If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
John 15:18
I’ve never really received backlash for my faith. I remember being young (and dumb(er)) and waiting for people to bring up their beliefs. Mostly because I wanted to shut them down. I was a gifted debater and reader of all things. I thought I knew my stuff. I thought I was all that.
And when I started believing in a God I never really thought I would ever believe in, I was blessed to be able to continue this journey with few roadblocks – or at least roadblocks that were set up by people who hated my relationship with God. I was blessed to never encounter the person I used to be. Until a few days ago.
Maybe I’ve avoided those kinds of people because I’m very cautious of what I post. I’m ready to rush to someone’s aid when there’s an attack on God on Facebook or other online forums. But I am rarely, if ever, the one to initially post something that could be attacked. But about a week and a half ago I did. And there was a landslide of likes. And so I went happily about my day. But then I received a text. It told me, among other things, that I was a bad person and that I just post pictures of God to hide that fact from others. And I’m not going to lie, it made me sad, and mad, and I really just wanted to yell at this person. And throughout that conversation (I did not text yell or curse, don’t worry) I found myself calming down. Because throughout it all I prayed that God would give me strength to do His will, whatever it was in that conversation. And though that person isn’t talking to me now, I know that in those hate filled words that were hurled at me, God was speaking. They hated me first.