Now more than ever I have been praying and asking God what He needs me to say and do in the times we are living in.  My life’s perspective comes from growing up under the love and care of a Bible believing God fearing Preacher and his wife.  I chose to follow Jesus at the age of five.  Through my mid teens to mid twenties I definitely tested the boundaries and truth of God’s word only to come to the realization that I am so weak, God truly loves me, the Bible is 100% truth, and God wants the best for me. My career for the last twenty years has been that of a non-judgmental nurse.  During my career I have cared for convicts in shackles that have committed rape and murder.  There have been people under my care from every lifestyle, skin color, ethnicity, and religion.  There have been multiple infectious diseases and horrific smells I have been exposed to.  People have hit me, spit at me, cursed me, and harassed me.  I have cleaned every nook and cranny of the human body of complete strangers.  My co-workers that I work and have worked alongside as a team are from many lifestyles, beliefs, and back grounds.

With new man-made laws and people shutting out God and His Word more than ever I feel at such a loss as to what to say and do.

There are people I love with all sorts of life styles.  I don’t always agree with the choices of people I truly love.  It doesn’t mean I don’t love them, but I feel a strong conviction to never say sin is ok or to encourage it.  When I have a patient that is diabetic I discourage them from eating a diet high in sugar and carbohydrates.  When I have a patient who smokes I encourage them to quit for their well being.  When I have a patient dying from alcoholism I am not going to encourage them to go to a bar. You get the picture I hope.

Even the meanest patients I have cared for had a story.  There is always a reason behind behaviors and choices.   Only by praying for God to help me look at others with His love can I make it through the day.  There are ways to speak kindly and in a non judgmental manner, but I have to rely completely on God providing the right words and tone of voice.   As soon as I don’t look to God and His word for guidance I mess up, say things the wrong way, and react in ways that I really don’t want to.

There are two specific examples of the life of Jesus from scripture that keep coming to mind as I wonder how I should react in a world that clearly hates the faith every last ounce of me fully believes in and knows to be true.  Jesus stood up for His Father’s house that was being misused.  The sacred house of worship and prayer had been turned into a place for money making and thieving.  Matthew 21:12-13 “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘ my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.’ ” (John 2:15 and Mark 11:15-17 are further references)  There will be times when God and His word are clearly being disgraced and I pray that God will give me the courage to stand up and stand firm.

When the time came for Jesus to be arrested, tried (unfairly), beaten and crucified he was silent.  The few words He spoke were very purposeful and not defensive. He knew the greater plan God had and silently allowed what was happening because He knew it was for the greater good of those who would chose Him.   Matthew 26:62-67 “Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?’ But Jesus remained silent.  The high priest said to him, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. ‘  ‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied.  ‘ But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, ‘He has spoken blasphemy!  Why do we need any more witnesses?  Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.  What do you think?’  ‘He is worthy of death,’ they answered.  Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists.  Others slapped him.”

Isaiah 53:7 prophesied “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

There are times the Holy Spirit tells me to be silent.  The bible tells us that Christians will be persecuted and that the world will hate followers of Christ as much as it hates Jesus Christ.  My prayer is for God to show me the times to stand up and stand firm and for Him to show me when to be silent and allow His plan to unfold.