Category: HAPPINESS

Heaven or Hell?

I’m back again! I started this topic through IGTV but after a day of posting and then watching a “documentary” last night about “Evangelical Christian Fanatics” I thought I better have a back up, so the videos aren’t taken out of context. Anyone who wants to “discredit” a person can easily take “snippets” of a video out of context and use it to harm them. This topic will be a sensitive topic for many people because “truth hurts”: we don’t want to see ourselves anything less than “good,” HOWEVER, despite our shortcomings, God still loves each and everyone of us in our current state and hopes that we CHOOSE to love Him back, but He doesn’t force this; it remains our choice until we die, then our choice is “sealed” for its destiny!

For me, the most critical aspect/”take away” from reading the Bible (from a selfish viewpoint, which we all have; we want to know: “what’s in it for us?”) is:

There is eternity and it’s either Heaven or Hell.

Matthew 25:46

For me, the most important aspect from reading the Bible is God’s love for us. It’s hard to find that unconditional love from anyone here on earth, that’s for sure, haha, but we have it from one source: God.

There are so many lessons, insights, wisdom and teachings from the Bible. And there are many different interpretations of the Bible from various religions. Personally, I don’t affiliate with ANY religious denomination because I don’t believe we should be divided, we should simply be Christians. I believe what is in the Bible (this also is a choice: to “believe” this) and when it comes to interpreting/understanding confusing topics, I believe we should first pray to God requesting clarity and understanding from Him. It doesn’t hurt to talk to others who are educated on the subject matter to hear their interpretation about a subject, but before we accept what they say, pray to God and ask God to show us the truth in a personal way. The most important question I wanted the answer to is:

How do I get to Heaven?

  1. We must accept, acknowledge that Jesus is the way to God, here is the supporting information from the Bible:

2. We must TAKE ACTION: Repent. (if you want to go to Heaven, those who didn’t repent were/are destroyed) here is the supporting scripture:

3. We must TAKE ACTION: Get Baptized. Even Jesus was baptized, surprisingly. Why? Because He was here to show others the way to eternal life (Heaven) and to lead others by His example. In that same way, he wants Christians to be a living example to others, but since we are not perfect, when we don’t live how God intends, we become a bad example and do more harm than good. This is a commitment that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Baptism is an outward sign to others that we have surrendered to God and choose to live as He instructed. Jesus showed us the ultimate surrender, He prayed and asked God twice if it was possible, to take away His suffering, but also in the same prayer submitted to God’s will, as the prophesized sacrifice who would “atone” for all our sins by His death on the cross and resurrection thereafter. When we sincerely intend to live this way, it is a sacrifice, a living sacrifice but God offers us help through the Holy Spirit giving power, that others do not have or receive.

4. We must TAKE ACTION: Then pray to God and for the Holy Spirit.

5. We must TAKE ACTION: Obey God’s Commands. This subject will be my next article because there is too much detail about what this means to cover here, so I’m only showing the scripture that tells us we need to obey God’s commands:

In summary and what the Bible tells us about Heaven (eternal life) here are a few quotes from scripture about eternity:

Believe what you want; it is your choice. After I read the Bible, began studying it, and continued praying; I ended up believing. It changed my prior beliefs. As I always remind people: God did not and does not force anyone to believe this, so neither should any of us (force our beliefs on others). But I do believe we have an obligation to let others know what we have learned because it may become important to them; then they can make their own choice. The relationship with God is personal anyway. Love is a choice and that’s the greatest commandment that God gave us: to love God and love others….which means allowing people to make their own choice.

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2021 is Our “Do Over” Year

2021 is our “Do Over” Year

….with that in mind we have something to celebrate:

Happy New Year: Day 1 of the year 2021!

2020 gave many of us a “ feeling” of “being defeated” during the course of that year. But we probably all learned something from the things that happened, especially those events that were “out of our control.”

