Hello to all our Warriors out there. Lawrence “Watch Dawg” here. I know the last blog was written by Melissa, so this week I am giving it a try. You will see both of us on here. Some times we will be writing posts together. It is what ever the Lord puts on our hears.
I would like to talk a little about hope. I understand that in the world right now hope may be hard to find. If you do find it, it can be very hard to hold onto. Let’s see if we can find some hope AND manage to hold onto it. Like last weeks post stated it is a new year which can add new stress on top of what you already have going on. Let’s start off with something easy, to get the ball rolling. If you are reading this then that means you were able to wake up today. You are able to breath, to see, to move and get up. These are things that we should be grateful for but a lot of times we (I) take those things for granted. All the little things in our daily lives we tend to take for granted. Now here is where the hope starts.
In my line of work, I am hopeful that I can take another step, because in the fire service one more step could be what gets you to that victim that is trapped in a fire. One more step could be what gets our crew member out of a smoke filled building before he/she passes out due to lack of air. One more step! One more step could be the step that changes your life, forever. It could be the step that leads you to the cross, where God can start working on you, saving you, healing you from the inside. One more step could be that step that gets you in the door to see your family. One step could be the step that gets you started on the road to sobriety, or learning to live without fear. One more step could put you in position to help someone else who has lost all hope and can’t manage one more step on their own.
It is no secret that I live with PTSD, and yes it sucks!!!! It is scary, it is hard, and there are times when I feel like it is a losing battle. There are times when I lose hope. I lost almost 2 years of my life because I lost hope. I lost almost 2 years where I wouldn’t/couldn’t look myself in the mirror because I hated who I had become. I considered leaving the middle of the night because I thought my family would be better off without me around. One step seemed impossible when I was at my lowest and felt like I was done. Nothing I was trying was working. Probably a dozen different treatment types and just as many medications, nothing worked. With all the failed attempts I kept pushing on. I heard about yet another type of treatment. I read a little about it and it sounded good, but so had the last 3 treatments I tried. I discussed it with Melissa and she said why not try it? Nothing else had worked. She said “What do you have to lose?” I couldn’t tell her EVERYTHING if it did not work. I swallowed what was left of my pride and signed up for the Mighty Oaks Program. I was accepted and I went away for a week. I had just a fragment of hope going into that program. I rode with one of the instructors to get there. He instilled just a glimmer of hope with what we discussed on the way there. It was at Might Oaks that I found hope that I could use and hold onto. They taught me I could go One more step to reach out and help others as well! I have good days and bad days. On bad days it is dark, scary, lonely, and confusing, but I hold tight to some of my hope. On good days I look back and I am so thankful that my family encouraged me to never give up, and that God gave me the strength and courage to take just one more step. I couldn’t do it alone, none of us can. We need hope to keep moving forward and there is always hope out there.
Please never give up, never stop fighting. Always push to take one more step. Talk to God, talk to a friend, talk to a professional, talk to family. Take one more step. Talk to us, take one more step for yourself, for your family, for your friends. You might not feel like it, but this world is better with you in it. If you ever feel like no one loves you, just know we love you, and more importantly God loves you!
Thank you for coming to the blog today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Please Like, Share, Comment, and Subscribe. Also find us on Facebook and Instagram!
Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Jeremiah 29:11″For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future of hope.”
Lawrence McGuire “Watch Dawg”
Relentless Warrior's Legacy 