#had a really good dream last night where I was getting more nutrition and regaining energy

[goldkirk]

.

[isolemnlyswearpevensie]

1980s Horror Film | Peter Pevensie x Reader

Warnings: None

Time/Era: Modern AU, Young Adult/Late College

Word Count: 1.7k 

Summary: Y/N is a film student who has to take a science credit last minute to graduate. Naturally, she picks the easiest sounding one, nutrition. She didn’t expect the tough workload and she definitely didn’t expect the cute TA.

Request: Could I please request a peter x reader story where it’s after peter has moved to America and he meets the reader at his college where she’s the bubbly, fun and popular American girl and he’s a TA in one of her classes and he takes her on a cute date after they meet during tutoring and he tries to impress her and it’s just fluff💕 no worries if not and thank you for being such a good writer❤️❤️

A/N: I hope you enjoy! Thanks for the request! Let me know what you think. I changed the time a little bit because tbh I have absolutely no idea what it was like to be in college in the ’40s. I hope that’s alright. :)

masterlist  | read on ao3

“Hello everyone! Thanks for coming, my name is Peter Pevensie and I’m the TA for Professor Kirke’s nutrition class. I know he has a lot of assignments listed on the syllabus, but that’s why I’m here.” Peter stood in front of the small group of students that showed up to his tutoring session. He was expecting more to show up, considering Professor Kirke was a hard grader and didn’t really teach the material, but the turnout was still great. 

“How much of it do we have to do to pass? Like, realistically?” Y/N asked. There was no way she was going to do the amount of work assigned, especially since the class didn’t line up with her major.

“Well, that depends on what you want to do with the material. In my opinion, you should do all of it because the information is important to know,” He sat back in his chair and grinned at the girl, crossing his arms over his chest. It was obvious she didn’t want to be there and really couldn’t care less about the class. “But, to answer your question, just do the biggest assignments and ace the tests. That should put you at about 75% if you get all the points.” 

“So, basically, all of the reports that sound like it’ll take hours? Great, love that for me.” Y/N responded in an aggravated tone. 

The students around her seemed to take in everything Peter was saying, taking notes and giving him their full attention. They were all likely either sports medicine, health, and biology majors, or various or in various other STEM programs. 

Y/N, on the other hand, let her mind wander to the horror film she was directing for her senior project. She was just a semester away from graduating with an undergraduate degree in film and was so close to fulfilling her life long dream of being a horror film director. The project she was writing now was heavily inspired by her favorite film, The Shining. 

Throughout the condensed lecture Peter gave, he kept glancing at the grumpy looking girl at the back of the classroom. It was obvious she wasn’t paying attention; she had her earbuds in and was doodling on an old receipt from the Subway on campus. Nonetheless, he continued helping the students who were engaged but kept the strange girl in the back of his mind. 

Y/N allowed her mind to fall back to her surroundings when Peter leaned against the table she was sitting at and pulled an earbud out of her ear. It seemed as though everyone was gone, and the tutoring session was over. 

“So, what’s your deal?” Peter asks, looking down at his student and her drawings. 

“My deal? What do you mean?”

“You obviously don’t care about how carbohydrates affect muscle mass and energy supply. So, why are you taking this class? And from Dr. Kirke, of all people?” His hands gripped the desk at either side of his thigh, preventing it from moving under his weight. 

“Well, I needed an easy science class and it was between this class or geology. I figured at least nutrition was somewhat useful to my life,” Y/N closed her laptop and put it into her bag. “I didn’t realize the workload and I get extra credit for coming to these things.” “So, what is it that your field of study if you’re not in STEM, then?” 

“Film. I’m the one doing the response to The Shining piece, I’m sure you’ve seen my casting flyers around campus.” 

“Ah, right, Y/N L/N. I think you’re friends with my younger sister, Susan.” A look of realization came over Y/N’s face. 

“Oh! I knew your name sounded familiar!” Y/N grew more comfortable instantly. “Don’t tell her I shrugged your tutoring session off, she’d have my neck for being rude.” 

Peter laughed warmly, shaking his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it, no one deserves Susan’s wrath.” 

Y/N crumbled the subway receipt in her hand and stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder and pushing her chair in. “I guess I better go, I’m sure you have better things to do than hang after.” 

“I better get going, too. See you next Tuesday night for the next tutoring session?” 

“I’ll see if I feel like it.” Y/N winked and walked out of the room. 

~

“No receipt drawing this week?” Peter asked, feigning disappointment. Tutoring had ended, and Y/N was still sitting at the last table. 

“Oh shit, is the hour up already?” Y/N looked around the space to see it empty. Her cheeks turned a bit red and she glanced back up at her tutor. 

“Yeah, you really gotta pay attention, L/N.” His tone was playful as he took the same position he was in the week prior. 

“Why? You want me to stare at you for an hour?” Peter was taken aback by Y/N’s sudden flirty tone, unsure if he should reciprocate. 

“Uh, I meant- well. I meant that since this is to help you get a better grade and all, you should pay attention.” 

“So it has nothing to do with the fact you stare at me the entire time?” 

“You sit in the exact middle of the room! I don’t try to!” He rubbed at the back of his neck, flustered. He wasn’t used to feeling flustered; he was usually the one who made other people react. This made Y/N smirk a little. 

“Mmhm, I totally believe you.” 

~

“Yes, I know, class is over.” Y/N said, noticing Peter walking towards her. 

“Oh, so now you pay attention? Since when?” He had a granola bar in his hand, absentmindedly taking bites every minute or so. 

“Since I found out you’ve been asking Susan about me.” Peter choked. “Yeah, that’s right, Britt Boy. Your sister snitched on you.” 

“I asked her about your film ONCE.” Peter took his regular place as she stood up. 

“You could have, ya know, asked me.” Y/N held an amused facial expression, watching him try to regain his composure. 

“Well, I have no way to contact you, besides this tutoring time. Time in which you don’t even interact, might I add.” 

“Well,” Y/N pushed a long piece of paper into his palm. “It seems like you do now.” 

Y/N walked out of the building, leaving Peter wondering what the piece of paper was. Upon further inspection, Peter discovered it was a Subway receipt with a phone number scribbled on the bottom. 

~

Are you free after tutoring on Tuesday? Y/N’s phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number. 

Depends on who’s asking, really. She typed back. Obviously, it was Peter, but he couldn’t know that she knew that. 

What if it was the TA? Is that weird? 

Nah, and yes, I’m free. Y/N’s stomach filled with butterflies. He was extremely attractive; soft sandy hair, strong arms that are defined by his sleeves, and a slightly cocky demeanor. Definitely the type of man she could see herself dating.

Good, prepare for an outing 

Ooh, an outing. So fancy. I’ll bring my coat, Mr. TA man

~

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Y/N asked from the passenger seat of Peter’s car. He was wearing a college hoodie and jeans, very casual for a date. Y/N was grateful she didn’t dress up super fancy like she had originally planned. 

“We’re almost there!!!” He looked over at her and grinned, taking her hand in his.

The pair pulled up to a ticket booth and Peter rolled down his window. “Two please,” He handed the cashier money and received a small speaker and two tickets in return. 

“What is this, Pevensie?” Peter pulled up behind a car and parked before turning to his date. He had a shit-eating grin on his face. 

“Well, I know how much you like The Shining, seeing as you’re basing your entire Senior project on it. So, I thought you might like this.” He gestured to a large screen in front of the car. “They’re playing old horror movies all week… tonight is The Nightmare on Elm Street. I checked to see if they were showing The Shining but they weren’t. This was the next best option.” 

Y/N was speechless, he had put so much thought into this date. Her entire body felt fuzzy and a bashful grin filled her face. “You did all of this for me?” 

“Well, yes. You’re a special girl, so you deserve a special first date.” Peter looked so good in the dim lighting, the shadows framing the important features of his face. Without even thinking, she leaned over and kissed him. Instantly, he began to kiss Y/N back. 

The kiss was short but extremely sweet. He kept his hand on Y/N’s cheek as he lightly brushed his soft lips against her’s. He knew how to treat a girl right, and Y/N felt like the most special girl in the world. Y/N pulled away and kissed his cheek before falling back into her seat. 

“Thank you for this, really.” 

Peter grinned cheekily. “I’ll go get us some popcorn.” 

He got out of the car and Y/N let out a happy giggle. She was ready for the best first date she had ever witnessed. 

[sanderstalker]

Guardian Chapter 11

Warnings: Self deprecating thoughts, nightmare, mentions of mind control, small amounts of violence, very minor cursing. Let me know if I missed something.

