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Thanks for visiting my diary. I've been journaling since 1984 and have chosen to share some of my entries online. They are not all positive thoughts, but I hope that reading them might be a blessing to someone who needs encouragement.
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Ok, I'm still kind of out of it this morning--it's only 8:30. But I had some thoughts and thought I'd try to put them down here.
The other day I said something about it being important to define what abuse is. At least, I think I said it. I meant to say it. I heard a pastor preach once and this was way over my head, so I'm still trying to understand. He said there are two ways to live: either under the laws in the Bible or under grace. I've developed some sort of interpretation of all this, and I have no idea if it's right or not, but here it goes. If I'm living under the law, then I'm always going to have to make myself good enough. If I'm living under grace, Christ makes me good enough and enables me to do anything and everything God requires of me. Under the law there is always condemnation, but under grace there is none. It's possible to get up and try again because I'm still a child adopted into the family of God and still learning how to live in that family.
The whole reason I brought this up is that I am still so amazed at the number of parents who think that following Christ involves hellfire and brimstone. We're supposed to be preaching good news here! Anything that makes you frightened or ashamed isn't good news! God didn't command that. Yes, this is just my not-so-humble opinion. But all that legalism just holds anything anyone has ever done or even things others perceive the person has done over the person's head, and that's not what forgiveness is all about and it's not what Jesus Christ is about. Ok, I'll stop. But I've been a bit inspired by being angry that people could do these things in His name.
What does this have to do with defining abuse? Well, if it's done to tear you down and force you into some kind of submission, it's abuse. Period. Even if it's done with good intentions, it's still abuse. That's a hard thing that I've had to learn. If you are encouraged and protected and loved, you'll submit and kiss up till the cows come home. There would never be any question of your being good enough. No one would ever feel the need to lie or anything because all that love would cover everything, and even if you messed up you would always be loved deeply and welcomed into the house with open arms.
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