Somebody is facing a tough situation right now. You don’t know why it showed up at your house and how it got your name and number but it did. You have tried to figure it out but all you know is, the enemy has shown up looking, talking and dressing like your cousin. The lies being spread are coming from somebody you considered a friend. A rock was thrown and it came from your sibling’s hand. You needed someone to defend you, this time, but even your parent didn’t speak up. And now you’ve found yourself angry and on the verge of snapping off. You’ve closed yourself off and severed some connections because ‘they’ hurt your feelings but how is that working for you? Look beloved, this may be hard to hear and even harder to swallow and digest but sometimes you have to extend grace to folk, you feel, do not deserve it. Why? Because God has given you grace when you didn’t. You have to understand, well you don’t but you should, that people are who they are. Stop trying to force people to be on the level you are when you know good and well they aren’t. Stop trying to get people to react the way you would, they are not you. Stop applying your expectations to a situation or person because this is when you will get your feelings hurt.
Yes, they should know you by now. They should know you wouldn’t say and do the things you’ve been accused of. They should know you wouldn’t handle it the way ‘they’ said you did. And maybe they should but what if they don’t? You expect them to know you and they do but it is from their level. See, you’ve changed because of the spiritual warfare you’ve had to fight through but they don’t understand it. You look different and to them, “you think you’re better than everybody,” but to you, the anointing has made the difference. You don’t walk the same but that’s because your feet are no longer walking through fire. You don’t talk the same but that’s because God’s call on your life has given you new words. And you cannot expect people to know this when they weren’t there. This is why when people hurt you, say mean things and treat you differently; you don’t run but you extend grace. When the invitations stop, don’t lash out but extend grace. When they no longer respond to your text, don’t get angry but extend grace. When they no longer show up, extend grace. What do you mean by extending grace? Not treating folk how they deserve. Paul shares in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” It’s not you, it’s the grace in you and this is the reason you don’t lose hope, even when it hurts.
Lakisha, the Author 