Pairings: Eventual Prinxiety and Logicality.

Word count: 3,900

Chapter 10

_________“Heya kiddo, how's it going this morning.” Patton chirped happily.

“I’m doing better, Thanks for helping out last night, Pat,” Virgil said from the kitchen table.

Patton started working on making some waffles for breakfast. “No problem, I am always here to help.”

“Are you really though?”

“What? Of course, I am.” Patton said whirling around to face Virgil. “I promise.”

“You weren’t there when I needed you most though,” Virgil said simply like he was having the most casual of conversations. “This is all your fault.” His voice sounded normal but was laced with such venom it made Patton’s blood run cold.

“No, it’s not my fault!” Patton said desperately.

Virgil stood up and slowly stalked over to Patton.”Yes, it is.”

No! Patton tried to say but his voice failed him. “You made me feel like I was a burden. You made me feel worthless. You lied to me! You hurt me so bad that I went to a literal demon for help. Do you know how desperate I was? How I wished for anything to just make the pain to go away?” Virgil closed in on Patton His eyes feral. Patton tried to back away but his feet were frozen to the ground.

It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. He was trying to scream to Virgil but his voice wouldn’t come. “No, you wouldn’t because you weren’t there for me.” It’s not my fault. “You’re the one to blame.” It’s not... “You did this to me.” ...my fault. “You lied!” My fault. “You made me this way!”  My fault. “It’s all your fault!” My fault. My Fault. MY FAULT! It’s all my fault. When Patton thought this he felt a hand seize around his throat cutting off his air supply. Virgil was going to kill him. Patton knew he should fight back. He should be trying to tear the death grip from his throat. He needed to do something, but couldn’t bring himself to fight back. He deserved this. Virgil was right.

Patton couldn’t breathe, his lungs felt like they were filling with water. He gurgled and he choked trying to fill his lungs with air. It burned. Suddenly he wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. He was in the ocean and sinking fast. He couldn’t breathe and Virgil was pulling him down into the inky darkness below. Patton looked into Virgil’s eyes they were glowing yellow. That wasn’t right. This wasn’t Virgil. He finally found the desperate need to start fighting back. This wasn’t Virgil that was trying to drown him. He tried to pull away. But the effort made him feel weaker. He couldn’t breathe. Patton tried to scream for help, but again no sound came. He only sucked more water into his lungs. He strength was leaving him fast. His vision began to blur and his head was spinning from the lack of oxygen. It seemed so pointless to try to struggle anymore. He was going to drown alone with this monster that had Virgil’s face. It terrified him, but what could he do. He felt so cold and miserable, maybe it would be better if he just gave up and died already. It was at this moment when he was about to give up and just accept his fate a voice cut through to his dulled senses.

“Patton!” The voice was familiar. He couldn’t place it, but it felt so good to hear. The monster that was pulling him down shied away ever so slightly at the voice. Growling despite them being underwater. “Patton, wake up!” This time the monster shrunk way from Paton like the voice had burned it. As soon as the creature released its hold on him, Patton started to float up to the surface of the water. Patton starting to regain his strength started kicking his legs to swim upwards. He could still hear the voice calling out him. It was warm and inviting. It chased all the cold away making Patton feel warm and content.

He was almost to the surface now. He could see clearly again. He was going to get out of this. He was going to live. His lungs were still desperate for air as he quickly approached the surface, but he was going to make it. He had to.

“Patton help me!” Patton looked beneath himself from where he was rising up to see Virgil down below him, sinking fast into the dark. His brown eyes frantic and full of fear. “Don’t leave me here! I need you!” Patton didn’t even register that he shouldn’t be able to hear Virgil under this water he suddenly changed course trying to dive down, but he couldn’t go against the current that was pulling him upwards and away from Virgil.

“Patton! Wake up!” The other voice called.

“Patton don’t go, please!” Virgil said his eyes welling up with tears. “I am sorry for being a burden! Just don’t leave me!”

Patton screamed trying as hard as he could to get to Virgil, but his strangled cries were muffled by the water. Patton kept rising. Virgil kept sinking.

Patton looked up to see the surface was inches away now. He looked back down but couldn’t spot Virgil, but he heard one last whisper of his voice. “I’m scared, Patton.”  With that Patton finally surfaces.

_______

“Virgil!” Patton screamed waking with a start. sitting upwards nearly colliding with the man who was hovering over him. Patton looked around desperately for Virgil. “Where is Virgil? I have to help him. He is alone and he is scared. I have to get to him. This is all my fault. I have to fix this.” Patton sobbed his eyes stained with tears.

“Shh, Patton. Shh, you were having a nightmare. Calm down.” Logan cooed gently.

Patton’s eyes suddenly found the man sitting beside his bed and calmed if only slightly. It took only a moment more for Patton to remember the events of the previous day. He also remembered what Logan should be doing right now. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be helping Remy with the potion?” Patton asked still extremely frazzled from his dream.

“At this time Remy does not require my assistance and…” Logan trailed off gently grabbing Patton’s wrist that was badly bruised. “I felt this. I assume you injured yourself on the nightstand in your frantic tossing and turning you were doing when I found you.”

“You feel it when I hurt myself?” Patton asked still crying, but slowing down.

“More like I sense it. It is another thing we get when we are bonded with our Wards so that we know when they are in physical danger.” Logan explained gently. He softly ran his finger over Patton nasty bruise examining it. Patton winced slightly and pulled away. “Apologize I was attempting to…” Logan trailed off again not really sure where he was going with that line of dialogue.      

“It’s fine!” Patton interrupted shifting uncomfortably.

“Are you alright Patton?” Logan inquired looking at the clearly shaken man.

“Yeah, I’m fine just a really bad dream. I’ll be okay.” Patton said both trying to reassure himself just as much as Logan.

“May I inquire as to what your dream entailed. Perhaps talking about it will help to assuage your fears.” Logan said in an attempt to make Patton feel better.

Patton shook his head. He felt like if he started talking about it he would only start panicking again. Thankfully Logan seemed to understand and didn't press Patton any further. “Alright, we won’t talk about it them.” After saying this the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. The only sound to be heard Pat’s now quite sobbing.

Logan still is unused to dealing with such emotions moved awkwardly. He reached up and stiffly began to cart his fingers threw Patton’s soft hair. Patton at first stiffened at the touch but relaxed into it. It felt nice. He let out a wet laugh, at Logan’s awkwardness. “You're not used to comforting people are you?” He asked sending him a small glance.

Logan retracted his hand to Patton’s dismay. “I am sorry if I did not act according to for what the situation called for,” Logan said stiffly embarrassed at his inexperience in emotions.

Patton whimpered and shook his head. Taking Logan’s hand into his own he placed it back in his hair. “No, don’t stop. It was helping.”

Logan couldn’t help but, compare Patton to a newborn kitten, small and innocent, scared and unsure, but grateful for comfort he was being given. Logan indulged this little kitten by carting his, more relaxed this time, hand through his hair. Patton’s strained features softened and his strangled sobs ceased completely giving way to an only occasional sniffle.

He looked so at peace to Logan. He would have bet if Patton could purr he would be. Instead, however, the precious kitten stomach began to growl. Making them both realized with a start that Patton had not eaten since the dinner they had shared nearly two days ago now. Patton blushed at his stomach loud behavior. While Logan mentally scolded himself for not making sure his Ward had the nutritional care he needed. He must be starving.

Logan pulled his hand away from Patton’s head once more. Causing Patton to whimper. He wished his stomach had remained silent just a while longer. He honestly didn’t feel like eating.

“Despite the hour, I believe we should go acquire some food for you,” Logan said reluctantly pulling away from Patton who had looked at him in a way pleading for him not to go.   

Patton considered if he should go on a hunger strike until he had Virgil back. He couldn’t imagine the idea of eating anything while Virgil was out there in who knows what kind of trouble, but his stomach had something else to say on that matter as it growled at him again. Patton sighed and flung the covers of the bed off of him. Going to fallow Logan to wherever he planned to take him.

Patton followed Logan out of the bedroom he had been given for the time that he would be staying with the Guardians. Logan led him down a long hallway into a communal kitchen. Patton no longer had to remain hidden as everyone had heard of the mess Logan and Roman had gotten themselves into. Although the nasty little detail of the Gatherer was less than common knowledge. So they couldn’t discuss it out in the open. They had to a least keep some of the peace.

