Crazy Craze

The whole world seems to be falling apart.  The news is so bad.

Ferguson MO is on fire, a man who had sex with his step daughter since she was six, forced her to have an abortion at 13, armed robbery, men, women and children are being executed by ISIS, the President is partying, lawlessness and disrespect is all around us. These are just the tip of the iceberg.

It makes my head spin.  How can this be the world we live in?

There are good stories though and even in the bad stories there are often good endings.  My story started out so bad.  My mom was a young 15 year old who was brutally raped and thoroughly humiliated walking home from a date.  It was so bad she didn't speak of it for two years.  She'd rather let people think she was promiscuous than recount the event when she found out she was pregnant.

Under social pressure she married the boy, thinking it would get better, but it was worse.  They never laid down together normally.  After two years of being attacked and violated, she was pregnant again.  She told her mom that if she didn't take her in, she would kill herself. She had no thought that he would abuse small children.  He did unspeakable things to my sister and me for many years.

Then, when I was molested by an uncle from the other side of the family, I went off the deep end.  Trafficked for almost four years, beaten, kidnapped, raped, and involved in other criminal activity, I too got pregnant.  The man who bought me told me to abort or die.  I chose to lie.  I faked an abortion.  He believed I had don it and let me go.  Saving my baby saved my life.

I promised God that I would bring her up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. I did.  I married a wonderful man and we now have five grown children. All of whom have served in ministry of one sort or another. All are really great people.  They have their own lives.  They work.  They are respectful and kind.  They are small business owners and employees, a mom.  I have two grandchildren who are learning to be kind and respectful as well.

No life is easy.  Everyone has their stuff.  I thank God for all the things he brought me through.  I pray for those that are going through now.  The Scripture tells us that He will bring us through the fire and the flood.  Neither of those things are pleasant. Neither is easy.

I cannot even imagine being in the middle east right now, nor would I prefer Ferguson or the next place to implode.  I will scan the news and pray for the people going through and hope they make it to the other side. For the child of abuse, the trafficked, the tormented, the warn, those pursued and those drawn toward the death.  I pray.  God, in Your great mercy, please intervene. Please make Yourself known, rescue, restore and redeem, in the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

I will speak out.  I will help, when I can.  I will continue to promote peace. What will you do?

Speak Out Before it’s Too Late

As I travel today, enthralled in Michael Hyatt’s book, thoroughly enjoying the adventure, I was jarred back to the present.  I looked up and over my left shoulder to see the silhouette of a church steeple as the newly rising sun was brilliantly shining into the van.  We were entering the old city of Boston, Mass.  It was stunning.  A peace settled over me even though the van thumped every few seconds. 

It will be a fantastic day here for some. Somewhere, there is

extreme joy.  Somewhere, there are tears of desperate mourning. There are examples of every experience imaginable in between in a city like Boston.  The explosion of knowledge spoken of in the Book of Daniel is surely here.  I realize it hasn’t reached every corner of the earth yet, but it seems like it will soon. Story after story invades our every moment form various sources. 

In my position as director of a political action committee, I have the privilege of meeting many people.  I speak with legislators and candidates frequently.  “ProLife voters are not single issue voters.” I tell them, “We just want to make sure the first issue is on the table before we look at other things.”  Without the Right to Life, no other issues are important.  

I have a unique perspective to share.  Legislators are attacked by all sides, but few attackers are as nasty as those from the abortion industry.  The only people that get more venom from them are the sidewalk counselors.  

In spiteful tones, they declare the injustice of making women carry their babies to term and delivering them alive.  They often spit out, “What ifs?”

What if a 15 year old girl gets raped? 

You gonna make her carry a rapist’s child?

What if they’re going to live in terrible poverty?

What if they don’t get enough to eat every day?

What, what if the baby gets abused?

What if the child is a girl and is molested too?

What if she is sold into sex slavery at 14 years old?

What if she becomes a criminal, steeling cars, breaking into houses, vandalizing running drugs and such things?

What if she then gets pregnant as a result of trafficking?

They try to get the legislator to act according to emotion and jettison logic.  The logic is that if there is a pregnancy, there is a baby, a human being worthy of protection.  A moral society doesn’t kill people.  

The example above accurately describes my beginning.  I am that hard case. 

It is super important that we realize that poor beginnings don't necessitate poor ends. 

I am not suggesting that we value a life because of what it may or may not produce.  I am simply suggesting that we don’t kill people because of a bad beginning.  Whether it is a crisis pregnancy or an illness or a disability, let us return to the first issue.  We don’t kill people.

I speak out daily, to individuals, on social media, with my works of good will and by writing.  I believe the time is nearing when we might not be free to do so.

How do you speak out?

Distraction or Direction

We hear it all the time, “How are you?” “Oh, so busy” is most often the reply.

If you are like me, you like to be busy.  I often take on too much though.  I don’t leave enough margin in my calendar for things that come up.  There is invariably one or two unexpected interruptions in my week.  

I have a number of factors from my past that give me pause.  I have some alcoholism in my family ’s history and other addictive personalities that concern me.  It is not that I am overly worried about developing a neurosis, because I have a number of trustworthy people around me to keep me in line or at least let me know if they think I am off track. 

I just take time to do a little self evaluation on occasion.  Perhaps, everyone should. 

It is important to take inventory of goals, activities and what the calendar has actually revealed about how time is spent.  There are a number of goals that I have that require very specific actions.  Others, like making my husband happy are a bit nebulous, but I know what he cares about.

We plan to pay off all unsecured debt. This is a very attainable goal.  We have a plan.  I know what is required. If I don’t hit my mark one week, I can make it up the following.  When I know that there are upcoming expenses or days that I won’t be able to work, I can compensate.  

My evaluation moves from logistics to motives.  I can know what I am doing.  I can plan it perfectly, but there will always be things that come up unexpectedly.  Leaving open times will usually be enough to allow it to come together.

Motives are different. ‘Why?’ is super important to me.  

I work my job as a nurse for multiple reasons. I care about my clients.  I need a paycheck.  A decrease in hours for too long would require extra continuing education for me, if I wanted to start back up again. 

Volunteer work satisfies a need to be a net contributor.  It often restores my faith in humanity and always restores my faith in God. I meet many people in my capacity as a Board member of three different non-profits. I love people and work hard to make them feel valued and valuable.

A few of my friends and I travel and deliver speeches for much the same reasons, but there is a component of bringing awareness and justice when I speak. If there is one person in an audience that is healed or someone is moved to provide a solution, it’s a great accomplishment.

My attention to my home and family can suffer, if I am not careful though.  I only cook a few meals each week.  My children are grown.  So, we share the responsibility around the house. Our relationships are the most important thing.  Having real conversations is much more important than anything else. We work carefully to communicate often.

In what ways do you evaluate whether your time is used to be a distraction or spent in the direction of your goals?