Evil - there's nothing "right" about it.

It all makes me hurt... and I can't quite get my words together coherently about what I'm seeing on my news feed.  I'll ask you to forgive me in advance, because there's a high probability I'll be all over the place with this post.

8/12/17.  A day I spent knee deep in loving on my guy for his birthday, and then in the bed with a day of home remedies and allergy meds.  Amid the allergy-med-induced naps and grogginess of feeling like mud, however, I started seeing stories in my social networking news feeds.... and my heart is broken.

What I saw called for my full prayer... my full attention.  So, here I am today.  Definitely not speechless or typeless... and keenly aware that what I think of any given topic on any given day is truly irrelevant in the big scheme of things. I'm just another person trying to walk out life on this side of heaven. My opinions aren't going to change any of this or any lives, honestly.   Why?  Because I'm powerless beyond my prayers, and I'm slam full of opinions on a good day. The latter helps no one and only points to me. 

What God says about His kids, though? That matters.

He says a lot, but here's what He's given me today....

Family, we are called to more... and clearly many have not heard the call. Evil is acting like evil, and it's never okay.  God loves you. He loves you. He loves you.  I feel like I can't say that enough.  He LOVES you... and evil cannot defeat that.

One of my favorite people says, "We say prayers to God. We declare warfare against the enemy."  These young men I'm raising have to know how to pray to God and declare warfare on an enemy who has forgotten that he's already lost.

We've been called to more. We've been called to love. We've been called to take a clear step away from evil and to mess it up through the lives we live and the God that has given us victory over it. We've been called to hit our knees like never before declaring spiritual war over evil that is trying to create hell on earth.

"It is finished", friends.  Jesus said that.  I believe it.  The reality is, though, we clearly live in a world that hasn't gotten the memo.

My words will mess things up sometimes. They won't relay everything on my heart. They will never be enough.  But God is.... and I'm praying for Him to show us how to love a hurting world.

I don't have answers, but I know this.  I don't stand with evil. Despite the names and words we hear floating around, there is nothing "right" about what's happened here.  It's wrong in every way.  It's NOT okay.  I feel like we can't say that enough, either.  It's just NOT okay.

For those who don't know me well, I don't watch the news. Period. I have a child who it would crush on a daily basis. He has the most precious spirit.  Frankly, truth be told, it crushes mine, too, to hear on repeat just how hurt our world really is.  For our family, we just can't go there. If we do, it's for a very specific reason and for a lesson to be brought from it.

We do the news in doses, and always filtered through me as the Head of this household.

(As an aside, I realize some think I'm creating a bubble for my kids. I'm okay with that, and we don't have to agree on this; however, I believe much of this is MINE to teach them as the spiritual leader of this home. It's not on CNN or Fox News to tell my kids how to view what's happening in our world. It's on me to tell them what God says about it and how to change the world around them in the middle of it.)

So, I watch news via online stories... and I ask God what I'm to bring to my kids.

Tonight on my son's 15th birthday, we will go through several news organization's stories.... because what has and is happening matters.  The evil that set up shop in Charlottesville is revolting, and my kids need to know that we reject it wholeheartedly.  They need to know hell is real and it tried to take control in these states that we call united.

A discussion must be had. This matters. These people matter. These hearts matter. We will watch. We will talk. We will pray. Because my son needs to see the world that God has called him to be LOVE in the middle of.... and he has to see the hate that still lingers.

He has to see the needs that exist. He has to know that evil is just plain evil and there is never an excuse for it.  He needs to see that for as many of us that DO love every person in these United States, there are those who would love nothing better than to tear each of us down.  He needs to know... so he can fight the GOOD fight on his knees and through his actions.

I'm praying today. It's the only thing this heart knows to do.   It's where my power truly lies in the hardest of times... on my knees.

I'm loving today.  My friends, my family, those I'll pass in line at the grocery... I want to show them all the love.  Lord knows, we all need a bigger dose today.

I'm staring at heaven a little harder today, with the full conviction that we aren't done down here, yet--- so I don't get to sit in the cozy "I'm saved by grace- so I'm okay" zone.

There's more to do. There's more to share. There are people hurting. We have a world to save.  Key words?  "We."  We are in this TOGETHER, family.  We just can't do this life alone.

Friends, I'll mess it up ten ways to Sunday. I will. But I'll love you in my messiness. I will stare at the love of a Father who thinks you are among His best ideas ever.  I'll pray the paint off the walls with you.  And I'll condemn evil with you as we call our world to more.

I love you guys. Very much.

Christie Aitken, 8/13/2017