Status Updates From Barbed Wire Heart

“I will keep [the] lessons close to my heart, but never in it.”

“there’s nothing stronger than a woman who’s risen from the ashes of some fire a man set”

“Even the man who loves you, who’s dedicated his entire life to raising you up into something powerful, that man will underestimate the hell out of you just because you’re a woman. And the man who hates you? Who’s scared of you deep down in places he’ll never acknowledge? That man will work even harder to dismiss you.”

“there are pretty lies or hard truths and little room between for a woman like me.”

“the house never stayed occupied for long. I don’t really think she’s haunting it, but when you walk through the rooms, there’s something unsettling in the air. Maybe it’s true that some places, they just hold the pain that came before.”

“‘He is mine!’… Those words mean more than I love him or I want him. They mean things like I’ll kill for him and I’ll die for him, because of him, with him.”

“he’s not exactly fired up when it comes to taking care of women. Most men aren’t. Which is why we do what we do… your people, they’ll make sad faces if they hear a woman’s being beat by her husband, but they’ll say it’s none of our business. Women come to me… because they know [I’ll] make it my business. And I intend to keep on making it my business because I’ve got enough power to share.”

“‘True and right aren’t always the same thing’.’
‘I think deciding that’s His job.’ I point at the ceiling. ‘Not ours.’”

“it’s a confession, spoken to me instead of God… she knows I won’t judge her. She fears He will.”

“God forgives. At least we hope.”

“There’s a line a mother crosses where she loses the title. When it becomes just a word instead of a bond”

“I can do this… Be nice. Comforting.
The feeling fits like a too-small T-shirt, cutting into me in all the wrong places.”

“It’s that bitter laugh that all women understand. The one that’s born out of years of fear, of waiting, of what-iffing, until it finally happens. Some man takes his anger out on you”

“This isn’t about freedom.
This is about power. Everything is.”