That letter I needed to write to the marginal Christian woman, the one who left her husband because "he was too fat and he wouldn't go to church"? I finally wrote it in the wee hours last night.
I prayed before writing, while writing, and before hitting "send". It may be too little, too late? They both lawyered up and negotiations commenced, but this is when the words came together for me. I'll trust God that the imperfect effort was not in vain, and that the woman won't punch me in the face at church come Sunday.
Christian Truth, it offends.
I don't know the woman well, but the thing I hear around is this: She's a receiver. Some people give and some receive and the receivers are harder to love. I sense the people who deal with her only half want God's transforming miracles. In the recesses of their minds, they wonder if they're better off without her.
"Won't family times goes smoother, without the strain of dealing with a difficult person? We'll just breathe easier with her gone."
Isn't that Satan's lie in every divorce situation? "We're better off without the strain. It's just too hard."
Part of me always loves the underdog. No one wants this woman. Yes, she's made her bed by being difficult, but who gave her this personality? Can she snap her fingers and will something different from her brain, and doesn't God love her so much he endured the nail piercings for her?
Does the cross only cover the easy-to-love? The givers and not the takers?
The mother-in-law, she says it will take a miracle like the parting of the Red Sea. She believes in miracles, she tells me, and as I listen, I am certain of this: She doesn't want this miracle. She wants to be rid of this daughter-in-law.
What will God do, I wonder all day today. Will He let the strong-willed, marginally-Christian wife keep shoveling herself into a lonely hole?
Or will He let the mother-in-law, the one who's been a strong Christian for years, see something she's never seen before?
That in embracing the hard route--the one we can least stomach--we get the most peace? And isn't the hardest route the one that always leads us back to His Word?
Peace comes when we're exhausted from our efforts, emptied, weeping, and ready to let Him take over.
But peace isn't happiness. Life can still be difficult, in the presence of peace. Even with the strong presence of God's spirit, personalities don't fundamentally change--I've seen that in my own home.
Peace is a Person.
Please pray with me that all involved will embrace Peace? That they won't be afraid of the Red Sea answer?
I prayed before writing, while writing, and before hitting "send". It may be too little, too late? They both lawyered up and negotiations commenced, but this is when the words came together for me. I'll trust God that the imperfect effort was not in vain, and that the woman won't punch me in the face at church come Sunday.
Christian Truth, it offends.
I don't know the woman well, but the thing I hear around is this: She's a receiver. Some people give and some receive and the receivers are harder to love. I sense the people who deal with her only half want God's transforming miracles. In the recesses of their minds, they wonder if they're better off without her.
"Won't family times goes smoother, without the strain of dealing with a difficult person? We'll just breathe easier with her gone."
Isn't that Satan's lie in every divorce situation? "We're better off without the strain. It's just too hard."
Part of me always loves the underdog. No one wants this woman. Yes, she's made her bed by being difficult, but who gave her this personality? Can she snap her fingers and will something different from her brain, and doesn't God love her so much he endured the nail piercings for her?
Does the cross only cover the easy-to-love? The givers and not the takers?
The mother-in-law, she says it will take a miracle like the parting of the Red Sea. She believes in miracles, she tells me, and as I listen, I am certain of this: She doesn't want this miracle. She wants to be rid of this daughter-in-law.
What will God do, I wonder all day today. Will He let the strong-willed, marginally-Christian wife keep shoveling herself into a lonely hole?
Or will He let the mother-in-law, the one who's been a strong Christian for years, see something she's never seen before?
That in embracing the hard route--the one we can least stomach--we get the most peace? And isn't the hardest route the one that always leads us back to His Word?
Peace comes when we're exhausted from our efforts, emptied, weeping, and ready to let Him take over.
But peace isn't happiness. Life can still be difficult, in the presence of peace. Even with the strong presence of God's spirit, personalities don't fundamentally change--I've seen that in my own home.
Peace is a Person.
Please pray with me that all involved will embrace Peace? That they won't be afraid of the Red Sea answer?
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