Friday Journaling Prompt...
Learning to thrive in the discouraging, difficult and fearful…
This was the message at our church a few weeks ago. I’ve been letting this simmer in my mind for a while, and honestly this one is not easy for me.
So I wanted to bring this into our journaling prompt this weekend and talk about it. I’m pretty sure I’m having a hard time with this one because I’m needing to understand and live in it right now. I know the Lord is working on me in this exact area and even changing how I see this and live this out.
How about you?
(And I don't think this is about US either… but I’ll get to that in a minute.)
Maybe you, like me, tend to say “everything’s fine” when you’re going through hard things. Anyone else out there who would rather internalize instead of share deep things with others? Is it hard for you to see how we can thrive IN the difficult times? Do you wonder how the discouraging, difficult and fearful can actually be a testimony for Christ?
I hate to admit this because I’m the girl who creates an environment of connection. I’m the one who hosts retreats where we gather and connect with each other, in our faith and in our world. How is it that I have a hard time communicating and would (most of the time) rather be by myself and think through the hard things on my own, instead of share them with others!?!
Oh Lord, You know us so well… and You know exactly what you are doing in our lives!
This leads me to our Journaling Prompt for today, and it comes from 1 Peter 3:8-17 so let me share the verses with you here:
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.”
I know there’s a lot to unpack in those verses, so here’s this Friday’s Journaling Prompt:
How can we be an influence in our world, for Christ, even during the HARD things we go through?
To take is a step further…
How can we walk forward boldly in: (1 Peter 3:8)
~ Unity of mind
~ With sympathy
~ Brotherly love
~ With a tender heart
~ and a humble mind
~ and BLESS those who revile us
We know we will have trouble in life… it’s a given. We can’t get around it this side of Heaven.
But here’s another thing we know for sure:
The world is watching us.
We are witnesses for Christ whether we realize it or not. And when we go through difficult things, the world is watching how we are going to handle them. God set up this world, you and I, for connection. So even when we may want to shrink back, or when we get hurt by others and we don't want to walk forward boldly… We are still called to show compassion, concern and care for others.
Oh friends… I don’t have this all worked out, trust me. I just know when we try to do these things, when we have true intentions to do what it right, we will STILL face difficulties. Infiltrating lives (connecting with others) instead of isolating ourselves (not connecting with others) will bring about hurt feelings, misconceptions and discouragement. There will be people who don’t like our witness or may even stand against us. But connection and community it STILL what God calls us to. And the “Church” (you and I as believers) STILL can have unity, and sympathy and brotherly love towards each other… with tender hearts! We can (and should) humble ourselves, forgive and BLESS others.
So how do we do this? How can we go boldly forward and be the Salt & Light in this world and BLESS others?
Here’s one thing Paul shares with us that is critical to the answer:
”But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3: 13-14
This one thing I do… we take the next step of faith because we know what our prize is in Christ Jesus. I love this reminder from Paul!
Agape love forgets and presses on. If I can add to Paul’s words here, agape love also forgives… (Colossians 3:13)
Friends, this is a hard truth the Lord is showing us here, and I believe it’s because:
If there’s no difference between us and the world, how can we influence the world for Jesus?
Listen to Jesus speak about this exact thing in Matthew 5:43-47:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers,[i] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
We are called to deny ourselves, (our flesh that would want to repay evil for evil), and instead LOVE. Instead BLESS and pray for those who hurt us or have discouraged us. Instead live our lives (mess and all) for Christ and press on…. doing that one next thing that God is calling us to do.
Here’s what our pastor shared that has stuck with me:
“Suffering puts us in a position of BLESSING. We are blessed for doing what is right.” Ed Taylor
And in that, the world will see Jesus.
So let us live our lives SO THAT… the world asks us WHY.
And may we always be prepared to give an answer to the world’s WHY. (1 Peter 3:15) To share and encourage them with the hope that is within us… even in the discouraging, difficult and fearful!
Thank you Jesus for Your constant leading.
I hope this blesses someone today. The Lord is SO good to teach us, encourage us and bless us. Have a GREAT weekend!
Hugs,
Laura McCollough