Life (physically) is meant to be out of our control (God decides), but our eternal life (spiritually) is within our control. We have freedom of choice: we get to choose eternal life or reject eternal life (but rejecting eternal life, by default, means choosing eternal torment, even if we don’t want to accept this, or believe it, it is the truth and a reality we all will face). The second phase of life is way more valuable to us than the first. If you’re reading this: you and I get a “do over” starting today: Day 1 of the year 2021. That’s something to be thankful and grateful for right now!

I’m looking forward to 2021 with a new mindset based on what I learned during 2020.

I’m heading into 2021 with: A positive mindset having no fear of the future (because I’m under God’s protection), knowing there is a place of true peace in my future even when it isn’t peaceful here and now it will be (with God in eternity), knowing I’m in control of my destiny based on my decisions regarding the most important aspect of my life (eternity) no matter what happens outside my control.

NEW YEAR GOALS: With every future important decision, these are questions I will use when evaluating what is the right direction (for important matters). I never gave much thought to this before, but just now realized, the only important decisions are ones that affect God or other people! If these questions below don’t apply, then the choice probably doesn’t matter for the most important phase of my life: eternity and whatever I choose is truly okay.

2021 questions:

1. Am I making this decision out of love? Not the “feeling,” but the love that God wants us to give Him and others (our obedience to His commands: 10 Commandments) that proves we love God. As I linked the Bible scripture to the 10 Commandments, I noticed something: it’s from the 20th book through verse 21! 2021! (that’s nothing more than an easy way to remember where the 10 Commandments are located: Exodus 20: 1-21)

2. Will my decision or action do something that will create some sort of joy (for God or someone else)?

3. Will my decision lead or create peace? (Blessed are the peacemakers)

4. Am I being patient? Not forcing something for my own selfish reasons? I need to have patience.

5. Is this kind?

6. Is this good? (From God’s value system)

7. Does this show faithfulness and loyalty to God?

8. Am I handling this decision in a gentle manner if it involves someone else?

9. Am I being impulsive? Should I take more time to make the decision?

The questions above relate to characteristics regarding “the fruit” of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23). When we have a relationship with God (which is what I choose/want), those characteristics are present, so if we want to make “the right” decisions for our life, we can use those questions to direct our actions (what we control).

Getting back to eternal life: Jesus said, the only way to eternal life is through Him/Jesus and to be born again. Being born again is a spiritual birth, a new “person,” a new way of thinking, a new mindset, it means surrendering to God by doing what is right (read the last sentence again), changing our ways to God’s ways (this is Baptism), then we are prepared to receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts. If we don’t change our ways (become a “new” born again person), we can’t receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts and if we don’t change our ways/surrender to God, that’s when we might hear from Jesus: “I never knew you.” on Judgement Day.

If we don’t obey, then we won’t receive the gifts of Holy Spirit (these gifts are provided so we can help each other/be of service to one another, the gifts are for service to others, not for our own benefit) and as Jesus said we have to ask for this. The gifts from the Holy Spirit are different for different people (not everyone receives the same gift).

To summarize, I’m starting 2021 with a new mindset: A mind set on eternity, because 2020 woke me up and made me realize I was given additional time and the opportunity to change my future in a positive direction. Happy New Year!

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Why we should never blame God:

I was not ready to get up today at 4:30 am, but this thought woke me up and it was a realization, a clarification of a question many people struggle with: Why would God let this happen? Why would God do this to such a good person?

It became clear to me this morning: if we blame God, we are wrongly blaming our Creator, who gave us life because He loves us. Think about that for a minute. God gave us life. God made us out of His love for us. Let logical thinking take over our hurt, sadness, anger, pain, etc. God does NOT do bad things to those who love Him. God does good things for those who love Him.

your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

(Jesus said this) Matthew 6:25-34

Yes, bad things do happen to good people, BUT God does NOT CAUSE that. It is normal to be angry when bad things happen to “good” people, but sometimes we direct our anger incorrectly. Why are we so quick to blame God? If we call ourselves Christians, we should know this: God does NOT do bad things to His people. The Bible is the only TRUTH, so if we look to the Bible for answers, we will find the answers, to this and much more.

