Kim Sutton

Kim Sutton You are not broken.

You are learning safety again. 🩵 Faith-rooted support for Christian women healing from toxic & abusive relationships — and rebuilding their lives, confidence & businesses.

05/28/2026

Something I've been sitting with: how long it took me to stop treating rest as a reward and start treating it as a right.

For a long time, I believed I had to earn stillness. Finish everything first. Make sure everyone was okay. Be productive enough to justify a break.

That belief didn't come from nowhere. It came from a season when my worth was tied to my usefulness, and when I stopped being useful, I was no longer loved.

God doesn't work that way.

He rested on the seventh day, NOT because He needed to catch up, but because rest is built into the goodness of creation. Mark 12:31 gives us permission to love ourselves as we love others, and that includes honoring our limits.

You don't have to earn the care you give yourself. You just have to begin.

What's something you've been "waiting until" before giving yourself permission to rest or restore? 🩵

05/27/2026

Self-care doesn't have to be a spa day. Drinking a full glass of water before pouring yourself out for everyone else? That counts. Choosing rest over one more scroll? That counts, too.

Mark 12:31 has always included you. 🩵

What is one small thing you can do just for you today?

05/27/2026

"Love your neighbor as yourself." — Mark 12:31

There are two directions in that verse. Most of us learned one very well. The other, loving ourselves, we were either never taught, or we were actively trained against it.

For women who have come through toxic relationships, self-love often got tangled up with selfishness. Our needs were used against us, rest was called laziness and time alone was called abandonment.

Slowly, we learned that the most "acceptable" version of us was the one with no needs at all.

Jesus didn't design you that way. He included you in the equation, right there in the same breath as loving others.

Healing includes rebuilding the belief that you matter. Not in an arrogant way, but in the quiet, foundational way, the kind where you stop waiting for permission to care for the person God made you to be.

What's one thing you'd freely give a friend that you've been withholding from yourself? 🩵

05/26/2026

Selflessness was never meant to erase you. Mark 12:31 says to love your neighbor as yourself, not instead of yourself. Rest isn't laziness. Boundaries aren't rejection. They are acts of love for the woman God made. Share this with someone who needs to hear it today. 🩵

05/26/2026

Have you ever apologized for needing rest?
Or have you ever felt guilty for saying no, even when you were completely depleted?

Maybe you convinced yourself that if you were just stronger or more disciplined, you wouldn't need as much.

A lot of us learned somewhere along the way that our needs were burdens, that the most "loving" thing we could do was flatten ourselves for others.

But Mark 12:31 tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, not instead of ourselves. God built self-love into the commandment, right alongside neighbor love. They belong together.

You were not created to endlessly pour out without replenishment. That's not faithfulness. That's depletion and, eventually, it empties out everyone around you too.

You are allowed to receive care. Not someday when things calm down. Now. As you are.

What would it look like to give yourself even ten minutes today that was just yours? 🩵

05/25/2026

Self-care isn't selfish. But after years of being told otherwise, that can be nearly impossible to believe.

For many of us who came through toxic relationships, caring for ourselves was framed as neglecting someone else. Our needs were inconvenient. Our feelings were too much. Somewhere in that, we learned to make ourselves small and put everyone else first — not out of genuine generosity, but out of survival.

Jesus said in Mark 12:31, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

As yourself. This means you were always supposed to be included in your own love, not excluded from it.

Caring for yourself is not the opposite of caring for others. It's the prerequisite. And God built that truth right into His own commandment.

Today I want to gently ask: What's one thing your body or heart has been asking for that you've been ignoring? 🩵

Day 45-001“Congratulations, today is your day.”🎁 I'm giving myself a couple presents today to celebrate the arrival of 4...
03/02/2024

Day 45-001

“Congratulations, today is your day.”

🎁 I'm giving myself a couple presents today to celebrate the arrival of 45.

No, they are not something I bought or made. And they don't require wrapping or gift bags.

They are symbolic, peace-filled presents for my soul.

My first present is to make the CHOICE to move into 45 leaving what didn't work in 44 (or before) behind. No grudges. No guilt. No remorse. No more hurt, heartbreak, anger or sadness. Only gratitude for the lessons I learned and hope for what lies ahead.