Logan quickly marched over to the refrigerator in the large kitchen. “I am assuming that you would like to eat something light as to not upset your already unsettled stomach.” Logan mused out loud more to himself than to Patton, but Patton still nodded in response to the statement.

As Logan busied himself with putting something together Patton marveled at the large kitchen. It was huge, easily big enough to make over two hundred cupcakes in one go. He smiled at the idea of spending an afternoon completely dedicated to baking or cooking some sort of delicious meal. He was immersed in thought when the toaster popped up with a ding. Causing him to jump with a squeal.

Logan then pulled out the toast and covered it jam. “Toasted whole wheat bread, adorned with Crofters jam. I hope blueberry pomegranate is an okay flavor.” He said handing the slice over to Patton.

“It’s fine,” Patton said with a small smile. He had actually never tried it before, but he knew he liked most jams. Patton took a bite. An explosion of flavor erupted in his mouth. This was by far the best jam he had ever tasted. Maybe, It was because he was really hungry that made the bread taste so good, but he severely doubted he would taste a better piece of bread with jam. “Oh my goodness. This is absolutely amazing.” His hunger strike completely forgotten he scarfed down the food in less than a minute. When finished he started licking his fingers and looked up expectantly at Logan. “Can I have s’more please.” He slurred around his fingers.

Logan let out a soft chuckle at Patton’s childish display. “Sure.” He said putting another slice of bread in the toaster. Patton didn’t stop there he ended up eating a grand total of four slices of toast before he was satisfied.

Patton let out a soft yawn when he had finished his last slice. He looked over the clock on the stove top it read 3:48 am. He let out a sigh. Despite him now being tired he didn’t like the idea of going back to sleep. He didn’t want to have another nightmare.

Logan followed his gaze to the clock and misunderstands its meaning. “Do want to go back to bed? I can leave you alone if you would like. I need to return to aid Remy in the potion making soon anyways.”

“NO!” Patton said quickly. “No, I am not tired anymore. Um… Maybe I could come and watch you and Remy work on the potion. I am sure it is super interesting. Oh, and maybe I can help.” Patton’s heart leaped at the idea of being able to do something to get Virgil home quicker.

“But, you haven’t received the proper amount of sleep that a human requires in order to function properly,” Logan added.

“I am fine. I don’t want to go back to sleep.” Patton said desperately not wanting to be forced into it.

Logan sighed. “Very well, Let us go see how Remy is doing.”

_______

During this time Roman sat in the window of his room lamenting the loss of his bond with Virgil. He couldn’t even know where he was. It was torture. He could always sense the location Ward ever since they had been bonded together, but now there was nothing. He felt nothing. He looked around his room. It was the room he was given when he had first bonded with Virgil. It was small just big enough to keep a few things in. No bed, no desk, one small chair. Guardians once bonded don’t need a room for much more than a place to keep a change of clothes and a few personal items. They don’t come around very often because they are always out protecting their Wards. His room looked as sad and as empty as Roman felt. Not being able to look at his room any longer he went back to staring out the window. It wasn’t much better. It was dark and the stars were obscured by clouds. Only occasionally did Roman catch the slightest glimpses of the moon peeking through. It was like it had been watching Virgil from afar. Only getting to see him from far away and for only the briefest periods of time. He could see him but he was just out of reach. Now though he may never see his pale moon ever again.

It also worried him. If he couldn’t sense Virgil now did that mean he wasn’t his Ward at all anymore, and what would that mean for Roman? Did that mean he had no obligation to Virgil anymore? Would he die if Virgil did? If their bond was completely severed he would have no need to interfere in what was happening. Then there was the question that truly terrified him. Did he have the right to call Virgil his Ward, or even interfere? If he had no connection that would mean that it is completely out of his hands.

Roman shook his head to clear his mind of these thoughts. No Virgil is his Ward and only his. He has every right to be the prince in shining armor coming to the rescue.

He is Virgil’s Guardian and he will save him.

_______

The rest of the night past on in an uneventful manner. Logan assisting Remy with the potion in Remy’s lab. Patton valiantly attempting to help until he fell into a dreamless sleep when he had attempted to rest his eyes for just a second. Roman remaining at the window unmoving for the rest of the night his eyes scanning and searching, but he didn’t really know what for.

Finally, the sun began to peak over the horizon where it would embark on its daily journey across the heavens. As soon as the first speaks of sunlight hit Roman’s eyes he was moving. He made his way down to Remy’s lab to check on the progress being made on the potion. He hoped they would be done soon. The sooner they were done the sooner the Virgil sized hole in his being would be filled. His footsteps echoed through the still empty hallways. As those Guardians who were not out protecting their Wards had yet to rise at this early morning time. Finally, the Guardian arrived at the door to the Lab. He hesitated before entering settling himself so he didn’t look as strained as felt. Once he deemed himself ready he entered.

“He is drooling on my desk! We need to move him!” Remy whisper yelled at Logan.

“He has been unable to sleep properly all night he needs as much as he can get,” Logan whispered back.

“But the drool. I can’t even. You are like being totally a pain.” Remy continued to whisper.

“I ‘like’ don’t ‘like’ care ‘like’” Logan shot back to the stunned Remy.

“What has your Ward done to you,” Remy asked in shock losing all his sass when met with this strange sarcastic Logan.

“I have no clue as to what you are referring, but I rest my case. Patton gets to sleep until he wakes up naturally.” Logan says electing to ignore Remy’s shock, and putting his foot down.

Remy regaining his composure sighs. “Whatever gurl, but ya gotta clean it up later.” He conceded reluctantly.

“Um, I hate to interrupt, but given that you two have time for bickering does that mean you have finished the potion?” Roman asked making his presence known to the others.

“Well, almost the ingredients have to settle together first before they will become active,” Logan explained.

“How long will that take.” Roman groand being impatient.

Remy glanced at the wall clock where it read 6:55 am. “At least not for another hour.”

Roman groaned impatiently, again. “Fine I am going to go eat something. I will be back in an hour.   

______

An hour later Roman returned his stomach full and his patience empty. He had to get to Virgil back soon otherwise he was he was afraid his head would explode. He once again entered the room of the lab to see Patton and Logan talking quietly and Remy scrolling through his Tumblr page.

Roman could scream at them. That damn Gatherer was doing who knows what in Virgil’s body and they are all just chilling out. It was unacceptable. “Well, glad to see you guys are working so hard to get Virgil back.” He spat venomously.

Patton visibly shrunk in on himself at Roman’s harsh words. Those of which Roman was now regretting seeing the death glare Logan shot him. Of course, Patton was doing all he could. But it was obviously not enough for Patton, he wanted to do more.

“Sorry,” Roman mumbled. “I am just really on edge right now… sorry.”

“It’s okay kiddo. We are going to get Virgil back I know it.” Patton said with a reassuring smile. While he sounded confident and sure that what he is speaking is the truth, on the inside, he is the most unsure out of all of them.

“Thanks, Pat,” Roman said appreciating the effort put forth from the clearly distraught man. “So, Remy is the potion ready now?”

Remy reluctantly set his phone down. “Sure is hun, I told you I could do it, gurl.” He walked over and picked up a large vial containing a purple liquid. “It all ready to go, but ya gonna need to listen to me very carefully before you go drinking this.”

Roman nodded. “Ok so like, you’re gonna drink this and it will make you like fall asleep and then basically your mind will be transported into the mind of the person you are thinking’ of. It’ll like probably help if you say his name or whatever before you fall asleep. Then once you're in his mind ya can’t get out until he wakes up.” Remy explained.

“Okay, so how do I wake him up?” Roman asked.

“That depends on him and you boo. Every mind is different and this isn’t exactly something that is like normal. So I don’t know.” Remy shrugged his shoulders.

“Okay, well there is no time like the present,” Roman announced grabbing the vial from Remy, ready to chug it.

“Wait!” Remy warned before Roman could drink it. “First off you’re gonna want to be on a bed before you drink that if you don’t want to end up face first on the floor. Second, you don’t want to drink all of it I made like way too much.” Roman nodded and started out the door to find somewhere he could lay down. The other three close behind.

The group eventually ended up in the room Patton had spent the night in, or at least some of it before his nightmare. Roman sat down on the bed ready to go. “Good luck Roman. Remember to act with caution.” Logan advised.

“See ya later gurl,” Remy said trying to figure out what he was going to eat for breakfast. Hey, so what if his friend was going off on a dangerous mission he was hungry.

Patton just shifted uncomfortably not saying a word.

Roman smiled at the group. “I shall be back. With Virgil safe and sound.” He said regally. With that, he took a small sip of the potion. Gently set it down on the nightstand before saying: “Virgil.” Then his body slumped down on to the bed in deep sleep.      

