Based on my previous blog, many of you probably assumed that my ex-neighbor Oliver was an unbeliever; after all, she had a live-in boyfriend and they fought all the time. What’s more, according to her boyfriend Kevin, Olivia committed numerous crimes such as grand theft auto, insurance fraud, etc. Yet, as I reflect on Olivia and Kevin’s relationship I can’t help but wonder if there weren’t any telltale signs, alerting Olivia that her relationship was heading down a fatal path. After all, Olivia was a practicing Christian; she worshipped weekly, was an Usher, on the Church choir and was basically trying to live according to God’s will. I can’t help but wonder how many times the Holy Spirit spoke to her concerning her relationship with Kevin and she SIMPLY ignored it.

We all have been in situations where we heard a still small voice warning us of unforeseen dangers; nevertheless, many of us choose to ignore the voice and continue on a path that WILL ultimately end in disaster. I for one have been EXTREMELY guilty of this; sometimes, it took God physically removing me from a dangerous situation before I was TRULY able to understand the dangers of the path I was on. There were so many times that I heard that small voice saying to me “be patient Sandee, he is not the right person for you, this is not the plan I have for your life, that position is not right for you, etc.” Yet, I plunged ahead, ignoring the warning signs along the way. Needless to say, like Olivia, I made catastrophic decisions. See like Olivia, I grew up in the Church and was also an active member. I knew OF God and for a long time I was under the impression that what I knew was enough. My background was much like that of many young women. My mom was overprotective and because of this I lived a very sheltered life until the age of eighteen. When I left for college I was EXTREMELY unprepared for what the world had to offer. I got a small taste of the world, in college, and I continued to drink from its cup for the next twelve years. During that time I never considered myself in any immediate danger; living in Sin was nowhere near to what the Church had preached; life was tremendously good to me and I was content to stay exactly where I was. After all, I never considered myself a Sinner; I told myself “this is me living MY life the way I saw fit and at the end of the day I had no one to answer to but myself”. I convinced myself that because I did not drink, smoke, do drugs, etc, that I was in a better place with God than most non-Christians. At one point I actually convinced myself that my greatest sin was fornication and that this Sin was a lesser sin than the ones being committed by Pastors in the Church: I told myself I was better than most of them because at least I wasn’t committing adultery. I honestly thought that some sins were greater than others in the sight of God. In my mind it was better for me to be a fornicator than say a murder or an adulterer; I honestly believe that God would condemn me less for what appeared to be a lesser Sin.  My sense of rationale was the same as a person who admits that they do lie but only tells “LITTLE WHITE LIES”; therefore they are deserving of a lesser punishment because little lies cause less trouble than say those of a habitual liar.

TO BE CONTINUED