I'm sitting here in the airport about to take out my Bible and do some reading, and I'm reminded of my days in New York City and what my Bible meant to me there.
If you know me at all, you know that I'm a pretty sassy short person. (Most short people are a little sassy, I guess.) I also speak very directly and sternly when I'm trying to get a point across. It's a part of my personality that God continues to fine-tune in order to use it for His glory. It should look more and more like Holy-Ghost boldness than harshness. ;-)
Anyway, when the Lord had me move to NYC after seminary, it was quite a culture shock for me. I had come from this wonderful Jesus-loving bubble, where everyone pretty much had similar goals in life-all having to do with loving Jesus. Well, anyone who has stepped foot in NYC knows that I was in for a rude awakening socially.
As one with a tendency to self-protect, the Lord really worked on my tolerance, as I was rudely pushed on my commute everyday to a hard job with children who generally had more to complain about than me. At some point, the Lord showed me that if I was going to get upset with people for how they were treating me, I would be upset everyday of my life. Put in that context, I learned how most New Yorkers just let many things go.
Around the same time, I realized that I needed to be reading the Word of God a lot more regularly than I had been. So, I started multi-tasking and doing some Bible reading on the trains to work. Strangely enough, people started giving me a little more space. And if they were making crazy eyes at me or getting an attitude, I wasn't noticing, because my face was in the Word.
That day, the Lord showed me how His Word could be used as my sword AND shield in a hard place. Even though I'm in a logistically easier life, I still carry my Bible around, reminiscing on the days when it saved my life one day at a time.
I'm just curious: What are the tangible swords and shields the Lord has given you in life?
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Great question. The tangible swords and shields in my life right now, are definitely the people who God has placed around me at this time. The people I can call or text in the moment that I would rather fight or break down and cry. Those are the people that God himself speaks through & sends a gentle reminder to me to keep pushing on this journey.
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