#thank you Holy Spirit

[babythegod]

Thank You for blessing me with my own and allowing me to hold it down. I truly appreciate the goddess I’m becoming. I’m actually grateful You’re the only one I have to depend on. It’s impossible for You to disappoint me. I’m so proud to be YOURS, chosen and different. Thank You for setting me apart. Thank You eternally for the BIG magic , ambition and dreams You put in my heart. I never want to be like them, Lord. Neverrrrrr. Please keep me close. You are so so so GOOD to me. You’ve raised my standards of things I’ll tolerate from people. I’d rather be alone because Your Presence feels like home. You gift me nonstop, I’m so spoiled because of You. I’ll do whatever I can to repay Your immense mercy &grace. Amen.

[thaunknowndreadhead]

Way before anxiety or depression were clinical diagnoses, they were mentioned in the Bible. Science is but the expression of mankind's understanding of what God has already created.

Proverbs 12:25 says, "Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad."

Hear are some bible verses to help fight anxiety:

Isaiah 41:10

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, yes, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Psalm 56:3

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.

2 Timothy 1:7

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Joshua 1:9

Have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Lord I pray that this helps someone through their silent struggles. Thank you Holy Spirit for presenting this to me. May this help those that read it to navigate through the darkness to draw them nearer to you Lord God and further away from the grip of worry, anxiety and depression. I ask Lord give us the strength and discernment to continue to fight against the darkness that attempts to threaten our peace. In Jesus's name, Amen.

[jadegemsss]

Random 5am thoughts: the term “witch” just means “healer”. But in my ascension process, it has only been turned against me. Like all the black women that I carry the baton for doing this work, medicine has been perverted into spells; petition has been bastardized and turned into “black magic”. The Lord likes when I scry. He likes when I delight in nature, His creation. He is happy that I, like Eve at one point knew how to use the natural world around me to make sure I was healthy and ate good food. I interpret dreams like Joseph. I am learning to love like Jesus. I fell into idolatry and misguidedness, and my love healing work- learning how to heal the bonds between partners and family were turned against me… I have been brought to my knees. I have come to the end of myself. I don’t want anything to do with the term anymore. Enemy nations labeled the black woman “witch.” I want nothing more to do with the term. Going forward, I am a love healer and only this. God’s word is healing. I WORK for the Great Healer. Jah moves through me. It is not the power I have, but a testament to God’s power that we may do good works on earth. I am a “witch” no more. Amen.

[pax-romana200]

(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

[aniah-who]

The words and the works of man will fail, but God’s Word will forever prosper.

[thomastanker02]

Taken from Grace For The Moment by Max Lucado. God bless, Jesus loves you ✝️❤️

@cosmicfunnies @babyimlosingit @cottonpuffmouse

[butch-with-a-deep-voice]

What made you feel like using the term “butch” to describe yourself despite some of your obvious feminine qualities? (This is an absolutely genuine question coming from somebody who is trying their best to figure out “which box” they fit into).

I guess I’m having a hard time figuring out if I’m “butch enough” which I know sounds ridiculous. I know that there’s such a spectrum and not everybody is strictly “butch” or “femme” but I guess I feel called to butchhood. But I invalidate my own feelings by finding all the ways in which I’m “too feminine” for it.

I’m genderqueer as well so it can be hard for me to find the right balance between my masculine and feminine features that make me feel euphoric.

Hey anon, so this is a very good question, and one I really want to take some time with. As such, I will provide two answers. A short copout answer if you don't have the energy to read a lot, and a long answer.

Short answer, and I really hate when I have to pull out this answer but well...

It's no different than gender euphoria in of itself. Each person is different, and it is based off of well, vibes. It's things like how I can be beside my he/they nonbinary friend, let's call him C, in the exact same outfit as him, and all our friends are like "yup, Nomi looks butch, and C looks boy-adjacent". It's vibes, and there's no real easy way to explain it further than that.

Now lovely anon/reader, if you want something a little more... nuanced (and just as inconclusive), strap in. Pun fully intended.

