Following and Trusting : Encountering God Out of the Box

The other day, on the beach, a woman I’d never met before began to share her concerns with me about a hostile situation she was observing.

I found myself telling her something that seemed to shift her perspective.

I shared with her that I woke up that very morning thinking of a short story of a neighbour who lived just south of us who was never happy with what he had. 

He believed he was never good enough and so was caught in the human trap of self-interest, self-obsession and self-protection. He lusted after what others had as a result and sought to make others miserable, because … inside I do believe – he himself – was miserable.

Initially when he moved into the neighbourhood, he had tried doing good deeds in order to get our attention and approval, but after some time his true motives were glaringly obvious.

His good deeds became awful deeds.
His own people near him kept apologizing for his behaviour.

It was a bumpy ride for all of us.

When we began to see his actions came from a deep unmet core need and discontent, we continued to be kind to him but at the same time wisely drew boundaries with him.

Soon the rest of the surrounding neighbourhoods saw how we did this and they too chose to not get involved in his game.

He then called everyone names and such.
He even tried to rename others’ property.

And when he saw that he couldn’t distract us or manipulate us all, he grew angrier and angrier.

Meanwhile, more and more of us simply began to pray for him, instead of play his game.

Why?

Because he deeply needed prayer.

He lacked love, joy, peace, etc.

We have watched other people’s stories completely transform once we began to pray, so why not this man’s story too?

How did this story end?

One day I hope to tell you the full story.

To be continued…

Merri Ellen 🙂

How to pray for difficult people? See Part 3 of this blue/green book.

He has more for you!

YOU are a sacred space.

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Enjoy the books: “God, Show Me What You See”
or “God, Show Me More of You“