Do You Know the 'Real' You?

All our lives we live

Thinking we know ourselves.

Imagine the surprise

When you realize

That everything you believed

About yourself

Is a figment

Of someone else’s imagination.



Yes, there are many narratives for a story

The person who lived that story

Knows the whole truth about it,

Or is it really so?

Sometimes the person who lived it

Has also been told a lie

By someone else

For their own selfish interests.



What would it feel like

To realize you are not the centre

The main protagonist

Of your own story?

To learn that you were so naive

You believed a lie

And lived a half life

All your life...



It would feel like betrayal

Wouldn’t it?

To realize that you trusted the liars

More than you trusted yourself

And to realize the truth

That you barely know yourself

That you are miles away

From self-knowledge.



Then you scramble

To pick up the pieces

Of the you, you remembered

Yourself to be.

You step away from the world

Find a comfy corner

Where you can hear

Your own heart beat.



You shun the ones

Who lied to you

And embrace your one true self

Still yet unknown

For you realise

This bond with yourself

Is lifelong

And will last to your last breath.



You allow tears

To run down your face

And look and relook

At every detail

Every memory

In a bid to see beyond

The false narratives

The lies.



When you learn

They made themselves

The hero of your story

And hid you under the carpet

Every time you did

Something good

You feel the anger,

The grief hit you.



You realize your feelings

Were held back

Each and every time

So much that you felt life was shallow

And now you understand

Why you felt

The way you felt

You were not allowed to be you.



It is time to take back

What is yours!

It is time to shun the lies

And embrace the truth

Time to let those feelings flow

And for the liars to know

They cannot have you

They have no right over your life.



At last it feels good

To know the real ‘You’

Finally you know

You are a person

You have the right to be heard

To be counted

To speak for yourself

To live for yourself.



Henrietta Decruz

My First Film - 'A Call from the Deep' - A Short Documentary entered in Health for All Film Festival!

Poster of 'A Call from the Deep' 

This January I had a mission to complete which became the sole focus for me.

Last year in mid December I received an email from Rajashekhar Vijjeswarapu of Engage Disability Hyderabad Hub. It was about WHO's Health for All Film Festival. WHO Rehabilitation Programme had emailed them a 'Call for short films on rehabilitation.' The deadline for sending in entries was 31st January 2024.

After a busy Christmas season, around the end of December I checked the details and had an idea and put down some questions. Our Engage Disability Hyderabad Hub team met on 5th of January and gave me their thumbs up. We didn't have any time to raise funds.

We were a two member team, my filmmaker son Isaac and me, and January was a hectic month filled with shooting interviews, editing, working on the music and finishing the film for submission.

To say the least, it was a sublime and humbling experience. We are grateful to Ravi Iyer of Talkaholics and George Ebenezer from Santosha Samsara. Thanks to their support we were able to include an interview each from Mumbai and Bangalore. Thanks is also due to the Founder of Epistles, Dr. Rajkumar Songa for allowing us to shoot interviews in their premises.

I am extremely grateful to God as without my even knowing it, He resurrected my childhood dream of making films which was lost and buried somewhere. I look back and am amazed to see how He enabled me to direct and produce this documentary film which is my first film as a filmmaker!

'A Call from the Deep' is now a part of my life story, a very important milestone for me as it involves a subject that is very close to my heart too.

I am very thankful to Rajashekhar Vijjeswarapu and all the members of Engage Disability Hyderabad Hub for giving me the opportunity to work on this film. 

On 31st January 2024, just before we ran out of time, we were able to submit our documentary film to the Health for All Film Festival! 'A Call from the Deep' is a short documentary film of 7.58 minutes.

We have planned the YouTube premiere of this film on Saturday, 2nd of March, 2024 at 10.30 am (Indian Standard Time).

The film is available for viewing on the following two channels – 

@henriesong YouTube Channel https://lnkd.in/gsFMH8UB 

or

@GODonDisability YouTube Channel https://lnkd.in/gJhJCXXF 

The premiere is tomorrow at 10.30 am. If you see this in time, please do join us for the premiere!

If you see this later, please click on the link and watch it anyway!  

Introducing My Podcast - Timeless Words of Wisdom!

I am very happy to announce the launch of my first podcast titled 'Timeless Words of Wisdom'! 

It has been some time since God was stirring me to do this but owing to various reasons it was not possible until now. 

Introducing 'Timeless Words of Wisdom' or TWOW!

These are small golden nuggets of wisdom which simplifies the important matters of life for us. If you are interested in going deeper into matters that concern life, you will like these messages.

The first episode is on the subject 'Who should you fear?'

This is the most important question because who or what we fear impacts our life in many ways.

You can watch the podcast videos on Spotify, YouTube and Instagram too.

Timeless Words of Wisdom podcast on Spotify 

Timeless Words of Wisdom podcast on YouTube 

Timeless Words of Wisdom podcast on Instagram

Do like and share these messages with your friends so they too will benefit from them.

Thank you in advance for liking and sharing them!

Please remember to subscribe to any of my channels for more golden nuggets and Timeless Words of Wisdom! #wisdom #twow #words #timeless #life #golden #important #henrietta #fear #question #video #message #henriettadecruz

Fight the Battle for Your Life

What are the problems you are facing?

Your problems are taking you to the next level in your life.

No challenge - no victory!

Get up and fight the battle for your life.

Don't sit there and allow your adversary to take your life.

You were born because God wanted someone like you to be a part of His creation. He has a plan for you - a plan for a good future.

Fight for His plan to be fulfilled in your life. Don't allow anyone to rob you of His best for you and your life.

You are worth fighting for!

You really are.

If no one has told you that you have value or worth or made you feel that way... the problem is with them, not you.