“Well, there is nothing else we can do except wait,” Logan stated matter-of-factly.

Logan and Remy both started out o the room heading to do other things. Patton remained unmoving staring at Roman, his mind racing.

“Patton, are you okay?” Logan asked turning around in the hallway.

Patton turned his head tears threatening to tumble down his cheeks. He then seemed to make up his mind on a decision. He bounded forward to the nightstand. He grabbed the vial containing the potion.

“Patton what are you…” Logan starts.

“I’m sorry I have to help.” Patton cries, and before Logan can take action he takes a sip of the potion. “Virgil, I’m coming.” With that Patton’s body crumples to the floor, completely limp.

Every nerve in Logan’s body screams at him. His Ward is in danger he has to do something. He looks the vial in Patton’s limp hand most has spilled onto the ground when he fell but there is just a little left. Without thinking Logan grabs the vial and downs its contents. “Virgil.” Is all he manages to say before his body falls next to Patton his blue wings blanketing the small Ward.

Remy stands in the hallway really annoyed. “Well, there go my plans. Damn it gurls, I just wanted to go eat."

________

Chapter 12

Tag list: @whatwashernameagain, @logicallyanxious-morallyromantic, @anony-phangirl, @sleepyssnail, @phlying-squirrel, @v-doodles, @virgilcrofters, @yangsembercelica, @barlibismi, @music-and-monsters. Let me know if you want to be added

[almighty-god-saved-me-blog]

What Allows Me to Regain a Happy Life? | Eastern Lightning

What Allows Me to Regain a Happy Life? | Eastern Lightning

Xiaoping

This is an age when people care very much about physical attractiveness and a good looking body. With a beautiful face and a slim figure, I turned heads no matter what kind of clothes I wore. People around me often praised me and envied that I had both a great figure and a great face, and my husband was also very kind to me. Because of this, I was especially confident. No matter where I went, I walked with my head held high and my back straight. I displayed myself to receive praise from others. In my heart I believed: As long as a woman has a graceful figure and a pretty face, she could rewrite her own life.

However, unexpectedly, after having a child, I began to put on weight. Gradually, my husband began to dislike me, and he said I had a chubby stomach and fat legs. Some people also joked sarcastically at me, saying that I even put on weight when I drank water, and that I was so fat that I was out of shape. Listening to these words, I felt especially awful. My face burned as if I was slapped. When I had used to go out, people praised my beauty, but now they all ridiculed me. It was as if I fell from heaven to hell. The drastic contrast seriously damaged my pride, and I felt so painful inside. One time, I went shopping with my husband, and I was buying trousers for him in a department store. Two shop assistants quietly whispered behind me, “This guy is so young and handsome. How is he with this big fat woman?” When I heard their critiques, I was so angry that I threw the pants onto the counter, and then turned and left. I couldn’t stop my tears from flowing. I thought: These days, people only value a good face and a nice figure. If a woman doesn’t have a beautiful face and a slim figure, then there’s no way for her to stand in society. So, I made up my mind: When I stop breastfeeding my child, I’ll try to lose weight. I’ll make those people who laughed at me envious and jealous! Later, a friend of mine said to me, “Look at how chubby you’ve become. So many men have a young mistress these days. If you keep getting fatter and don’t try to lose weight, what will you do if one day your husband becomes unfaithful and finds a mistress?” When I heard things like this, I became more miserable inside, and I felt a strong sense of danger. I thought: When my figure hadn’t changed, my husband obeyed everything I said. After I put on weight, my husband started to dislike me. If things go according to what my friend said, this would be awful. I can’t allow something like this to happen. I felt very anxious. In those days, even in my dreams I dreamed that my husband ran off with some other woman. This made me feel even more that losing weight is of utmost importance. After my child was weaned, I looked for effective short-term ways of losing weight through acquaintances and the Internet. I even consulted experts in weight loss, who said to me, “If you want a slim figure, you have to pay the price. A married woman like you especially needs to look after her weight. You’re still young. It’s too late if you want to lose weight when you’re older. Your figure is your confidence. Only when your figure is better can you grasp your husband’s heart.” The expert was right! Only when a woman has a perfect figure can she have total confidence and restore her image in others’ minds. So, I started to implement my own weight loss plans without hesitation, looking for “secret recipes” for losing weight.

One time, my younger sister said to me that her neighbor took some diet pills and lost around 15 kg in one month. I was really excited after hearing it, and I got my sister to look into it and buy a few boxes for me. My sister said, “Sis, every medicine has its side effect. It will surely do some impact to your body. You have to be careful.” When I heard this, I was a bit worried. I was afraid that maybe it really had some side effects that would damage my body. But then I thought: When my figure was good, my husband and people around me all praised me and were envious. However, after my figure became bad, all that I have encountered is sarcasm, jokes, and humiliation. There’s so much difference between the two. I’ll just throw caution to the winds. I don’t care about whether taking this medicine is dangerous to my body. As long as it could make me slimmer, nothing else is important. So, I started taking weight loss pills. Normally, I should have taken one pill a day, but I increased the dosage to achieve a faster result. Because of the stimulus from the pills, I could only sleep about two to three hours a night. My head felt bloated, my eyes hurt, and my heart began palpitating. I also stopped having proper meals every day, but only ate various fruits and vegetables which can lower fat like cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelons. I only had some plain noodles twice a month. Since I lacked both nutrition and sleep, I became a bit dazed. But so that I could regain my original slim body after the diet, I felt that this wasn’t much pain to suffer through. Determination would lead to success. After some time, every day, I would try on a nice dress that my friend had given me. In the beginning, I could only pull it over my head, but after a month, I could finally put it on easily. I happily stood in the courtyard admiring myself, but suddenly I saw blackness and collapsed. Seeing this, my husband angrily said to me, “You’re really throwing away your life to be beautiful!” But I ignored his words. No matter what, I slimmed down now. I didn’t suffer in vain this past month. Later, I purposefully wore pretty dresses and went out into the streets. I wanted to let those people who had used to joke about my weight see my slim figure. When my neighbors saw me, sure enough, they were surprised, “Wow! How did you slim down so quickly? Your weight loss is really successful!” Once again, they gazed at me with envy and jealousy. At that time, my husband didn’t say sarcastic things as he did before, and his attitude toward me improved. He even smiled at me and said, “You really do look better when you’re thin!” Listening to these words, my vanity was satisfied once again. My desire to lose weight became even stronger. I got addicted as if I was on drugs, and I couldn’t even have stopped if I wanted to. I still thought that my figure wasn’t perfect enough, so I bought another box of weight loss pills. But I could never have thought that when I slimmed down to the figure I wanted, suffering would follow on.

One morning, when I woke up I found that there were many small red spots on my body, even on my scalp and in my ears. I immediately had my mother accompany me to the hospital for an examination. The doctor said I had psoriasis, a refractory skin disease. It couldn’t be totally cured, but could only be controlled as much as possible through medicine. The reason was because my immunity was lowered and I had no resistance, so that the toxin in my body was unable to be purged and remain in my bloodstream. I had never imagined that, while pursuing a slim figure, I would catch a skin disease that caused anyone who saw me to distance themselves. This price is too high. Later, I had very itchy reddish patches from head to toe. My husband despised me and kept his distance too. Additionally, I didn’t dare to go out and was afraid of being laughed at. I felt exceedingly painful inside, and cried every day. I had tried to lose weight to show off my body, but now, not only could I not show off, but I brought trouble upon myself. Other people could wear short tops and pants, but I had to wrap myself up tightly to hide the patches I had all over my body. I was so regretful, but things being what they were, there was no way to turn back. I could only look everywhere for doctors to cure my skin problems. However, all medicine could only control it for a time, but not cure the cause. What made me even more pained was that weight loss drug induces dependency—since I stopped taking weight loss pills because of my sickness, I quickly got fat again. The ridicule from people and cold-shoulder and dislike from my family made me feel very distressed, and I even had suicidal thoughts. I had always pursued a perfect figure and always wanted to change my own fate through losing weight, but, not only did I not lose weight, I even caught this disease and brought myself great damages. In particular, I saw that some people around me got insomnia, heart diseases or anorexia for losing weight, and some even got stomach cancer and paid for beauty with their lives. All this made me feel lost: What did I do this for? Is it just so that people would praise me? Is it really worth it to damage my body to this extent?

