Convergence

Converging present participle of con•verge (Verb)

Verb:

(of several people or things) Come together from different directions so as eventually to meet. Come from different directions and meet at (a place)

Life can sometimes have a very cruel sense of humor, just when you think you've gotten to the top of the mountain, you realize that your only on a small cliff.....you see you didn't know that there was another 500 feet of mountain just beyond the clouds that were looming over your head.

I'm not sure how much longer I'll be writing these articles. When I first started writing them, I was at the very beginning of the journey that would bring 20 years of life as I knew it to an end. That chapter is very soon to be formally closed. Please don't misunderstand me; I'm at peace with that.

I do have fears of the unknown; being financially responsible for all the bills of this home, for all of my beautiful children. The children that I owe my life to, God only knows how this journey would have ended for me without them. I feel anxious, it’s the fear of just living, but it's a welcomed fear.

I've come to the realization that fear in and of its self is not a bad thing; it's simply something that we have to meet head on. But mind you, fear is not something that you can put your hands on, or destroy. You simply wound it enough to drive it back for a while. It will present itself again in another place, and at another time. I think that's why God tells us in Deuteronomy 31:16 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Because he knew we would be faced with fear many, many times.

 But back to the story at hand......I'm at the point in my life where the old life and the new life have converged, and wrapped themselves around one another like so much twisted metal. The thing is I didn't see it coming. For some reason I had the audacity to think that once all of this was over, I would just be happy. I knew that there would be the regular life's troubles, but not this. Oh I know it's only temporary, because that's the beauty of time. As time passes it brings change. And there is one great thing that I've learned through this process, I have learned to Stand. Ephesians 6:13 "Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand"

So I'm setting about the business of trying to untwist the metal, and the only tools I have are my faith in God and my bare hands. So there's bound to be a few cuts and scratches, but nothing that I can't handle.

So for anyone that happens to come across this blog and you're going through a separation, divorce, or any sort of life shattering event, know this, you can make it. It was a very dear friend of mine that told me, “Embrace the process." There will be good days and bad days, but there will be days, and isn't that the point, that there will be days. You will live you will survive, you will get through this......I promise. After all, if I can do it you can, just remember that This Too Shall Pass.

Purpose

Life is such an amazing enigma....

e•nig•ma/iˈnigmə/

Noun:

A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.  A riddle or paradox.

I'm finally at a place where I'm starting to feel as if there will be a life after the life that was.....and then I realized something, not so much a new realization, but the resurfacing of an old haunting feeling, "What exactly is my purpose?"

This is a conversation that God and I have had off and on for many years. I have a secret that I'll share with you. I have never truly known what my purpose in life was. I thought my only purpose was to be a wife and then a mother. I thank God daily for my children, they're the shining embers in what I would call the ashes of a marriage past. But I'm talking about that over all great purpose.

Does anyone every know what their purpose in life really is? I have no idea, but it's about time that I started finding out.

Jeremiah 11-14 

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.

It's this promise that I'm going to lean on. I am no longer captive to a relationship that gave me no sunlight. Now there's nothing in my way to keep me from growing accept for me. I don't have to know right now what my purpose is, but I do know that I have one and that it will be good.

Posted by La'Tanya Williams-Brisbon at 6:12 PM

*Update - I'm still seeking my purpose.....I don't really know if it's one of those things that we really aren't meant to figure out. 

Some Where Between Dreaming and Waking

Just imagine you've had the best dream that you've ever had....whatever that dream may be. Then imagine you're just about to get to the best part and you can feel yourself being drawn away from the dream, being pulled into waking. Suddenly all you feel is the need to say in your dream; you have to see how it ends, that's where I am.

For the first time in eight months if feel as if genuine happiness, happiness that goes from soul to bone is with my grasp, but is it real or am I dreaming. Am I at any given moment going to be pulled to the waking place and find that the feeling has evaporated like the dew in the morning?

I know that there will be doubts and fears...almost twenty years wasted, that's a long time. But I'm ready. I have the olive branch in my hand. Who am I to question what God has given to my heart. I am becoming the woman that I was always meant to be. I just had a slight detour.

