It’s Not About Gun Control

Before you come for my head, let’s have an honest conversation. It is extremely easy to jump on social media platforms and belittle those who disagree with you, so why not open a conversation and even if you continue to disagree you at least do so amicably, something to consider don’t you think?

Now, to continue with my title, I don’t believe the current issue we face in America has to do with gun control, it has to do with a deeper situation. We have laws against murder yet people still go out and murder others, regardless of the tools or lack thereof used to commit such terrible crimes, these laws won’t stop the evil in people’s hearts. So then what’s the solution? In my honest opinion, it’s letting God’s love come back into our lives.

Wait, don’t leave yet, I know some of you will say, “Great, here’s another Christian sending her thoughts and prayers but doing absolutely nothing.” Honestly, I want to change the world, I want to see children respecting their parents and parents raising their kids to respect others. I want to see people of different backgrounds admire and care for one another as well as understand that we will disagree but don’t need to fight over disagreements. I really want to see us as a nation come together with all our differences and be able to live loving one another.

The way these mass shootings or shootings, stabbings and crime in general are going to stop is if we learn to love others. I may not be able to make an impact to a single individual in another state, but I can continue to love my family, my friends and even those that don’t really like me. I can listen to others who disagree with me and respect their opinion without bashing them. I can look at those who follow me and live out the example that God has called me to live, to live holy because He is holy (cf. 1 Peter 1:16).

Some of you might say that loving others is not enough, but I challenge you to live it out and see what impact you will make even in one person’s life by loving them. I personally look to the Bible for encouragement and direction, some of your might not believe in God or think that religion is just a bunch of crazy people, but if you only knew how it has transformed my life by simply learning how to love. “But God is a God of wrath!” Ahh yes, the wrath and judgement portions of the Bible, well, if you must know, God takes sin very seriously and only wants the best for us.

Listen, check it out for yourself, even if you’ve never opened up a Bible or don’t have one, we have the amazing opportunity to go online and look up the Bible. So I really challenge you with this, if you’ve even made it this far, to go to biblegateway.com, search John 1 in the New Living Translation (not King James, I don’t want you getting frustrated with me more than you might be) and start there. Look at the life of Jesus, look at His example, look at His teachings and I can promise you that if we even made the attempt to live a life of love, we would see less crime, less killings, less arguments and more understanding of one another.

If you disagree with me, let’s talk, I honestly would love to hear from you. Hit the contact tab and reach out, or simply send me an email at vazquez9013@gmail.com

July 6, 2022 0

The Weight of the World

What do you do when you are carrying so much on your shoulders and begin to break? I’ve reached this moment many times and every single time I can’t help but look to God for strength. He did not intend for you or me to carry everything by ourselves but if you’re anything like me, sometimes pride and shame take over and you continue to carry your issues, your family’s issues, your friend’s issues and it becomes overwhelming.

Maybe you don’t believe in God, so what is your outlet? If we are not careful with all the things we carry, we can hide the pain but only for so long before our body physically begins to feel the anguish. Our mental health declines, our character is affected, and our view of life starts to get skewed.

I just want you to know that it’s ok to take a break. It’s ok to take a day or two off and just sit, cry, sleep, go for a nice hike, go for a walk somewhere, and BREATHE. Don’t take everything upon yourself and keep going in life like that, there are people who are close to you that want to listen even if that’s all they do. There’s no easy and quick fix for the issues we deal in life, but God can provide strength and peace.

Don’t give up and don’t do it all alone, we are meant for community and meant to encourage one another.

April 8, 2022 0

Goals, Plans, & Healing

It is now three days into the year 2022 and some have already created their resolutions list, others are still trying to complete last years’ list, and others at this point don’t care about any of that. I have felt that the last two years have been strange because of all the adjustments needed to be made for work, school and life in general.

I want to encourage you to keep looking towards the goals you want to reach and continue to plan for your future. I understand that 2020 and 2021 have had their challenges and have placed some sort of fear on a lot of people’s minds of, “now what’s going to happen in 2022?” But don’t be discouraged by the past, instead keep moving towards the person you want to be.

May this year be a year of healing for our mental health and our relationships with others. It is evident that this country is divided in opinions and beliefs which is completely normal, but a lot of relationships have crashed and burned because of this. Let this time be a moment for healing, even if those individuals don’t return to our lives, it’s time for us to forgive and love on others.

I hope that 2022 is a great blessing for your life and those around you!

January 3, 2022 0

Not Your Responsibility

There’s a common misconception, especially amongst Christians, that it is our responsibility to make sure our family and loved ones change for the better. That is not your responsibility; the two most important things for us to do as humans is to love God and love people. Obviously, if you’re not a Christian you will automatically think that this doesn’t apply to you, but bear with me.

Unless you are living under a rock we are all aware of what’s going on both in our country and around the world. We might not know all the details of every situation happening, but we can see chaos left and right. Have you noticed what’s missing? Love.

The love for people has gone down the trash and some might say, “well I can’t love this person or that person because they are horrible individuals,” and I agree that some people lack respect, lack love, and don’t seem worthy of our genuine friendship, but have you ever seen someone’s character change and realize that they truly are someone worth befriending?

We all want to see change, we all want to see things get better, but in order for that to happen is for us to stop trying to take responsibility in making other people change and start to change things internally. Let’s work on our character, let’s work on our respect, let’s work on our love and just watch how the people around you begin to react. It’s easier said than done, yes, I understand that, but if we want to leave a legacy for our children and our younger family members to live in a more caring and loving society, we have to fix ourselves first.

It is not your responsibility to change your neighbor, it is not your responsibility to change your family, but it is your responsibility to seek God and love people. Let’s have a conversation, even if you disagree with me or others, let’s work on understanding why instead of simply giving the cold shoulder.

August 27, 2021 0

Community: A Necessity

As an introvert, I really enjoy my time alone and doing things by myself. At one point before God came into my life and shook it up, I had the mentality of: “I don’t need anyone, I got this on my own,” and while that mentality still crosses my mind from time to time, I’ve learned that it has a lot to do with the pride within me.

I have a difficult time asking for help even when people are offering it but as I get older I understand the need for community and that need to surround yourself with others. Aside from feeling like you belong somewhere when you have a community of people around you, that community begins to be a reason of why you push yourself to be a better version of you. The community you surround yourself with also brings perspective to your life; the type of perspective you were probably oblivious to because you only have your own way of looking at life.

Overall, surrounding yourself with a community will help in your growth process because you’ll see the areas you need work on as well as the type of people you need in your life. And don’t be afraid when your community changes! Some people who’ve been in your community for more than 10 years can unfortunately leave or fade away, so don’t feel threatened when other people start jumping in to your community.

Community is a necessity, it may not have to be large but we still need to surround ourselves with at least a handful of people we can do life with.

August 16, 2021 0