Later, I had the fortune to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. In a gathering, I fellowshiped about my process of losing weight to the sisters, and one of them read me a passage of Almighty God’s words: “Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement. Do not throw yourself into disorder; you should proceed calmly” (The Word Appears in the Flesh). The sister fellowshiped, “Everything is predestined by God, including the kind of marriage and family we have, what appearance and skin color we have, when we are fat, and when we are thin. It is not something that anyone or anything could change. What God gives us is all the best, it is all meaningful, but we are not able to obey God’s sovereignty and predestination, and we always feel that everything God bestows is not to our will. We always want to pursue perfectness and oppose God’s sovereignty and change all that God has given us. That is why we have self-harmed and brought ourselves so much pain. Look at such and such in my working unit. In pursuit of beauty, she messed up her nerves when undergoing a lip line surgery and now she has a crooked mouth. Some other people, in order to lose weight, went to have liposuction and died on the spot. The reason these people have encountered such disasters is because they do not understand God’s authority and sovereignty. This is the bitter consequence of their vain attempt to change their fate by themselves.”

Through God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I knew that the kind of marriage, family, appearance, and figure I have are all in God’s hand. God has already arranged it. It is not something that I can change when I want to. However, because I had no understanding of God’s sovereignty, I tried to change my own fate through losing weight. As a result, I spent a lot of money and suffered a lot of hardships, but in the end, not only did I not change my fate, I caught an obstinate skin disease and suffered from it every day…. I am truly too foolish and ignorant! Later, I partook in church life with brothers and sisters, singing hymns in praise of God, fellowshiping about God’s words, and sharing our own respective experiences and witnesses. In my association with them, I saw that those brothers and sisters dress very plainly. They do not pursue physical attractiveness or a good figure. They accept and submit to whatever God has given to them, and they live relaxed and carefree. They help and support each other and treat everyone fairly. They do not deal with somebody differently because of differences in their appearance and figure. This gave me consolation and release. I also realized that I could no longer rely on weight loss to change my own fate. The whole life of every person is in God’s hands, and I must submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement.

Later, I saw these words of God: “It is like someone saying to you: ‘Your face is shaped wonderfully. Just a little short along the bridge of the nose, but if you have that fixed, you will be a world-class beauty!’ For someone who has never wanted to have cosmetic surgery, would their heart be moved hearing these words? (Yes.) So are these words seductive? Is this seduction tempting to you? Is it testing? (Yes.) Does God say things like this? (No.) Was there any hint of this in God’s words that we looked at just now? (No.) Why? Does God say what He thinks in His heart? Can man see God’s heart through His words? (Yes.) But when the serpent had spoken those words to the woman, were you able to see its heart? (No.) And because of man’s ignorance, they were easily seduced by the serpent’s words, they were easily hooked, easily led. So were you able to see Satan’s intentions? Were you able to see the purpose behind what it said? Were you able to see its plot and its cunning scheme? (No.) What kind of disposition is represented by Satan’s way of speaking? What kind of essence have you seen in Satan through these words? (Evil.) Evil. Is it insidious? Perhaps on the surface it smiles at you or reveals no expression whatsoever. But in its heart it is calculating how to reach its objective, and it is this objective that you are unable to see. You are then seduced by all the promises it gives you, all the advantages it talks about. You see them as good, and you feel that what it says is more useful, more substantial than what God says. When this happens, does man not then become a submissive prisoner? (Yes.) So is this means used by Satan not diabolical? You allow yourself to sink low. Without moving a finger, with these two sentences you are happy to follow along with it, to comply with it. Its objective has been reached. Is this not so? (Yes.) Is this intention not sinister? Is this not Satan’s most primal countenance? (Yes.) From Satan’s words, man can see its sinister motives, see its hideous countenance and see its essence” (“God Himself, the Unique IV” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). The revelations in God’s words allowed me to see that the pursuit of a fine physical figure is Satan’s trick. Satan uses some lies and fallacies to deceive me. On the outside, they sound very reasonable and kind, as if it’s for my own good, so that I am unknowingly deceived and controlled by them. For example, “A graceful lady is a gentleman’s desire,” “A woman’s asset is her figure and face,” and “As long as you have a good figure, you’ll get the praise of people around you and the love of your husband, and your life will be more exciting.” All the time, I was fooled by these satanic lies and they led me by the nose. I thought wholeheartedly that only by having a fine figure would I be able to grasp my husband’s heart, and receive the praise and esteem of others. In order to satisfy my vanity, to reach the goals of my own desire, I didn’t even hesitate to use drugs to damage my own body. But in the end, what it brought me were only the torment of sickness and pain that I cannot shake away. Only then did I realize that when people follow the trends of the world and live for the flesh, they are suffering from Satan’s trampling and affliction. At the same time, I also recognized that only God’s word can allow people to understand the truth, see through Satan’s tricks, and rescue people from Satan’s deception and harm. Slowly, I turned away from Satan’s lies and didn’t rely on those weight loss pills and food. I no longer cared about other people’s gazes and their critiques about me, nor did I care about how my husband treated me. Instead, I believed in the destiny God has for me, and I lived by God’s words. I ate regularly every day and normally read God’s word, pursued the truth, and performed my duty as a creature of God. Unwittingly, I recovered, and there were few patches on my body. Thank God! I know that this is all God’s love for me. It is God that has brought me before Him, bestowed the truth upon me, and given me discernment, so that I am no longer tricked by Satan and am able to live under God’s care and protection. My spirit is released and set free, I have a proper goal in life to pursue, and no longer live in so much pain.

Reviewing the process of my losing weight, it was truly full of difficulties and danger. I almost ended up losing my life. If it wasn’t for God’s care and protection and His salvation, I would still be trapped in this evil current, stubbornly seeking after a perfect figure and being afflicted and trampled by Satan…. It was God’s words that allowed me to understand that all of this was caused by Satan, which used my vanity to confuse, seduce, and cheat me, so that I sank low and was trapped in its snare and unable to escape. Thanks to God’s words that awakened me, I was no longer bothered by my figure, nor did I care how others judged me. Instead, I only pursued the truth, lived by God’s word, and submitted to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, so as to live out the true likeness of man that God demands and receive God’s approval. I felt that living like this was very happy and fulfilling. After a period of time, as my husband saw that my illness was getting better, that my mental outlook was improving, that my attitude toward life became positive and optimistic, and that all the brothers and sisters in the church were good honest people, he didn’t cold-shoulder me for my weight anymore and was nicer to me. I thank God from the bottom of my heart that His words have brought an upturn in my life. Now, my life is full of happiness. I am extremely released and free when living church life and performing my duties with my brothers and sisters. I realize that only by giving myself into God’s hand and submitting to God’s sovereignty and arrangement can I gain the greatest happiness and live the most beautiful life!

Source: What Allows Me to Regain a Happy Life?

[almightygodismydependence-blog]

What Allows Me to Regain a Happy Life?

Xiaoping

This is an age when people care very much about physical attractiveness and a good looking body. With a beautiful face and a slim figure, I turned heads no matter what kind of clothes I wore. People around me often praised me and envied that I had both a great figure and a great face, and my husband was also very kind to me. Because of this, I was especially confident. No matter where I went, I walked with my head held high and my back straight. I displayed myself to receive praise from others. In my heart I believed: As long as a woman has a graceful figure and a pretty face, she could rewrite her own life.

However, unexpectedly, after having a child, I began to put on weight. Gradually, my husband began to dislike me, and he said I had a chubby stomach and fat legs. Some people also joked sarcastically at me, saying that I even put on weight when I drank water, and that I was so fat that I was out of shape. Listening to these words, I felt especially awful. My face burned as if I was slapped. When I had used to go out, people praised my beauty, but now they all ridiculed me. It was as if I fell from heaven to hell. The drastic contrast seriously damaged my pride, and I felt so painful inside. One time, I went shopping with my husband, and I was buying trousers for him in a department store. Two shop assistants quietly whispered behind me, “This guy is so young and handsome. How is he with this big fat woman?” When I heard their critiques, I was so angry that I threw the pants onto the counter, and then turned and left. I couldn’t stop my tears from flowing. I thought: These days, people only value a good face and a nice figure. If a woman doesn’t have a beautiful face and a slim figure, then there’s no way for her to stand in society. So, I made up my mind: When I stop breastfeeding my child, I’ll try to lose weight. I’ll make those people who laughed at me envious and jealous! Later, a friend of mine said to me, “Look at how chubby you’ve become. So many men have a young mistress these days. If you keep getting fatter and don’t try to lose weight, what will you do if one day your husband becomes unfaithful and finds a mistress?” When I heard things like this, I became more miserable inside, and I felt a strong sense of danger. I thought: When my figure hadn’t changed, my husband obeyed everything I said. After I put on weight, my husband started to dislike me. If things go according to what my friend said, this would be awful. I can’t allow something like this to happen. I felt very anxious. In those days, even in my dreams I dreamed that my husband ran off with some other woman. This made me feel even more that losing weight is of utmost importance. After my child was weaned, I looked for effective short-term ways of losing weight through acquaintances and the Internet. I even consulted experts in weight loss, who said to me, “If you want a slim figure, you have to pay the price. A married woman like you especially needs to look after her weight. You’re still young. It’s too late if you want to lose weight when you’re older. Your figure is your confidence. Only when your figure is better can you grasp your husband’s heart.” The expert was right! Only when a woman has a perfect figure can she have total confidence and restore her image in others’ minds. So, I started to implement my own weight loss plans without hesitation, looking for “secret recipes” for losing weight.