Who is Good?

First of all, we need to realize, what we think is “good” is not the same as what God knows as “good.” Jesus made this point responding to someone saying: “Why do you call me good? No one is good – except God alone.” We all fall short in some way of being known as “good” to God. Our days of living on earth are part of the process of us individually preparing ourselves for eternity. (It’s like getting an education to prepare for work, only it has greater implications than a job or career: our eternity.) And we will never be “good enough” which is the reason why Jesus died for us; so that we could be in eternity with God. We are not “perfect” nor able to justify our way to heaven thinking if we are good enough we will get to heaven (we won’t get to heaven “being good enough” – from the Bible). The only way we will make it to heaven is through believing and faith in Jesus. BUT there will be consequences from our behavior.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

Who causes bad things to happen to people?

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

If only every person on earth would comprehend what this quote tells us, we would stop fighting with each other, we would stop blaming one another, we would unite together against the powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms that CAUSE the bad stuff we experience here on earth. If we are angry- be angry at the true source, don’t blame the innocent!

Jesus said:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Ephesians 2: 2 ……in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

The entire book of Job is another example, God did not CAUSE those bad things to happen, Satan did. But the end of the story is that God restored everything for Job.

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

We have to remember that God is just:

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

Deuteronomy 32: 4

Sometimes bad things happen as a consequence of a choice or an action we made (we cause it). Sometimes God allows bad things to happen to test our faith (read the book of Job) to find out if we truly love Him. And sometimes “our time is up” and God is ready for us.

28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 

(Jesus said this) Matthew 10: 28

If we experience an untimely death of someone we love, we need to put this in perspective: Yes it hurts. It will always hurt. But those feelings are focused on us, if we turn our thoughts to what is better for the person who experienced the untimely death, their suffering on earth was shortened. They didn’t have to endure the pain we do. It is a time like this to remember what Jesus said:

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

(Jesus said this) John 14:2
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Merry Christmas 2020

It is often in hindsight (that we realize) during the most trying times of our lives is when we experience God’s love, God’s people working on His behalf and truly have the opportunity to get to know God. God often uses something tragic in our lives and turns it into something good. He’s done this repeatedly throughout history and continues today.

AN OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLE- GOD TURNING BAD EVENTS INTO GOOD

Here is one example, of many, from the Old Testament: the story of Joseph (from the Bible, book of Genesis 37 – 50). Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel, Jacob who was the son of Isaac, who was the son Abraham and you can trace Abraham back to Noah, Noah back to Enoch, Enoch back to Adam (for those of you who recognize these “famous” names from the Bible), it’s fascinating. Anyway Joseph was thrown into a cistern by his own brothers (due to their jealousy), then sold into slavery when he was young. God had given Joseph the spiritual gift of dreams (that Joseph could interpret and also came true). Joseph rose to great power in Egypt, despite having many trials along the way then ended up saving many people from famine including his own family because of this spiritual gift God gave him. (An example of God turning bad hardships into something good).

A NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLE – GOD’S OWN SON, JESUS

This is really the hardest to explain because this is unfamiliar and uncommon to us making it difficult to comprehend, but is explained throughout the entire bible (Old Testament through New Testament). There is only 1 God, however God is a triune God (consisting of three in one): God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Basically, God sent a part of Himself to earth (Jesus) to save us from evil and permanent death because of God’s love for us. I don’t comprehend why evil was allowed such a heavy influence and power over the earth, except that God is love and in real love, love is a choice, not forced. So that concept helps me understand this. God has given those evil ones a choice, they just didn’t choose God back and that’s what we are living through right now, but not forever (if we love God back). Getting back to the point: God used Jesus’ suffering and death for our good, as a ransom to evil, so that those who choose God will have eternal life after physical death. God used bad to turn it into something good in this, the greatest example, from the New Testament.