Going from growth place to growth place is going to have its highs and lows, and I'm willing to experience all of it.

Posted by La'Tanya Williams-Brisbon at 10:02 PM 

*Update - I know now that my happiness is real, it's not a dream and it's not something that anyone can take from me. We choose to give our happiness away, and that's something that I refuse to do. If you're in a place where you're struggling to find happiness, peace, you first have to release that which is causing you pain. You can't receive something if your hand is already full. Much Love

Olive Branches and Doves

Genesis 8:11, 12 

11 The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 12 Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again.

So where did we leave off....oh yes New Years, well so far so good.........it can sometimes seem a bit surreal when you actually stop and look back over all of the miles that you've had to walk to be standing where you are. I'll be honest with you; there was time when I really wasn't sure how I would keep going. I thank God daily for my children because if I didn't have them, I just don't know how I would have been able to keep going.

I think the key is just that, to keep going. Knowing that until this world is no more there will continue to be a sunrise and a sunset, and as long as you keep waking up to a new day you can make it......and before you know it where there was once only water, the residue of the storms that you have endured, your dove will be able to retrieve an olive branch.

I'm not going to tell you what I whispered to God in the dark, but I will tell you this, I know that He heard me and sent His dove with an olive branch for me. Does that mean that troubles are over? No it doesn't. I still have many hurdles to climb before this process is over but I'm just going to keep watching for the rainbow.

Posted by La'Tanya Williams-Brisbon at 6:41 PM

2012 Stepping Into the Real

Well my people......I made it, and if you're reading this you made it into 2012 also. For the last few days I was inundated with the question, "What are your New Year's Resolutions?" Honestly, I'm not making any. I decided there isn't a need.

2012 Isn't going to be a year of me setting goals, sometime totally unrealistic, and then not being able to meet them. For me, 2012 is going to be a year of self discovery, a journey into "the me" that I am mean to be. When I actually think about it, it makes me pause and take a deep breath because I actually don't know what that's going to entail.

I do know that I want to make some changes, but I'm choosing to look at them as more of a shift in lifestyle. I want these changes to be permanent. I'm looking forward to spreading my wings, letting them catch a strong current and see where they take me. The way that I see it, there's nothing standing in my way but me.

When the clock struck midnight the first minute of the new year....I knew that I had to leave behind everything that I was clinging to that was going to keep me from moving forward......so that little bit of hope that I was clinging to, that the "soon-to-be" and myself might have a chance to get back together......it had to go the way of all things. It was time for me to "Step Into The Real", time to step into the reality that things are what they are. For the last 7 almost 8 months I've been walking somewhere between awake and asleep. That place where you're not sure if you're awake or dreaming. Well, all of this is real and it's time to walk in it.....and I'm cool with that.

"Stepping into the real", that's going to be my theme for the New Year, and I'm going to be holding God's hand all the way.

And to anyone else that maybe going through a separation or a divorce, just hang in there. You may start out just trying to get from one minute to the next, then the minutes will turn to hours, the hours today, and before you know it......well, you get my meaning.

So I'm off to step into the real....you wanna come?

Christmas in Blue

Its two more days until Christmas; the time when we should be focused on the birth of Christ and celebrating life, love and family......but in the land of the real, it's just not working for me.

I'm going through the motions, doing the things that I know I'm supposed to do, cleaning the house in preparation for decorations. Putting together holiday food menus, but really all I want to do is crawl up in a ball and hibernate until it's over.....is that even possible. Not really

All I can hope for is that next year things will be easier, I know that New Years it going to feel just about as bad if not worse. The funny is that people can all kinds of amazing things to try and make you feel better...but really they're just going to pass right through your ears, and through your heart leaving nothing more than a very temporary band-aid. The bottom line is, I feel sick inside.

What will keep me going on is that the holidays are not just about me. I have my children that are depending on me to make things as "normal" as I can. Don't misunderstand; my children have been amazing through this process. I know that all of them are going through their own struggles as well.

