Let There Be Peace On Earth, And Let It Begin With Me

Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin with Me

I believe this is the title of a Christmas song, but the Lord dropped this in my spirit today, and I wanted to share some thoughts about this subject.  Contrary to popular belief, the absence of peace is not war, but conflict.  Often times, we want to keep the peace, so as to not rock the boat, or to paint a picture that may not necessarily be an accurate description of our lives.

You see, since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we are descendants of imperfect people.  We say and do things that are less than perfect, and we don’t always get things right.  When we say that we are Christians, or people of faith, the spotlight immediately goes on us, and in some cases, folks are waiting to see our downfall, hoping that they can disprove who and what we say that we are.

Can I be real and transparent for a minute?  The truth of the matter is that all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.  Now that we’ve cleared that up, let me talk about myself, because unlike television shows, the names won’t be changed to protect the innocent.  I pray that this will help somebody today, because real change and deliverance can’t come unless you can identify with someone who has gone through stuff and is a work in progress, or has walked through the process of hurting or being hurt, repentance and restoration, and truly apologizing for the error of their ways that has affected others.

As I approach some milestones in my life, I have looked back and wondered how I got over.  Not to sound like a cliché, but God has been good to me, far better than I have deserved.  Why do I feel that way?  Because if the Lord had treated me the way I should have been treated, for all of my sin and imperfections, I wouldn’t be here to talk about His grace and mercy.  While circumstances that have happened in my life were not all my fault, I certainly have done things and made incorrect judgments that not only affected me professionally, but personally.

It’s funny how selfish we really are, when it comes down to it.  You may protest, and say that you are always thinking about others, and making sacrifices, but the reality is, we are, whether we mean to or not.  We like to put our best foot forward, and make good impressions for people to think how wonderful we are.  The truth of the matter is that God sees and knows all, and He knows the intentions of the heart.  We’re quick to say that “only God can judge me”, but we don’t understand what that entails.

Let’s take a look at that for a moment.  When babies are born, they don’t know anything, initially.  When they cry, it’s because a need hasn’t been met.  There’s really only a couple of things that they want, to be fed, to be changed, or to be held and have interactions with our smiling faces and touches.  When those basic needs are not met, they continue to cry, and can withdraw and ultimately die if not paid attention to.  As they grow older, they learn a few things, like a smile brings all types of attention, and their tears move us to action.  They are cute and cuddly, but they do grow up.  Children are influenced by their surroundings, good or bad.  Ever hear of “Pete and Repeat”?  They are great mimics.

Back somewhere around the 70’s or 80’s, there was a commercial about a father and son.  The son was in trouble for being found with a marijuana joint.  The father yelled at him, lecturing about the dangers of drugs.  He asked him, “Where did you learn about this?”  The son angrily replied, “I learned by watching you, Dad!” The opposite can hold true as well.  If a child is raised in a loving home with two parents, displaying the unconditional love of Christ, they will grow up to go and do likewise.

Getting back to me, I could tell you about my life story, and blame circumstances that have happened in my life for why I am the way that I am.  People are good for pointing fingers at parents or other authority figures to excuse their behavior, good or bad, but mainly bad.  We have a whole generation of people who think that everyone owes them something, and they don’t have to take responsibility for their actions.  I have come to tell you today that this is a lie and deception from the enemy, and to warn you to change that mindset, before it’s too late.

Why am I telling you this today?  Because I don’t want people to make the same mistakes that I have over the course of my life.  I was influenced by what I saw on television.  Wholesome family shows like The Brady Bunch, Leave It to Beaver, and Father Knows Best shaped my mindset, and I embraced a rose colored look at the world, even though that wasn’t my reality at the time.  Please understand that this is not a slam on single parents, doing the best that they can with their children, but I am a dreamer, and I spent my childhood looking for the perfect family and life.  I wanted the great marriage, the kids, cat and dog, the house with the white picket fence and the 2 car garage.

While in itself, there’s nothing wrong with that fantasy, the reality is, if you want to live that kind of life, you have to pray that God will help you to achieve your goals in the right way.  Because of my feelings of not measuring up, and you can fill in the blanks if you’ve ever felt that way, I chased after people and things that may not have been the best for me.  The problem wasn’t them, it was me, because for some reason, I couldn’t and wouldn’t understand why what God says about us in His word wasn’t enough for me to embrace and feel good about myself.  This is called low self-esteem.

The word of God tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by Him.  He knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb.  That’s a powerful statement, because that means that we are intimately known by Him, and He’s waiting for us to embrace His love and form that intimacy with Him.  When we look for love in all the wrong places and in too many faces, we are not living out God’s highest and best life.  I’m here to tell you that our love isn’t perfect, but His is.

No one can ever love you the way that the Lord does.  We can’t possibly expect a man, woman or child to love us the way He can.  They can try, but it will leave us wanting more from them that they can’t give.  When we don’t feel loved, we are quick to search for love that doesn’t satisfy.  No comfort food, no alcoholic drink, no drugs and no person can give you the illusion of love that will make you whole.  Only Jesus can do that, because of His sacrifice on the cross.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your life.  There is absolutely nothing that you can do that will keep the Lord from loving you, and wanting that intimate and personal relationship with you.  Yes, even you!  Even me!  I can’t tell you how many years I wasted on feeling sad, sorry for myself and depressed because the enemy wanted to play on my emotions about bad decisions and catastrophes in my life.

You can’t change your past, but you can change your future.  Please hear me clearly on this.  I can’t change any bad decisions that I made in the past that affected my present, nor anyone else that was hurt or damaged by things that I have done.  All I can do, and have done is repent, and humbly ask the people (family, friends and peers) for forgiveness.  That’s all you are responsible to do.  The rest is up to those who have been hurt.  Do not allow the enemy to beat you up over your shortcomings.  God loves you too much to see you walk around in a circle of gloom and doom for the rest of your life.  There are too many things that He has called you to do for you to be stuck.  I suffered with depression for years because of what the devil reminded me of; every mistake, every stupid thing I ever said, did or didn’t do that hurt myself and others.  Ask the Lord to forgive you, ask those affected to forgive you, but most importantly, forgive yourself!  You are human, and not perfect.  There is only one who walked the face of this planet that was without sin, and He died on the cross for us all.  That’s true love, that can’t be duplicated by anyone else who tells you that they love you.  As great as they are, my husband, children, mother, siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, best friends, church family or peers can’t love me like my Creator has, and continues to do.  If you can catch that vision today of a loving Savior, who has His arms wide open, just waiting to embrace you, give you a purpose, so that you can impact the world for Him, then you will have a wonderful life, not depicted in the movies, but a real life scenario that will touch others.

One more thing before I go.  As a testimony of your faith in the living God, you should not be afraid to share, in the right setting, your shortcomings and downfalls.  I had to learn that no matter how many embarrassing moments I have had in my life, I am not alone, and would be surprised by talking about it how many others have a similar story or have experienced the same thing I have.  In order to become a healed and restored vessel to be used by the Lord, you have to be willing to go there to begin the process.

In the next few months, in the Brockton, Massachusetts area, I will be opening up a support group for people to begin their journey of healing and wholeness.  This will be a safe, non-judgmental talk about the process that must take place.  Prayerfully, I will be inviting special guests who will be sharing their stories about their experiences, and how they are on the road to recovery.  I will be sharing my story as well, because you need to know that God loves you, just the way that you are, but doesn’t want you to stay there, because He wants a relationship with you, without any fear, inadequacy, guilt or shame.  My prayer is His highest and best for you in every area of your life.  May the Lord bless you!