“The Wolves You Don’t See”

My mother once told me, “Everyone that smiles at you is not your friend.” My grandmother echoed, “They don’t have your best interest at heart.” I didn’t understand it then. I do now.

It took years painful years in my 20s and early 30s to learn that betrayal doesn’t always come with a snarl. Sometimes it comes dressed in a smile, a handshake, a promise. I was blind to the secret smiles, the hollow pats on the back, the empty declarations of “I got you.” Because when I needed them most, they vanished, like breath into the wind.

They smiled in my face while carving wounds into my back. Wounds that didn’t bleed but burned. Wounds that didn’t heal but taught.

So, I learned. I learned to keep my head up, but more importantly, to keep it on a swivel. Because the wolves aren’t always loud. They’re quiet. They’re familiar. They’re the ones you don’t see coming.

But here’s the shift: when I stopped outsourcing my worth to others, when I stopped begging for loyalty from the disloyal, when I started focusing on me, my value, my purpose, my divine assignment, everything changed. I began to rely on the Highest to fight the battles I couldn’t see. To protect me from the daggers I didn’t feel until they landed. And in that surrender, I found strength. I found clarity. I found peace.

Now, I walk unrestricted. No apologies. No complaints. Just truth. Just purpose. Just me.

So, if you’re reading this and you’ve felt the sting of betrayal, the ache of abandonment, the confusion of false love, know this:

• You are not crazy.

• You are not weak.

• You are not alone.

You are awakening. You are evolving. You are being refined by fire.

And when you rise, because you will rise, you’ll do so with eyes wide open, heart guarded by wisdom, and a spirit anchored in something greater than man.

Keep your head on a swivel. But keep your soul in alignment.

The wolves may circle, but they’ll never devour what’s protected by purpose.

Esyntrek