A few years ago my family was
entrenched in spiritual conflict by fellow-Christians. When we sought help from our church, the
church erupted in a satanic swirl of corruption, elitism, and gossip. Within a month of seeking mediation in the
church, the spiritual warfare oozed into the lives and minds of those in
charge, resulting in spiritual abuse of my family on many levels.
Needless to say, we left that
church, and it put a strain on our relationship with the unity of the Church of
Christians in our lives. God grew my
family during this turbulent time, and it was actually a blessing that those
closest to us turned their backs on us, for it led us to a closer reliance and
walk with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
If you have never encountered
spiritual abuse in a church, then God has sincerely blessed you. It is more damaging than abuse in a family,
more deeply piercing than a divorce, and more fracturing to one’s soul than you
will ever know. We survived, and yet,
still, every day there is a memory of this life-lesson that comes up in our
interactions with our children in our homeschooling classroom, as we raise them
on the Word of God, digging deep into the lessons of the Bible.
Being the youngest of my
original, nuclear, human-family, I had the benefit of learning from my sisters’
trials, successes, and worldly- (as well as spiritual-) challenges. I learned that there is nothing more
beneficial than taking lessons that others have gone through and entrenching
them into your own life as a valuable lesson for your own life. After all, why would you want to ignore
things that made them successful or worse yet, things that scarred or
traumatized them? I know that I do not
like being hurt, and learning from others hurts, especially those closest to
us, can greatly enrich your life.
This is why we use our time of
spiritual abuse as a life-lesson for our girls in our homeschool. If we do not teach them how to avoid such
abuse, we would be hiding our knowledge under a bush, failing to let the light
shine from the knowledge gained. We recount the issues, point directly to the Bible, and guide them on how to survive such challenges of their own.
God had a plan; I know this. God had more for us, better for us, and every
day we can see and feel these blessings.
We have been freed from the superficiality of the church we once called
our ‘home,’ our ‘family’. This is not to
say that we have abandoned the Church in its universalness, the Church that
unites Christians as believers of Jesus Christ as our savior and example, but
it is a daily process. It is a daily
healing. The wounds were deep, and since
they involved our children, the emotions were engulfed in that all-entrenching,
often over-whelming “mama bear,” and “daddy lion” surge of emotional adrenalin. You simply do not mess with people’s
children. The reaction is one from the
gut. It is one that surges through you
to dig deep within yourself to do all that you can to protect your children. This is what lingers…the astonishment of a
church willing to hurt children to protect themselves from the world seeing
them exposed.
But, I digress…as I usually do on
my postings here. My point for this post
was to reflect on the information that came through email today. Part of that church is being shut down. The ministry we were involved in will not
continue this year, and I have to say…this is God’s hand. Whether the ministry revives or not is God’s
plan as well. While I value the
ministry, and I know it serves God’ people, the trials it goes through at that
church will hopefully grow those involved.
My gut reaction to the information that the ministry would not continue
was one of pleasure. “Good,” I thought! However, I know that this is not about them, me,
or even my family. This is about
Christians being Christians, acting like Christians, and serving others in a
Christian way to the Glory of God. If
the ministry revives, I pray for those involved. I pray they will turn toward God for
guidance, for strength, and for wisdom. What a Friend We have in Jesus
May God bless all the ministries
of churches across America, where Christianity seems to falter the most, often,
resulting in a cult-like following of the leaders of a given church, not to the
Glory of God, but only to glorify themselves.
Be strong Christian friends. Know
that one day you will come to the end of your earthly life, and you will feel
all the love that God was trying to surround you with as you walked through
this fallen world.
To leave you today, I hope you
will turn to God as you reflect on this song that can lead you to your heart’s
desire: God. As the Deer
___________________________________________________________________
Songs cleaned through ViewPure:
As the Deer: http://viewpure.com/-gaT4q9eJ1U?start=0&end=0
Because He Lives: http://viewpure.com/4M-zwE33zHA?start=0&end=0
It is Well with My Soul: http://viewpure.com/AHe_qmo3gX4?start=0&end=0
What a Friend We Have in Jesus: http://viewpure.com/8SCorW9r_Is?start=0&end=0
Blessed Assurance: http://viewpure.com/XOv7RmXi7VE?start=0&end=0
