Breaking Brokenness
Colored Pencils: 12×9: ARS

A Letter From the Heart
February 03, 2016
(Revised 01/12/2020) 

(artwork by Alicia Renee Shipe titled “Breaking Brokenness”)

There are many things that get my emotions up and running; every emotion. There are things that make me angry, sad, happy, joyful, fearful, and loving. There are many things in this world and beyond that ignite me with a multitude of passions. There are too many things to list that keep me going and have kept me going in my 40+ years of existence so far. The number one thing that has always driven me is love.

As I sit here and am writing this I am trying to rationalize in my head why I am writing this. I could share what has inspired me to write this but that would defeat the purpose. The purpose is that this is a letter from my heart. Just as there was something in the natural that inspired me to write this, I am in the hope that this will inspire you.

I have always been a dreamer, in the figurative and literal sense. I am a hopeless romantic. Some say I am naive because I tend to see the best in people until they show otherwise (but it still takes a long time for me to see the bad). That’s how I used to be. At some point my world changed and I became bitter and only saw the worst in people. God is bringing me back. We have a slew of technological advances that we can all find exactly what our Lord needs us to find when we need to find it. Sometimes it’s just best to speak heart to heart. When I approached Him about sharing this with you, all I heard in my heart was, “Just write.” 

There is something in your life that drives you with uncontrollable passion. Something that makes all the evil, all the rudeness, and all the darkness that tries to steal your moments disappear; something that brings you peace in the natural. Whatever that may be for you hold on to it, grow it, get more training in it and do it the absolute best you can because it is our Lord by His Spirit. Never let your passions die. Your passions and desires are His passions and desires. They are for you to BE alive but also possibly to help someone else either stay alive or come back to life mentally, emotionally, physically, and of course spiritually.

I don’t know how I will feel or react to something in any given moment but I know I have this moment right now. In this moment I choose to share my heart and my rapidly running thoughts with you. Life is not about who is better, faster, stronger, smarter, or more successful. Life is now. Life is love. When you have love you have hope. When you have hope you are able to share it with others. That is what makes the human race so extraordinary compared to all the other species. Where there is love and hope there is an unbreakable foundation. You will be able to see that the person mistreating you, bullying you, sabotaging you, deceiving you, or abusing you is doing it because they lack love and hope. I am not saying to stay in any relationship where these are happening. I am saying if you have love and hope, you will be able to recognize the root of these situations which helps you to not hold on to any bitterness within yourself. 

LOVE and FEAR. These are the only two emotions that are real. Every other emotion is based from one of these two. If you have love you can’t operate in fear. If you have fear you can’t operate in love. 

I leave you with this. Go back to the place in your childhood as far back as you can before any pain started. For some of us this is difficult because of things we endured in our childhood but there was a time. God is your protector and He will not let anything harm you. Go back to that place and time. What was it that you couldn’t wait to do every time you had a chance? This is the start to finding out what your true passion is. For me it was a number of things: coloring, sitting in a grassy field making jewelry from the flowers, dressing up all my doll babies and barbies, making up songs by telling my 3rd grade classmates “just give me one word and I’ll make up a song”, and of course writing fictional stories and poetry. These passions have not died. They have only dwindled only to grow in a new way.

Life doesn’t just happen. We make it happen by living it. Yes there is pain and there are scars from that pain. The scars (yes even the emotional scars) prove that you are alive and strong. Live your life through love. Before exhausting yourself trying to love someone else or please someone else be sure you are joyful being in the vessel that God placed you in first. Sometimes our passions help us to realize just how special we are in God’s vast garden. Shalom my beautiful friends!!! Shalom.

Your Loving Sister,
Alicia