Sheryle Cruse Sheryle Cruse

Freeze! (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

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Freeze! (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

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“But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Genesis 19:26

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“Freeze” is another trauma response. And it does impact those incarcerated.

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Someone is “freezing” right now within prison walls.

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Someone had to freeze, “back then,” in the life circumstances they endured.

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“They” still have humanity.

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“HE” still loves them.

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“And answering, the King will say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you? Did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me.’”

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Matthew 25:40

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“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.”

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Hebrews 13:3

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“Freeze!” (Hello, Gentlemen…” Book Excerpt)

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Hello, Gentlemen.

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It’s me again. Sheryle.

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As you may or may not know about me, I am filled with all kinds of issues and trauma experiences. And, being on this planet, I have had to watch life play out in confusing and distressing ways.

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Just like you have. Our life events may be different, but trauma is something you and I still share, even if we come from “different worlds.”

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Let’s talk about Freezing.

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Not the “Freeze” a cop may have yelled at you.

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Not the “freeze” of being cold. It’s not about temperature.

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It’s another trauma response. You may have heard or read what I had to say about trauma responses: fight, flight, fawn, and the freeze response I want to share a little about it with you now.

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But first?

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Keep this scripture tucked away in your brain. We will circle back to it later.

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“But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Genesis 19:26

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The Amygdala is an almond-shaped body part, found within our brains. We have one on each side, at our temples, sitting level to our eyes. The Amygdala is responsible for being a sensory warning system, scanning for and detecting threats and danger. It relies heavily on the memories from past experiences, for informing us of any current situation we are living in, in the here and now. This warning system, for EXTRA FUN, is also heavily influenced by the heightened emotions that can be attached to “danger” or to “threat.”
Let me tell you some of my fun Amygdala experiences.

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As an overweight, awkward, abused kid, I was often the target of bullies.

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I had a “kick me” sign on me. Kids just knew they could mess with me. Single me out.

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This was long before social media and cyber bullying. I’m fairly certain that, if I had to contend with that, I probably would have tried to kill myself, to escape that kind of torture.

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But the “old school” bullying was quite effective in creating a scared person who was skilled at freezing, just to avoid further hell and confrontations.

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Some of it was a desperate, not entirely effective way of “blending,” of “camouflage.” And some of it was the emotional, mental, and physical paralysis of locking up, not knowing what to do.

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So, I froze.

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School was hell for me. I was messed with, in one way or another, by at least six bullies, both genders. (Yeah, “the mean girls” were also fun). I just tried to keep my head down, focusing on getting out of a miserable situation, year by year.

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My Amygdala was on constant “high alert,” always scanning for danger.

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Constant experiences and memories of the latest person who wanted “to mess with me.”

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Constant experiences, translated into messages, that said I was always in danger.

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And it wasn’t just the school bullies. I was also abused at home.

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So, no place was safe. Nobody was safe.

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Can you relate? How safe were you, “back then?”

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How safe do you feel “now?”…

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Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse

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Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books

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What is His Name? (“IF You Know?”)

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“…What is Your Name, and what is Your Son’s Name, if you know?”

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Proverbs 30:4

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If You Know?: Cruse, Sheryle: 9798272042019: Amazon.com: Books

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Summertime Conformed? (Thin Enough)


“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of The Most High.”

Romans 12:2

What are you trying to get into, this summer season?

A dress? A swimsuit?

With the warmer months, more skin is showing. Therefore, more pressure is showing.

And we try to conform to some “desirable” image.

We believe that transforms us.

But only The Most High can.

And He sees us better, and more accurately, than any image or trend ever could!


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Not Cancer Cavalier (Cancerventures Book Excerpt)

…I have not viewed cancer and each of its choices in a cavalier manner. Far from it. And, at the center of every weighty decision has been my spiritual take on it. 

It has to do with Gethsemane. That pesky little garden is a complicated heart issue for those who are faced with a battle of wills. 