My second present is to close the doors to the past. I will trust that I have anything I need from all my yesterdays, but today I am closing and locking all the doors to the past. There will be no more looking or going back. What's done is done.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” ~ Isaiah 43:18-19

Not looking back has gotten easier, but I'm still tempted from time to time. I need to stop this. If what was left behind was meant to go with me than it would have already presented itself. Now I need to be free to be me.

🎁 I can't look ahead when I'm constantly looking behind.

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."

(P.S. Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss, too.)

Day 44-366If I could go back a year and give myself advice for the year ahead, I don't know that I would say. 44 was a d...
03/01/2024

Day 44-366

If I could go back a year and give myself advice for the year ahead, I don't know that I would say. 44 was a difficult year, but so were years 40-43.

I reflect on the past year with mixed feelings. Even those who hurt me taught me valuable lessons, lessons I can't imagine not knowing as I continue my journey of life.

44 taught me that I should NEVER need to apologize for expressing my feelings (as long as I do so respectfully), and it taught me that I deserve respect. The year also taught me that a person's actions will always tell more about who the person is than their words, and I can forgive 7 times 70 times without subjecting myself to pain and abuse 7 times 70 times.

44 taught me that while goodbyes may hurt, they also make way for amazing hellos. The year taught me that I am capable of accomplishing great things, and anybody who doesn't recognize or see my potential doesn't need a seat at my table.

And 44 brought me closer to God than ever before. Am I happier than I've ever been? Honestly, no. My hurt hearts, a lot. But I finally understand where my worth comes from. I finally realize HE is the only man I need to worry about doing my best for. And, unlike worldly men, He won't ever play games with my heart, leave me on read, tell me I'm not enough, or make me feel like a waste of time or space.

Here is to the next 365 days. May 45 be full of happy memories, personal growth, and the accomplishment of every goal I set my heart and mind to.

Day 44-363Spring in Southwest Ohio can be a bit nauseating. Don't get me wrong, I love how the buds on the trees and flo...
02/27/2024

Day 44-363

Spring in Southwest Ohio can be a bit nauseating. Don't get me wrong, I love how the buds on the trees and flowers bloom months earlier than where I grew up (Western New York) but...

The smell of the manure which is being poured onto to flower beds and farmers' fields makes me instantly regret opening the doors or windows of my home or car... 🤮

Similarly, my healing journey isn't much different. It stinks, if I'm going to be honest. Like the manure which makes plants thrive, there are cycles, patterns, thought processes, limiting beliefs, habits, etc. which must be shoveled through in order to let the beautiful blossom. And in my 44+ years, I have accumulated a fair bit of manure which doesn't serve me.

Therapy isn't easy, and it certainly isn't a feel good experience. It's not meant to be. Good, effective therapy encourages us to sift through the p**p, examining why we made the decisions/took the actions/tolerated what we did. It's a potent mixture of nauseating, triggering and painful that, when handled properly, can turn our pages into chapters better than we ever imagined.

Unfortunately, some people don't want to do the hard work.
They believe their sh*t don't stink so there's nothing to examine.
They avoid the hard work and point at others.

Entering 45, I commit to owning and addressing my piles of manure. Give me the boots and gloves and let me dig in. I'm ready to see acres of tulips, the result of working through my poo.

Day 128It's easy to sing along to the Worship songs at church, feeling the Spirit within us and knowing the Word IS Trut...
02/20/2024

Day 128

It's easy to sing along to the Worship songs at church, feeling the Spirit within us and knowing the Word IS Truth.

But, in our everyday lives, sometimes it's difficult to remember. Well... It's difficult for me.

Sometimes it's difficult for me to remember that since I'm not dead, God's not done.

Sometimes it's difficult for me to remember that people might only stay in our life for a season, for a reason, and then they're supposed to exit.

Sometimes it's difficult for me to remember that my present sufferings are nothing compared to the joy that's yet to come. (Romans 8:18)

But to everyone and everything that reminds me to keep going, as slow and painful as it may feel, THANK YOU. 🙏

To everyone and everything that reminds me to focus on my faith instead of my pain and my fear, THANK YOU. 🙏

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