Current Thoughts from “Beneath My Heart”
Hey friends,
Yesterday on Instagram stories, I shared some of my thoughts and feelings about what has been going on lately. It was a very scary thing for me to do because Instagram, (and Facebook) has been a VERY volatile place the past week.
I truly have never seen so much anger, hatred, and bullying in my lifetime. And it has saddened my heart. I have seen very kind, well-meaning instagrammers share their hearts and then get ripped to shreds and bullied in the comments by people who have never met them in real life.
I was silent for a few days to gather my thoughts and pray. And yesterday, I shared from my heart. I put my Instagram stories together on a video to share here on my blog.
My prayer is that it will be received with grace and love.
I asked on Instagram if anyone had any prayer needs to private message me and they did. And I had the honor of praying with them through voice text right on Instagram. So I am asking the same of you. If you have a prayer concern you would like me to pray about, you can leave it in the comments, or you can email me at traci@beneathmyheart.net.
(Edited to add: I know that I probably don’t even need to say this, but just in case….I would love to hear from you in the comments, but I do want to ask that no insensitive or divisive comments be made. They will be deleted. Thank you.)
I love you guys, and I pray that amidst the chaos in our world, you may experience the Peace that passes all understanding through Christ Jesus.
“My peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it me afraid.” John 14:27
xoxo,
Traci
Beautifully stated, Traci, and thank you for sharing! I can’t take the ugly comments either. Such venom and hurtful words are splashed all around and I have to find the positive or just turn everything off. God has created each of us as He desires and we’re all His children, no one better than another. Hang in there!
xo
Pat
Thank you, Pat! Yes, I feel we all have the right to share our feelings and opinions, but it should be done in love. Not in hatefulness and ugliness.
Praying for peace,
Traci
Thank you Traci and God Bless You and your family. I am so grateful that you did not apologize for your feelings. So many people feel pressure to apologize so not to offend anyone but the truth is, you can not please everyone no matter what you do so thank you for speaking what was in your heart and it is no surprise to anyone who has followed you for very long. That’s who you are and why you are loved by so many.
And by the way, I agree with you 100%.
God Bless
Thank you, Sharon! Yes, I cannot apologize for my feelings or how God is working on my heart. And I cannot apologize for what HE is leading me to say or do. When I die someday, I will only be answering to Him, and I live to honor Him.
Thank you for taking the time to comment and for encouraging me.
God bless you!
Traci
Traci~
I have followed you since the beginning of our blogging days..
We speak the same language: Love. Peace. Harmony.Love of our God. our Country,Our planet..
Most of all, we share the love of our fellow humans.
Race nor color choose who we love or how we love..but just that we love!
In my personal world, I was married to a Black man..
who shared his family, his children and grands with me..
Love does not depend on blood kin…
Those children and grands are my heart and my world!
I also have an 18 yr old grandson who”fits the profile”
He has been taught since infancy regarding his color and how to handle himself in any given situation.
He has always respected policemen..his uncle has been one , until recently.
I have always been appalled by social injustice.
I was sickened by what i saw of George Floyd’s last moments of life.
I understand the reason for anger leading to the protests..
I do not understand the destruction and burning of private property, stores and cities..
I, like you, will continue to pray for guidance,pray for healing and uniting our races..
Until we are truly “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”,
with much love and admiration..
Lou Gipson
Thank you for your comment Lou, and yes, we agree on many things. And we must continue to pray for God to heal our land. God bless you, Friend!
xoxo
Traci
Thank you for saying exactly what’s been on my mind. And I could use prayers for my parents and those affected by the flooding in Michigan a couple weeks ago. They lost all of their finished basement. It’s been made mire difficult because my father just found out he will most likely need heart surgery soon. Their stress levels are insanely high right now and we were glad to be able to help for 5 days to bring sone normalness back as they wait to repair. And they were some of the lucky ones. Thanks for the prayers!
