I am not going to lie, I had planned out completely different content for this week. But with everything going on, and more and more peoples’ eyes being opened to the reality of what is going on in the world, my heart felt compelled to speak on it.
I know I don’t have a huge reach and I know this isn’t a huge platform that I have created, but it is something. It is a place where I can use my voice to hopefully encourage people to learn and grow. To encourage others to be kind and loving and care for one another. So here is me trying to do that.
One thing I have always believed ever since I was a young girl was that respect is the most important thing we as individuals can have. I firmly believe that if we all have a distinct amount of respect for human life, others thoughts and feelings, and our world, that a lot of things would be very different right now.
How on earth could you ignore sexism, racism, abortion, or genocide if we all had the same respect for life?
How could we sweep human trafficking under the rug or act like it doesn’t exist if we all at least agreed on respect for all life?
How could we turn a blind eye, go on with our lives and let the thought slip away?
The answer is simple, we couldn’t.
But since we are all different people, have been through our own journey and carry our own crosses, instead of uniting together, we find and concentrate on the things that tear us apart.
I am just as guilty of this as any of you.
And I know why I have done this.
Fear.
Fear of being rejected. Fear of being hated. Fear of being confronted. Fear of being made to look stupid. Fear of hurting someone’s feelings. Fear of the truth. Fear of having to change the ease of my own life in order to better serve others.
But here is the thing.
God did not call me into this life to serve myself. No. He called me to serve others. To serve Him. To love Him.
In Matthew 16:24-25 it says “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’”
This has been one of the hardest realizations for me. I have constantly been in a state of trying to find out who I am and what I am made for. Where I belong and what I am supposed to do with my life. How I am supposed to use my talents. But that is where I was thinking of what Ineeded out of this life. I was not thinking of what God intended for me.
I am not going to lie. It is scary speaking up about what I feel is wrong and what is right. It is scary seeing injustice and wanting so badly to stand up, and seeing no one else saying anything.
“What if they hate me?”
“What if they don’t like what I have to say?”
“What if the discredit me or make me look stupid or arrogant?”
“What if they confront me?”
“What am I supposed to do?”
I have always had these fears inside of me of disrupting the status-quo. But at this point, I REFUSE to live my life not standing up for what is right, and not encouraging people to learn and to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. I REFUSE to give into those fears.
Because at the end of my time here on this earth, I want to be able to tell Jesus Christ “Lord, I have used everything you gave to me. I have nothing left.”
I do not want to leave this world with an ounce of love, fight, kindness, truth, or wisdom left in me. I want to use it all. I want to help others. I want to stand up for what is right.
And I don’t care if I look idiotic or naïve. Because there is something out there that is better than everything going on in our world.
There is something better than all of this fear, all of this anger, all of this pain, all of this hurt, all of this despair, all of this hate.
There is something better.
“This is My command to you: Love one another. If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of this world, but I have chosen you out of the world.”
John 15:17-19
Here are some resources to learn more about what I mentioned above. I invite and encourage you all to research and learn more about what is going on in our world. Because even though God will always win, that doesn’t mean we sit back and do nothing.
polarisproject.org
dosomething.org
ourrescue.org
freedomnetrorkusa.org
Thank you for all of those who read this entire post, I will talk to you in my next one.
God Bless and with love,
Veronica