EXAMPLE TODAY- MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

My faith journey is documented throughout my entire blog. It was ignited by a tragic event, a car accident involving one of my daughter’s closest friends, Andy, shortly after he turned 16. This is when I first began truly seeking to know God, trying to understand the reason this happened along with questioning my purpose in life; rethinking my entire life.

It wasn’t a quick transformation, it began 5 years ago (2015) very gradually and with many personal failures along the way, but increased over time with an intensity that didn’t make sense. I was not a religious person by any means. I am definitely not the same person I was 5 years ago, so much has changed in my life (ultimately for the better). But along the way I experienced some of my most challenging times. No one will understand what I mean unless you have gone through this personally. I am not a “religious” person today either; I have a bible based faith. I see things very differently than before. I understand what the bible means about spiritual “blindness” because it affected me. When the blindness begins to disappear, is when those of us who have been through this experience comprehend what that blindness means. I say “begins to disappear”, because not everything is clear to me from the Bible, but some is. I now experience peace, hope and love as I never have before in my life. The “joy” is something I’m working towards! As I’ve explained before, I don’t write about these things unless something inspires me to. When I feel a “push” is when I do this. My latest “push” has been focusing on “Joy”….it is so incredible how those filled with God’s spirit, who have basically “nothing” by our world’s value system, show this tremendous joy and happiness from God (in an authentic, not fake way). I seek that joy and know that over time as I grow closer to God, I will experience that, because I see others who experience this. Others inspire us: I think that is what leading by example is: those other people who are joyful, lead us to seek joy, which truly only comes from God, because those with joy are joyful in both good times and bad. This is from the Holy Spirit and can only be attained through obeying God’s commands, changing our mindset and becoming God focused. So getting back to the point again: God uses bad things and turns them into something good today as well as in the past. Ultimately the greatest joy is knowing that one day, those of us who choose to love and obey God will not have any sorrows to experience that here on earth, may hold us back from experiencing the joy of God. For true joy, we need to constantly re-focus our negative thoughts on God and eternal life and realize that all pain we go through is only temporary. I pray to God that whomever reads this will experience the joy from God ahead despite our circumstances as we enter 2021.

May God bless you and your family.

Merry Christmas!

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Churches, Christians, Depression & the Truth

Ever think some events happen for a reason? Several months ago, maybe a year ago, I came across someone through social media who challenged my belief in God and the Bible. Having read the Bible for the first time a year ago, I’m obviously not a biblical scholar, but I knew of resources with scripture that could “prove” the Bible is truth, outside simple logic (from understanding the purpose of the Bible). That person believed the Bible was created for manipulating and controlling a population (which doesn’t make sense because if that was the purpose, then there wouldn’t have been killings of Believers in the Bible). This person rejected what I sent because the person wasn’t open to exploring and understanding the Bible (being spiritually blind is talked about in the Bible), but their mind was so strongly convinced of this mis-information, it puzzled me. Their belief was SO strong against the Bible, it didn’t make sense to continue the conversation for very long, Faith is a choice: believe or don’t believe, but there are consequences for either choice.

From the Church to Atheism

It turned out this person had multiple negative experiences in their church, so they left the church and things weren’t going well in their life, but since they left the church they said “life is so much easier.” (This makes sense too when you understand spiritual warfare). When I first came across this person, they were promoting atheism after formerly being in some kind of a church. Finding that out was very sad to me because I know the truth found in the Bible (and if they would only consider it, it would BENEFIT them), but they had so much resistance due to their experience, they weren’t open to even viewing those resources. They didn’t believe what was written in the Bible. I see that with many people lately: strong resistance to biblical information and truth. (Is this part of spiritual warfare?)

Lack of Trust

The unfortunate reason many give is “a church experience” which I completely understand, having had that experience myself. Most often the reason given involves lack of trust. Lack of trust is what holds people back from numerous experiences in life, for good reasons too: based on experiences, but it’s not good when it holds people back from something GOOD. That needs to change. This is one of the reasons why I believe it is so important to read the bible individually. Each of us needs to know what’s in the bible so that we are not misled by anyone distorting the information in the Bible. Reading the Bible isn’t a quick read, so if you hear someone say something, look it up, read the entire chapter or the book if necessary so it’s not taken out of context, that way you’ll eventually get through some of the Bible, a little at a time. A little is better than none.

