Christians Read

A few (ahem) years ago when I had two babies (I now have four and my baby is 20) I began having double vision and intermittent blindness. The first doctor (quack) told me it was psychosomatic and I needed a psychiatrist, not a neurologist. Remember when doctors were demigods who thought their word was Gospel? It was back then. Anyway, I was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and on vast amounts of steroids to keep the blindness at bay. Well, they did that, but they also rendered sleep impossible. So I needed something quiet to do at night when the rest of the house was sleeping — I couldn’t read because my eyes were jumping — but I could type. I started writing a novel. That was in 1996 and my first novel (Strong as the Redwood) was released in 1997.

Who would have guessed that having a disease that kept me up at night would give me a job that I could do from home while managing symptoms and raising kids? Isn’t God so good? Not to mention that He gave me my people. My best friends are writers that I have known since the Internet was ushered into our lives. We were the original online dating app — finding friends through writing loops.

One of those friends (Cheryl Hodde) of many decades helped me rewrite my second novel — a romance about a heroine with MS. It releases today and it’s such a proud moment for me. Because I have the benefit of perspective now. I can look back and see why God allowed the triumphs and the traumas in my life. He knew what I needed, not what I necessarily wanted.

A God perspective is so crucial when the world feels so unstable as it does today. One day, we will look back at the triumphs and tragedies of 2020 and understand how it grew us. Currently, it’s looking the way MS did back in 1997. I cannot see the upside just yet. How about you?

Please understand that I’m not talking about Magick here, but about something bright and hopeful, as opposed to vicious cycle. If you can give me a better word for it besides “Pay it forward” cycle, I’ll gladly take it.

Some stranger began a cycle like this with us when we were traveling recently. We had driven for most of the day, were tired, and were doing the drive-through thing at Custer’s for a meal. When we drove around to pay for it, the young woman at the window, with nary a smile on her face, told us morosely that someone had already paid for our meal.

This kind of thing doesn’t happen to us, but apparently it happened to the woman at the window all the time and she was tired of it. At any rate, we were touched and thrilled. It just so happened that the woman in the SUV ahead of us who had paid for our meal had been stuck waiting ahead of us, so even though it wasn’t likely her plan, we were able to drive forward and thank her and promise to pay it forward. I never understood why the woman at the window seemed so unhappy about it–that’s a mystery for a book someday, I think. If you have any thoughts about that, I’d love to hear them.

Since we had promised our benefactress to bless someone else as she had blessed us, we were on our way back home, and had stopped for breakfast. A couple about our age slid into a booth not far from us, and Mel wanted to pay for their meal. So we told the server what we wanted to do, but stealthily. Now THIS lady really got into the spirit of the thing, and was thrilled.

The trick is to pay and escape without anyone knowing who did the deed. Our server understood this, and she was the one who got to break the news to the recipient. She was so excited when we left, and it felt good, even though we were only passing along what someone else had already done for us.

So…since we are nearing a very much longed-for New Year, and since this is actually something most people can do–as opposed to resolutions that, for me, at least, are never quite followed–I challenge anyone who wants to play, to simply begin a cycle of blessing that you can afford. If you can afford someone else’s meal, go for it! If you can only afford an ice cream cone, pay for that, or for someone’s coffee.

It’s hard to know what someone behind you in line will order, but for instance, our neighbor has shoveled our sidewalk and drive, so he didn’t have to guess. He just did it. Of course, the fun comes when the recipient doesn’t know who paid, who shoveled, who sent along the blessing.

Giving anonymously has long been a fun thing for me to do. It might be something you would enjoy. Try it and see!

Lately, I’ve been very concerned about our freedom of speech in this country. I’m also worried about Christians who don’t see the problem. First off, I’m not a controversial person. I write humor.

But I’ve been concerned about an increase in young adult suicide as my kids have had three acquaintances commit suicide. These young adults have their whole world ahead of them, but they are living without hope. We have taken God and prayer out of our schools and we’ve given these kids no moral guidelines. Told them everything is fine as long as it makes you feel good (forget what it does to other people.) Drugs are okay and now legal. Sex outside of marriage is your right, etc. Never telling them the damage all of this free living can do to your soul. So this was my motive for putting a post on Instagram that said suicide rates were up and posted a number for the Suicide Prevention Line. Instagram flagged my post with a red warning and said that it was fake news because of the statistic used.

This is very dangerous precedent and I want people to be aware of what free speech is. Free speech is the ability to say what you want without fear of legal repercussions. Sure, people might hate you, but legally, you’re safe. If I want to announce the red spaghetti monster has returned from Mars to harm us all — that is my first amendment right. To be corrected by the likes of Instagram when that post might have helped someone struggling with suicidal thoughts, makes me ill. That is what China would do if you posted something against their regime. That’s not free speech. It’s happening on all the apps. Post something the press doesn’t want you to believe and you’re flagged and deleted.

As a journalism major this trend makes me afraid of our future. I lived in Silicon Valley my entire life. You do not want these people telling you how to think. Trust me on this. I watched my sleepy little town turn into a place where greed and money were utterly worshiped, where the middle class slowly disappeared. Where he who has the most money gets the opinion, yours is worthless. My grandparents taught me to never make a decision based solely on money so imagine how counterintuitive living there became. That is not what we want for our future.

I know I’m passionate about this subject, but it starts with the little things. It starts with making you uncomfortable about what you post or believe. Since these apps are private, they hide behind their privacy policies and deny free speech on their apps. They get away with it because you can choose not to use these venues.

I know we are living in unprecedented times, but there are frightening trends happening in our world that have nothing to do with this virus. Please join me in standing up for your rights to have a dissenting opinion and speak them freely. When you start silencing one group, another one will follow. Remember this:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” Martin Niemöller