Dear Drake

Posted on by beautybeyondbones

Confession:

I love Drake.

Yes, thank you Canada for producing such a fine young gentleman.

I know, I know, I know. Some of his songs are…morally questionable. But daaaaang they’ve got some sick beats!

And sometimes, a girl’s just gotta have a dance party like it’s 1999 to some Hotline Bling and bust out my grandpa dance 🙂

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But I was listening to Spotify this afternoon, and Drake is all over the Top 40’s station.

And yes, I listen to Top 40’s….because I am *cool.*


Riiiight…

But there’s a lyric in one of his songs that goes like this:

“I gotta talk to God even though he isn’t near me/Based on what I got it’s hard to think he don’t hear me”

And I literally stopped on the street, and made a note of it. And here’s why:

This little stanza illustrates what I personally believe is a big problem with how we view the Father.

I think a lot of people think God is some distant enigma that acts as a vending machine, and who makes bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to His “favorites.”

That could not be further from the truth.

I think a lot of times, we can take inventory of our lives and judge, based upon our circumstances, where we stand in God’s favor.

Things are going right, God is smiling on me. Things are going to pot, well, I must have done something to really piss off the Guy Upstairs.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Looking back at the course my life has taken thus far in my 20-something years on this earth, I have definitely “walked through the valley,” which is simply just “church speak” for I’ve done a lot of crapola.


But it’s true. I don’t need to rehash it, but with anorexia comes a lot of other baggage: lying, manipulation, deceit, vanity, rage, idolization of things other than God, jealousy and the biggie: pride.

Quite the laundry list.

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But looking back from a place of health and freedom and peace, I can honestly say that it was in that dark place that I truly learned of God’s love the most.

It wasn’t when everything was peachy keen, going my way, rolling merrily along.

No.

It was in the times of desperation where I had no where else to turn, no other lifeline to rely on, no other source of strength or hope.

That was when I learned of His love. Of His goodness. Of His mercy.

I learned that He is always with me, and hears my cries.


Here’s the thing I think we often forget about that verse: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4

Some translations say “the darkest valley.” Which I think is even more powerful.

Because think about when we were little: we’d play the trust game with our friends where we’d be blindfolded and our friends would lead us around the backyard or basement.

That’s what God is doing here. He is guiding us. With His rod and staff. That’s how close He is to us. We are literally under His arm, right next to His shepherd’s staff.

If that’s not comforting, I don’t know what is.


God doesn’t show His love by showering us with Bugattis and Rolex Watches. I mean, He could…and I’d be totally on board with that;)

But sometimes, God allows us to go through things in order for us to realize just how much He loves us…and to rely on that love.

So Drake, I love ya, but you’re just flat out wrong on that one.

God is near. So near, we can feel His shepherd’s staff as He guides us through the dark valley. And His love isn’t shown by ‘what we got,’ but rather, the true gift ‘we got’ on the Cross.

Anywho. Just a little reflection. If you need me, I’ll be jammin’ to Hotline Bling *puts on sunglasses and drops mic*


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beautybeyondbones

BBB: Because we're all recovering from something. // For speaking/business inquiries: beautybeyondbones@yahoo.com

228 thoughts on “Dear Drake”

  1. This is true. People often forget that all the heroes in the bible went through trials and tribulation before they were known as great men and women of God. There’s ton of scriptures and stories about the hardships of God’s people. Look at Jesus; God’s only begotten son. He was closer to God than anyone and suffered more than anyone. So right on!

    P.S U with me?, Weston Road Flows, Redemption, Faithful, Summers over interlude, and Fire and Desire is my current Drake playlist. Lol

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much! You’re so right-Jesus is the ultimate example of that. And yesss! That’s such a great playlist! My favorites are one dance and summer sixteen! I listen to them when I’m getting ready to go out!! Such great songs ☺️ thanks for reading! Hugs and love xox

      Liked by 1 person

      1. “Then I hit em with the hotline
        Chris breezy with the dance moves” I sing that part all the time and do the little phone move Drake does. Lol!!! I just embarrassed myself.

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  3. Okay, I gotta add a bit more to this. I one time went through what you think, I think about the same age, too, but I have to ask, if only to try to make you dig a little deeper, and I promise you I am not in any way trying to be disparaging. This is an honest question – how do you know? Where does your sureness come from and please have it be more than a feeling. What is your proof beyond what you were told or read – if you are will to explore those reasons. If you don’t – no love lost. I’d like to ask you a question, though. As human beings in general, What is the reason for having a faith. What do you look for in a faith? Since there are so many and many are so similar, why did you choose the avenue you did?

