Love Your Enemies : How God Uses Tension, Triggers, and Posture to Bring You Home
by Nikki Walton of CurlyNikki.com
Half the Battle Is Waking Up in the Middle of the Moment
Half the battle is won when you wake up in the middle of the train of thought, in the middle of the situation, in the middle of the chaos, in the middle of the auto-pilot drive home, in the middle of the tense conversation, and relax your shoulders down away from your ears. Do it now. There’s always, likely, a little more room for relaxation; you can always receive more of His Peace. The more of His Peace receive, the more It feels like Joy. The fullness of Joy. A mountain you don’t come back down from.
My Counseling Practice Taught Me This Before I Knew His Name
When I was just getting started on this road, and I’m talking early 2000s with positive psychology (I have a masters in counseling) I’d set an alarm to go off once every 15-30 minutes to remind me to relax my shoulders, to breathe deeper, to unclench my jaw, to stop holding my stomach in… to just be. I wasn’t relating any of this to God yet, tho. I just knew that whenever I caught myself overthinking, or thinking negatively, I was also holding my breath, holding my stomach in, and holding my shoulders up to my ears. Interrupting the physical symptoms always brought about instant mental relief.
And with continual practice of awareness of my posturing, and armoring (that’s all the ego is– we suit up to defend ourselves against the onslaughts of the world, to include our internal world of judgement, criticism, and doubt), my awareness grew. With every vain affirmation (thanks Law of Attraction), I became more aware of awareness itself. I started noticing the silence between the affirmations… the something bigger than my thoughts. Bigger than me. Bigger than all my problems.
When the Enemy Says, ‘Feel the Love’
I remember a woman I once saw as an “enemy” in business, who would keep saying to me, ‘I want you to feel the Love,’ and meanwhile was serving up everything but Love lol. I stayed armored up. Sword drawn. Always bracing, ready for battle. I had practiced this awareness of something bigger than me, something that always felt like Love for a few years by then, and had put down my sword in every other situation but that one. I felt like I’d be seen as weak if I did. That I’d be taken advantage of, walked over. I was afraid that I’d ‘lose’.
He Was Bigger Than My Sword
But He wanted to show me that it was never me fighting the battle… I was perpetuating it with my posture. She was unknowingly giving me instruction from Him. Maybe knowingly, I love her now, lol (even though I never interacted with her again- she exited the company) and I’m thankful for the lesson I learned- He’s bigger than it all. All of the ‘negative’ situations in our life come only to bring us closer, to allow us even more intimacy, and ultimately access to more power through Him, with Him, and in Him.
Your Situation Is a Sermon
In that situation and many others, He gave me no choice but to continuously turn to Him. I had no where else to turn. You may be in that situation right now. Something or someone may have your back against the wall.
That wall is the altar. That pressure is sacred. That situation is a sermon…a divine lesson to teach you who’s really in control. You may not be able to appreciate it yet, but do me a favor– start praying for that person or over that situation in private. Pour out the Blood of Jesus over them, fill them with His Energy, His Light to bursting… if you do it right, you’ll be smiling from the inside out because filling them in your mind’s eye, fills them, too!
How to Let the Light Back In (And Keep It Flowing All Day)
And then, begin setting an alarm to break this cycle of being you. Every 5, 10, 15, or 30 minutes, set a chime to go off to remind you to relax those shoulders down, to remind you to return to Jesus. Let more of the Light in. You could say, BRIGHTER BRIGHTER BRIGHTER, or I Plead the Blood of Jesus… whatever it takes to bring more of that Energy into the experience.
Think of yourself as the window in the room. The only one. You have to keep the shades, the gorgeous curtains pulled back or else it’s dark in there. I keep them pulled back here and life has only expanded. More expansion. MORE MORE MORE that’s something else you can say when the alarm goes off and feel yourself shifting into MORE JOY. Into more of GoODness. More of your purpose.
This Is Your Real Work (Even While You Work)
This is your real work. Feel this at work lol. Do this while doing work, even if you’re an entrepreneur, and your whole business becomes His Business. Everything becomes Kingdom.
I love you,
nik
p.s. You don’t have to understand it. JUST FEEL.
*Also know that your mind may begin to ignore the timer, but make it a game! Try to stay aware (and keep your shoulders down) until the next alarm!
SIT WITH US DAILY ON SILENT RETREAT
