Just because it's a fact...doesn't mean it's true

     Happy Monday monsters. Did you know that the more blogs you read the smarter you get?  Also, if you are a single woman in her mid to late 30's you are more likely to never have a child. Did you know that there is a shortage of men, and that 60% of women will never get married? Hey, did you hear that 59% of children that grow up in single family homes will be more likely to raise their own children in a single parent home? Did you know that 57% of African American men admitted to actively seeking a woman of another culture/ethnicity to marry?  Shockingly 67% of black women will not ever marry regardless of age or economic status, and that these same women are more likely to have children out of wedlock?
     67% of men say that they have cheated on their partner. In a recent survey white women were considered the most desirable in a marriage partner, with Asian making a close second, followed by Hispanic, Other, Mixed race and Black coming in last. A recent "study" found that overweight women are more likely to be single, short men prefer taller women, and a man regardless of his looks, weight or height will have a better chance of marrying if he makes six figures or more. On the contrary a woman making six figures or more, no matter how beautiful she may be, will either have to settle or be single.  Or how about this one, 48% of all the people reading this blog believe at least one of the above stated "facts" is true.

       Sorry to disappoint you but most of what is stated above I just made up. Not off the top of my head or anything just purely based on the random opinions and unscientific polls that are conducted in women's magazines, online surveys, and random overheard conversations that women have on a regular basis. You can come up with a statistic on just about anything, and most people will believe it. Hey who can argue with math? I barely passed my statistics class but I know that you can slant your results by polling a targeted group versus a totally random one. I am just saying, you can make a fact about pretty much anything, it just doesn't make it the truth.

    While you have been busy cleaning out your life and your mind you have found that you have more room, some empty space waiting to be filled. Be careful monster an empty space is still a place. A place where you begin storing stuff. Thoughts, ideas, facts, experiences. In the Between you need to be vigilant about guarding these now clean and empty spaces. You need to be careful about what you allow to take up this space. We all plan to only fill our lives with things that edify us. That teach us a better way to live, to think, to act etc. Your main source should be your Bible, but realistically we fill those spaces with things that look good, like self help books, random advice, talk shows and magazine articles. Hey we are working on ourselves after all I told you to read, to learn and to grow. Yes I did. I neglected to tell you to edit and filter what you  are putting in yourself. I am sorry. It was only Revealed to me on my daily torture session, oops I mean exercise session.

   Just because something may be a "fact" does not make it true. Our media is meant to inform us, but mostly it circulates fears and insecurities. It sells millions of copies  each month selling fear. Are you eating the right things, wearing the right things, do you measure up to the beautiful images of women between its covers, do you know how to keep your man satisfied, Do you know how to get the right job, apartment, man?
 The list goes on and on. Worse they put out polls on nearly everything. My question is who are they asking? Where are they getting their facts, and what does it have to do with the truth?

Don't throw them out, you do not have to quit reading them, you don't have to turn off your talk shows, but you do need to quit having a steady diet of them. Most importantly you need to filter any and all information you may get from them. This is what it looks like.

     On one of my jogs I saw an attractive man walking by. He smiled and kept going and out of nowhere all these thoughts bombarded me. Thoughts that went a lot like this. "Hmmm, I am over 30, everybody knows that as you get older it is harder to date. Maybe  I was too fat, guys don't like women with too many curves. Yeah I am a single mom guys don't want to have to raise a kid that is not his. (how he could possibly know that I was a mom did not even enter into my thoughts.), I am not even on his radar, He probably doesn't like black women. And a whole lot of other mess that I will not share with you. In reality the guy probably never gave me another thought as he went past, while I was beating my self up with all the facts I had gleaned from media and other misinformed women. Lucky for me I tripped. While I was physically tripping, the Holy Spirit informed me that I was mentally tripping and to cut it out immediately.

So I cut it out. I told myself out loud the truth. The Truth is I am a Child of the Most High God. That I am fine just the way I am. That it does not matter what man says about me. That I am fearfully and wondrously made, that God has a plan for me, that He knows the desires of my heart.  That all these "facts" were not the Truth. That I needed to have a better filter on the things I allowed into my mind. I also knew that I had to examine each of these "facts" find their source and eliminate them. So I rarely watch talk shows, I turn off all those reality shows that show women as mistreated, spoiled, chronically single, over dramatic, unloved and unlovable. Yup I had to clean out my Tivo. More importantly I had to discard these "facts" and find the Truth about me.

   As long as you hold on to the "facts" you cannot know the truth. So monster today, examine all the "facts" about yourself and your situation and figure out if they are the Truth. I can guarantee that most of the '"facts" you believe about yourself are not true at all. Throw them out. After all everybody knows the Truth will set you free.

Be free monster, be free.