Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Stepping On Toes

Recently after a great deal of prayer, pause, more prayer and then back and forth (even though I truly felt God leading me) I "had" to call on a fellow believer and ask her about comments she was making. It was extremely difficult and so completely uncomfortable, yet I felt the urging from our Lord and I obeyed. The reaction was not what I was expecting. I thought I'd get a reply for one, possibly full of anger, most likely justification, but a reply none the less. Instead she completely shut me out. When I realized this (I admit I've been a little preoccupied and it took me a week or two to realize it) I emailed. The bad things of emails is people can not hear our tones. My guess is she heard my tone as accusing, when it was concern and honest questions.

So what are we to do? When we see our brothers or sisters in Christ behaving in unGodly manners? When they do things that makes our jaws drop because it's so ugly, unbecoming, and unlike the person you believe you know? In my opinion I think we pray, then wait, then pray again. When we get our answer we're to obey the Lord. I've been on the otherside of this situation, honestly I was furious and let my sister know I was not pleased with her. She was gentle and said "well have you talked to God about it? I have and felt him leading me to talk to you." she then said "Maybe I misintterupted him, so if you have talked to him let me know and I will apologize if we still differ, but if not how can I pray for you as you talk to our Lord?". Whew, knock me off my feet and drop me to my knee's.

What do we do when we are cut out of that persons life though, because we were honest and sincere? Well I can tell you what I did, I reached out once again and emailed and asked some questions and made statements of what it felt like to me. The reply was curt, no answers. So, where's that leave me? My instinct is to reply again, but although I've written the reply I'm sitting on it for right now and praying. Praying for guidance for me, guidance for her, and guidance over the whole situation as a whole.

What I'm discovering is no one wants to be told that what they're doing or saying is wrong, ugly, or hurtful. No one wants to be told they're being judgemental. But what happens when our Lord tells us we need a hold a mirror up to anothers face? Well we better obey. It's not easy, there's a chance a friendship may be over or scarred, but we still must obey. Here's the clincher though, we better get prepared for the Lord to give someone else a mirror to use on us. How we react is one thing we have control over, though. We can accept what we percieve as criticism or we can throw a fit, and act like a spoiled child being told " no cookie".

Can I tell you how hard it is sometimes to be a Christian? It is. Anyone who thinks that once they give their life to the Lord, that it's smooth sailing, is in denial or if they are a Christian and have smooth sailing, where is the walk? Even if the situation above is not one you've been faced with, what about sharing our Lord with others? There's a world full of nonbelievers.

It's something to think about. I want to share a video I have seen before, but came across again tonight over at Bridget's blog. Take the time to watch this, even if you're "too busy" "don't have time"..make it! It's worth it.









4 comments:

Linda said...

Christy...what you have to do is let go. Keep praying for this sister in Christ, keep her lifted up to God. But remember, God's will be done. He will take care of her...and He hears your pleas for her. Often, we react to something with our hearts because we ache for that person, but in the end, we can do no more than what we know.

(and gosh, I hope you're not talking about me, as I am thinking back now...have I not replied to your emails? Did you call me on something? Nah...I don't think so.)

Amanda said...

Well... I am the WRONG persont o offer advice on this, because I often just say it!! If you represent yourself as a Christian and behave in a way that is very UN Christian and I am your friend, get ready for an earfull!!

I can't remember the blog name, but remember the girl whose hubby had a baby with someone another woman and she hates the other womans and the other baby? And I went and told her I thought she was behaving badly and that she could amke the situation better and she did NOT like it. I emailed her once again after that and she basically told me to leave her alone.

Anyway, all I want to say is, I agree with your perspective here. When we are ready to call out another beliver, we had be better be ready to accept that same scrutiny in our own lives.

Love to you Christy!

God bless-
Amanda

Linda said...

I loved that video! Makes you take a look at yourself! Linda

Bri said...

It's a tough one Christy. I have been the one *called out* and I have been the one to *call out*.

I think at this point you are doing the right thing by just praying. Pray, let go, and let God do His thing. I'm guessing (totally guessing here) that your friend reacted the way she did, because she felt convicted. Not by you, but what God spoke through you. When we are shown things we are doing are wrong, we feel that conviction in our hearts and we all know how uncomfortable that is. Many times people immediately fall into repentance, other times (and most of us have had these times at least once) we lash out in guilt. In most cases the lashing out is directed towards the person God sent to cross their path. I will pray God continues to lead your heart and that your friend will cry out to God, listening to what He speaks into her heart.