I am blessed to have some great guy friends, brothers in
Christ. I haven’t really had many guy
friends before my last two years of college- I was always in all girls sports, I’ve
always felt awkward around guys since middle school, and I lived in an all
girls dorm my first two years at Hope.
The guys I’m talking about most of all put Jesus first in
their lives. His love shines through
them. They seek God as the source of
their strength, courage, and wisdom.
They seek to love and serve as He would in the ways that they live their
lives, not just every now and then. The
guys I’m talking about are not ashamed of the Gospel. They aren’t perfect either, but those things
don’t define them, and they’re honest about their struggles. I have guys who I spend time with, whose
advice I choose to seek, and who love and encourage me as a sister. They treat me and other women with the utmost
respect, and seek to honor God in their relationships, while still being fun to
be around, and being their goofy crazy selves.
I trust them and feel safe around them.
This is a gift.
I was thinking about this one day, and thanking God for
these relationships and the love and wisdom that I’ve gained from them. He then spoke something to me quite clearly:
“Baby girl, it’s
because I want you to know that there are good men.”
Tears in my eyes. I
know that this won’t always be the case.
When I go to Thailand, the people that I interact with, and who I will
be serving have not known this kind of love.
They have been used, abused, and disregarded by men. I will see the men who treat women as objects
for their own enjoyment rather than as treasures, as beautiful daughters of the
King.
If I know myself at all, this is going to make me really,
really angry. It will be incredibly easy
for me to give into this anger, to let satan work more destruction and pain
where there is already too much. But I
refuse.
There are good men. I
know this because I know some of them, and I know that there are many more like
them, and I’ll meet some of them in Thailand too. I refuse to become a man basher. All of us are trapped in evil in some way,
but we have the option of freedom through the death and resurrection of Jesus
who has taken our sin away from us so that we don’t have to suffer the eternal
consequences of it. My prayer is that I
can see all people in this way, and not ignore my own brokenness in criticizing
someone else’s. I want to be a woman who
knows that men can do better and calls them higher. It breaks my heart that people are trapped in
evil in such ways, but God’s love and truth is greater and stronger even than
this.
Lastly, to the men of integrity in my life- thank you does
not even begin to cover it. Thank you
for showing me that there are good men.
The way that you conduct yourselves, the way that you treat women and
all people that you meet does not go unseen, by those around you or by our
Father in heaven. Your love for Him
shines so brightly. Thank you for
encouraging me, usually without even knowing it, for chasing God’s glory more
than what the world has to offer. I
don’t even know a fraction of what I’m going to encounter in Thailand, but I
know that the presence of you guys in my life right now is part of God
preparing me for that season.
There will and is so much that tries to bring you down, that
tries to focus your eyes downward instead of up. Keep looking up. I know that you have something that you
struggle with, because we all have that this side of heaven. Hear me loud and clear here: God is stronger than you, your weakness,
and your past. You are not defined by
your sin, by guilt, by shame. The God of
the universe has still chosen to call you son.
Really though, I have to give the credit to God. For letting me learn this particular lesson
in such a rich and wonderful way, for bringing me brothers who love and support
me. May we not be seen, so that He may
be seen.