“Not my will, but Thy Will be done.”

Mark 14:36

Yeah, talk about impossible as a mere mortal. How could I not come up short? 

I have battled with my Creator, nervously asking, “Do You want me to go through all of this?” I don’t know if I can handle the answer.  

So, I have such fun thoughts as “Am I going to Hell if I don’t have chemo?” and “Am I choosing my short-term, temporary decisions over my larger, eternal destiny?”  

Try these out at parties; they’re fun icebreakers. 

Believe me, I am chock full of churning questions. 

Will I regret this? 

Am I making the wrong choices? 

Am I selfish? 

Is it too late? 

Am I only creating pain, not just for myself, but for others? …

Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse

 

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Flight! I Gotta Get Outta Here! (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

Flight! I Gotta Get Outta Here! (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

Running away. Flight.

As in “Fight or Flight” trauma responses.

Flight.

Many inmates are too familiar with that. They are running away from something and someone, including law enforcement. And now, they are “in jail.” But they are still often “running away,” even within these confined spaces.

“And I said, ‘Who shall give to me a wing like a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest— behold, I would go far off wandering and would lodge in the wilderness. Selah. I would hurry to shelter for myself, from the rushing wind, from the tempest.’”

Psalm 55:6-8

And maybe, right now, they are still trying to run away from danger within the prison system itself.

The Most High sees and loves them. He wants them, even now, even if “no one else” does.

Maybe we should try to see them and love them differently, even now.

“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.”

Hebrews 13:3

Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books

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Child’s Play?


“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

Where did I learn how to do this?

As a child, you and I can learn all kinds of lessons about the violation/abuse we have come from and have lived in.

We “pick things up,” even in activities like play.

That’s what, I see now, in hindsight. It showed up in how I played with dolls.


Violation/abuse/hierarchy of human value literally played itself out with my doll play.

“Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?”

Romans 9:21

Spiritually, I was not a noble potter in this matter. Far from it. Within my humble child’s play, I did display preferential treatment and value.

“Some” dolls were deemed better, more valuable, more beautiful, than other dolls.

My beautiful, chosen dolls were well-kept, sometimes, even put back into their original boxes when I finished playing with them. They were treated with honor.

The “other dolls?” they were tossed aside. No special “put away” consideration was given to them.

And how did I play with those “other dolls?”

I took out everything on them, beat them up, cut their hair, took magic markers to their faces and their bodies. And, built into my playtime storylines, I usually cast them as bad people, horrible villains, who got what was coming to them.

As an adult now, having sifted through so many issues, revelations, and stages of healing, I have seen the powerful insight of “Vessels.”

They are not just cups or vases.

“Vessels” can be representatives of content, like that of dolls.

In child’s play, the individual uses their imagination, creativity, communication skills, and real-life experiences to act out certain things.

They learn. They express. They showcase value systems.

Through dolls. Vessels.

It is part of why they are used in therapies for sexual abuse and various other forms of trauma.

“Show me where you were hurt/touched.”

That kind of thing.

And, in my own doll play, as a child, I was doing just that. I didn’t know it at the time.

But the violation and the abuse that was daily life showed up through the vessels of my dolls.

It showed up and displayed the lessons I learned. These lessons were subtlety accrued.

“Children learn what they live.”

I learned “hierarchy of human value.”

I learned some people are to be abused, while others are to be reverenced, even protected.

I learned that I was supposed to reside in the “vessel of dishonor” category.

“…and… some for dishonor.”

2 Timothy 2:20

Scripture. I wish that my child’s mind and spirit could have known and grasped the power of scripture, along with the ability to critically think through and with it.

But I was the child I was. I had the reality and the limits I had.

Nevertheless, the entirety of the Vessel Passage…

“Now in a great house there are not only golden and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen; and some indeed for honor, but some for dishonor.”

2 Timothy 2:20

What constituted “dishonor” in my house, in my circumstances? How did I learn that lesson?