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    1. Hi Sonni, thank you for this question. I have absolutely no doubts about my belief in God. And my life is my proof. I was 78 pounds and literally at deaths door with my severe anorexia. The treatment facility I went to told my parents I was the worst case they had ever seen and didn’t know how my body was still holding on. The only way I got better was with God’s help. That is miracle #1. Miracle #2 is a similar situation. I have ulcerative colitis and I was on bed rest due to a flare for an entire year. I went to 8 different doctors, was on, at one point, 102 different pills/drops/powders/medicines throughout the day. Nothing worked. The next step was having my intestines removed. God saved me again by introducing the specific carb diet into my radar, a radical, therapeutic diet. It worked. And to this day I am healed of my ulcerative colitis (an autoimmune disease for which there is no cure.) miracle #3 around the time when my anorexia developed, I was also in another ulcerative colitis flare. I was dropping all this weight, despite eating and trying not to. They doctors ran s test where I had to eat these “tracker eggs” which had a special chemical in them so they could see where they were, real time, on an MRI. The chemical made them visible on the scan. What they found was that my stomach was paralyzed (the pyloric valve) and would not empty. It’s caused gastroparseis. The eggs, which were supposed to pass through the stomach in less than an hour, took nearly 7 hours to empty. This was why I was losing a lot of weight and was malnourished, because the food wasn’t making it to the intestines, were the nutrients were absorbed. Long story short, we went to this Faith- based naturopath and he prayed over me and introduced me to apple cider vinegar. (He was the same person who introduced me to the specific carb diet too) But I went back 2 weeks later to do the stomach emptying test (with the MRI and the scrambled eggs) and my results were completely normal. The doctors at the hospital literally called it a miracle and had no idea how the gastroparseis reversed itself. They had never seen it before. So Sonni, God has literally worked miracles in my life. I would not be here had it not been for His saving hand. I hope that helps answer your questions.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh you poor girl. You have been through so much. My question was not to refute you our to tell you that you g are wrong or I am right. We hear so much of that and it puts people against people. I do understand, especially when you come from death’s door. I, too, went through a bad time where I should have died, was sick for years and finally at then got a liver transplant. The healing was horrendous and the pain unbearable. I will never have perfect health and out of pain but I’m alive and I have a full life, devoted to helping others, teaching then how to have the confidence and determination to change their lives.

        But you and I have two completely different faiths. Is one right and one wrong.I’m beginning to think, no. Not if the faith we have enabled us to continue on against all oddsodds. There are aspects of our faith that are the same and many that are not. You are Christian and I am Buddhist and I know it because of the faith and determination , the focus and confidence that pulled me through. Understanding the law of cause and effect, which you call, you reap what you sow, enabled me to understand why it happened to me.

        So here we are, two women, sure of what we believe in. I don’t believe in miracles. What happens in our lives are the effects of causes we have made, even if we don’t understand what those causes are. To you, Good put the right people in your path to help you. To me, the causes were made to put the right people’s on my faith. However it happened, we sure were meant to live! A lot of it was our faith in what we believe and our determination to survive. But I would not have survived if I had tried using faith in God and you would not survived using Buddhism, if it wasnt what you believed. This will take more thought because it seems to be determined by how strongly we believe, maybe not what we perceive to be the truth, or one of us would not have made it. I know a lot about Christianity. It was raised in the church and left it. I’ve been
        Buddhist for 28 years. For knowledge sake only, not trying to convert, it is good to understand different faiths. If you’d like to go to http://sgi-usa.org. It stands for the soka gakkai, translated from Japanese to mean. Value creation Society. I hope to talk again

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      2. Hi Sonni, thanks again for this great perspective. I’m so glad to hear that you also are a survivor and that you’re living a full and healthy life. That is so so great! 🙂 I definitely don’t have a lot of knowledge on Buddhism, but I absolutely respect your beliefs. Like you said, for me, it was God who got me through those incredibly trying times. I think it is wonderful that you’re using your life to help others. That is truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing your heart with me this afternoon. I do hope to talk again soon as well. Hugs and love xox

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  7. Hey lady!
    First of all, thanks for liking my post today. I’m just getting started and it means so much.
    Secondly, AMEN! Everybody has ups and downs in their life (some more than others, for sure, but nobody has a perfectly perfect or a perfectly terrible life), but the Father is constant.
    Third, I have Ulcerative Colitis, too. There’s not many people who understand what it’s like.

    Keep being amazing!