So I've been mulling over this for a few hours already before typing, and of course my overly analytic ass started scripting this whole thing around exploring the history of butch and femme identities, the gender politics of the matter, the racial contexts, etc. before realizing that doesn't answer your question; how did I specifically, a trans-feminine two-spirit person, reach butch being where I felt the most at home in myself despite apparent feminine aspects of myself? Understanding the history, cultural implications, and other nuanced portions of "butch" as an identity was a huge part of how I got there, and so I'll briefly go over that, but it's also important to keep my copout answer in mind as well. You know yourself best. It's well, vibes.

Let's start with the barebones identity of butch. I think a good place to start is understanding that while all butches are masculine, not all mascs are butch. Same with femme vs. feminine. It's something you claim, you embody. It's well, an identity. For many, myself included, it's an inseparable part of ones gender identity to boot. And like all identities, it is often intersectional with other facets of your life. Gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, culture, etc. For me, Butch ties directly to my Two-Spirit identity. Part of being a Michif (Métis) Two-Spirit person is holding both the masculine and feminine at all times. While not necessarily a woman in the western sense, I feel woman-adjacent. My "feminine spirit" comes from feeling woman-adjacent, and honestly when around other Michif women, like a Michif woman (but that's a conversation for another day). My "masculine spirit" comes from being a butch Michif lesbian, amongst other things. If I had to describe how my gender "feels", Two-Spirit Butch feels honestly the most accurate, even if that doesn't fit into a Western queer lens that nicely. I may have, as you said anon, apparent feminine aspects to myself that counter my masculinity, but part of being Two-Spirit is holding those with love, honor, and compassion. Feminine spirit doesn't negate my queer masculinity, if anything it augments it. But, exploration of my Two-Spirit identity and how it relates to being butch likely won't be of much help to most of the non-indigenous readers.

Let's look at a more Western approach, because Butch is just that, a rather Western queer term. I do want to preface that as a trans-feminine person there are many within queer spaces that believe I do not have the right to claim butch for myself. To them I counter, bugger off terfs. I would also like to point out that while in a modern sense butch more or less refers to a masculine lesbian identity, that was not always the case. Butch for many many years was an identity to describe queer masculinity as a baseline, regardless of lesbian, gay, bisexual, etc. Especially in queer BIPOC communities. Butch becoming a lesbian-centric term is much newer within the queer lexicon (with some pointing to white queer culture stealing a term from BIPOC queer culture, but that is a topic I do not have the expertise to go into). While both butch itself, and queer masculinity as a whole have evolved since those times, I think keeping that historical context in mind is important.

To me, part of why I claimed "Butch" specifically is how it relates to non-conformity of expected womanhood. While I do not claim woman in the Western sense, during the early phases of transition, I began by identifying as a woman, and trying to abandon all of masculinity and what it came with. You can find a bit more of how that went in this post. I dove headfirst into femininity and hit my head on the floor of the pool so hard I ended up right back in dysphoria central, just a different kind. But, that exploration of womanhood and femininity were integral in why I claimed butch for myself. I don't think I ever would have claimed it had I not. One of the common factors with every AFAB butch I've met is a rejection of the expectations of womanhood that Western culture thrusts upon them. Personally, I don't think it would have been right for me to claim butch without having first explored Western femininity and it's expectations to the extent I had.

Eventually I finally admitted to myself that, while I knew for certain I wasn't a man, I didn't feel right as a feminine (Western) woman either. So, what was I? I felt more at home, more welcome, and more loved amongst queer women, lesbians especially, than I ever had with queer men. Hard androgyny and genderqueer (which btw I do not identify with genderqueer, not upset with you though) didn't feel right either. There were aspects of classical womanhood from a physical standpoint I knew were in line with myself after many years of HRT. Breasts, my waist line, my now feminine skin texture, my legs, honestly my entire estrogen-sculpted body. Hell, while I haven't gotten full vaginoplasty for medical reasons, I would if I could, Stone Top identity aside. I felt at home around women and lesbians, as a Michif woman/lesbian, but not in femininity. As described in the post I linked in the previous paragraph, the first true step was reclaiming masculinity, and making room for healthy queer masculinity separate from gender.