One time, my younger sister said to me that her neighbor took some diet pills and lost around 15 kg in one month. I was really excited after hearing it, and I got my sister to look into it and buy a few boxes for me. My sister said, “Sis, every medicine has its side effect. It will surely do some impact to your body. You have to be careful.” When I heard this, I was a bit worried. I was afraid that maybe it really had some side effects that would damage my body. But then I thought: When my figure was good, my husband and people around me all praised me and were envious. However, after my figure became bad, all that I have encountered is sarcasm, jokes, and humiliation. There’s so much difference between the two. I’ll just throw caution to the winds. I don’t care about whether taking this medicine is dangerous to my body. As long as it could make me slimmer, nothing else is important. So, I started taking weight loss pills. Normally, I should have taken one pill a day, but I increased the dosage to achieve a faster result. Because of the stimulus from the pills, I could only sleep about two to three hours a night. My head felt bloated, my eyes hurt, and my heart began palpitating. I also stopped having proper meals every day, but only ate various fruits and vegetables which can lower fat like cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelons. I only had some plain noodles twice a month. Since I lacked both nutrition and sleep, I became a bit dazed. But so that I could regain my original slim body after the diet, I felt that this wasn’t much pain to suffer through. Determination would lead to success. After some time, every day, I would try on a nice dress that my friend had given me. In the beginning, I could only pull it over my head, but after a month, I could finally put it on easily. I happily stood in the courtyard admiring myself, but suddenly I saw blackness and collapsed. Seeing this, my husband angrily said to me, “You’re really throwing away your life to be beautiful!” But I ignored his words. No matter what, I slimmed down now. I didn’t suffer in vain this past month. Later, I purposefully wore pretty dresses and went out into the streets. I wanted to let those people who had used to joke about my weight see my slim figure. When my neighbors saw me, sure enough, they were surprised, “Wow! How did you slim down so quickly? Your weight loss is really successful!” Once again, they gazed at me with envy and jealousy. At that time, my husband didn’t say sarcastic things as he did before, and his attitude toward me improved. He even smiled at me and said, “You really do look better when you’re thin!” Listening to these words, my vanity was satisfied once again. My desire to lose weight became even stronger. I got addicted as if I was on drugs, and I couldn’t even have stopped if I wanted to. I still thought that my figure wasn’t perfect enough, so I bought another box of weight loss pills. But I could never have thought that when I slimmed down to the figure I wanted, suffering would follow on.

One morning, when I woke up I found that there were many small red spots on my body, even on my scalp and in my ears. I immediately had my mother accompany me to the hospital for an examination. The doctor said I had psoriasis, a refractory skin disease. It couldn’t be totally cured, but could only be controlled as much as possible through medicine. The reason was because my immunity was lowered and I had no resistance, so that the toxin in my body was unable to be purged and remain in my bloodstream. I had never imagined that, while pursuing a slim figure, I would catch a skin disease that caused anyone who saw me to distance themselves. This price is too high. Later, I had very itchy reddish patches from head to toe. My husband despised me and kept his distance too. Additionally, I didn’t dare to go out and was afraid of being laughed at. I felt exceedingly painful inside, and cried every day. I had tried to lose weight to show off my body, but now, not only could I not show off, but I brought trouble upon myself. Other people could wear short tops and pants, but I had to wrap myself up tightly to hide the patches I had all over my body. I was so regretful, but things being what they were, there was no way to turn back. I could only look everywhere for doctors to cure my skin problems. However, all medicine could only control it for a time, but not cure the cause. What made me even more pained was that weight loss drug induces dependency—since I stopped taking weight loss pills because of my sickness, I quickly got fat again. The ridicule from people and cold-shoulder and dislike from my family made me feel very distressed, and I even had suicidal thoughts. I had always pursued a perfect figure and always wanted to change my own fate through losing weight, but, not only did I not lose weight, I even caught this disease and brought myself great damages. In particular, I saw that some people around me got insomnia, heart diseases or anorexia for losing weight, and some even got stomach cancer and paid for beauty with their lives. All this made me feel lost: What did I do this for? Is it just so that people would praise me? Is it really worth it to damage my body to this extent?

Later, I had the fortune to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. In a gathering, I fellowshiped about my process of losing weight to the sisters, and one of them read me a passage of Almighty God’s words: “Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement. Do not throw yourself into disorder; you should proceed calmly” (The Word Appears in the Flesh). The sister fellowshiped, “Everything is predestined by God, including the kind of marriage and family we have, what appearance and skin color we have, when we are fat, and when we are thin. It is not something that anyone or anything could change. What God gives us is all the best, it is all meaningful, but we are not able to obey God’s sovereignty and predestination, and we always feel that everything God bestows is not to our will. We always want to pursue perfectness and oppose God’s sovereignty and change all that God has given us. That is why we have self-harmed and brought ourselves so much pain. Look at such and such in my working unit. In pursuit of beauty, she messed up her nerves when undergoing a lip line surgery and now she has a crooked mouth. Some other people, in order to lose weight, went to have liposuction and died on the spot. The reason these people have encountered such disasters is because they do not understand God’s authority and sovereignty. This is the bitter consequence of their vain attempt to change their fate by themselves.”

Through God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I knew that the kind of marriage, family, appearance, and figure I have are all in God’s hand. God has already arranged it. It is not something that I can change when I want to. However, because I had no understanding of God’s sovereignty, I tried to change my own fate through losing weight. As a result, I spent a lot of money and suffered a lot of hardships, but in the end, not only did I not change my fate, I caught an obstinate skin disease and suffered from it every day…. I am truly too foolish and ignorant! Later, I partook in church life with brothers and sisters, singing hymns in praise of God, fellowshiping about God’s words, and sharing our own respective experiences and witnesses. In my association with them, I saw that those brothers and sisters dress very plainly. They do not pursue physical attractiveness or a good figure. They accept and submit to whatever God has given to them, and they live relaxed and carefree. They help and support each other and treat everyone fairly. They do not deal with somebody differently because of differences in their appearance and figure. This gave me consolation and release. I also realized that I could no longer rely on weight loss to change my own fate. The whole life of every person is in God’s hands, and I must submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement.