More than likely, as I have come to surmise in recent years, it had a lot to do with the probable reality that I am “the product of rape.”

“A Vessel of Dishonor.”

My existence was born from shame. It was not how anyone wanted to be reminded, as they looked at me.

I learned I was unwanted.

Some of it, especially from my dad, was because I was born female.

Some of it was because I was born “illegitimate.”

I didn’t learn about being “conceived out of wedlock” until I was a teenager.

And the rape “puzzle piece?” I discovered that, decades later as an adult, based on a confession from my mother to a mutual friend.

It has been a lot to take in.

I didn’t have the language or the knowledge, back then, in my doll play. But I picked up on the abusive and violating cues. I watched how my dad treated my mother. I watched the daily mistreatment, and abusive dishonor. He groped her. He insulted her. He controlled her. He stifled her. He terrorized her. He demeaned her.

The lesson learned by my child sponge self?

That’s how a man and a woman interact with each other.

And even more painfully sinister?

That’s how females are to be treated. With dishonor. They don’t deserve anything apart from that.

No intentional verbal instruction of that lesson directly.

Just living life. And that’s what living life was reduced to for us.

Mom and I were “the bad dolls.”

Therefore, we were supposed to be dishonored and mistreated.

And, therefore, I was disqualified from EVER being considered a “vessel of honor?”

“Now in a great house there are not only golden and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen; and some indeed for honor, but some for dishonor.”

2 Timothy 2:20

I have experienced and felt that my entire life. It’s been challenging for me to shake it. Much of it has been because of the toxic secrecy concerning “the truth.”

No one was talking. Everyone was fearful and ashamed, in one way or another.

That’s how I was raised; that’s how I grew up.

That’s how I lived.

It was not “life more abundantly” (John 10:10)

So, as an adult, now what?

What do I do?

“Teach me thy way...”

Psalm 86:11

I am, over time, being led to honoring lessons, by Yahshua, My Savior. I am being taught, uniquely, personally, and carefully that my “Vessel Status” already was decided before I was born, even, yes, possibly born as that “illegitimate product of rape.”

That is not who He created me to be. That is NOT how He sees me.

I am learning not to see myself as that now.

It is QUITE a learning curve.

For Honor…

“Therefore if anyone shall have cleansed himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, having been sanctified, useful to the Master, having been prepared for every good work.”
2 Timothy 2:21

Often, it seems that one of The Master’s “Methods of Operations” is to take the ugly, the shameful, the dishonorable, and transform it into beauty and honor.

“To appoint to mourners in Zion, to give to them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of dullness. And will be called to them oaks of righteousness, the planting of YHWH, for His being glorified.”

Isaiah 61:3

I am smack dab in the middle of that process now. The ashes, bit by bit, are congealing into beauty beyond the physical.

The beauty is the healing.

And healing is taking place, dare I decree it, bit by bit.

“From Glory to Glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Now…Treasure…

“Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from The Most High and not from us.”

2 Corinthians 4:7

One of the biggest, newest lessons I’m learning and inhabiting is that I am not only a “vessel of honor,” but also the Treasure inside.

He is working, moving, healing, in and with the entirety of His Creations.

He is doing it for me now.

And He does not show preferential treatment (Acts 10:34).

He will do the same for you, as you address and heal from your own violations of your own vessel. How you were hurt and what you learned as a child can be transformed now, as He continues to shape who you have always been in His Eyes, His Love, and His Honor.

Let’s pray.

Abba-

We come to You, in The Mighty Name of Your Son, Yahshua.

You know the painful violation and trauma we have endured.

For some of us, it goes all the way back to childhood.

We learned that we were supposed to only be dishonored and abused.

That is not who You created us to be.

Thank You for that.

Still, we need so much help unlearning that dishonor and learning what is means to be You Vessel of Honor now, moving forward.

Help us to do that.

You know Our struggles and efforts; You know our pain.

