In this great expanse of our world, the people are numerous, the hardships are real and our place is anointed. We are chosen and uniquely created for this very time from the inside out. We mark this life with an array of colors that identify our humanness. Our souls were gifted to us by our Creator who chose wisely and then gave the choice back to us as to how we journey through life.
But in all the anointing, the beauty and uniqueness, our voices have become loud, dissonant and condemning. We seek to be heard, to be seen and to be known. Our ways do not always follow a path that leads to truth and as we stray we lose sight of who we are supposed to be.
The faceless and nameless strive to become more and the process causes messiness and division. Our world has always housed persecution but the cycle continues as we face hatred, misunderstanding and lack of regard for our neighbors. The result is Ferguson, McKinney and Charleston – cities that are breaking down because of the fear that dwells deep in our hearts.
O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear Psalm 10:17
The nameless have become household names and the faceless have been ID’d as their pictures scroll across our screens. The voiceless struggle to be heard and shout into the cacophony of noise that drowns out any chance of peace. The time for the voiceless to speak is now. The time for silence is over.
[Tweet “In our world of voices shouting to be heard, God’s voice needs to be the loudest!”]
As we seek to understand our current culture and examine our own beliefs and views, we have an opportunity to speak loudly in a voice that proclaims forgiveness, love and grace. For we are all one world made of many people, but the common factor is we are all children of God. We can create a beautiful melody of voices that shout in harmony of love for our neighbor or we can continue to be silent and buy into the dissonance that is beyond our understanding.
Deidra Riggs wrote a powerful post last week titled “For Those Who Are New to the Conversation”. Click here to read it in its entirety. This post describes me and my hesitancy to join the conversation because it involves race and I am white! I have never fully explored my feelings, views and misconceptions until this past year as I began joining a group of ladies around the table once a month to understand race and how to build unity in a culture that seems to defy it more than embrace it. The events of the last few months have stirred something deep within and Deidra’s call to join the conversation is where I need to begin.
Her call spoke straight into that silent place that I keep locked away and these words spoke the truth I needed to hear.
In this time of hurt and broken hearts, our hearts should be broken too. Our hearts should be crying buckets of tears for the nameless that fill our social media feeds as we ache for the injustice, brokenness and division that fills our communities. But crying is not enough and it is time to join the conversation with hearts of love and acceptance. The time is now and the choice is ours.
Will you join the conversation and how will you face your own fears as you begin?
In grace and peace,
Mary
Blessed to be linking with:
Mary, thank you for such an open, honest, and challenging post…may we all love with Jesus’ unconditional love…many blessings to you ❤️
I appreciate your encouragement Beth! Knowing that God wants me to add my voice to the conversation is scary in some ways but what God is calling us to do as Christians. God calls us to speak in love and if we all take time to do that daily our world would be so much better. Hope your weekend was blessed!
What a deep, heartfelt, cry out post! Thank you. We need more of reaching down into the cellars of our hearts, to touch the aching heart of Christ, to be lights and shouts for the voiceless, to serve the least of these, but we need to be reminded to wake up. Your post, also beautifully written, rattled me to the core!
Your words speak from such a personal place and I appreciate every single piece of them. I also know when something speaks so personally to us is a call to the place of stirring. It is time to listen and time to let God lead the way as to what is next. I am always blessed when you stop by. Praying for both of us as God works in and through us.
Thank you for sounding the battle cry, Mary! Truth and love do need to be spoken into the wounds of our nation on so many fronts. I don’t know how to do that, but I’m praying that God might reveal my prejudices, so that I can speak more clearly and convincingly with His love.
I also have been asking God to reveal my prejudices because as I sit around the table once a month and talk about racial unity, I need to be able to remove my misconceptions. We need to call God to be the center of our conversations and spend time in prayer to allow God to work in our hearts. I am always glad when you join me here and love that you added your voice to the conversation. Hugs friend!
Thanks for this encouragement to join the conversation, Mary. We do all have a voice and we need to use it to spread love in our corners of the world, which will then stretch out over the globe. There is reason to believe change will come. Love prevails.
Love prevails is a good mantra for us to carry with us as we try to understand the confusion that is going on in our world. Please join me in prayer as we all learn together what it means to join the conversation. Blessed to have you here today.
We really do have a voice, don’t we. I’ll have to check out that post. I too have felt that perhaps I should stay out of the conversation because I’m white or the fact that I don’t necessarily agree with everyone on all counts. Thank you for this permission and call to speak out. Much love to you, my friend.
So glad to see you, Candace! I have missed you! I am praying that we all start to feel the stirring as children of God to join the conversation. We need to be a united front by showing we love others. God would want us to do that. Thank you fort being here. Love you!
What a powerful call to action, Mary. It’s true – now more than ever we have to stand on the side of truth and do so with the grace that Jesus intended. To love and spread the gospel without compromise, but with tenderness and compassion for those hurting around us. Thank you for nudging us that the time is now.
I appreciate that you stopped by and further encouraged me. I definitely felt a stirring when I read Deidra’s post last week and know as a Christian that I can work hard to speak in love about all people and share grace and understanding in all I do. I pray we all work hard to speak in love and let God do the rest as only He ca do so well. Blessings upon the rest of your week.
Hi Mary! Your post speaks of the power of expression. Our words can light the fire of the Spirit, they can be very powerful. Deidre did that for you, Charity for Betsy. And now you for me.
We shouldn’t be silent. We should teach our children that any type of violence for any reason is wrong. I join you in prayer for this craziness to stop.
