Bless Your Enemies

Roman 12:14 "Bless those who persecute you........."

Have you ever read this scripture and immediately responded outloud or with your inside voice, "Heck No!!!"? Well, I know I have! It is so hard to wrap our minds around this lesson. How in the world do you Bless those who persecute you? Well, being that I didn't understand this concept of forgiveness, God, or whatever you choose to label that all powerful force that we eminate from, was gracious enough to teach me this lesson.

Now mind you, I was not sitting at a desk, at the local college, with proper lighting, books, pencils, and such. No, no, I was taught this lesson on the stage of life. You see, we call into our lives the lessons we NEED to learn to BE who we were predestined to be, way back when we were still in the arms of our Papa. So, here's how it all played out.

My husband and I built our dream house out in the country five years ago, and oh were we happy the day we moved in. Little did we know that a lesson was about to be taught. You see, we moved into an all military neighborhood right outside of Jacksonville, NC. From the get-go, I noticed the neighbors were not so friendly, and then as the days passed they became downright hateful.

Now we didn't know them, had not, to our knowledge done anything to offend them but we were not welcomed and they made it painfully clear. Now I can take about anything, but one thing I cannot and will not tolerate is people being cruel to children. The neighborhood ladies, and I use that term begrudgedly, had a little club and we were not part of it and our children were not part of it. They encouraged their children to only play with certain "military" children and totally ostracized our children. This was so hard for me to understand being that I was not coming from a place of hate and anger, and obviously they were.

Well, I thought, I'll get'em. I'm gonna kill them with kindness and repay their evil with good. Hahahaha, the laugh was on me. That did exactly what the bible says it will do, "....place hot heaping coals upon their heads." Not what you want to do with individuals who already have an arsenal of hot heaping coals. These were obviously very damaged people and no amount of loving kindness, until they were ready, was going to penetrate the vault door that their heart lay behind.

Being only human, there were many times that I got angry, especially when the attacks were aimed at my children, and acted in a not so lady like way. I just didn't understand how people could be so cruel and exchange evil for good so easily. It was as if they enjoyed it! Like it was their favorite passtime. During this trial, I heard a quote that I'll never forget and it was, "Gossip is the cheapest form of entertainment." Wow! So, unfortunately, we were their entertainment.

I spent a many a night on bended knee because of their persecution of me and my family. We did not fit in, we were different. We had a different belief system, and although we didn't push it on to them or judge them for their beliefs or lifestyle, we were bullied because we were different. I cannot tell you how many hours, in the wee hours of the morning, that I scoured over the book of Psalm in the bible. The funny thing is it seemed like all the things God said would happen to people like them wasn't happening. It almost seemed like things were getting worse for us. I was like, "Hey, we're the good guys, what's up with that?" I have learned a lot since I made that comment to Papa.

Eventually, we moved on. We rented out our dream house, moved back home, and left that desolate place. That experience pushed me beyond my limits to a place that I never thought I could reach. That horrible experience, where I felt like I was being crucified on a daily basis, pushed me to become a better, more balanced, and grateful being. Out of such tragedy came a masterpiece. I finally got it! Yes, my lightbulb moment had arrived. I understood what he meant by "bless those who persecute you". Bless means "to be happy", and so, I was to be "happy" not for them, but that I had called them into my life to help me grow, evolve into a better person.

If they had not come, I would not have learned such a valuable lesson. I now understand more, not completely, Christ's Crucifixion". If his best friend had not sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, he would have been denied his God-given calling. If the Jews did not demand his crucifixion, you would not have your forgiveness. If the Roman soldiers had refused to beat and whip him, you would not have your healing, for by His stripes you are healed. If the Roman soldiers had not humiliated him while at the same time nailing his flesh to a cross, you would not have your deliverance. If he had called on 10,000 angels to save him, you would not have your salvation.

Bless your enemies, not for them, but because of them, you can be what you were predestined to be. We grow during the adverse times, in the midst of the storm. I grew from that experience and became stronger, more tolerant, and much more wiser. Their persecution lifted me up onto the cross I had to bear, and although I thought many times what Jesus said, "Abba, father, why have you forsaken me?", I know now that he was there all the while and smiling down upon his child, and oh so proud that I call him Papa.