Miracles are free

It was just a simple text message, "He's a liar". At the time of its arrival on her cellphone, Sarah* didn't know its value. But, as the days unfolded and the story of his deceit was revealed, that little text message became a miracle. A gift from God. A sign from the angels that her life was about to change, radically, for the better.

When I first spoke with her, she couldn't see the miracle of that text message. She could only feel its pain. She couldn't see the gift of knowledge it presented or the freedom it represented. She didn't want to see it was a gift for a better future.

She wanted his love to be true. She wanted him to be true. She wanted time to rewind and take her back to time before the text message arrived, to time before everything went wrong.

"It's all my fault," she said. "If only I had...." And then, she listed of the hundred things she could have done differently to keep his love true.

"There is nothing you could have done differently that would have changed him," I told her. "Tall. Short. Fat. Skinny. Blond. Brunette. Green eyes. Blue eyes. Fair-skinned. Dark-skinned. You could have dyed your hair pink and stood on your head spitting nickles. There is nothing you could have done to change him or make his love true. He is the lie."

And that's the challenge of loving a narcissist. There is nothing we can do to change who they are and what they're doing. Lies are the lifeblood of their trade. They are subject matter experts in human manipulation and they spend their lives honing their craft. They don't care if they hurt people. People are the fridges of their supply. Open the door, take out what you need and close it until you need more. Keeping their victims chilling on ice is part of their game. Keeping their victims locked up, their minds frozen over ponds of fear and disbelief, that is what they need to ensure the victim doesn't see the light of their betrayal. They do what they want, get what they need however they can because what they want is all that counts.

For Sarah, the pain of his betrayal has left her reeling. He's had over five years to weave his web of lies around her, in and out of her psyche. He's had five years to contort reality, distort perceptions and distend her belief in herself into a bloated bladder of vile pus oozing with self-deprecation and disbelief.

And now she must heal.

"Why would he do this? He said he loved me? Why? Why? Why?" she asked as every woman and man asks when awakened to the truth of their lies.

"Because he can. Because he must. Because he does. It's what he does. It's who he is," I told her. "Lies are like breathing to him. Protecting his ego at all costs is his purpose and in his mind, there is no higher purpose, no greater calling. It is all he can do."

Miracles are free.

In the gift of their arrival, grace descends as we open up to the truth of their revelations. With grace, we are invited to slip into the healing waters of love so that we can set ourselves free of lies and deception and dance with joy, in harmony with the truth around us. Miracles are free and so are we.

The question is: Do you resist and persist to to believe in the lies in spite of the truth dancing before your eyes? Are you willing to open up to the wonder and beauty of your spirit and let go of the lie that you don't deserve the miracle of the freedom to be your most magnificent self?

*Names and circumstances changed.