And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
(Matthew 13:3-10)

In the minds of many, there is no reason for us to share the experiences that we have endured. Those of this mindset are the ones who Jesus describes above as those who have “no depth of soil”. They may even have come out of the situations that will be described here but, for whatever reason, due to a lack of the proper guidance, they have taken refuge in a life lived on the surface. They avoid going deep enough to live past the next earthly goal. Looking at our experiences reminds them of their own and they have been taught that they just need to “get over it”. They also can’t see why we don’t do the same.

Their goals are the ones arranged by others who have no depth. These arrangers have been given a great deal of authority over the decisions of those who accept and follow that authority above all other authority—even the authority of God. Their measurements of success include new cars, houses, good jobs (with good benefits), and other trappings of money-bought happiness. This is all they believe they have to live for. They have “no root” so the loss of any one of the above trappings is often a cause for great alarm, at the very least. More and more and more often, the loss leads to severe mental and emotional collapse. For them, hardship is more feared than death!

We realize we cannot write for “the shallow ones” any more than we can write for those who are represented by that “grain” that would have come out of the seeds that were devoured before they even had a chance to take root. Neither can we write for the ones that did come from the seeds that were eventually choked to death because they grew up among the thorns. Though we have a great deal of sorrow for these who would rather not hear our stories (because we recognize that they have no hope), we choose to continue to write for those who will produce:

some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

The stories we will tell here are real. We long ago discovered they just needed a place to be told, so here it is. This is the soil. The seeds planted here are from eye-witnessed evidence of real life situations. Some will come along to water these seeds and, as always, God will provide the increase.

This is not a place for dissenters whose only purpose is to dilute the reality of these stories thereby making it less painful to acknowledge each one. It is a place where others can come and be confirmed. It is not a place for the bitter to destroy the growth of others with their bitterness. It is a place for healing to be performed on the readers as well as the writers. This is not a place where there is no absolute answer. It is above all, God’s place and His word is the final and absolute authority here.

The rules for this blog are simple, if you are curious, ask questions. If you have solutions or know of some, provide them because they are sorely needed. If you have a story to tell, submit it to the administrators and we will do our best to tell it. If you only want to post here to “choke” or “devour” the seed that is being planted, you might as well go elsewhere. There are many places where you will be welcome do so. We are not here to provide a “fair and balanced” view. We are only here to provide one side of a story at a time so that others who need to will be able to come and see that they are not crazy and they are not alone. By many accounts, we are intolerant, as was our Lord and Savior when He made people face who they were.

All the stories shared here will be done so with the intention that others might be set free from the ties that bind them and the chains of sin and shame. We will share facts that can be disputed by those who wish to deny them, but our deniers will not stop us either. Read and be educated on some of the real issues of life, from the bottom of the ladder of success, where we have learned to go deep for our healing. And here we have also that nothing we have endured is wasted or useless as we place it in the hands of the Lord and Lover of our souls!