The bottom line is, God willing my life will go on, I can only hope that it gets better, easier. *sigh* we shall see.

.......and this too shall pass.

Posted by La'Tanya Williams-Brisbon at 11:08 AM

Will the Holidays Ever Be the Same.....23 Days and Counting

While the entire world around me is counting down the number of shopping days until Christmas, I'm counting down the number of days until the start of a new personal trial, surviving the holidays alone.

I've always known that the holidays are extremely difficult for people who have suffered loss, separation, or divorce. There are some people who haven't experienced any of these things and yet still the holidays prove to be a battle between them and looming depression.....but now I think I'm starting to understand why.

The holidays are the time of year that reinforce the principles and ideals of family and togetherness, so it would stand to reason that the holidays with almost 100 percent certainty will awaken feelings that we have struggled all year to lull into a coma. (Or in my case 7 months as of December 11)

You would think that with taking care of four kids, working and going to school full time, plus all of the things I do with church that wouldn't have enough time to think about these kinds of things.....but I have come to appreciate just how long a split second can be, it can seem like an eternity.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” ― Khalil Gibran

It's in the string of seconds that I can feel the beast that lives inside my heart stirring, anxious to find the veil of my emotions, thin and worn, so it can escape. And so the struggle ensues.

In the mean time I will go about as normal, wearing the mask of daily living. I know that this war will not last forever, after all nothing really does. So if you come across this, say a prayer, or just think of me and send love, light and strength my way, in the hopes that this too shall pass ~

Posted by La'Tanya Williams-Brisbon at 9:41 AM No comments:

Inhale....Exhale....Inhale...Exhale

It's been a little over four months.....and where am I? Better than I was, but not as good as I know I'm going to be.

It was Sunday night...*sigh* I'm not sure what Sunday night looks like for most, but for me it feels like a weekly exercise in futility. By the time Sunday comes I realize that I have gotten no rest, that I'm  just as tired as I was the week before, and that the next day will be Monday......and the wheel goes round and round.

I go to work, I keep my kids together, I study, I write....and I get no sleep. A good nights sleep has become something that eludes me. Just when I feel like I'm slipping into a really deep sleep, the alarm goes off.

Inside I know I'm holding on to something that I need to let go of....but I can't quite put my finger on it. The other day a really sweet person on Twitter asked me if I thought my "soon-to-be ex" would come back, or if I even wanted him to. I've asked myself these very same questions a thousand times...and I really have no answer.

I think, I'm afraid to admit out loud that I really don't want him to come back.....that would make me a bad person, a bad wife. I'm supposed to keeping the light burning in the window in the hopes that "Sir Stupid" will see the error of his ways and come home.

The not so funny thing is, if I think about it too long a get a knot in the pit of my stomach and feel nauseous! (I have really bad reactions to anxiety) That's when I have to remind my self to breathe...inhale, exhale....inhale, exhale.....I have to remind myself that I can only be in control of my own actions, that it's OK for me to love myself and to know that I deserve to be happy.....and that this is all just a part of the process.

"I willingly accept love and feel it to the depth of my being."

Posted by La'Tanya Williams-Brisbon at 12:13 PM 

*Update - This is a good one

This Woman's Work....My Work

Ok, I've come to the realization that if this particular blog is going to work, I'm only going to be able to write in it when I really feel inspired. So there it is.....

That being said, last week, I decided to watch the movie "Love and Basketball", this is one of the best "Chocolate Chick Flicks" that I can think of...the other is "Jason's Lyric". Anyway, I was watching the movie not realizing that deep down, I really wasn't ready for a serious chick flick, let alone this one.

Why this movie in particular? For two specific reasons, 1. It's a great Chick Flick, two, it was while watching this movie for the first time that I heard the song "Woman's Work" by Maxwell for the first time.  (This song by the way is one of the few that cuts right to my soul, every time) So I'm in the kitchen watching the movie, the scene with the song comes on, and before you know it, I'm sitting in my chair crying my eyes out. Not loud over the top crying, but the deep painful crying.....and I have NO reason why.