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    1. Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoy it! You’re right-UC is a bit of a hidden struggle. It’s nice to know that someone else has walked that road and can relate:) sending big hugs my friend! Looking forward to reading more from you!! Hugs and love xox

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  8. hey, I’m new to the blogging world and have been looking for people to follow. i’ve been exploring your blog and I wanted to let you know that I absolutely love it. Thanks for sharing yourself !

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  9. Once again you’ve blessed us with a great post. I love how you take things relevant for today and can tie it back to God. I think it shows we can find God anywhere.

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  14. Its so true….we learn more in the “valley” than on the “mountaintop”…..church speak for we learn more when we are empty alone and searching than when its all going great!!! Funny how that works! Love ya!

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    1. Hi Suzanne! Thank you so much for this reflection. You’re so right! It is funny how that works! It great perspective to have when we’re faced with al sorts of things. Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and love xox

      Liked by 1 person

  15. BBB–Thanks for liking my prayer, again.

    Theologians talk about God the Father as “transcendent” (far off) and Jesus as “immanent” (near by). Judaism and Islam worship a transcendent god, but have no comparable concept of an immanent god. Personally, I find Henry Nouwen’s (Reaching Out) concept of the three movement of the spirit helpful–the movement within us (in ourselves–the Holy Spirit), the movement between us (with others–the example of Jesus), and the movement upward (with God–God the Father)–because I believe that we can have separate relationships with each member of the Trinity.

    Best wishes.

    Stephen

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  16. I just wanted to stop by quickly to say, you’re welcome America for handsome/beautiful Canadians… ;D

    But you’re so right! I’m at a youth conference in Edmonton, Alberta this weekend and I was listening to Heath Adamson speaking yesterday and he talked about when the desciples got caught in a storm on Galilee and Jesus was just like, you know, sleepin in the back of the boat. And they’re all freaking out and Jesus gets up and he says “Peace, be still…” Peace, be still–because sometimes peace comes before the storm is over. And you know he went on to talk about how that storm took them off course from Bethsaida to the Gadarenes, they met the demoniac and Jesus saved him and swnt him home and all the people were afraid of Jesus… and instead of letting the guy come with him Jesus sent him home. The next time Jesus comes to that region? The whole town comes out to meet him with their sick. Later on down the road when the Romans are persecuting the new bride, every other town is refusing the refugees–but not Gadera. All because of a storm. Boom. Put that in your pipe and smoke it 🙂 Jesus is so good!

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    1. Hey Carson! Haha yes! This is such a great testimony to that fact-there CAN be peace amidst the storm. It’s also a great showing of how to trust Jesus, which I definitely have to work on. There’s nothing that He will give us that He won’t get us through. Such a comforting thought. Hope you’re having a great time at the youth conference! I’ll definitely kee y’all in my prayers! Yay Canada! Hugs and love xox

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi friend! Oh my gosh thank you so much! That’s so kind of you to say ☺️ gosh, tips-hmm I really don’t know! I guess just write about things you’re passionate about, and then use hashtags! Hehe hope that helps! Sending hugs and love xox

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I’m in Australia, so it’s 1pm on Monday and I’m back at uni. But it’s the thought that counts right? 😉 haha. Hope the rest of your weekend goes well!

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      3. Thanks! haha. Yeah I love Australia – weather, opportunities, my local church, everything. America must be pretty amazing though! Would love to go there one day, see what all the fuss is about 😉

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    1. Hey Angelique! Aw thanks! I’m so glad it resonated with you. You’re right-it’s great to pause and think for a minute every now and then. Thanks for reading!! Hugs and love xox

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  25. Hello beautybeyondbones,

    You recently started liking my posts. I have a few questions for you about your blog. Can I contact you through email?

    Thanks,
    Cody Casalini

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  26. Your story was inspiring! I read only a few comments but I did stumble upon the one with your 3 miracles! I’m glad to hear that you’ve been able to overcome so much. I also have some health problems which have gotten worse in the last while leading me to create a blog to connect with people like me! I have Crohn’s and it’s gotten worse I’m awaiting another procedure! I can’t wait to check out more of your blog!

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  33. I love this post! Drake? Not so much…well…you know…I love him with “the love of the Lord”…err…anyway. I’m going to share this on my Facebook ministry page. (I would reblog it but I only have like 20 followers. I have a few more than that on Facebook. lol)

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      1. Well, you know, great weeks are made one silly mistake at a time and I definitely have learned to capitalize on that truth!

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  35. Your blog is so good! It’s just some of the best encouraging messages, but also so real and relatable and I just really appreciate that! Really hope I can write like this one day:)

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