Christians

Christians also turn people away if there is a negative interaction. I’ve seen this first hand from both sides too! Meaning I’ve been just as bad as a Christian of not having a good interaction with those closest to me. So I’d like to explain what happened in my experiences. BEING PURSUED: A person who has never read the Bible may not fully understand a scripture quote, so the scripture doesn’t seem relevant to that person, there is more needed context in the Bible before the quote is clearly understood. (That was my experience) Or maybe the person simply has no interest because they don’t understand the Bible’s purpose, so they are not ready to hear it? Or they are afraid there are too many rules they may need to abide by (I think this is many people) PURSUING: From a “newly” Christian’s perspective, when I found out the purpose of the Bible, I especially wanted to tell those closest to me, and I felt an urgency too. I’ve finally realized I have this internal drive to “protect” people. Most ‘person to person” contact about Christianity isn’t from a selfish, self-serving or self-centered motivation, it is because the person truly cares about the other person, but needs to learn a more successful way of communicating.

Depression/Anxiety

This is something I haven’t seen very often mentioned, but something people should know. Depression, anxiety or sadness can bring us to God, but it can also separate us from God. Often when we seek God, it’s a response to something bad that’s happened in our lives. We look to God to “fix it” for us, as the last resource. In reality, God should be our first resource, but initially He is often the last resource in a time of hardship. Reaching out to God (through prayer) is the best solution because He certainly has the ability to “fix” it for us. But we have to remember: He’s not a “vending machine” or a “genie” there to “grant our wishes” either. He wants a relationship with us first and foremost. Think about how we feel when someone just wants to take from us but never wants to give, it makes sense when looking at it from that perspective, doesn’t it? Depression/Anxiety/Sadness can also separate us from God if we are angry with everyone and God. Identifying the underlying source of the anxiety is the most important part in dealing with it. (see image)

Based on my personal experience, I thought if I simply surrendered to God everything would get better, but it didn’t, it started getting worse. I didn’t consider, or know about, the underlying sources of anxiety when it happened unfortunately or I could have dealt with it much more quickly. Little by little parts of this information was revealed as I was studying/reading the Bible. Ironically, my first start to reading the Bible, I opened the Bible to a random page and decided I would start there. It was the book of Job- and it explained a little bit about the spiritual warfare. What better time is it for something evil to “hit” a person then when the person is first surrendering to Jesus, right? That could easily turn a person away from God. The book of Job is good in understanding this because it showed these bad things can be a “test” of faith. Also the Bible often tells us there is a battle for our minds, so negative thoughts, fears, anger, sin, depression can be present to try to separate us from God. Please understand this so if it happens to you reject those “attacks” and pray to God to overcome them.

The Truth

Each of us was created by God, out of love. No person is accidently created; God is the Giver of Life and intentional in giving life to a person. God wants us to seek Him and communicate with Him through prayers, building a relationship. Once we have a relationship with God, He also wants us to help others. God has a purpose for each person He creates, each of us is valuable to God, it may take us awhile to figure out our purpose, but that’s just part of the growth process. The Bible is a resource, a guidebook for life, with the “secret” to eternal life for those who read it and take action. Eternity is not just about life, it can also be eternal pain, if we don’t choose to have a relationship with God. The Bible reveals some aspects of the spiritual realm. It contains thousands of prophecies that happened already, but also has prophecies regarding the future. A “Believer” is more than someone who simply believes Jesus, the Son of God existed, died for us, rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven after His physical death so that we could have eternal life with God. “Believer” means someone who understands that and out of immense gratitude decides to live in a godly way, choosing Jesus as the role model of how to live. The Bible is a resource showing us how Jesus lived and what He taught. The Bible is wisdom and essential for every single person.

