Skip to main content

Snapshot cameras & snap judgments

Oftentimes, it’s easy to see one snapshot of a person’s life and make a “snap” judgement. I’ll give you two personal examples of this. Back in 2011, I was given the great opportunity to speak on stage & share the Gospel with the women at a church in Tiburon, Haiti. If someone were to take a snapshot-judgment of my life then, I’d probably gain a lot of respect from fellow Christians. What a wonderful thing I was doing! 

Fast forward to 2017, I was admitted to the behavioral health floor of the hospital (for the second time). I sat down to a meal with a man struggling with PTSD and on the verge of suicide when his neighbor called for help & got him admitted into the hospital. Through both of our very broken mindsets, God graced me the opportunity to share with him the hope that can be found in the Bible. I encouraged him to read his Bible that night, and the next morning at breakfast he told me that he read the Bible for the first time.

Pause. Had someone taken a snapshot-judgement of my life through the window of that behavioral health floor of the hospital, I doubt many Christians would gain my respect. I’d probably gain a lot of judgement, shame, and encouragement to pray more.

But what if I peeled back the layers of those two scenarios and showed you a glimpse into my heart on both occasions? If I’m ashamedly honest about it, I was very prideful to be able to be on stage and share the Gospel with the Haitian women back in 2011. After all, look at me. I must be somebody that God would use to share the Gospel with people in other countries! In the 2017 scenario of me, I readily recognized that hospitals are the great equalizers. In the hospital, I sat down to meals with drug addicts. The second time I was admitted was right before a hurricane, so (if you didn’t know this) many homeless people check themselves into the hospital, so that they have a safe place to stay during hurricanes. I ate with several meals with homeless people while I was in the hospital. And you know what I came to realize? 

— 

It was God’s grace that allowed me to speak in Haiti, prideful and all. And it was God’s grace that held me in a mental hospital. Twice. 

Be careful when you look at the outward appearances and make snap judgments. God’s looking at the heart. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For inquiring minds that would like to know… here's our story.

For some of you in my life, you've been asking, praying, and waiting to see something noteworthy happening in my dating life. So have I. Because I don't exactly know where to start, I'll simply begin at the beginning. Jeff and I both went to school together at Trinity Christian Academy here in Jacksonville from kindergarten to twelfth grade. From first grade to sixth grade, we had all the same teachers. Because our last names are so similar alphabetically (Hazard and Hill), we were seemingly ALWAYS sitting next to each other. Seriously. Always. Around. Each. Other. haha… For those of you that know me well or have known me for a long time, you know that God's done quite the work in my life over the years in chipping away some (note: not all) of my childhood sassiness and giving me a sweet spirit in its place. However, for those of you that knew me then, you would readily agree that I was quite the "over-confident little girl" (to quote my daddy). ...
2 comments
Read more

Things I'm learning.... (reprise)

Quite a few years ago, I wrote a list of "things I'm learning…" It contained advice, quotes, and sheer observations about the life I was living and the life that was carrying on all around me. Well, today, I thought about that list for the first time (in a very, very long time) and thought perhaps I should re-create it, in a sense, based on where I find myself in life right now. at this very moment. Nothing came from quote websites or the like… it's all fresh from my little Rosemary brain. Hope you enjoy it, and it brings some encouragement and comfort and COURAGE your way - no matter where you find yourself along life's journey today. :) Things I'm learning... 1. Assume that everything has nothing to do with you, until directly told otherwise. Even then, know that you can't possibly know the full story. There's always something going on behind the scenes. 2. Don't try to please people. Please God. He'll deal with the people. 3. Sometimes k...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Skylar Dixon is my Hero

Why Skylar Dixon is my Hero I’m not a big follower of the show American Idol, but I have watched my fair share of episodes/seasons in a hit-or-miss fashion. I especially watched episodes consistently when Skylar Dixon’s brother, Colton Dixon, was on the show. He was refreshingly different to watch. He had true talent and a knack for connecting to his audiences. It also helped that he was a Christian and an all-out good-looking guy. Then, I soon found out he was born in the 1990’s, and I felt creepy for watching the show like I once did. So the American Idol fan train stopped there for me on that very same day. Though I no longer followed the show, I still very much appreciate and enjoy hearing Colton’s song, You Are, on Christian radio on my way to work. It helps me put things in perspective. Check it out if you get a chance: Colton Dixon’s “You Are” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM8hxE-j4T8 Though it’s pretty much the same ole’, same ole’ rig-a-ma-role every s...
Post a Comment
Read more