Can any of you relate to this?
A man has met a very beautiful woman, and is attracted to her. She is likewise attracted to him. The two of them begin dating. Their fondness for each other grows. The man, convinced by today's society dedicates his life to pleasing her. He begins giving her many gifts, doing many favors for her. She thanks him and tells him that he is the most wonderful man in the world.
The two of them have an arguement. The man, worried that his relationship with the woman is falling apart, goes out and buys her a dozen roses, and a teddy bear. He apologizes profusely, and the two of them make up. She again tells him that he's the most wonderful man in the world. He tells her that he simply cannot live without her.
The two of them start living together and building plans for the future. The man has made some goals that exclusively involve her. He is convinced that his life is complete. His girlfriend makes him complete. He has placed all his success and happiness on her existance.
One day, she tells him that she's leaving him. She simply doesn't feel the same way about him, and she leaves. The man, desperate to avoid having his life collapse buys her two dozen roses, a card telling her how important she is, and leaves twenty messages on the answering machine of the person she's staying with, stating how much he loves her, and how he's sorry for all his mistakes.
She doesn't come back. He now has to face the reality of it.
The man has been left heart-broken, lonely, unsure of what to do with himself, and he now has the problems of not being able to afford the debts that he's been left with.
This is the man who has built his life on the foundation of another person. Now that the person has left, his life has come crashing down, and he needs to start rebuilding.
Some people who have built their life on the foundation of another person have found that their foundation was faulty and their life was collapsing. They then have to destroy their life built on this faulty person, and find a new foundation to rebuild their life on.
This has happened to many (if not all) of you ex-jws. Instead of building your life on the foundation of another person, you have built it up on the existance of a religious organization. However, when you found that the foundation was faulty causing the collapse of your life, you needed to destroy the whole thing and rebuild somewhere else. For some of us, that building of life stood incredibly tall. It was being built for many years, perhaps all you life. The destruction of such a life can be devastating.
I advise all of you, when you're looking for a foundation to rebuild your life on, make sure it's going to stay with you and not crumble from faults. Build your life on the foundation of yourself.
This is an illustration the Watchtower could never use :)