Forgive us for holding any bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness, especially concerning those around us who appear to be an enemy or an oppressor to our situations.

Forgive us for treating ourselves poorly, in dishonoring ways as well.

We need You intervening with Your Love and Your Divine Lessons in Honor.

Rebuild us, as only You can.

Thank You for the healing that is occurring now, even as we pray this prayer.

We receive it, in The Mighty Name of Yahshua.

Amen.

Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse

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“Pourquoi Moi?” Why Me? (John 16:12)

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

John 16:12

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“Daddy Issues” (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Romans 8:15

“Daddy Issues” (“Hello, Gentlemen…” Book Excerpt)

Hello, Gentlemen.

It’s me. Sheryle.

Today I want to talk to you about my “Daddy Issues.”

I hope you are not groaning.

My “Daddy Issues” have a lot to do with Fear.

“Earthquake, thunder, fire and fathers.”

Japanese Proverb

You know, and have lived, fear, haven’t you?

Fear: “Father” is at the center of it for me.

It has affected every area of my life, my faith included.

We learn fear.

Did you know that babies, from the start, are only afraid of two things, starting out: fear of loud noises and the fear of falling?

That’s it. All other fears are learned.

Including being afraid of, oh, I don’t know, an abusive father?

(And/or any other abusive person, be they blood or not).

“Do not provoke your children to wrath.”

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.”

Ephesians 6:4

(That applies to both parents, not just fathers. Mothers can provoke too. You might have fears concerning your mother. That does not make you less of a man. It makes you someone whose mother may have terrorized and abused you as a child. You will probably hear about my “Mommy Issues” down the line. Brace for impact).

But my dad?

…He raged at me…

He would unload verbally on me, scaring me with his punishing voice.

…He loved to see me in fear of him, and in pain…

It’s called “sadism.” He took delight in terrorizing and seeing pain in others, especially his child, me. He really got off on it. It made him feel powerful, “like a Real Man.”

“Real Men” don’t need to feel better, though, when someone else, especially a helpless child, is depressed, suicidal, and completely afraid of them. That was what I learned by the age of nine.

…He chased me from room to room in his anger, making me afraid of “getting caught.”

…He made me feel unsafe, that I could never trust him, because I never knew how he was going to act around me. There was never any sense of safety or peace. I just held my breath, waiting for something to go wrong.

And it always did.

…He threw away my dolls and toys…

… He knew that they meant something to me. That’s why he went after them...

…He threatened my animals…

… My cats. I loved them more than my toys. He knew that. I didn’t know then, in his rages, if he was going to kill what I loved. No child should ever have to wonder about that.

…He threatened me…

He threatened to leave me, to hurt me, to take the belt to me, to throw me out of the house. The most confusing threat, though? He threatened to stop loving me, unless I did what he wanted me to do.

There was no such thing as “unconditional love;” there was no such thing as “grace.”

That has affected my faith.

That has been why “Abba,” (Hebrew, for “Daddy”) has been a long and tough climb for me.

“Father” can feel like the most dangerous, pain-inflicting, and vile word when all you see from your own version of a human father is fear, torture, instability, and no real love or acceptance for you at all, no matter what you do or say…

“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.”

Hebrews 13:3

Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books

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Fight! (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

It’s not a surprise that fighting can result in incarceration.

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A fight with the weapon of choice. Assault and battery. Violence.

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“Fight” is more complicated, however, than these terms.

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“Fight” is a trauma response; we have heard “Fight or flight” a lot in this culture.

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What drives it though?

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And how does it impact someone “in prison?”

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There’s more to it than simply “fighting.”

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“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.”

Hebrews 13:3

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Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books

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“Shame On You?” (“Hello, Gentlemen…” Book Excerpt)


Hello, Gentlemen.

It’s me. Sheryle.

“I live in disgrace all day long, and my face is covered with shame.”
Psalm 44:15

Can you relate?

How ashamed are you right now?

Yeah, I’d like to talk to you about shame. Because guess what?