But I do know this...I'm going to keep on moving on. Keeping my head up, doing what I need to do each day to get through this journey.....but just for a while, maybe I'll lay of the "Chick Flicks".

This too shall pass~

*Update - I have long since gotten to the place where I can watch a great chick flick and only shed the tears that say "How beautiful is THAT!", those are the good kind of tears. 

Pillar of Salt

 Genesis 19:17-26 NKJV

17 "So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."

18 "Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my lords!"

19 "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die."

20 "See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."

21 "And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken."

22 "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar."

23 "The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar."

24 "Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens."

25 "So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground."

26 "But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."

It's been exactly 30 days since the last time that I blogged....my absence had not been intentional I assure you. It's just that no matter how earnest my intentions to write were, there always seemed to be a reason not to....plus, I think I just get tired of writing only when something negative has been going on. For some reason, most of my creative inspiration comes when I'm feeling "blue" as it were. Whether it's dance choreography, poetry, or blogging, the more "down in the dumps" I am the better the finished product.

I am happy to tell you that things are going much more smoothly. I'm starting to feel like I can breathe again. The Saturday car drop offs are no longer a cause for major anxiety, and I feel like I'm slowly starting to sink into a comfortable rhythm.

But every now and then, I have these flashes of thought. Thinking over all these years and all the things that have happened. That's when I have to remind myself not to look back, not to try and open closed doors. God is moving me on for a purpose. So I very quickly dismiss these thought and refocus to the now, the very moment that I'm in.

Time has a way of healing all things, but it's sort of like the proverbial pot, if you watch it.......So I'm not going to "watch" for time to heal me. I'm just going to let it do it's thing.

Today...I Opened My Heart and Let Go

Just when I thought my separation couldn't get any worse......it did. I know that may sound cliche, but it's true. This past week had to be the worst so far. Until now, I really think that I was making progress, learning to accept my situation, how wrong was I.

It's funny what you'll find when you're looking at the family plan cell phone bill. Yes I handle the family cell phone plan and yes, the soon-to-be ex is still on the plan. Long story....can't get him off the plan right now. Anyway, the bill has been going up the last few months. I thought it was me talking to my mom more frequently......but nooooooo it was a barrage of daily phone calls from the "soon-to-be's" cell phone.....to a woman.

My heart sank as I ran through the cell phone call logs for the last few months. So I did what any normal woman would do, I called the number. I introduced myself and told her that I was looking at the cell bill and noticed this number was on the log almost daily for my HUSBANDS cell number. She gave me the most condescending attitude that I've ever heard. She proceeded to say, "I'm just a friend and a colleague".

All I could think to myself was "damn"......she's the other woman. You know the funny thing about it, in the beginning of this whole mess, some of the few people that I did tell, asked me was there another woman, and I always said no, because I really didn't think so.

The "soon-to-be" said that she was just a friend, blah, blah, blah! So of course we had to have the inevitable argument. I being the techno-savvy that I am was able to find out, where she was living, working, and found her on a social network. I wish I had never found her....because now her face is forever branded in my memory........maybe someday it will go away.

So last night as I slept, I think that God and I were wrestling, wrestling for a promise. I needed to tell the "soon-to-be" really how I felt about everything since he left, but I didn't want to. So today when he came to drop off the car I told him that I needed to talk to him.

I just let it all out........exactly what was said I will not detail for you here, however, I know now that I really can go on.

I have no clue what lays down the road......but I feel relieved, I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I made it through the "he left me", and "the other woman". The only milestones left would be the "I'm filing for divorce" and  "here are the papers".

I opened my heart and let everything in it go......now there's room for other things.

Posted by La'Tanya Williams-Brisbon at 12:20 AM

*Update - Well as it turned out the "Other Woman" is now his new wife. They were married just a few months after our divorce became final. I always said to my then husband, and I still live by the notion that if you feel like you might cheat, or that you want to cheat, just let me go. Don't wait until you've already found the person that you want to cheat with. I don't know how true it is, but a guy friend of mine said to me once, "Men don't leave one boat without another boat to jump into." Something to think about.