Why So Much Suffering? Does any one really Care?

Nearly 450 million people suffer from mental or behavioral disorders. Nearly 1 million of those who suffer from such disorders attempt suicide every year and of those 40,000 are successful on their first attempt. Here's another staggering thought, the greatest number of deaths of the 40,000 that are successful, are among men. Surprised?

Let me ask this, how many of the individuals that attempted suicide reached out for help? How many asked the silent question, "Would you care if I killed myself?" How many sat in our churches, on our jobs, in the doctor's office or walked by us as we lived our lives. How many did we dismiss as "Oh that's just ________, they will be alright." Did we let them know that they were loved, respected and needed? Did we take the time to notice their pain? How many ended their lives and there was a solution to their pain but it was never offered to them? 

Are you one of those that will consider suicide this year. Are you one that will attempt to end your pain with such a final solution? Suicide is a real option for some and the only option for others. So it's time we stop acting like this is something that will go away and help the hurting heal. 

Living Above Hurt Ministries is looking for men and women who understand and want to help those who are hurting. Not just those hurting in the world but those that are feeling as thought there is no place for them to go and they are already in the Body of Christ. They sit in our churches hurting from past failures, hurts, habits and hangups, they have been abused, misused and mistreated. They have lost hope.

We want those that are hurting in the Body of Christ to know there is a way out of the pain. You can rise above the pain and live again. We do care about your pain, anguish and frustration. You voice does count.

Join me in ministry or join me in being healed. I once suffered from thoughts of suicide and even planned it out but God. Now I am ready to talk to those that need to and want to live about the hurt. this ministry is not for the faint in heart but it is for those that care about the pain of others and have survived their own hell. 

Don't let another wounded soldier die...not on our watch.

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

You are Valuable!

We are all God's children. Brothers and sisters in many sizes and colors. We are His prize possession. So the greatest lesson we can learn from our Father is simply, as He hung dying on the cross he utter the words..."Father Forgive them for they KNOW not what they do."

Let me try to explain myself and tie this all together. If we have been hurt, betrayed, scorned or what have you by someone in our lives then we have to work on forgiveness. Forgiveness does not let the person off the hook but it does open the door for you to grow to levels otherwise unknown.

The fact of the matter is that if we could remember that we are all God's children then we may not be so quick to hurt one another. There are no big I's or little u's. No race or weight differences. No social or economic differences. No educational or geographic differences. We are all the same. Just like I would not dream of hurting or devastating my biological sisters or brothers, and when I do I am quick to repent and seek forgiveness and visa versa.... thus is how we should be toward our spiritual brothers and sisters. When they believe in your God or not. Whether they call your God....God or not.

So what if that brother that raped you, or that sister that slandered your name, that brother that abandoned you or that sister that betrayed you understood that they were hurting their family.... would they have done it. What if the world understood the significance of the bond that connects us. Would they we able to hate me because of the color of my skin or the size of my body or the texture of my hair. If they knew hating me meant they hated themselves because we are the same would they do it?

So I end this thought with this simple song from Sunday School.... Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, brown, black and white, they are precious in His sight. JESUS loves all the children of the world. 

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

(c) 2015 Living Above Hurt Ministries 

Why Be Made Whole?

Many people are walking around with emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, and financial baggage. They carry it from place to place - relationship to relationship. Most importantly they make decisions based on their past hurts and hangups. The one thing that I know to be true is that you don't have to be that way. You choose to be that way. Yes, I said it YOU choose to walk around and play the blame game.

Just think about the last time you had a real good laugh? A good meaningful conversation where it did not turn into an emotional blame game? Can you think back that far? If you answered: No, I can't remember the last time a really laughed or sat down and had a good conversation without blaming others for my current circumstances... then I am here to help you. Just consider me your own private coach for healing.

For many years, I thought that being "me" was being rude, resentful, evil, a gossip and saying what was on my mind no matter who it hurt. I thought I was keeping it real. As the young people say, "I was keeping it '100'". however, I was living a lie and truth be told I was miserable. I blamed everyone for what I did not have and what I thought I could not get. I was my worst enemy. In my book, "Will You Be Made WHOLE" I share a formula that helped me to see that I could be and do anything I wanted to do but I had to be healed of the things life had dealt to me. I had to release on the things that were not meant to be in my life. I had to realized that there was a different me YELLING on the inside of me... Hey sister, let me out. I'm suffocating in here and I can make things so much better.