I have dealt with shame, from the start.

And I DO mean the start!

“I am too ashamed and disgraced, my Elohim, to lift up my face to You, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens.”

Ezra 9:6

I don’t know how much you know about me, but, more than likely, I am a product of rape.

So, my mere existence, from the start, has had a lot of shame swirling around it.

And secrecy. So much secrecy. It can poison life, right?

A little bit about my backstory and shame.

I had no idea that I could EVER be the possible “product of rape.”

Yeah, there was abuse in my home. Yeah, there was silence in my home. No one talked about anything that was REALLY going on. Like the abuse.

There was just my dad’s terrifying and screaming rages. There was just my frightened mother and me, trying to deal with it.

No one dealt with anything.

And, I learned, from the start, that I was not wanted.

You can tell when you’re not wanted.

You maybe know what I’m talking about.

You are just “tolerated,” at the most. Maybe they punished you for existing.

You weren’t “bornright.”

Therefore, you deserved to get hit, kicked, beaten, molested, raped, ridiculed, or neglected.

Any bells ringing there for you, and how you “came up?”

But no one tells you that they were happy that you were there.

Instead, they tell you that you are a “mistake,” “a problem,” “a burden.”

Of course, all the cuss words. I don’t need to mention them. You know them very well.

Maybe, sometimes, they call you a “bastard.”

If they don’t say that word, they let you know in other ways.

You are not legitimate.

I found out that I was “a bastard” as a teenager. I discovered my parents’ marriage certificate, did the math, and boom.

No one told me directly.

Shame, however, did.

I was concealed, as my mother was “knocked up.”

A “shotgun wedding,” rushed, before she started to show.

It was decided, I guess, that it was a good thing if my mother “didn’t show.”

Because it was shameful. My existence was shameful…

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Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books

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New (Wine) Skin?

 

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. and if otherwise, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is destroyed—and the wineskins. But new wine is put into new wineskins.”

Mark 2:22

Recently I burned the top of my foot. I believe it was a second-degree burn.

(This is why I don’t cook).

It bubbled up into a blister within thirty minutes.

The purpose of the blister, as I researched things online, was to serve as a “cushion,” filled with white blood cells within that liquid cushion. It’s in the process of repair, and the formation of new skin.

That’s why, repeatedly, it’s mentioned, “Don’t pop the blister!”

Don’t pop the protective cushion.

And over the weeks, I have seen the once-firm blister change into a deflated blister, gradually drying up.

It’s still discolored. I don’t know if it will leave a scar.

The newer “wine-colored” pinkish skin is quite prominent.

And that’s when the “Wineskin” thing occurred to me.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. and if otherwise, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine is destroyed—and the wineskins. But new wine is put into new wineskins.”

Mark 2:22

Maybe it’s a bit of a stretch: a second-degree burn and wineskins.

But the two have this in common: skin, specifically “new” skin.

This “new” thing takes time; most of the time we don’t like hearing about that.

And the “new” must be protected in the process of becoming more visible.

If the new is rushed, if it is forced, even to the point of “popping,” like that burn blister, damage can happen.

The “new” is worth taking care of; it’s worth protecting.

It’s worth waiting for.

Let’s pray.

Abba-

We come to You, in The Name of Our Savior, Yahshua.

You know the state of our burned skin, literally or figuratively speaking. Our spirits and our lives have been affected in many ways that cannot be ignore.

We have tried to ignore them.

But the burn- the blister- has formed.

Attempts at trying to heal? You know them all.

And You know how we are struggling.

Forgive us for struggling with our old skins, in our old sinful wounds.

It’s not working. We know, deep down, it’s not working.

Help us.

Do what only You can do for us.

We need Your Healing, Your Help, Your Love to make things “new.”

Thank You that You know what You’re doing.

Continue to work, move, and lead us.

Thank You.

We receive it, by faith,

In The Name of Yahshua,

Amen.

Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse

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Training the Elephant (“Just Violated?”)

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Training The Elephant (“Just Violated?”)

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

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How is a baby elephant trained for the circus?

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Much like how intergenerational patterns of abuse/violation happen.

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Perpetrator. Victim/Survivor.

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What was it that I was born into? What was it that I endured?

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What WAS I “a product of?”

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Rape? Abuse? Violence?

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(“Just”) Violation?

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Amazon.com: (“Just”) Violated?

(“Just Violated?” Book Excerpt…)

“Training the Elephant.”

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Supposedly, when elephants were used for such enterprises as circuses, they needed to train them. They would start with a baby elephant. They would tie its foot to a secure structure like a post. Anything that was strong enough so that the animal could not break free and escape.

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Initially, the baby elephant would try, with everything in its being, to get freed from the post. It would never succeed, however.

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Eventually, it stopped trying to break free.

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By now, the animal is probably an adult. But “well-trained.”

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It is at that point the trainer or the handler unties the elephant from the confining structure.

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This would be the creature’s opportunity to get free.

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But it doesn’t move.

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It stays “tied.”

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It no longer believes it can go anywhere. It believes that it can no longer be free.

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The animal is broken and well-trained for purposes other than its own well-being

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Tatted and Burned (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

I have never been incarcerated.

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But I do have something in common with these “unlikely gentleman” prisoners.

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I’m “tatted and burned.”

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Cancer made sure that happened.

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Life made sure that happened.

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As it has done for those “in jail.”

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(“Hello, Gentlemen…” Book Excerpt)

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Tatted and Burned

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Hello, Gentlemen.

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It’s me again, Sheryle.

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I have received, I believe, another message. The Most High willing, I will pass this onto you.

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You and I have something in common, as unlikely as that may be to believe.

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So, before we get into it, this is a TMI-“Too Much Information”- warning about me.

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Part of what led me to touch base with you again is the holiday season, and how it intersects with my breast cancer diagnosis.

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Several Christmases ago, I was undergoing a course of radiation. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, had a double mastectomy that October, and then, six weeks later, went through a course of radiation.

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Yes, double mastectomy, Gentlemen. My tatas are gone. I am officially an ironing board now.

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Anyway, to prepare for radiation, I needed to get tattoos.

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Not one of those exciting peacock tattoos, draped across my back. Not one of those full-on sleeves, like those the Yakuza gang gets.

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Nope.

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These tattoos looked like the black beauty mark on Marilyn Monroe’s face. I was tatted with three tiny black dots, in triangle form. This arrangement helped the radiation target my chest area, ensuring the best shot of eradicating any leftover cancer cells.

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I had to be marked. I had to “get inked.”

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Tatts were necessary. A matter of life and death.

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Like your tattoo history has, perhaps, meant matters of life and death for you throughout your life.

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Getting these tiny dot tatts summoned the next phase of my preparation/ healing: the burning from radiation.

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Six weeks, day after day of getting increasingly burned, again, to wipe out cancer cells.

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Because of the timing of my radiation, December, I was very much Rudolph, the Red-Chested Reindeer.

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Christmas red. Festive.

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Anyway, you may be eye rolling and asking, “What does any of this have to do with me?”

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Tatted and burned. You are too.

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And He, The Most High, is working in and through all of it.

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Scripture puts it this way…

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“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”‍ ‍

Isaiah 49:16

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Different translations of this scripture use words like, “engraved,”“etched,” and yeah, even, “tattooed.”

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I know that there can be a stigma about tattoos from the Christian world. You have probably been made to feel less-than, disqualified, and maybe even like the scum of the earth, largely because of your appearance.

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To that, I offer…

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“‘…Elohim does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Elohim looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

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And…

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“The traditions of man make the Word of The Most High to no effect.”‍ ‍

Mark 7:13

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To me, that signifies that Our Savior and Our Father (for they both are “One,” according to John 10:30) have decided to override man’s silly, judgy, and pointless opinions, opting instead, to qualify you, my Tatted/Marked One, for His Power and Glory.

