If you told my future self in 2015 that I would host an online grief ministry/website, AND the photo from this adventure day would be my feature photo: I WOULD NOT HAVE BELIEVED YOU.

My tech support friend, who was helping me set up my website, wanted me to use the above as my feature photo. I didn’t agree. She asked me to trust her. Of course, I didn’t ‘trust her’ until we had exhausted every other photo option possible. Does that really count as trust?  My stubbornness made for a much more satisfying “AHA” moment when her photo choice fit perfectly on my webpage. We could have saved an hour if only I cooperated sooner. This is the story of my life mamas!

As you can tell from the before and after photos, you can do a lot with editing mamas.  Unlike the before version, it was actually a pretty gray day- imagine that… GRAY…. In the Northwest?  Notice how easily you can manipulate a photo. You can edit many things, crop, change colors, and produce sunshine where none exists.

You have the same power mamas in your heart healing journey. You manipulate your outside to betray your inside. You can tell everyone you are F-I-N-E, when you are not. You can project where you want to be instead of where you really are.  Mamas, all this does is stunt your growth. It cheats you out of God’s heart healing.

Next time you are scrolling the Internet, social media, or television; remember stories, photos, videos can edit easily. People are not always as they appear. Don’t compare the life you are living, or your heart that is healing, to others.  Things are not always as they appear.