I want to bring up this exploration of the meaning behind the colours of the lesbian flag for a moment. For me, Butch and all it encompasses, is a part of all of these. Gender non-conformity I think is self explanatory. I am a walking defiance of gender norms and expectation at this point, and butchness as a whole is as well. Independence can mean many different things to different people, but I feel self sufficient as a butch. I feel competent. I feel secure. Mostly importantly though, it is an identity I feel independent in. For years and years I let my expression of gender and sexuality be defined by those around me. Past partners, friends, family, coworkers, etc. I could not claim butch until I took a step away from all of those. I stopped letting them dictate who I was, and let myself learn who I was independently. Community and butch is always going to be linked. Butch is a community-centric identity. When I tell someone in the queer community I'm butch, they know what it means. In a single word I can describe large swathes of my experience and how I relate to the world. But it also comes with community role and responsibilities. Butches and Femmes protect eachother. Butches provide safe masculinity in queer spaces that heals wounds for so many people, including other butches. Butches take up space in a room to ensure other non-butch women have space. We protect, we heal, we love. Butch love is so fucking unique and important to a community. Butch comes with a community meaning, but also community role and responsibility, and to me that is a big part of why I feel comfortable claiming it. Serenity and Peace is so many things. Both internal and external. I have peace within myself as a butch. I feel more peace with myself now than I did for so many years. When I finally said it outloud, said I was a butch lesbian, and people affirmed that, it was like a weight I never even knew existed was lifted. I've felt happier in my time openly being butch than I have in ages, and everyone around me as noticed it too. Friends, family, coworkers all comment on just how happy, confident, and at peace internally I've been. Love and Sex this is a doozy of a topic that I truthfully do not have the desire to explore right now. It is important, but I am not in the headspace for it. But butch love is unique in itself. As for sex, well. Please refer to the wild swathes of queer theory and discourse out there. As an off-hand example relating to myself though, see Stone Butch. Unique Relationships to Womanhood/Feminity. I explicitly wanted to link these together. As a Two-Spirit butch, and a trans-femme one at that, my relationship to womanhood and femininity is unique, complicated, and at times inexplicable. The fact that I can say I don't identify as a Western woman, but with other Michif woman I do feel like a woman, is one confusing way. The fact that butch being a gender identity to me is another. But one aspect I want to explore is this notion that masculine and feminine are antithetical to eachother, when I don't think they need to be. I'm not androgynous. I hold both masculine and feminine, not a middle thing. My masculinity is queer masculinity, and I genuinely think queer masculinity MUST be in some way shape or form partially feminine. There is a softness to queer masculinity. A vulnerability. A tenderness. Queer masculinity is often gentle, loving, soothing. All things associated with Western notions of femininity, not masculinity. But queer masculinity, non-Western masculinity, makes room for those things. You wouldn't look at a mother bear protecting her cubs and say "that's not motherly behaviour, that's not womanhood". My relationship to my feminine self is in relationship to my masculine self. They are tied, and being butch, being a soft butch at that, encompasses it.

