God is our forever friend. He knows us and he loves us. We qualify for his love…
When taken hostage by gaslighting…
It can be deeply painful when someone hates us for doing good. It hurts when our sense of justice is mocked, because it doesn’t bow to their demands. The Bible puts it so well. ‘You have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness’ (Amos 6:12). These kinds of people will try to poison us, to gaslight us into agreeing with their reality.
But the Bible guides us when we are in danger of being taken as a hostage: ‘They shall never enter my rest’ (Psalm 95:11). We can say, ‘NEVER!’ We can say, ‘No! You can’t come in! You will not disturb my rest.’ We can choose who we let into our lives. We can choose those who love good.
(photo by Leonie Fahjen: pexels.com)
We can see…
In the beginning, God was there in the darkness and confusion. But then he spoke, ‘Light, come!’ And what he set in motion still is.
Each of us had a beginning and it was in darkness. But then in our births we came into light. God set us in motion and we still are. Yet, he wants to speak again today, as we experience other darknesses and confusions. He says, ‘Light, come!’
He sets in motion something new, if only we could stop and look – a scary new path, a unexpected opportunity, or an undiscovered talent we never knew we had. And if we walk in what we see, we can share that light with others. For, beginnings are a gift we can accept and give.
(photo by Pixabay: www.pexels.com)
The opposite of fear…
Some things frighten me – especially another’s anger. I can wake up in the night, my heart aching over how a person’s anger manipulates me and those I really care for. For anger actually blocks me from freedom of choice.
The other day I read how Jesus reacted. “Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him” (Luke 20:47). Angry people opposed Jesus, but he didn’t crumble with fear. He lived with an audacity that surprised me.
He did what God wanted him to do. He sat where those leaders said he shouldn’t. He didn’t flinch.
It released me to live with the same audacity – to take bold risks despite the blocks.