They were stingy with their words and deeds, too self-centered to see good in anyone else. Don't let their weaknesses or faults make you look down on yourself!

Don't hate yourself because they hated you.

Don't neglect yourself because others neglected you and your needs.

Don't expect others to reward you or acknowledge your goodness...

Keep doing good for the right reasons and God will reward you.

Keep fighting in faith, build up the warrior in you!

 

- Henrietta

A Trip Down Memory Lane - Old Published Writings and Letters to the Editor

Walking down memory lane I could find some treasures to preserve, some joyful and memories that brought mixed emotions too. 

During the past year, I decided to take pictures of some of my earliest publications. The first writing of mine that got published publicly on mainstream media was a poem! I was happy to see my first poem published in the Teenager magazine in July 1986. Six months later I got to see the second poem published too in the January 1987 edition of the same magazine. 

Soon after the first poem appeared I was given the opportunity to write poems or articles for the Parish Bulletin of St.Francis DeSales Church. I remember how Mrs. Agatha Thomas would patiently wait for me to give her my submission! I really had no idea what a big deal it was to have an opportunity to write something for every edition of the Parish Bulletin. I had preserved one copy of every bulletin I wrote for, but unfortunately my father suddenly gave the entire set away to his father without checking with me and I never got to see them again. I wish I could have stopped him then.   

Here are some images of the first few of my writings that were published. 

 THE 'TEENAGER' MAGAZINE

'Teenager' magazine  - July 1986 & January 1987 

INSIDE PAGE WITH THE PUBLISHED POEM 

Poems by me published in the 'Teenager' - 'The Reawakening' & 'Autumn' 

WRITING PUBLISHED IN A NEWSLETTER - FEB 1987 

Writing titled 'Humanity' in the newsletter 'Vicinity' 

 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The very first Letter to the Editor I wrote was a letter appreciating the Times of India for starting a new section for students! I cannot remember which year it was. 

 A letter speaking about how hartals are causing much loss for the nation.

A letter written after there were attacks on the Christian community 

One of my dreams while I was growing up was to become a journalist. Later it changed and I decided I want to be a social worker. Even through the years of social work, my love for writing remained as it was close to my heart. 

While I was a child, I was very quiet. Writing and singing songs were the main forms of self expression for me. I am very happy that writing still is a big part of my life ! 

'Goodbye'

 

I said 'Goodbye' 

and I did not cry. 

No tears were shed

It was long overdue

This break-up 

with the old 'me'. 

It took me all these years

to find the treasure

inside me. 

I was led down 

a rabbit hole 

by so many lies. 

A fraud was committed

against me

I was made a party to it too. 

Unsuspecting I followed

and so became 

my own enemy. 

Now lies exposed

I stand vindicated

I realized my foolishness

in trusting those who 

meant ill for me

In loving those who hated me. 

Goodbye to the old

is actually the turning of a page,

a welcome to a new beginning.

How can something new

something that infuses new life

and gives you hope be bad? 

Henrietta

14th November 2022

Do you enjoy your work?

 

Work is such an important part of our lives. The estimate is that 90,000 hours of a lifetime is spent at work!

Imagine spending all this time at work that you detest or at a place where you are ill-treated and looked down upon. Allowing oneself to do so is equivalent to drinking slow poison as it slowly robs one of health, peace of mind and relationships too.

This is why Proverbs 4:23 urges us, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life."

Do you enjoy your work?

Does your work give you satisfaction?

Are you equipped to excel at your work?

Does your income from work meet all your needs?

Give it a thought and endeavour to make your remaining days of working in this lifetime better!

#work #health #peaceofmind #satisfaction #lifetime #guard #income #relationships #enjoy #grow

Do you want prosperity and peace?

 

Do you want great good to come to you? Do you want to prosper and be at peace? Acquaint yourself with God and live your life as per His will, follow Him.

There is no shame in humbling ourselves before the God, the Creator who created us. Acknowledging Him and giving Him due respect only leads to good for us. Job knew this secret. He was known to be a righteous and good man who loved God and followed Him closely.

The Bible describes him as a person who 'was blameless and upright, and one who [reverently] feared God and abstained from and shunned evil [because it was wrong]." [Job 1:1]

He was also known to be one of the richest in the land of Uz, all thanks to the blessings of God. In fact, Satan said to God, 'Have You not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."

This proves that God had indeed blessed Job. God is not a respecter of persons, what He did for Job, He will do for any one, if they live the way Job lived.

God goes one step further and says those who love Him and follow Him closely can decree a thing and it will come to pass too. Isn't that a very special privilege He has given His children? Of course someone who loves God will never misuse or abuse this privilege because they have the 'heart' of the Lord too.

Are you struggling to win worldly things and riches? What is the use of gaining all that without God!

Wouldn't be better to follow Him and then receive His blessings like Job did? That is something you could ponder about this week.

Read Job 22:21-30 AMPC to get a deeper understanding.

#riches #wealth #prosper #Job #secret #peace #good #shame #righteous

Are you going through a rough time?

Many times when we face tough times or have bad experiences, we think something is wrong with us. When someone is mean to us without any reason we tend to think that we are unlovable and begin to hate ourselves too.

The worst thing is that it also colours how we see God our Creator. We blame Him for the way others treat us.

The truth is He loves you immensely and He delights in you. But because people around you do not show you His love, you are feeling this way. 

God says to you, "Because you are precious in My sight and honored, and because I love you, I will give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life."
Isaiah 43:4 AMPC

You are precious, you are cherished! You are lovable and worth much more than you can imagine! These difficult times will pass. Don't give up hope.

If you want to know who this God, your Creator is, ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He is real and He can hear you. He will answer you!


#love #God #precious #lonely #unwanted #worthless #sad #rough #toughtimes #tough #creator #hope