If you are tired of living in the pits of hell that you call a life. Then let me help you. I promise, you can blame me for the satisfyingly delicious life you will experience.

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

(c) 2015 Living Above Hurt Ministries 

Loss of Identity - Redefining Yourself through Faith

Having a relationship with Christ is not a religion, it is a lifestyle and identity. You live it, breath it, wear it and eat it day in and day out. It is the very reason we are called Christians.

A Christian is to be Christ-like. It means to have the mind of Christ in you, causing you to live with a higher awareness of love and faith. You operate not as the "normal" would have you respond but as the Spirit would lead you.

The unfortunate things is many of us of us have been indoctrinated into a religion. This indoctrination began at birth or conversion, and continues throughout your whole life. Religious beliefs and doctrines get internalized and adapted into your own identity, often to the point of suppressing your real authentic self in favor of the "group-think identity" of religion. For many who thirst for a more meaningful experience, they must lose fundamental parts of their identity. This can cause an identity crisis of sorts which can be quite painful at times, yet freeing and euphoric in the end.

Because doctrines are internalized to such a great extent, the persecution complex arises quickly and naturally to any information that is critical or challenging to those beliefs or teachings. New information isn't seen as just critical or challenging to the Dogma of religion, but as a personal attack in many instances. This is why you see many fighting over the letter of the law and hating what does not look, believe or think as they do. Once a person decides to stand for authentic relationship with Christ it can prove quite difficult to be embraced by those that still uses the defense mechanisms of legalism. However, it can also leave those of us who do cleave to Christ in relationship to feel a sense of loss with a church shaped hole in our heart and feeling like we don't know who we are anymore. After all, some of the greatest life-questions of philosophers were given to us with surety through great men and women of the cloth. We knew who we were because they told us, where we came from and where we were going after this life, if we followed their path. As long as we dont let the touchy-feely, sloppy agape come near us.
One of the more painful experiences we may have in leaving legalism is losing the identity we so deeply internalized and invested in. For many of us, there is a mourning process that we go through to weep over the loss of our beloved companion, "the church", and all that it fulfilled in us, or that we believe fulfilled in us. It is okay to mourn this loss. Not everyone goes through this though and that is okay too. Mourning can help release some of the religious or church programming and identity though, making room for God's truth to shine through. His truth that church is not a building we attend but who we are and we all are not a islands based on our beliefs but the body of Christ jointly fit together. We are all one!

You see the internalizing of beliefs into our core identity is what gave legalism (Religion) so much power over our thoughts and minds, and also the potential to hurt us on our way out through the loss of identity. Despite all of this potential for hurt and mourning from the loss of identity, you now have an opportunity that many go their entire lives without ever experiencing, and that is being able to consciously define your new identity. This can be a freeing and empowering experience. It can also set you up for further hurt if not done cautiously. When it comes down to the words and phrases by which we identify ourselves, the more emotionally invested we are in those definitions, the more potential and power we simultaneously give them to hurt us if or when that identity dissolves. Any identity-definition can be internalized and believed in so heavily that should it fail, causes us great pain, suffering and further identity crisis. The key to preventing any further identity crisis is to limit how emotionally invested you become towards any one identity-definition you may have for yourself, or that you adopted from outer sources. 

With all that said, the only source that we should look to for a definition of who we are is the one who created us. He thus, created us for relationship with him. To be loved by him and to love him. To allow our faith to accomplish what the world says is impossible. Not be our own strength but the strength that comes from Him. So let go of the religious beliefs that limit the God you serve and you from becoming a new creature in Christ.

Embrace the fact that transformation, requires you to lose your old ways and take on new ways. To think differently and understand your purposes as it pertains to the whole. Strive to be in relationship with Christ. Thus your identity will be made clear and your faith pure!

You are Bound No More!

Pastor Linda Hillman

(c) 2015 Living Above Hurt Ministries

Pastorlindahillman@hotmail.com