Beat the Bullies ~ Let Your Beauty Shine

   

    Are you being bullied or have you experienced bullying in the past? Bullying can rear its ugly head in many different forms.  Mental abuse such as being put down, isolated and discriminated against can often be just as hurtful as physical abuse. 

   

    Physical abuse such as being beaten up in the school yard, taking the odd punch or kick for the sake of someone else’s entertainment, domestic violence and sexual abuse are all criminal offences. 

   

    If you are going through any of these things   or anything other where you feel violated, don’t suffer in silence.  Tell somebody close to you. If it’s at school tell a teacher. 

    If you’re going through domestic violence there is support out there for you.  Go to your doctor and they will put you in touch with the right people. 

   

    I have been there. It took a lot to make that step but it was the beginning of a complete turn around in my life's circumstances.

    The thing that has most got me through years of abuse in different forms is prayer.  God is interested in every detail of your life and wants to help you.  All you have to do is ask and He will help YOU get through and turn YOUR circumstances around for the better.

     Check ~ Jesus Reigns

Sticks and Stones Can't Touch My Soul

Throughout my life I have felt loneliness, rejection, pain, intimidation, and taken for granted by what I can only describe as bullies. 

There have been so many times when people have tried to put me down and succeeded as my confidence has been affected.

I have found that if you are a nice person and have passion for people it works against you as people tend to take advantage of your better nature. 

In the industry that I have grown up in where performance is not only what we do but also what people judge us on, unfortunately for some competiveness manifests as bitterness. 

As a dancer this went against me as I felt I couldn’t express myself as I knew I could.  I held back and shied away from letting myself go. 

This meant that I was unable to be myself as I was always conscious of judgement and for want of a better word bitchiness.  I knew that there was so much more inside of me but guarded myself in fear of rejection and criticism. 

After I gave my life to Jesus, I gradually felt the fears subside.  I felt an inner strength beyond my own, pushing the boundaries of my old self confidence to new depths I had never dreamt possible. 

This hasn’t been an overnight process or an easy one.  It is ongoing and I still have a long way to go!  But I have found that with trusting in Jesus’ power within me He works through me, fighting my battles for me, giving me a new confidence in the gifts He has given me and helping me to be the person I was created to be. 

I am caring less and less about what people think of me and more and more about how to be the best that I can be and achieve all that I was put on earth to do. 

Although I still often feel put down and intimidated I am learning to rise above and realise that if people want to make you feel like that then it is them with the problem. 

This new found confidence is not one of vanity, self assurance or self righteousness, nor is it confidence in my own abilities.  It is confidence that Jesus Christ lives within me and by the power of His Spirit I can be the person that He wants me to be.

Whatever sticks, stones or words are thrown my way I have a power within me that is greater than anything that is in this world.

Check ~ Jesus Reigns

Destruction to Destiny

When I was little I used to go to church but with no interest in or understanding of God.  I’d use it as an excuse to play with my friends. When I was old enough make up my own mind, I chose not to go.

Throughout my teens and in to my 20’s let’s just say I became streetwise.  The lifestyle that this generation enjoy is one of escapism; drink, drugs, smoking and sex. Because it was what everyone else was doing I just saw it as normal and had no conviction in my heart that it was wrong. 

I worked in nightclubs as a dancer and at the time the job was great.  It was like going out and getting paid for it.  After years of living this lifestyle however, it started to take its toll.  The highs were beginning to be overtaken by the lows and I hated the way I was living but felt trapped. 

I prayed and prayed but at first there was no change. I felt stuck in a rut.

The thing I’ve learnt about God is that He answers our prayers in His time and His way. He can’t free us from everything at once. He does it slowly and subtly, gradually transforming our hearts and minds and illuminating the truth. 

Even when we are still continuing to fall in a certain area He is teaching us.  People point the finger too often and say “He or She is supposed to be a Christian and they are doing such and such”.

However what we have to remember is that nobody is perfect and we are all work in progress.  We are all on a unique journey and have individual baggage content that needs fixing.  Only God can fix us. He does when we ask Him, but in His time.

One New Year the desire to live the lifestyle I was living left me.  It was like it had been taken off me.  Instead of dancing in clubs I was offered a job teaching dance, something I didn’t think I was capable of.  I am still teaching and I love it. 

That’s not to say that it has been easy and that I haven’t fallen since, or to say that there isn’t other things that I am struggling with. But I look back at where I was, and look at where I am now and think... there is absolutely NO way that I could have broken free from all that I was doing in my own strength. 

I have a renewed strength, a renewed understanding of my old lifestyle’s destructiveness and most importantly a renewed faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, Healer and Redeemer.

Check ~ Jesus Reigns

Heavenly Peace

    It is way beyond our understanding what will happen when we pass from this world and it is for no one to judge whether another “deserves” Heaven or not. I personally believe that there is good in every single person no matter what they have done in their lives.  It is what goes on in a person’s heart that is most important and only God and God alone can judge that.
         
    One thing I do know for certain is that when you put your trust in Jesus, you are given absolute conviction not only that God is real but also that Heaven is real, and that there is something Amazing beyond this world to look forward to. 
     
    When my Nain and Grandad passed away I thought that I would never be able to stop crying, I loved them so much!  However I found that I was given this extraordinary peace and certainty that they were in a better place, they were with God and that I would most definitely see them again.  That has been the same for my Nanny, Uncle Charles, Aunty Kath and others. 
    
    It is a peace way beyond my natural human response to the great loss each of them has brought to our family...

Check ~ Jesus Reigns

From Pain to Peace

Through Reign Check Relections I aim to bare my soul and be open about my life.  My heart is that people may hear my testimony, be inspired and given hope.  I hope and pray that each reflection will allow the reader to be one story nearer to understanding Jesus. 

What I am about to share is information that I would not usually disclose and especially not in a public domain.  However, I have decided to wear my heart on my sleeve unreservedly.  

It has dawned on that in my lifetime I have been used and abused mentally, physically and sexually; bullied, threatened, put down; punched, kicked, bitten; quite literally ragged around like a rag doll; had a dog set upon me, spat on; my hair torn out by the roots, cheated on, undermined and on many occasions treated like the lowest of the low...

Yet since Jesus came in to my life my heart feels full of compassion, forgiveness, peace, hope and thankfulness..?

At my lowest point I cried out "God if you are real, I really could do with some help here!" Battered and bruised, inside and out, I started to notice a change.  A change that would change not only my feelings but my life.  The more I prayed, the stronger the feeling became. The more I prayed the more my life changed. 

I gave my life to Jesus Christ.  I gave Him my all and my everything.  Now my No1 goal in life is to tell others of His saving grace and help those who are suffering.


The love that I feel is no ordinary love.  It is unconditional. It is way beyond my own ability to love.  My own human emotions should undoubtedly be full of bitterness, anger, hate and revenge.  Yet I don't feel any of these.  Of course I have my moments (I am a woman after all!) but I can hand on heart say that something incredibly amazing has happened within me. 

My heart is bursting with compassion, the compassion of Jesus Christ.

Check ~ "Jesus Reigns!"

Ruth Anne