Later, I saw these words of God: “It is like someone saying to you: ‘Your face is shaped wonderfully. Just a little short along the bridge of the nose, but if you have that fixed, you will be a world-class beauty!’ For someone who has never wanted to have cosmetic surgery, would their heart be moved hearing these words? (Yes.) So are these words seductive? Is this seduction tempting to you? Is it testing? (Yes.) Does God say things like this? (No.) Was there any hint of this in God’s words that we looked at just now? (No.) Why? Does God say what He thinks in His heart? Can man see God’s heart through His words? (Yes.) But when the serpent had spoken those words to the woman, were you able to see its heart? (No.) And because of man’s ignorance, they were easily seduced by the serpent’s words, they were easily hooked, easily led. So were you able to see Satan’s intentions? Were you able to see the purpose behind what it said? Were you able to see its plot and its cunning scheme? (No.) What kind of disposition is represented by Satan’s way of speaking? What kind of essence have you seen in Satan through these words? (Evil.) Evil. Is it insidious? Perhaps on the surface it smiles at you or reveals no expression whatsoever. But in its heart it is calculating how to reach its objective, and it is this objective that you are unable to see. You are then seduced by all the promises it gives you, all the advantages it talks about. You see them as good, and you feel that what it says is more useful, more substantial than what God says. When this happens, does man not then become a submissive prisoner? (Yes.) So is this means used by Satan not diabolical? You allow yourself to sink low. Without moving a finger, with these two sentences you are happy to follow along with it, to comply with it. Its objective has been reached. Is this not so? (Yes.) Is this intention not sinister? Is this not Satan’s most primal countenance? (Yes.) From Satan’s words, man can see its sinister motives, see its hideous countenance and see its essence” (“God Himself, the Unique IV” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). The revelations in God’s words allowed me to see that the pursuit of a fine physical figure is Satan’s trick. Satan uses some lies and fallacies to deceive me. On the outside, they sound very reasonable and kind, as if it’s for my own good, so that I am unknowingly deceived and controlled by them. For example, “A graceful lady is a gentleman’s desire,” “A woman’s asset is her figure and face,” and “As long as you have a good figure, you’ll get the praise of people around you and the love of your husband, and your life will be more exciting.” All the time, I was fooled by these satanic lies and they led me by the nose. I thought wholeheartedly that only by having a fine figure would I be able to grasp my husband’s heart, and receive the praise and esteem of others. In order to satisfy my vanity, to reach the goals of my own desire, I didn’t even hesitate to use drugs to damage my own body. But in the end, what it brought me were only the torment of sickness and pain that I cannot shake away. Only then did I realize that when people follow the trends of the world and live for the flesh, they are suffering from Satan’s trampling and affliction. At the same time, I also recognized that only God’s word can allow people to understand the truth, see through Satan’s tricks, and rescue people from Satan’s deception and harm. Slowly, I turned away from Satan’s lies and didn’t rely on those weight loss pills and food. I no longer cared about other people’s gazes and their critiques about me, nor did I care about how my husband treated me. Instead, I believed in the destiny God has for me, and I lived by God’s words. I ate regularly every day and normally read God’s word, pursued the truth, and performed my duty as a creature of God. Unwittingly, I recovered, and there were few patches on my body. Thank God! I know that this is all God’s love for me. It is God that has brought me before Him, bestowed the truth upon me, and given me discernment, so that I am no longer tricked by Satan and am able to live under God’s care and protection. My spirit is released and set free, I have a proper goal in life to pursue, and no longer live in so much pain.

Reviewing the process of my losing weight, it was truly full of difficulties and danger. I almost ended up losing my life. If it wasn’t for God’s care and protection and His salvation, I would still be trapped in this evil current, stubbornly seeking after a perfect figure and being afflicted and trampled by Satan…. It was God’s words that allowed me to understand that all of this was caused by Satan, which used my vanity to confuse, seduce, and cheat me, so that I sank low and was trapped in its snare and unable to escape. Thanks to God’s words that awakened me, I was no longer bothered by my figure, nor did I care how others judged me. Instead, I only pursued the truth, lived by God’s word, and submitted to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, so as to live out the true likeness of man that God demands and receive God’s approval. I felt that living like this was very happy and fulfilling. After a period of time, as my husband saw that my illness was getting better, that my mental outlook was improving, that my attitude toward life became positive and optimistic, and that all the brothers and sisters in the church were good honest people, he didn’t cold-shoulder me for my weight anymore and was nicer to me. I thank God from the bottom of my heart that His words have brought an upturn in my life. Now, my life is full of happiness. I am extremely released and free when living church life and performing my duties with my brothers and sisters. I realize that only by giving myself into God’s hand and submitting to God’s sovereignty and arrangement can I gain the greatest happiness and live the most beautiful life!

[almighty-god-saved-me-blog]

What Allows Me to Regain a Happy Life? | The Church of Almighty God

Xiaoping

This is an age when people care very much about physical attractiveness and a good looking body. With a beautiful face and a slim figure, I turned heads no matter what kind of clothes I wore. People around me often praised me and envied that I had both a great figure and a great face, and my husband was also very kind to me. Because of this, I was especially confident. No matter where I went, I walked with my head held high and my back straight. I displayed myself to receive praise from others. In my heart I believed: As long as a woman has a graceful figure and a pretty face, she could rewrite her own life.

However, unexpectedly, after having a child, I began to put on weight. Gradually, my husband began to dislike me, and he said I had a chubby stomach and fat legs. Some people also joked sarcastically at me, saying that I even put on weight when I drank water, and that I was so fat that I was out of shape. Listening to these words, I felt especially awful. My face burned as if I was slapped. When I had used to go out, people praised my beauty, but now they all ridiculed me. It was as if I fell from heaven to hell. The drastic contrast seriously damaged my pride, and I felt so painful inside. One time, I went shopping with my husband, and I was buying trousers for him in a department store. Two shop assistants quietly whispered behind me, “This guy is so young and handsome. How is he with this big fat woman?” When I heard their critiques, I was so angry that I threw the pants onto the counter, and then turned and left. I couldn’t stop my tears from flowing. I thought: These days, people only value a good face and a nice figure. If a woman doesn’t have a beautiful face and a slim figure, then there’s no way for her to stand in society. So, I made up my mind: When I stop breastfeeding my child, I’ll try to lose weight. I’ll make those people who laughed at me envious and jealous! Later, a friend of mine said to me, “Look at how chubby you’ve become. So many men have a young mistress these days. If you keep getting fatter and don’t try to lose weight, what will you do if one day your husband becomes unfaithful and finds a mistress?” When I heard things like this, I became more miserable inside, and I felt a strong sense of danger. I thought: When my figure hadn’t changed, my husband obeyed everything I said. After I put on weight, my husband started to dislike me. If things go according to what my friend said, this would be awful. I can’t allow something like this to happen. I felt very anxious. In those days, even in my dreams I dreamed that my husband ran off with some other woman. This made me feel even more that losing weight is of utmost importance. After my child was weaned, I looked for effective short-term ways of losing weight through acquaintances and the Internet. I even consulted experts in weight loss, who said to me, “If you want a slim figure, you have to pay the price. A married woman like you especially needs to look after her weight. You’re still young. It’s too late if you want to lose weight when you’re older. Your figure is your confidence. Only when your figure is better can you grasp your husband’s heart.” The expert was right! Only when a woman has a perfect figure can she have total confidence and restore her image in others’ minds. So, I started to implement my own weight loss plans without hesitation, looking for “secret recipes” for losing weight.

One time, my younger sister said to me that her neighbor took some diet pills and lost around 15 kg in one month. I was really excited after hearing it, and I got my sister to look into it and buy a few boxes for me. My sister said, “Sis, every medicine has its side effect. It will surely do some impact to your body. You have to be careful.” When I heard this, I was a bit worried. I was afraid that maybe it really had some side effects that would damage my body. But then I thought: When my figure was good, my husband and people around me all praised me and were envious. However, after my figure became bad, all that I have encountered is sarcasm, jokes, and humiliation. There’s so much difference between the two. I’ll just throw caution to the winds. I don’t care about whether taking this medicine is dangerous to my body. As long as it could make me slimmer, nothing else is important. So, I started taking weight loss pills. Normally, I should have taken one pill a day, but I increased the dosage to achieve a faster result. Because of the stimulus from the pills, I could only sleep about two to three hours a night. My head felt bloated, my eyes hurt, and my heart began palpitating. I also stopped having proper meals every day, but only ate various fruits and vegetables which can lower fat like cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelons. I only had some plain noodles twice a month. Since I lacked both nutrition and sleep, I became a bit dazed. But so that I could regain my original slim body after the diet, I felt that this wasn’t much pain to suffer through. Determination would lead to success. After some time, every day, I would try on a nice dress that my friend had given me. In the beginning, I could only pull it over my head, but after a month, I could finally put it on easily. I happily stood in the courtyard admiring myself, but suddenly I saw blackness and collapsed. Seeing this, my husband angrily said to me, “You’re really throwing away your life to be beautiful!” But I ignored his words. No matter what, I slimmed down now. I didn’t suffer in vain this past month. Later, I purposefully wore pretty dresses and went out into the streets. I wanted to let those people who had used to joke about my weight see my slim figure. When my neighbors saw me, sure enough, they were surprised, “Wow! How did you slim down so quickly? Your weight loss is really successful!” Once again, they gazed at me with envy and jealousy. At that time, my husband didn’t say sarcastic things as he did before, and his attitude toward me improved. He even smiled at me and said, “You really do look better when you’re thin!” Listening to these words, my vanity was satisfied once again. My desire to lose weight became even stronger. I got addicted as if I was on drugs, and I couldn’t even have stopped if I wanted to. I still thought that my figure wasn’t perfect enough, so I bought another box of weight loss pills. But I could never have thought that when I slimmed down to the figure I wanted, suffering would follow on.

