What a week. My Monday morning started well when I received the first lot of prizes from the Kidspot Healtheries Sponsor Challenge. But then I scrolled down my Facebook newsfeed to read about the siege in Sydney and I had a range of emotions run through me
Fear
Surprise
Anger
Guilt (from uploading a picture of my prize and being oblivious to what was happening in Sydney)
Love
Hope
Relief
When Jacob and I went away to Melbourne a couple of weekends ago I did worry about an attack happening in Melbourne while we were away. With the G20 in Brisbane and the unrest in the Middle East, I have been on edge almost expectant of something happening. I pushed such negative thoughts to the back of my mind. It didn’t work. So I prayed and asked in Jesus name that he would remove the thoughts, give me peace and protect Jacob, Phoebe and I while we were away. I also told God that I’m not finished with this life yet and I have a book to get published, girls to rear and mother and a husband to love and support. There are many other reasons I am here on this earth too, but for that moment in time, those things were what came to mind.
I was in disbelief that a Lindt Café had been chosen for this atrocity to take place. As you know, Jacob and I had been to a Lindt Café in Melbourne and even though we had visited a different city at a different time, I couldn’t shake the chill of knowing innocent people were caught up in a terrifying situation.
I had the “what ifs” run through my mind and then I had to turn the tv off and stop scrolling through Facebook to avoid feeding my fear.
Tonight, my heart is heavy with news of a newborn in ICU and the death of 8 children in Cairns.
I read a Facebook status that stated ‘What is wrong with us?’
What indeed is wrong with the world we live in, that people could hate so much to commit violent crimes against each other. Especially to children.
But people die every day from crimes, from violence, from cancer, from accidents, from unnecessary or avoidable circumstances. We just hear the most newsworthy deaths.
What breaks your heart, breaks God’s too.
You see, I believe that when God created each of us and yes, I have faith that believes each person was uniquely designed and created, he had a wonderful life ordained for us, but sin and Satan have marred that life and these terrible tragedies are a result.
While we live our lives oblivious to whether there is a God or not or whether we trust the universe or not, there is a spiritual battle. I think busyness and stress keep us ignorant from spiritual battles that are happening in our world and we need our spiritual armour on more than ever.
This week’s tragedies have confirmed to me that I need to focus less on the material and more on the eternal. Most of the time I find this hard to do because the material is in front of me on a daily basis and I want my immediate circumstances to be perfect.
The other message that I got loud and clear was this – we are each highly valued. Each one of us is valued by each other even if we don’t know each other.
The floral tributes in Sydney and the messages of love through the hashtag #illridewithyou are proof that not only does love prevail, but we value each other and the safety of each person.
Did you know that is a trait we inherited from God?
Each one of us is valuable to Him. Not one of us is the same. We are all unique and highly valuable to Him. The reason we live in a world with dreadful tragedies is not because He withdrew His hand. It’s because we withdrew first. And we continue to do so on a daily basis so there is always this frustration and confusion when we want peace and perfection in our lives but we constantly struggle or are hit unexpectedly by a tragedy.
If you are like me, feeling all sorts of feelings, embrace them. Bind the fear and hand it over to God. Don’t let what happened this week stop you from living a life that you love. Be kind to one another and thank God for each day that you live. And remember you are highly valued.
Your value is not based on what you do, but who you are. And just like a mother has a unique place in her heart for each of her children, God has a unique place for you in His.
You were no mistake or Big Bang.
You were designed. If we remembered how valuable we are to God and each other, maybe there would be less hate and less violence. It’s something to think about.
How has this week been for you? Are you fearful after this week’s tragedies?
