Letter to College Students

On April 30, 2015, Pastor John and I were invited to speak at a Suffolk Community class on interpersonal relationships. (Pastor John met the Professor at their gym, and became acquainted there). The topic the class has been going over is toxic relationships. We shared some of our personal stories and the importance of forgiveness.
I felt led to write a letter to the students and make it available on my blog. Enjoy

Letter to the students of Suffolk Community College - Professor O'Connell's Class
With all the fighting and riots and religious wars increasing on a daily basis, the need for health and love in our relationships is at an all time high.

As a society we have gone to the moon, are going to Mars, we have constant communication in the technology world, but we have failed to overcome the age old problem of the need to be loved, and give love and be forgiven and healed. The matters of the heart have still alluded us.

God is love. John 3:16 - for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Nothing in mankind is perfect. Only in divinity. Jesus taught us love by laying down His life for us and forgiving us because of love. He wants us to have the same union and love that He has with His Father in heaven.

We can't help what's been done to us in life, but we can help how we choose to respond. We either continue in the generational cycles of our fathers, or we break the toxic chain by facing, confronting and overcoming them.

God knows we alone don't have the power to do this. He himself has given us hope for a better tomorrow if we agree to let Him help us. He is our teacher, counselor, comforter and friend. He made us, so He knows how to untangle the web of toxicity.

The journey to the center of our hearts is the toughest journey we will ever take. It is the road less traveled. All homelessness starts in the heart, and then manifests outwardly in society. Before there is ever a loss of a home, there is a loss of a family. There really is a war on to destroy the fabric of society by destroying the family unit.

The seeds of these wars start out small and then grow. Wrong mindsets, believing the worst in each other, listening to lies in our ears and believing them about loved ones. Offense takes root, toxic belief systems are forged, bitterness and unforgiveness wraps its tentacles around our hearts, and the destruction process against our relationships manifests to a harvest of sorrow.

I believe the increase in drug and alcohol abuse is the by-product of this process. Emotional pain can be worse then physical, so humanity craves pain relief. The deception in this process is that nothing is ever solved through avoidance or denial of the problem. The cycle of pain only gets worse through more heartache and sorrow that the toxicity of substance abuse causes.

Who can stop the pain of toxic living? I believe through a child like faith and relationship with the one who created us, and learning to forgive and let go of the ones who have hurt us along the way.

As long as we are on this earth there will always be pain and imperfections in life. But we have the power to choose what course we will take. We either choose quick fixes of temporary highs that dull and numb our senses, or make choices that will affect not only us, but generations to come.

I am grateful to your professor for allowing us to come and share a little of our journeys with you. My prayer is that each of your hearts will be encouraged to make healthy choices on this journey we call life.

That your lives can be a beginning of new and more healthy ways of living. That love, faith and family will have a central role in shaping a better tomorrow for all of you.
You are the next generation after all. We must pass the baton of what we have learned into your hands, so you can run with a higher vision and purpose for living.
God Bless you all,
Pastor Laurie