Since I've started this blog and more in particular "The Love Dare", I have had a surprising amount of people contact me personally to tell me how much they love reading the blog, that it's really inspirational and gives them encouragement and strength for their personal struggles. That in itself encourages me to keep going and not give up, even on the days I feel no motivation and it's just a bad day, so I love getting confirmation that it is reaching the right people at a time when they need it! I know that God is using me for a bigger purpose than just my marriage and as a Christian. It's to be a light in a dark world.
The other day, I had a conversation with one of my best friends and she is very spiritually open minded, very hippy-ish lifestyle. I love her for who she is! I used to believe everything she does before I gave myself to Christ. We respect each other's beliefs, even though we may not agree on them. I think it's healthy to have friends of different belief systems, it challenges you and makes you stand firm in your foundation of your core beliefs. It makes for great debate conversations too! Haha!
She had called to see how I was doing and said she read a little bit of my blog, but she couldnt read a lot because it was very "Christian-y" and she had a hard time relating to all the scripture I had posted in it. I told her, I understand and it can be a bit overwhelming, but try to understand the underlying lesson in it all. She agreed and suggested that I maybe make a few changes. To get more people to my blog and more viewers, maybe not put so much scripture in it and a little less "Jesus talk" and more universal words for everyone, like just God as a general statement. She was making a general suggestion to make it more relatable for others that weren't just Christian. I could have gotten really mad & defensive about this, but I told her I understood what she was saying...I then shared with her that I wasn't writing the blog (love dare) to please people or make them comfortable. I'm writing because I feel that is what God is calling me to do. To share honestly and be transparent in the real life problems we all have and writing it as a Christian. I can only write it in that perspective, because that's what I am. I am yearning to be more Christ-like and this is my journey. She understood and said that she would try to not be be so close minded and try to read it again. That's why I LOVE that friendship! We can be brutally honest with one another, not take offense and can challenge one another.
I thought about that conversation for the whole next day and how much I appreciated that she said that to me. I have had so many people praise me, and she was the first one to challenge me. We need that. It allowed me to stand firm and explain. It allowed me to reflect on how many times the world has and will try to get me to change to its standards, not of God's. We are constantly being tempted to change or go against God's will for our lives. He asks us to be bold in our faith, everyday glorifying Him in everything we do and being obedient to His will in our lives. When we had this conversation, I immediately thought of Matthew 10: 32-33 Jesus says, "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven." I don't know about you, but this verse scares me to death! To know that I would be disowned by my Lord in Heaven because I didn't acknowledge Him in my life to others...that's a scary thought and reality.
So, I leave you with this....
Be bold, don't deny your faith to comfort others just because they don't have your same view. Don't change to worldy expectations and views and love one another despite your differences. That's what God calls us to do.
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