't last long and I get back to my positive side. :D Being part of the #gratefulvibes family has helped me become more and more positive each day and that is one of the best blessings I've gotten since I started here on steemit. :D That is thanks to the wonderful people I've met here, including you. :D Hearing that you find me inspiring helps inspire me when I'm having a bad moment, so thank you very much for that. :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

Luckily that hard moment didn't last long. So here you are now the one who stand against all problems!!!
Stay strong madam. People around need you more than you know❤️❤️❤️

Amen to that. :D I'll do my best my friend. :D
Thank you very much. :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

Hello Frosty,
I really admire you. Despite of the trials, traumas and hardships
Thank God for His love and mercy.
Nobody's life is easy we all have this kind of problems in life.
Thanks for sharing Frosty and lots of hugs and love to you.
I get to know you better. You're such an inspiration.

Have a wonderful day, can't wait to see the new member to the family.

Keep shining xoxo

Welcome back lovely lady! :D Thanks for visiting. :D
Hello Sunny, that is a lovely thing to say, but as you said, we all have trials, traumas, and hardships at some point in our lives, and if we are blessed enough to have God those things feel more bearable, at least that's been my experience.
Amen to that because I don't know what my life would be like if I had asked Him into my life when I did, it certainly wouldn't have been like it is now, that I know for sure, but I do know I don't want a different life and I wouldn't do it over again even if I could. :D
Sending you hugs, love, and positive vibes. :D Thank you, its very sweet of you to say that. :D
God bless you and your family. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

lots of love to you Frosty.
I sent you DM n discord:)
hope you like it hehhehe

Thank you lovely lady. :D
Your kitten is so cute. :D You'll have to do updates as it gets bigger and matures into a cat. :D It'll be interesting to see if its coloring changes at all as it ages. (A couple of our grand-puppies started out sold black and then ended up with brown or white on their paws and one of them has gotten darker as she's gotten older.) I did like your message, baby animals are always welcome, they make me smile. :D Enjoy your new grand-kitten cuddles. :D Sending you hugs, love, and positive vibes. :D
God bless you and your family. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

Helo ma'am, your story is touching, but one thing is sure, whatever we are passing through God is always there to see us through and sustain us.

All we need to do is trust and obey.

Cheers xx

Welcome back lovely lady! :D Thanks for visiting. :D
Hello, yes He is, no matter what, He is always there, waiting to listen to us, waiting for us to talk to Him about anything and everything, even when we don't know how to put things into words, He still understands our hearts. He never abandons or abuses, He protects and loves, disciplines on occasion as any good parent would, but always lifts us up when we fall and shields us through the storms life brings our way.
Amen, Amen, Amen! :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

The way I look at it, the Creator gave us a rose garden, but He didn't remove the thorns. That is up to us to deal with them!

Welcome back lovely lady! Thanks for visiting. :D
That is the perfect way to look at it, yes there may be a lot or only a few, but there will be thorns for us through out lives, and we all have to deal with them. :D
God bless you and your family. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

You got a 11.79% upvote from @emperorofnaps courtesy of @gratefulvibes!

Want to promote your posts too? Send 0.05+ SBD or STEEM to @emperorofnaps to receive a share of a full upvote every 2.4 hours...Then go relax and take a nap!

Thank you very much. :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day! :D

You experienced deeply traumatic events and I can't imagine those horrible sights and smells. I am glad you were able to give them to God and feel his comfort and blessing. How exciting your first calf is coming soon. Following.

Thank you for taking the time to visit, read my post, and make a comment. :D
I'm glad too, it was a heavy burden that I carried for a lot of years unnecessarily, but thankfully it doesn't weigh me down like it used to. :D
It is very exciting, each day we check Belle's udder and belly developments, just in case this is the day. :D So far the calf isn't interested in coming out, although it did look like it was trying to push its way out of her stomach this morning, a knee or an elbow was pushing way out, LOL. :D If the picture is clear I'll be putting it in my next post. :D Thank you for the follow, welcome to my blog! :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my friend! :D

You're welcome! I used to live by many farms and was allowed to witness calving. I share in your excitement! Here is to the health of mom and calf! Take care!

Thank you very much. :D To their health indeed, Amen to that! :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

Many blessings to you, too! Thank you. <3

You're welcome. :D

Good post Frosty - Resteemed!!
Have an awesome day!!

Thanks for visiting, reading my post, and making a comment. :D
Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :D Thanks for the resteem! :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day! :D

You are totally inspiring mam!!!
Your life journey is amazing. Couldn't imagine how hard you fight yourself to be the winner of your own self.
Stay strong and inspiring!

Welcome back my friend! :D Thanks for visiting. :D
That is very nice of you to say, thank you very much. :D Each day has challenges and I try to take them one at a time, but some days are more difficult than others, those are the ones when reading comments like yours give me the strength and inspiration to keep pushing forward instead of looking back. :D Thank you for that. :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

Yaaa, keep focus to the future instead looking back to the past. You are greater than you could think you are. Be the best version of you friend!

Amen to that, forward is always better. :D Awe, that is such a sweet thing to say, thank you very much. :D I will do my best. :D
God bless you. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D

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