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He uses whomever He chooses. He qualifies them without anyone else’s permission.

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“There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless Elohim’s counsel—that will stand.”‍ ‍

Proverbs 19:21

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His Plans will stand.

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Not any uptight, hypocritical, judgy, or stupid person’s opinions or plans.

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HIS Plans!

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You are exactly who you are supposed to be. You look like you are supposed to look, tatts included.

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“…‘You are My servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”‍ ‍

Isaiah 41:9…

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“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.”

Hebrews 13:3

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Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books

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Sheryle Cruse Sheryle Cruse

Your “No” “Just Violated?”

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“Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Matthew 5:37

Your “no” is valid. Ancient, timeless, eternal Scripture says so.

“No” is a complete sentence.

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What was it that I was born into? What was it that I endured?

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What WAS I “a product of?”

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Rape? Abuse? Violence?

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(“Just”) Violation?

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Amazon.com: (“Just”) Violated?

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Sheryle Cruse Sheryle Cruse

Solitary (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

Solitary (“Hello, Gentlemen…”)

“Elohim settles the solitary in a home; He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.”

Psalm 68:6

We are not alone.

Even The Prisoners. The Inmates. The “Criminals.”

He loves them and wants them to feel loved by others.

Maybe you, today?

“Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.”

Hebrews 13:3

Amazon.com: "Hello Gentlemen...": 9798259016163: Cruse, Sheryle: Books

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Sheryle Cruse Sheryle Cruse

“Just” Just Violated?

“Just?” “Just Violated?”

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

Matthew 18:6

What you experienced mattered. It was real.

It should never be minimized.

There is no “merely” or “only” to your violations, abuses, and traumas.

The Most High will bind up your wounds.

What was it that I was born into?

What was it that I endured?

What WAS I “a product of?”

Rape? Abuse? Violence?

(“Just”) Violation?

Amazon.com: (“Just”) Violated?

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Sheryle Cruse Sheryle Cruse

Mae West Goals?


“If anyone is interested in curves.”

We are now entering the summer season.

Showing more skin.

Revealing clothing.

“Bikini Bodies.”

You know all about it. You have heard the campaigns. You have seen the commercials “getting ready for summer.”

You have felt the pressure. How much of it was self-imposed?

I recently came across this post about the famous sex symbol, Mae West.


“If anyone is interested in curves.”

Oh, where DO we start?

When I was a little girl, I became fascinated with a Mae West doll. I believe it was depicting her from her classic film role in “My Little Chickadee.”


She was dressed in a form-fitting black dress. Just decked out, like this…


I loved this doll. I didn’t know much about Mae West, especially about her controversial sexuality. And I didn’t know about “her diet.”

It was a strange thing, looking at this doll, having recently undergone my first attempts at dieting.

But it didn’t occur to me to view her as “fat.”

Now, decades later, there are several people who would view her as “just that.”

These people, therefore, would probably look at “her diet” as a complete failure for obtaining “the desirable curves.”

Curves.

What is the criteria for curves?

How small? How big? How curvy versus angular?

What’s it all code for, anyway?

Where are the judgments within that code?

“O my dove…let me see your form…for your form is lovely.”

Song of Solomon 2:14

I bring up this scripture a lot. It highlights how Beauty, Form, and Our Very Being, Through The Most High’s Eyes, don’t change. His Esteem of us is fixed.

It doesn’t fluctuate with trends. It’s not contingent on fad diet attempts, and their “successful execution.”

And I’m quite certain that Elohim, Our Loving Father, never look at any of us, using the adjective “fat.”

“If anyone is interested in curves.”

He looks beyond “curves.” He sees the deep, more meaningful nature of us: our forms.

Spirit, Soul, Mind, Body.

“If anyone is interested in THAT?”

Copyright © 2026 by Sheryle Cruse

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