#also hoping I don’t have a lot of typos and misspellings in these responses lol

[marginal-notes]

Hi, me again. I want to gush about No Such Thing as Heaven. I’m really interested to see what you do with Zuko’s current crisis with his name. In the show Zuko’s sense of self also changed, but it was still incredibly connected to who he was before. But in your story, since revealing his history would get him killed, and because his status changed so quickly and definitively, and he couldn’t speak of or think about his name, “Zuko” Prince of the Fire Nation was completely divorced from who he became while in exile. They might as well be different people. I can see why the Gaang using it would him him the ick. I wonder how he would react to Azula or Mai using it? Will becoming fire Lord even be a consideration like in the show? wonder how this will be resolved…

Aaauuuggh see, this is why I always feel bad about how my hate feud with BnHA has me in such a strong chokehold. I swear to god there is so much I still want to do with ATLA when I’m not being distracted by trashy men. Or raving about terrible unintended consequences from public policy law enforcement decisions that have proven disastrous in real life and should have similarly horrible impacts on BnHA’s society and characters. I really want to finish the “no heaven” series within the decade - yes, I’m starting to get alarmed about this possibility given how slow I’m writing - along with the bonkers ghost!zuko and the Yue & Zuko fic I’ve hinted at here on the blog.

Something that I hope I articulate in the “no heaven” series is that even if Zuko hadn’t been tricked into losing his name to the spirits, the identity of Prince Zuko couldn’t and wouldn’t have survived this version of his exile. Without Iroh to protect him from the worst of the war and its consequences, with how Ozai threw him out to die without any hope of redemption in the Fire Nation’s eyes, the things Zuko witnesses and experiences in the Earth Kingdom would have ground his old identity to dust. Even from the very first scene, where Zuko observes a child half his age receiving a limb amputation, the experiences he’s put through wouldn’t have let him hold onto who he used to be.

The Zuko of now, after the spirits and after being forced into the Blue Spirit’s name, is completely different from the Zuko of then.

Not that the kid fully realizes that fact at the current moment of what’s been published, which partially feeds into his issues around his name. Partially. There’s, uuuhhh, other nefarious things going on that you’ll see soon in the next few chapters.

And as for the Fire Lord thing… you’ll see lol

#the blah blahs #no such thing as heaven #seriously I wish I had better control over my writing muse #it’s getting egregious #also hoping I don’t have a lot of typos and misspellings in these responses lol #I’m writing it all on my phone

[thisiskimberlynicole-blog]

Habitual Responses from a Place of Brokenness

This literally just dropped in my spirit, so I decided to share. In other words, excuse any typos, misspelled words, or disconnect in thoughts because I’m trying to get this out before I fall asleep. Anyway…

Last week I discovered a cut on the left crease of my lip, where my upper-lip and lower-lip separates. It has been EXTREMELY painful to eat, yawn, or do anything else that requires opening my mouth to a certain point. I assume this cut came about from the new medicine that dries out my face. As a result, I’ve been putting a lot of vaseline on it, mixed with Blistex chapstick. Whenever I didn’t have any near me (and clearly didn’t feel like getting up lol), I would simply lick the cut to decrease the amount of pain I felt when I moved my lips. I found myself doing this quite often (licking it) either to moisten the area or test how sensitive the wound was. This would continue mindlessly throughout the day - while on the phone, walking through my apartment, before I ate - pretty much all the time. However, as of 10 minutes ago (literally), I side-licked the wound on my lip, and to my surprise, didn’t feel ANYTHING! I did it again to ensure I wasn’t hallucinating or too drowsy to notice the pain from the Tylenol PM I just took, but to my surprise - I was healed! I hopped out of bed and ran to the nearest mirror to get a closer look. I opened my mouth as wide as possible, and while the skin showed slight evidence of the cut that was there, the wound was closed and the pain was gone!

I started to think, “When did this wound close?” I’d been licking it out of habit, responding to the wound that was once there, and didn’t even notice that that hurt could have possibly been gone days ago!

I can’t help but wonder how often do we do this in our own life journeys, specifically in our faith walk? We focus so much on the trial, tribulation, or hurt we’ve experienced that we naturally begin to respond from that place of brokenness or uncertainty without realizing that (often time) the healing or solution has already been given. We allow our acknowledgment of our circumstances to turn into a magnification of IT vs. a magnification of the ONE who has already solved it. 

I’ll give you more tangible example. In my previous post, I mentioned that one of the greatest challenges I faced when moving away from home was financial stability. There were many days when I would see my account go WAY lower than desired (and I’m very frugal btw. I only pay bills & buy necessities). I focused so much on this that some days went by where I would eat the bare minimum - if at all - until I knew for sure that I could buy more groceries. The Holy Spirit convicted me one day and led me to read scriptures about God’s promises to provide. One scripture in particular that I meditated on was Matthew 6: 26-34. It states

 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Did this miraculously put money in my account? Absolutely not (lol), but what it did do was show me what I had access to all along as a child of God. I focused way too much on what I thought I didn’t have, that I lost sight of what my Father already promised me. When I changed my perspective of my circumstances and began to refocus on God, I saw crazy provision. Workers from restaurants would randomly give me food, I received gift cards to local restaurants, someone informed me of a campus app where I also got free food and large discounts on other things - just crazy! Were these things there all along - yes! But the continual tunnel vision I placed on my account didn’t allow me to see the amazing provision and spread God had already given me.

So I share all of this to say - stop habitually responding from a place of brokenness when you are given access to the One who heals, provides, protects, and is everything else you need Him to be. This doesn’t mean to disregard the situation for what it is, but don’t focus so much IT than you do God. Many of us have been in the same place for years because it’s “what we’re used to.” God didn’t call you to be stagnant, or complacent, or in pain all of your days. But you’ve got to shift your perspective. 

Stop licking your lip long enough to notice that it’s healed. 

I hope this makes sense..at least it did in my head. Lol. Good night.

Xoxox,

Kimberly Nicole