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God and Relationships: Healing, Forgiveness and Love

Last night before I went to sleep, when I prayed, I asked God if He would inspire me with something meaningful to share because I haven’t written in this blog since June, I wanted to write, but I haven’t felt inspired for awhile. Well, God answered that prayer at 6 am this morning when the title of this was the first thought I had as soon as I woke up.

It amazes me how the Bible shares wisdom with us “scattered” throughout the book, through different messengers, but all giving the same message.

This topic is consistently timely because we interact with people on a daily basis and need God’s help “dealing with” people, and more appropriately “dealing with” ourselves. I’ll explain the image for this article and how it relates:

We need God in our relationships: any relationship with God as a part of it equals love.

God is love.

MAKING EXCUSES

I believe in being accountable for my own actions, not making excuses (understanding what leads me to something, but not blaming my actions on someone or something else). I’m responsible for my own actions no matter what happens around me. I personally choose to react the way I do. So why is it that I allow different standards for others? I allow excuses for them. Excuses justifying other’s actions or behavior, when I wouldn’t allow myself to act that way. I made excuses because I thought trying to be a Christian meant accepting other people as they are, and not being judgmental of others, which it does, but there is more to this:

A Christian should help others be aware of the wisdom from God through the bible (awareness only -not judgement nor retaliation- that’s reserved for God) – don’t be silent, speak up, but don’t do this in anger, do this in a loving way to build up the other person, in the knowledge of God, not tear them down.

DO NOT JUDGE:

GO TO THE BIBLE AND IN PRAYER GO TO GOD FOR ADVICE, STRENGTH AND WISDOM:

HEALING

I had to think: which comes first: healing or forgiveness? It’s a challenge to forgive someone if we haven’t healed from what happened. But we also can’t heal from it unless we forgive it (let it go). So maybe it’s a combination of healing and forgiveness, but first and most importantly seeking God. This is where we NEED God: to heal and to forgive. There is no question about that. I often think of this simple statement which is so true:

Hurt people hurt people.

Pastor Rick Warren

It’s something I keep in mind whenever someone hurts me. It’s important to have that perspective, it makes it easier to accept someone for who they are. We can’t know everything that happened to someone during their life. If someone was loved throughout their life, they wouldn’t hurt. So because they have been hurt (and haven’t healed), they hurt other people. So it’s so important for all of us to heal from the hurt other people caused in our lives.

FORGIVING

If we want a great relationship with anyone, we need to be able to forgive, regularly! Forgiving someone doesn’t mean allowing what they did to continue as if it doesn’t affect us. But if the other person who hurt us is truly sorry, that person will do their best to not do it again and ask for a second chance. If the person truly wants forgiveness and tells us how they have changed and why they have changed, then we need to offer forgiveness. (If this is an abusive situation, we may need to offer forgiveness but not remain in that person’s life for safety reasons. This type of situation requires other qualified individuals’ assessment of the situation.)

WHY WE NEED GOD FOR HEALING, FORGIVENESS AND LOVE (and Eternity):

HOW WE GET THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

On our own, we are going to fail, that’s the truth, but if we have the Holy Spirit in us, we will succeed. So how do we receive the Holy Spirit? God sends the Holy Spirit to us if we ask and OBEY God:

And this is why we need God in all of our relationships. We need a relationship with God so that we can have good relationships with other people through the strength of the Holy Spirit in us.

Once we have a relationship with God, he will protect us until the end of times.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TELL IF SOMEONE HAS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD (these qualities will be evident in that person’s life):

We obviously need God as the priority in our life, so the rest of our life can fall in place. As in any good relationship, there is an exchange of giving and receiving. This is no different with God, we aren’t going to receive the power of the Holy Spirit unless we obey God’s commands (sin keeps the power of the Holy Spirit from us). God always loves us, but the power of the Spirit is reserved for those who obey Him. The power of the Holy Spirit makes our lives more peaceful, provides joy, wisdom and enables us to love in a more godly way than we could on our own.

I hope you found this helpful for your relationships!

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