Daily Delight
I never thought of myself as an angry person, but God began revealing I had just as much ire as the next person - I just wasn’t used to expressing it and I buried it. How could I be in my thirties and not know how to be angry?I’ve always been a “peacekeeper”; however, I assumed “peace” came at any cost. If other people were happy, I didn’t think it mattered whether I felt peace or had unresolved grief, as long as the argument was over. God later revealed that this was false peace and not at all what His word speaks of. His word encourages honesty, safe boundaries and healthy resolutions. God later spoke to me that “suppression and denial aren’t spiritual gifts; My peace and joy are.” All that time and effort I spent pushing down memories and pretending something didn’t hurt my feelings - it wasn’t the Christian thing to do? I could’ve saved myself some frustration if I’d known the truly loving thing to do would be to speak out against injustices and hold people to a Godly standard. And doesn’t that sound just like God? He calls us to be meek, a word which doesn’t mean “doormat”, but “controlled strength”. Someone with meekness would be able to express when they’ve been wronged, but in a way that doesn’t damage the other party and simply asks them to have an honest relationship. It gives value to the other person by saying that the relationship is worth the extra effort of a hard conversation. Only then can you really move forward. Otherwise, you’re building the relationship on a foundation of unfairness and pain.My old pattern of shoving things under the rug is always tempting me, but having experienced God’s true peace in reconciliation, I can’t cheat myself or my loved ones any longer.Lord, thank You... that in You, we can have true peace and joy. Grant us Your wisdom that we might reach the heights of resolution in unity.
About the Author
Jessica Hendrick
Jessica lives in Chesapeake, VA with her husband, Bryan, and their two young children, Jack & Jane. Never in a million years would she have thought after getting her Masters in Counseling and studying Biofeedback that she would forego job applications and become a stay-at-home mom, but God revealed the true desire of her heart that year.