I think finally a topic I've been dancing around, though alluded to multiple times, is that first copout answer. Vibes, and gender euphoria as a part of vibes. From the vibes standpoint, what I have to offer is this anecdotal piece. When I told my friends that I was mulling around with the idea of claiming butch, basically every single one went "... yeah? You didn't know that?" Off of vibes alone every single one of my queer friends already knew I was butch. From behaviour, to what I was most comfortable in fashion wise, to how I related to others, they all knew that my "vibes" were butch already, well before I had even remotely considered it. As for the other hard to define aspect... As a non-cis person yourself anon, you mentioned it already. Gender euphoria is a weirdly difficult to attain thing. I spent years on years of experimentation, exploration, and rumination trying to find my euphoria. Trying to find the spot I'm in now, where I find myself loving what's in the mirror every single day. Butch got me to the point that I legitimately look in my mirror and love what I see Every. Single. Day. I take selfies of myself because I love what I look like, even in just a hoodie in sweats, every day now. I put more casual care into how I look now, because I love myself, more than I ever did before. I take better care of my health. I have more self confidence. I'm happier and more stable emotionally. Hell, I'm a better friend, coworker, and community member now as a butch than I ever had capacity to be beforehand. It's not just me noticing that too. Near everyone in my life started making note of it anytime I took another step into fully claiming butch for myself. The biggest reason I feel right in claiming butch is that frankly, how can you look at secure, holistic, stable happiness like this and not say it's right.

There's a lot more I want to say here, but I've already been at this for nearly three hours, and that's on top of the two hours I spent just thinking on the matter to boot. I hope I was able to answer your question at least partially anon, and that it helps you with your own gender expression/identity journey. I think the only other thing I want to say is that it's okay if what you identify with now changes. It doesn't invalidate what you feel now, just like how you are now doesn't invalidate what you felt was right for your say, 5 years ago. Human experience and identity evolves, it grows, it changes. If you feel right with butch now, excellent. If you end up realizing that it was just a stepping stone in discovering your unique patch of gender euphoria, that is just as excellent. Rootin' for ya anon 💕

[babythegod]

You cannot wait for others when God says it’s time to elevate , especially once they’ve shown they hate you , your works &anything you have the potential to create.

Thank The Most High for choosing me.💕

[koschei-the-ginger]

the other show david duchovny was filming simultaneously with the x files was always like "sad, broken man (35) will pay to read about your experiences with love and betrayal". The flashback sequence begins, and it's just straight-up porn about a woman screwing her tennis teacher or smth. Sometimes, it cuts off midway back to David, sitting on a bench all alone, looking like a sad wet dog, as he reads a letter. Once the porn sequence ends, he mutters to himself, "she had fun. But alas, I am destined to die alone." and he stares into the distance. It went on for 5 seasons.

I'm starting to think maybe flying to LA between the x files takes only to sit on a bench alone for hours could be the reason why his Mulder constantly seemed so touch starved he'd die if he couldn't invade someone's personal space for 5 minutes.

[mariefollowerofjesuschrist]

Lord, You are so good to Your children. Thank You, for another day of life. Thank You, for the breeze and for the birds that sing. Thank You, for sending Your Son to die for me and for all, so that our sins may be forgiven. I love You, God. Amen!

[myremnantarmy]

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘶𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘱𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴. 𝘐 𝘓𝘖𝘝𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜."

[iamnotcoolenough]

Lord, I need you. I can not do this on my own. Without you, I am dead in a grave. Without you, I am nothing. I am not worthy of you, Lord. I am a sinner who wants to sin no more, but I am weak. I fall on my face without you time and time again. Forgive me for my sins and my failings, Lord, and help me deny the dead me. Please live in me and use me to serve you. I am nothing if dead, and without you, I am dead.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you do. Thank you for knocking on my door. Thank you for taking my pain. Thank you for listening when no one else would, understanding when no one else did. Thank you for the life you have given me. But most importantly, God, thank you for being you. For being so good and so loving and so forgiving. I love you.

[wecanbeperfect]

GOD'S MARVELLOUS CREATION

Psalm 104:19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.

[aniah-who]

I don’t know who needs to hear it, but go and read Psalms 27:14, friend. The drought you’ve been in is coming to an end.

[thomastanker02]

Taken from Grace For The Moment by Max Lucado. God bless, Jesus loves you ✝️❤️

@cosmicfunnies @babyimlosingit @cottonpuffmouse

[ccasey0]

Hey there! I digitized your drawing and added colors; I hope you like it!

ah?! This looks so cool!! I love the glowy auras around the stars!! And the lighting! And the drips! Omg this looks amazing!! Thank you much!! You are so amazing!! I love this!!