Many stand on the edge of life, their balance positioned between the past and the future. They want a sign, a push, or a whisper that tells them whether to walk into the unknown or fall backward into worn patterns. They stand in silent chaos, offering pleasantries to passersby, hoping others do not linger long enough to recognize the struggle in their eyes.
“I’ve just enough energy to get through today,” she tells me.
I watch my friend of 45 years as she adds sugar to her second cup of coffee. Her hair is now speckled with grey, and her arms are riddled with more age spots than freckles; yet, beneath the covering of time, I see her in all her ages. And she is beautiful. She is strong. She is funny. And she is a child of God.
“I’ve been living in a public prison,” she continues. She takes a sip of her coffee, holding the cup with both hands, keeping her lips hidden as she speaks. “I’m such an idiot.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. My friend and I live in different towns. We see one another once every four to six months. Our conversations usually revolve around our aging children and aging parents. We rarely settle into discussions requiring self-disclosure, mainly because we are too busy with other responsibilities to consider ourselves. But this day, as I saw my friend’s coffee cup shake in her trembling hands, I knew this conversation would be different.
“You’ve always told me that I was smart. However, you never told me how naive I was.” My friend looked at me with a slight, sad smile. “You were the street-smart one. I was the one who believed the best in others and turned an eye to the worst. Do you know what that got me?”
“What?”
“Blind to the damage until it was too late,” she said. “Damaged by my own naivety. I allowed another access to my mind because I trusted — I trusted a person and refused to believe the truth being played out day after day. In time, the truth felt like a lie, and the lie became the truth. Manipulation is a trickster that can feel like a familiar friend.” She touched a bruise on her arm that I had not noticed until now. “My first street-smart lesson, and I learned it the hard way.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, understanding the reality of our conversation.
“He told me he was sent from God to help me,” she said. “From God,” she repeated, shaking her head in embarrassment. “He knew how much God means to me.”
“God doesn’t send people in His name to harm His children,” I said. “I don’t know what happened, but I can see you feel mentally and physically defeated. Hear me: God doesn’t send people to defeat His people.”
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – C.S. Lewis
Pain might be a megaphone, but Satan has learned to shroud the bullhorn with fear. So much, in fact, that we begin to have distorted thinking when dissonance occurs. Emotional reasoning, such as, “I feel so stupid that I allowed this to happen,” or labeling, “I’m such an idiot!” Then there are mental filters like, “I should have known better — I’m smarter than this.” Couple distorted thinking with unhelpful behaviors such as isolation, rumination, and shame, and people can find themselves spiraling into the pull of Satan instead of the power of Christ.
Someone once shared with me that accepting the reality of a situation can feel like death. For those who can relate, you know this is very, very true. But we learn from the example of Christ that death and resurrection are a part of the growth process.
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24).
Many stand on the edge of life, their balance positioned between the past and the future. This world is punctured with chaos and bleeding internally. May we pray for discernment and filter faulty thinking against scripture to sift Satan’s lies from God’s truths.
Challenge the quality of your thoughts and take careful notice of what you permit. Although our choices might be limited in a world suppressed by pain, we still have a choice: allow God to be our mind, body, and soul guard or permit Satan to trespass on our mental and physical health.
Is there a specific ache you are experiencing in your life right now? If so, are you hearing pain’s megaphone and surrendering to God’s guidance, or are you pulling up a chair for the devil and allowing him to whisper lies in your ear? Friend, do not allow that which is not from God to take up residence in your mind.
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:7-8).
This column was initially published by CherryRoad Media. ©Tiffany Kaye Chartier.