Romans 15:1
Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.
This past Saturday, I volunteered most of my day partnering with my mom to help clean up the condo of a family friend (Let's call her Be-Be) who's getting ready to move in a few weeks. When we walked into the beautiful cozy home, I noticed that it wasn't really unkempt. I went straight to clean the bathroom because ironically I hate dirty bathrooms. But the bathroom was barely unclean. I went ahead though and cleaned what needed to be cleaned including the mirrors. floor, and toilet. A short time later, Be-Be informed me that there was another bathroom in the bedroom. I went in there to find that it needed a little more TLC but still not that much more than the other bathroom.
As I scrubbed the floor, I overheard Be-Be talking to my mom who was cleaning the kitchen. She was telling my mom how drastically her life had changed after her husband of 25 years walked out on the marriage leaving her in emotional and physical duress. My heart felt a strong compassion for this woman who happens to be 66, the same age my grandmother was when she passed, more than likely from a broken heart. In me eavesdropping further while Be-Be vented from her soul, I immediately concluded that she didn't need our help cleaning her condo, she needed our help cleaning out her heart.
When I'd finished cleaning the second bathroom, I walked into the kitchen where my mom was now cleaning the cupboards. I whispered to her what I'd concluded and before I could finish my mom had confirmed she'd picked up the same thing. So I purposely found ways to include myself into their conversation when the subject shifted to lighter topics surrounding pop culture and was happy we could laugh. Before we left, she kept telling me and my mom, "I'm so glad ya'll came over. I'm so glad!" She ended up blessing us monetarily and gifting us these really expensive quilts. Sometime when we got home and settled, my mom told me that Be-Be asked her if I thought she was crazy. My mom had to reassure her I didn't. She'd told her the truth.
I typically don't like to follow trends but this recent hype struck a nerve for a few reasons. The "Check On Your Strong Friends," campaign surrounding the apparent suicides of two famous people has once again raised awareness about mental illness and suicide. I'm a little indifferent about this because honestly I believe only a few people will take the initiative to see about their loved ones and those they're close to whether their struggles are known or unknown. I can loosely base this on the fact that I myself had just one person, an old colleague reach out to me at the height of the attention to see if all was well with me.
I was shocked. But not because no one else checked up on me. I was shocked because I wondered to myself, "Am I really the strong friend?" The person that no one thinks is in need of a check-in because I always seem fine?
I received my answer by literally taking inventory of my relationships and communications with other people. There have been times where those close to me have indeed checked on me but I instead took the focus off of me and directed it to them to make sure they were OK. Not intentionally but sacrificially.
Now I do think, God is going to deal with me heavily on creating some balance where I'm actually able to recognize those moments where the attention needs to stay focused on me and not directed elsewhere, in order for me to deal with exactly what the attention is focusing on. However, this is a subject of discussion for a later time.
Romans 14:1
A few weeks ago I actually sat down for a change and watched the movie, Suicide Squad. It was alright. I felt like the writer could have done a better job marrying the backstories of these broken misfits with the baseline of the film. There were too many gaps in the plot and the villain's motive was vapid making the ultimate end goal weak. I did enjoy Will Smith's character, Deadshot. And I for some odd reason resonated with Harley Quinn. I may need to watch it again for a second opinion to soften my critique though. Ha!
Anywho, I was intrigued by how in the movie these seemingly weird individuals with superhuman abilities and no fear were able to be brought together despite their differences along with their shortcomings, for a mission considered suicide because if they failed that would be the end of them. Yet if they backed out that would be the end of them.
What's my point? There are blood clots in the kingdom that the mutants of Christ can remedy. God is going to use these people to go to the places others don't want to go, to rescue the castaways. These people know where to go because they've already been there. God is going to use their innate compasses to locate and win back the many 1's separated from the 99's (.Luke 15:1–7) To the religious and those prone to ridicule, these missions will look like suicide because it will send these people to make sacrifices requiring back to back appointments on the cross. Don't believe me, just watch!
The time has come for the bold and brazen ones who were once written off and ostracized to be the eyes, ears, hands, feet and even the face of God. Mainly due to the fact that we have so much chattering and criticism going on while evil has made an uptick. When there is a heavy presence of evil, goodness has taken a leave of absence. If one of the fruits of the spirit is goodness, that means a lot of people are not operating in it.
I believe I've said most of my peace in this post. I don't want to hold you any longer here. If you're reading this, and you are low on faith or weak in strength, TAKE COURAGE, help is on the way! The type of help that is willing to pull you out of the muddy trenches and usher you to the GREAT HELPER! Until then, keep PRESSING!
On the other hand, if you're reading this and your heart was pricked when I mentioned the type of people God is raising up to fulfill some unique assignments, you're probably one of those people. Know that what disqualified you in one place, qualifies you in another place. God will not settle with you hell bent on discounting your disadvantages when He's already marked them as valuable! Please hear me! I charge you to go to God and see how this is so. Needless to say,
THE TIME IS NOW! THE TIME IS NOW! THE TIME IS NOW!
If you are in need of immediate help please call
National Suicide Prevention
800 273 8255
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