Hi April! Thank you for your comment. I will prayer for your parents and those affected by the flooding. The world is so stressful as it is right now, so things like flooding just add to the stress. I am so sorry. I am definitely praying for them.
Thank you for the honor.
xoxo
Traci
Traci,
Thanks as I was listening to you I could heard myself. I am a middle child. Things around us affect us in a different way. It is all in our hearts and we wear it on our feelings on ourshoulder. We want our world to be perfect and nothing to go wrong. But as we see the world around us we are sad and hear and see things that sadden us more But receive our strength from our Heavenly Father to help us thru this time.. Praying for you and your family during this time. Stay safe and well.
Traci,
Thanks as I was listening to you I could heard myself. I am a middle child. Things around us affect us in a different way. It is all in our hearts and we wear it on our feelings on ourshoulder. We want our world to be perfect and nothing to go wrong. But as we see the world around us we are sad and hear and see things that sadden us more But receive our strength from our Heavenly Father to help us thru this time.. Praying for you and your family during this time. Stay safe and well.
Thank you for your comment and sharing your words with us. Yes, we all long for things to be perfect, and yet we know we live in a fallen world. We will not live in perfect harmony until Heaven, and until then, we have to continue to trust Jesus and lean on him for peace and wisdom.
Thank you for your prayers!
xoxo
Traci
I lost my dear mother in law on May 15. She was diagnosed on March 5 with Stage 4 Lung Cancer and it had metastasized in her brain. She tried to fight it with immunotherapy but after her 2nd treatment she had an allergic reaction and died suddenly. We tried so hard to make it there to her but it is a 10.5 hour drive and halfway there they called to tell us she’d passed. I am really struggling, Tracy. Her loss has caused a cavern in my heart. Amid the Corona virus and then the racial tension plus the loss of her has my head spinning. I could sure use some prayers. I’ve had to help my husband with settling her affairs and the paperwork and phone calls have fallen on me to the point that I can’t even grieve properly for her. I feel like an ocean is swallowing me alive.
Karen, I’m so sorry for the sudden loss of your dear mother. It brings such heartache and then with everything else you are trying to deal with I can see how you’d be overwhelmed. Taking a moment to pray for you now and asking the Lord to bring you to my mind for prayer in the days ahead.
Karen. Also praying for you, I’m so sorry for your loss.
Sweet Karen!
You are in my prayers! I am so very sorry for the lost of your MIL. I cannot imagine how painful it has been to lose her during the corona crisis and all the chaos in our world at the moment. I am so sorry for the hole it has left in your heart. I know there is nothing I can do or say that can fix it, but Jesus can. So I am lifting your name in prayer and placing your heart at the feet of Jesus. Praying that He gives you a peace only He can give.
“My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be afraid.” John 14:27
His living word brings healing to our hearts. He loves you and will be your strength during this time. Call on Him.
Thank you for sharing your heart and thank you for the honor of praying for you. I will continue to lift you up to Him in the coming days.
xoxo
Traci
Beautiful Traci. Thank you for sharing ❤️
Thank you, Gina!
Thank you for sharing your heart. Beautifully said. I’m sorry for the hurtful words of others. It hurts. Thankfully God is close to the broken-hearted and will heal your wounds with His loving kindnesses. Excited to hear about what’s going on to your house. Your projects are always spot on! And I tend to copy a lot of them ;)
Thank you, Moriah! I appreciate your sweet words and constant support of me and my family. God bless you!
God bless you, Traci, for your heartfelt and thoughtful approach to this… been praying Psalm 51:10 as well. Thankful for your heart today. xo Heidi
Thank you, Heidi.
xoxo
Traci
Thank you for sharing. I think we all are so sad about what is happening in our world. But if we all search our own hearts, and listen to what God tells us through His word and prayers, we can make a change in our world. Keep on doing what you are doing and what God leads you to do. Thank you for sharing your life and family with us, too. Life must go on. Stay safe.