One morning, when I woke up I found that there were many small red spots on my body, even on my scalp and in my ears. I immediately had my mother accompany me to the hospital for an examination. The doctor said I had psoriasis, a refractory skin disease. It couldn’t be totally cured, but could only be controlled as much as possible through medicine. The reason was because my immunity was lowered and I had no resistance, so that the toxin in my body was unable to be purged and remain in my bloodstream. I had never imagined that, while pursuing a slim figure, I would catch a skin disease that caused anyone who saw me to distance themselves. This price is too high. Later, I had very itchy reddish patches from head to toe. My husband despised me and kept his distance too. Additionally, I didn’t dare to go out and was afraid of being laughed at. I felt exceedingly painful inside, and cried every day. I had tried to lose weight to show off my body, but now, not only could I not show off, but I brought trouble upon myself. Other people could wear short tops and pants, but I had to wrap myself up tightly to hide the patches I had all over my body. I was so regretful, but things being what they were, there was no way to turn back. I could only look everywhere for doctors to cure my skin problems. However, all medicine could only control it for a time, but not cure the cause. What made me even more pained was that weight loss drug induces dependency—since I stopped taking weight loss pills because of my sickness, I quickly got fat again. The ridicule from people and cold-shoulder and dislike from my family made me feel very distressed, and I even had suicidal thoughts. I had always pursued a perfect figure and always wanted to change my own fate through losing weight, but, not only did I not lose weight, I even caught this disease and brought myself great damages. In particular, I saw that some people around me got insomnia, heart diseases or anorexia for losing weight, and some even got stomach cancer and paid for beauty with their lives. All this made me feel lost: What did I do this for? Is it just so that people would praise me? Is it really worth it to damage my body to this extent?

Later, I had the fortune to accept Almighty God’s work of the last days. In a gathering, I fellowshiped about my process of losing weight to the sisters, and one of them read me a passage of Almighty God’s words: “Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement. Do not throw yourself into disorder; you should proceed calmly” (The Word Appears in the Flesh). The sister fellowshiped, “Everything is predestined by God, including the kind of marriage and family we have, what appearance and skin color we have, when we are fat, and when we are thin. It is not something that anyone or anything could change. What God gives us is all the best, it is all meaningful, but we are not able to obey God’s sovereignty and predestination, and we always feel that everything God bestows is not to our will. We always want to pursue perfectness and oppose God’s sovereignty and change all that God has given us. That is why we have self-harmed and brought ourselves so much pain. Look at such and such in my working unit. In pursuit of beauty, she messed up her nerves when undergoing a lip line surgery and now she has a crooked mouth. Some other people, in order to lose weight, went to have liposuction and died on the spot. The reason these people have encountered such disasters is because they do not understand God’s authority and sovereignty. This is the bitter consequence of their vain attempt to change their fate by themselves.”

Through God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I knew that the kind of marriage, family, appearance, and figure I have are all in God’s hand. God has already arranged it. It is not something that I can change when I want to. However, because I had no understanding of God’s sovereignty, I tried to change my own fate through losing weight. As a result, I spent a lot of money and suffered a lot of hardships, but in the end, not only did I not change my fate, I caught an obstinate skin disease and suffered from it every day…. I am truly too foolish and ignorant! Later, I partook in church life with brothers and sisters, singing hymns in praise of God, fellowshiping about God’s words, and sharing our own respective experiences and witnesses. In my association with them, I saw that those brothers and sisters dress very plainly. They do not pursue physical attractiveness or a good figure. They accept and submit to whatever God has given to them, and they live relaxed and carefree. They help and support each other and treat everyone fairly. They do not deal with somebody differently because of differences in their appearance and figure. This gave me consolation and release. I also realized that I could no longer rely on weight loss to change my own fate. The whole life of every person is in God’s hands, and I must submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement.

Later, I saw these words of God: “It is like someone saying to you: ‘Your face is shaped wonderfully. Just a little short along the bridge of the nose, but if you have that fixed, you will be a world-class beauty!’ For someone who has never wanted to have cosmetic surgery, would their heart be moved hearing these words? (Yes.) So are these words seductive? Is this seduction tempting to you? Is it testing? (Yes.) Does God say things like this? (No.) Was there any hint of this in God’s words that we looked at just now? (No.) Why? Does God say what He thinks in His heart? Can man see God’s heart through His words? (Yes.) But when the serpent had spoken those words to the woman, were you able to see its heart? (No.) And because of man’s ignorance, they were easily seduced by the serpent’s words, they were easily hooked, easily led. So were you able to see Satan’s intentions? Were you able to see the purpose behind what it said? Were you able to see its plot and its cunning scheme? (No.) What kind of disposition is represented by Satan’s way of speaking? What kind of essence have you seen in Satan through these words? (Evil.) Evil. Is it insidious? Perhaps on the surface it smiles at you or reveals no expression whatsoever. But in its heart it is calculating how to reach its objective, and it is this objective that you are unable to see. You are then seduced by all the promises it gives you, all the advantages it talks about. You see them as good, and you feel that what it says is more useful, more substantial than what God says. When this happens, does man not then become a submissive prisoner? (Yes.) So is this means used by Satan not diabolical? You allow yourself to sink low. Without moving a finger, with these two sentences you are happy to follow along with it, to comply with it. Its objective has been reached. Is this not so? (Yes.) Is this intention not sinister? Is this not Satan’s most primal countenance? (Yes.) From Satan’s words, man can see its sinister motives, see its hideous countenance and see its essence” (“God Himself, the Unique IV” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh). The revelations in God’s words allowed me to see that the pursuit of a fine physical figure is Satan’s trick. Satan uses some lies and fallacies to deceive me. On the outside, they sound very reasonable and kind, as if it’s for my own good, so that I am unknowingly deceived and controlled by them. For example, “A graceful lady is a gentleman’s desire,” “A woman’s asset is her figure and face,” and “As long as you have a good figure, you’ll get the praise of people around you and the love of your husband, and your life will be more exciting.” All the time, I was fooled by these satanic lies and they led me by the nose. I thought wholeheartedly that only by having a fine figure would I be able to grasp my husband’s heart, and receive the praise and esteem of others. In order to satisfy my vanity, to reach the goals of my own desire, I didn’t even hesitate to use drugs to damage my own body. But in the end, what it brought me were only the torment of sickness and pain that I cannot shake away. Only then did I realize that when people follow the trends of the world and live for the flesh, they are suffering from Satan’s trampling and affliction. At the same time, I also recognized that only God’s word can allow people to understand the truth, see through Satan’s tricks, and rescue people from Satan’s deception and harm. Slowly, I turned away from Satan’s lies and didn’t rely on those weight loss pills and food. I no longer cared about other people’s gazes and their critiques about me, nor did I care about how my husband treated me. Instead, I believed in the destiny God has for me, and I lived by God’s words. I ate regularly every day and normally read God’s word, pursued the truth, and performed my duty as a creature of God. Unwittingly, I recovered, and there were few patches on my body. Thank God! I know that this is all God’s love for me. It is God that has brought me before Him, bestowed the truth upon me, and given me discernment, so that I am no longer tricked by Satan and am able to live under God’s care and protection. My spirit is released and set free, I have a proper goal in life to pursue, and no longer live in so much pain.

Reviewing the process of my losing weight, it was truly full of difficulties and danger. I almost ended up losing my life. If it wasn’t for God’s care and protection and His salvation, I would still be trapped in this evil current, stubbornly seeking after a perfect figure and being afflicted and trampled by Satan…. It was God’s words that allowed me to understand that all of this was caused by Satan, which used my vanity to confuse, seduce, and cheat me, so that I sank low and was trapped in its snare and unable to escape. Thanks to God’s words that awakened me, I was no longer bothered by my figure, nor did I care how others judged me. Instead, I only pursued the truth, lived by God’s word, and submitted to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, so as to live out the true likeness of man that God demands and receive God’s approval. I felt that living like this was very happy and fulfilling. After a period of time, as my husband saw that my illness was getting better, that my mental outlook was improving, that my attitude toward life became positive and optimistic, and that all the brothers and sisters in the church were good honest people, he didn’t cold-shoulder me for my weight anymore and was nicer to me. I thank God from the bottom of my heart that His words have brought an upturn in my life. Now, my life is full of happiness. I am extremely released and free when living church life and performing my duties with my brothers and sisters. I realize that only by giving myself into God’s hand and submitting to God’s sovereignty and arrangement can I gain the greatest happiness and live the most beautiful life!

Source: What Allows Me to Regain a Happy Life?