Thank you for your brave words today,
Ceil
Thank you for joining in prayer. I believe there is power in prayer and it is a great step to take for all of us. I love your affirmation and willingness to not be silent. It doesn’t mean more than speaking in love, accepting others and understanding how God calls us to treat our neighbors. You are always a welcome face here because you are positive and encouraging. Thank you so much for this Ceil!
The choice is really ours and crying is definitely not enough. Very powerful words and inspiring article. Have a great day 🙂
So glad you stopped by today! We have a choice and God does not ask us to be silent but to reach out in love to others. Hope you have a great day too.
Wow, Mary. I too understand the hesitancy to join the conversation, because who cares what I have to say about it? What do I know? And what if I say something wrong and they misunderstand my heart???
Great post, and I agree–“it is time to join the conversation with hearts of love and acceptance. The time is now and the choice is ours.” Thanks for sharing with #RaRaLinkup!
Your words of affirmation mean so much to me Angela. I don’t for a minute think many people care what I have to say, but I needed to write this because God was calling me to add my voice. I am also empowered by a beautiful group of women who I sit with once a month to learn about racial unity. I am blessed to have these conversations with other grace-filled women who love God as much as I do. Thank you for joining the conversation today.
Thanks for your post today, Mary. I love how you’re sharing your heart here. Oh, I know what you mean by being afraid because you are white. I always remember the time when I was a freshman in college, and I walked into a dorm room full of African American girls, just to say hi. (My parents had taught me never to reject or disrespect anyone due to their ethnicity.) I was shocked when they all stared me down, silent, saying nothing.
I now know that those girls had been so scarred, that they were programed to reject a “privileged” white girl like me. Charity Singleton Craig, on her blog, wrote a very sensitive post about realizing how privileged she is just because she’s “white.”
So sad. It just shouldn’t be. My heart broke for Charleston.
It just shouldn’t be is what keeps going through my mind. As my heart breaks over and over for the injustice I believe that God has so much more He wants us to do than sit with a breaking heart. I read the piece that Charity Singleton Craig wrote and that was a post that really got my heart stirring before I read Deidra’s post last week. God was nudging me to acknowledge that I want to join the conversation. Trust me this was hard and so not like me. I appreciate your kind words, your encouragement and your friendship.
Mary,
Your post convicts me that, as Christians, we too often remain silent. When evil and hatred abound in our world, we need to be the voice of love, redemption, and forgiveness…we need to be the voice that unifies rather than divides. If we don’t shine the light on God…who will? If we don’t echo His voice…who will? Thanks for a very thought provoking post this morning!
Love and ((hugs)),
Bev
I am so appreciative of your affirming words today. Hitting publish was a scary thing for me because I don’t usually write posts like this. God does not call us to comfortable and He has been stirring my heart to do more. I meet monthly with an amazing group of women and we learn about racial unity, ask each other questions and seek to understand. Together we are brave and learning how we can be a voice of love for all. Powerful stuff! I am so glad you joined the conversation and encouraged my heart today. Hugs!!!
Mary, I so appreciate this post and thank you for your bravery in adding your voice. Maybe I most appreciate it because I’m not quite there. There’s lots of stirring in my heart but I’m not ready to add my voice. But maybe it differs for each of us . . . where and when God wants us to speak out. Either way, I really appreciate this today.
Love you much.
xoxo
Thank you Beth! I know it starts with a stirring in our hearts. Being part of this group of six amazing ladies has made such an impact on me as we sit around the table and learn from each other, speak in grace and love and become brave to act as God calls us to do. Love your honesty and willingness to let God stir your heart. Love you friend!
Yes Mary, this is so true. And I think we are sometimes afraid to join in the conversations. We are afraid of being misunderstood. May God bless you and your brave friend for stepping out in faith and opening up an opportunity for conversation to happen.
It is easy to let fear win and never have the conversations that we need to have in order to understand others. I agree that we are very afraid of being misunderstood. I pray we may open our hearts and minds to understanding and then acting in love toward all people. So glad you are here today and joined the conversation.
I am sure you struggled to pen these words. You are brave Mary.
God Bless your heart.
I am only brave because God is by my side as well as others who stand in unity with me. Brave is not a word that I usually use to describe myself. Thank you as always for being here and encouraging me.
Ah, friend … once again our hearts beat as one in our writings …
Don’t you love when God does that with another kindred spirit?
Bless you today, bless us all as we walk through this uncertain season.
Hugs, too!
I do love how God is speaking through the two of us and find it very comforting to hear another voice like mine. I pray we continue to hear from God and we listen to what He is saying and calling us to next. Love you friend!
You absolutely do have a voice, Mary. It is lovely and grace-filled and will add much to this conversation. Thank you for being bold and going where God has called you. xoxo
Well, I’ll admit Holly that brave really has not been a character trait of mine until more recently. It makes my stomach do back flips but when I know with conviction that God does not call us to easy, I know I am in the right place. Thank you for your encouragement in a world that looks confusing and cloudy most days because we forget that God is on control. Love you friend!
Yes indeed, Mary. Compelling. Thank you. Susan
Thank you for being here! I pray we all act in love toward everyone and honor God in the process. Blessings!
great post! I always hesitate to step into any discussion on current events, politics, or other social issues – yet we need to be the voices of God’s love and venture into these waters to have the important discussions and move our society toward healing and love. Great encouragement!
I hope you had a chance to read Deidra’s post that I linked to because she speaks how we as Christians are called to love. The fact that I even hit publish was quite brave for me but I know that I am looking at this as a child of God who is not just called to sit and be silent but to love and show our love and acceptance of others. I pray we all feel brave to act in love in our own neighborhoods because that is where it all starts. Thank you for being here.