I am memorizing scripture passages through the gospel of John and daily it speaks to me...why I have I waited so long to do this....
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...and the light shines in the darkness but the darkness does not overcome it....and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen it's Glory. Glory as of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth....and because He is full of grace and truth we all receive one gift after another...Do what He tells you....For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever should believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
and it makes perfect sense that out of the memorized scripture God would speak to me about "light and darkness". There always seems to be this crazy spin cycle of light and darkness. Darkness seems to always be winning but is it because we fail to see the Light? I had a moment of rest in my life. A moment where life's stresses and struggles didn't really involve me. In this moment it seemed God was using me...then the wave swept over me and knocked me down again and again. Friendships were on the fence with barbed wire surrounding it, so it seemed. People were tearing me down and I sat in the arms of the one God gave to protect me and cried asking if these things are true of me because if enough people are saying them then they must be true.
The question came to me...why as sisters in Christ is it so easy to tear each other down instead of lift each other up? Why are we so quick to defend ourselves and why do we think that everything is about us? Why do we think that everyone is against us...especially other women. There is a horrible disease traveling among women today and especially young, un-mentored women and it can over take you and it can take you into the deepest pit that will tell you lies and it will seem like the darkness has definitely overcome it...jealousy.
The gospel of John says, "A new command I give you, Love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another".
This is not a "take it or leave it" suggestion. This is a command sisters. We need to live this...not decide if it applies to us. I know we all desire to be like Christ. I know we all desire to see the body of Christ grow....the best way to spread the gospel is to live it...obey the Law of Love and you break yourself...like Christ broke the bread that represented His body. Obeying the Law of love allows you to extend grace because grace has been extended to you.
"Brokenness breaks us of our need to be right and breaks us open to our need to extend the grace we have been given." ~Ann Voskamp
I lay in my bed as my husband prays and I weep. I have been falsely accused and it hurts. I restlessly sleep and when I wake and pour my cup of coffee in my "Redeemed" cup I read through the scripture of John and that one right there tells me...."and the Light shines in the Darkness and the Darkness does NOT overcome it"...and it only makes perfect sense that God allowed the sun to shine through my windows all day long....I start my decorating for the month of Lent and as I laid the wooden Jesus figure bent over bearing the weight of our sin on the table the shadow appeared.
"Even though I walk through the darkest valley...I will fear not" Psalm 23
Shadows...walking through the valley of the shadow of death....in order for there to be a shadow there has to be light. And although it seems dark..that Light is with you the whole time.
My mind thinks back to the false accusations and the hurt that followed. I think, what if us sisters in Christ followed the Law of Love instead of running from it. It could rip jealousy right out of the pit and throw it in the fire....if we women committed to lifting each other up instead of tearing each other down and we made a vow to extend grace...what kind of a different world would we live in and what kind of a different daughter of the One true King would we all be?
"God loves while we sin, God holds out his hand to the disobedient, and love is what makes God the most potent of all. Love is the most radically, subversive activism of all, the only thing that ever changed anyone."
Ann Voskamp
Bend low today sisters, pray and allow God to show you how to extend the love you've been given.
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