Amen, Judy! It MUST start in our hearts. A heart that is in tune with God. Thank you for your encouragement and kind words.
xoxo
Traci
Thank you, Traci, for sharing this. I, too, am the middle child of 7! And like you, have always felt compelled or felt it was my “duty” to keep all of us together as a family. Some even say I look at the world thru Pollyanna eyes, always hoping and praying for the best to come out of everything. During this time, I feel my Pollyanna eyes help for me to try to understand the reactions of people following George Floyd’s most horrible and unnecessary death. I don’t understand the looting, but I do understand the anger, feelings of helplessness in communities and making mistakes in the heat of these moments! I turn to God for His guidance when I feel overwhelmed with the injustice of his death and can’t get my head around how he was allowed to die…. again, I so appreciate your thoughts on this and will continue to follow you…God Bless you, my Sister in God…..
I agree Karolyn. I am a fellow Pollyanna. :)
And you are right that we have to understand the pain behind the violence. We also must look to God for our comfort, our peace, and our wisdom. He is our true north.
God bless you!
Traci
I feel you spoke on my behalf .It was as if I was listening to myself.
Thank you. God bless you!
Traci,
I have followed you since the early years of your blog. I enjoy your home DIY posts and your sweet family, of course…but I continue to follow because you are honest and speak from your heart, no matter the topic. Thank you for sharing your thoughts…praying for you and for our country.
Tina
Tina, thank you for following me all of these years. What a blessing to have you as part of my life. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and encourage me.
Blessings to you!
Traci
So agree with you Traci and thank for for always sharing your heart and the truth of Jesus. This current situation breaks my heart. There is wrong on both sides of this issue and I pray everyone’s eyes will be opened to each other. Sadly, I feel the rioting, looting and violence that’s going on since Mr. Floyd passed is only hurting the situation and makes it hard for some to see where they’re coming from. We have to see past all of that and see the pain. Anyway. Please pray for my husband. He gave his life to Jesus a year and a half ago but he is still struggling with his addiction to alcohol. Thanks again. Love you and your sweet family.
Thank you, Rebecca! You are so right that we need to see past the violence (while not condoning it,) to see the pain. I am praying for God to heal our relationship with the black community. And I will most certainly pray for your sweet husband. Do not give up on him. My grandfather was an alcoholic, so I know how devastating that addiction can be. I will lift him up to the Lord, and pray that you may have wisdom in how to love him through it.
Thank you for sharing your heart.
xoxo,
Traci
Here’s how I see it, Traci. I read blogs, follow people on Instagram and Facebook to escape the ugly world around me. I don’t want those same escapes to thrust that ugly world back in my face. My Facebook and Instagram feed don’t even take 5 minutes to get through these days because there are so few left that don’t feel they have to share their “thoughts” with me (no matter how well-intentioned they are), when those thoughts have nothing to do with the reason I follow them in the first place. So, as well-intentioned as your message is, it’s still unwelcome to some of us. And so frustrating. That being said, it’s your blog. You can say whatever you want. I’m just trying to add a different perspective to things.
Hi Trish,
Thank you for your comment and for sharing your thoughts with me. I totally understand where you are coming from. If you have followed me for sometime, you know that I have always shared my heart on my blog, thus the name, “Beneath My Heart.” I share my family, my faith, my home, and all those things that I love. There have been seasons that I share more of my home than my heart, and vice versa, because this blog is just an online documentary of what is going on in my life. Those that follow me here on the blog know they will hear my heart sometimes, and I am grateful that they love me through all the seasons of my life. If you ONLY want home decor posts, then I am not the blog for you, and that’s totally okay. I want you to read blogs that bring you joy.
My prayer for this post was that it would encourage my readers, because I love them so much. It was not written to “thrust the ugly world back in your face.” God’s word is quite the opposite of this ugly world and is the main source of my peace. So I wanted to share that peace with my readers, and will continue to do so when God leads me to.
Again, I appreciate your comment and for your perspective.
Love, Traci
God bless you Traci❤️
Beautifully said and one of the best heart felt messages I have seen in the midst of all of this. Your honesty is refreshing and encouraging.