June 26 & 27, 2010 "Accusations"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
Written by: Teresa Criswell

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me," says the Lord."
~ Isaiah 54:17 ~

Have you ever been broadsided with a hurtful accusation that was not true? How did you respond? Notice...I didn't ask how did you 'feel'? But how did you respond?

Without giving too much detail, I received a text from a number I did not recognize. The text accused me of remaining friends with this person's ex-husband via 'facebook' even after their divorce. This woman is someone who visits our fellowship. I had forgotten he was even a friend on my 'facebook' as I never kept up with him. It was strange because for about two months I felt that I needed to deactivate my 'facebook', but prolonged the deactivation until a couple of weeks ago. In hind sight, I look upon that stirring now and see maybe one of the reasons why the stirring to deactivate the 'facebook' was so strong. Who knew that all along the grudge of bitterness was stewing in this woman's heart towards me for something I was completely oblivious to. All in all, I tried calling her on the number that showed up on my text. I left a voice mail to apologize for any unintended offense and asked her to call me back so we could work it out. I then text her to let her know I left her a voice mail. A few moments later, I received her text which stated, "I do not have anything to say to you. What you did was shady. I do not trust you." When I read those words it stabbed me like a knife in my heart. My throat felt cold, my hands began to shake and the anger started to rise up in me.

My first response was, "God bless you" and as I walked to my car, I allowed her words to eat at me. As I opened my car door, sat down and closed the door, I reacted with utter craziness and went into a rage saying to myself every expletive known to man. Of course, I didn't stop there and I called a friend to let her know my situation and cursed again; and immediately I apologized as it was silent. I apologized and she was honest with me and said, "Teresa, that really took me back. You can not allow that anger to get to this point. You have to rise above this and shake it off." O, I didn't want to hear it, but I needed to. I humbly asked my friend to pray over me and she did so beautifully; lifting me and the burden I bore up to the Lord.

As she prayed over me and we closed our conversation a few minutes went by and I decided to write a text back to this person in which it stated, "I am sorry that you feel that way, I really like you, but the victim role must be getting old. Rise up and be who you are...a daughter of the King who celebrates other women." Of course, this only fueled insults which stated I was provocative and fake and then was accused of going after her husband. I sat there looking at my phone stunned and steaming mad, but my reply was, "Enough! Enough!" And I told her she needed to grow up and stop being the two 'v''s in life. I will say this to testify against myself, it was not done in love at all.

After all this happened; I felt God's gentle leading to come to Him and repent. After repenting of my tongue that chose death and not life, receiving the offense as a gift which it was never a gift to receive. I had no business receiving it or even entertaining such a thing. In that moment my spirit rose up and I heard myself praising the praises to God for who He was even in the midst of this situation. As I started to praise the Lord I began remembering the indescribable majesty and holiness of our God as it dwarfed this tiny little offense in comparison to God. I was reminded in that moment that any accusation, and every tongue that rose up against me in judgement God would take care of because we are a heritage of the servant of the Lord. I became thankful of this beautiful promise and the Spirit of God reminded me to begin to pray God's mercy over this woman.

At first, I definitely did not respond the way I needed to. The tool to put the offense down was available but I chose not to utilize it. I chose the 'default button' which was to react in sin versus acting in love.

I am asking myself, "What can I learn from this situation?"
Well, first I must utilize the wisdom from the Lord and not become legalistic or fearful. I have learned through this situation that some people will not like me, no matter what. They will find a reason not to like me, and I can't help that nor prevent it. I must still focus and place my eyes and trust in my God to get me through. I have an outgoing personality and with that can come accusations of being flirtatious, which is not my intention. Knowing that this can be perceived, I must utilize wisdom and cling to God to be proper and adhere to the wisdom of God in all things; especially dealing with the opposite sex.

What saddened me the most today? The passion that God has placed on the inside of me for His daughters to come together and celebrate one another; the exact opposite happened today and I felt as though I had failed and unknowingly disappointed someone who I truly liked and felt that I could be utilized as a vessel to encourage and edify. Please pray for me that I will not receive condemnation and I will rise above, not sinking below in despair and pity.

I am thankful to the Lord for the reminder from Psalm 92:4, "For You Lord have made me glad through your work; I will triumph in the works of your hands!"

Comments

  1. Teresa, i love you and you are an amazing woman of God, He is proud of you daily!!!! You are a walking example of what God wants from women. You know this adversity is an act of the devil trying to come up against you, I am here to remind you that you have way too much God in you to allow the devil to control that beautiful mind!!! Stay true to yourself and to God's image of you! He created you to be who you are and i am so thankful that you realize that you can not change to make others happy! I embrace your personality and love you for it!!!! I admire you! Keep up the great work love! xoxox God Bless YOU!!!

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  2. Julie said...

    I love you and thank you for being transparent!

    Remember too next time, Jesus said nothing and did nothing when he was attacked and insulted. Easier said than done, I know oh too well, but something to strive for.

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