"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." Proverbs 31:26
Growing up Catholic, I lived in a strict, controlling household. In my Junior year of high school, I started to have questions about my Catholic faith. Knowing that He was knocking on the door of my heart, God placed people in my path who could teach me about Scripture and help me commit to Jesus. But this grace-filled gospel was too much for my parents to bear. Our heated arguments continued for over 2 years as she begged me to reconvert to Catholicism.
Because Catholicism was a family tradition, they believed it was breaking from the family because I didn't want to be a part of it anymore. This culminated in November of 1998. After a long stint of not speaking to my parents, my parents came to my workplace. Knowing that I had spent Thanksgiving with my boyfriend (now my husband) and his family, my parents came to see me as they walked out of my workplace that following Saturday afternoon.
They instructed me to get my stuff out of their house, and I had two weeks to move out. My snub by not attending Thanksgiving dinner with my family was their last straw. After grabbing my bags, my father drove me to my boyfriend's house, dropped the bags in the driveway, and drove away. I was devastated.
Weeping into the driveway, my boyfriend came out to see me. He took me inside and gave me something to drink. His mother (now my mother-in-law) quietly set up the couch downstairs. "She can stay with us," she said. To this day, it is one of the kindest acts of faith I have seen. She made good on that promise until I found a place to live just a few weeks later.
My mother-in-law understood what it was like to be rejected by her family. She eloped with her husband many years earlier, much to the chagrin and shock of her family. Her family intensely disliked my father-in-law, and this caused a rift in their relationship that never got repaired. She told us that after they had secretly gotten married, she told her parents, and they locked her in their house. My father-in-law asked them, "Could I have my wife, please?" She didn't visit them for several years later. That rebellion caused tension in that relationship that never resolved here on earth.
At that moment, when I had nothing but the bags around me and the clothes on my back, my mother-in-law gave me something special that day: she gave me my dignity. She let me stay at her home rent-free until I could find a new place. She never asked questions or demanded rent or any repayment. Her provision helped me get on my feet. She gave me what I needed to get through each day.
As Christians, we must treat people with dignity and honor. Be kind to everyone you meet because you never know someone's story. Because of her kindness, she gave me the strength to get through one of the more difficult moments of my life. Through her gentle kindness, she showed me what true faith and a tangible example of Jesus looked like. Because I was new to the faith then, I took that example as one to emulate as I grew older.
Be kind to people even when they're not kind to you. Realize that everyone has a story, and we don't always know the stories of others. When people are down and out, be the person who helps when there's someone in need. That small act of kindness can be the example that causes them to turn toward Jesus.
Father, let us be people who give dignity and honor to others. Let us help those who are in need. Let us, as Christians, be known more for what we are for rather than what we are against. Let us not demonstrate Jesus with our words but rather with our actions. Let us be the tangible examples of Jesus and clothe others with dignity and strength. Amen.
Michelle S. Lazurek is a multi-genre award-winning author, speaker, pastor's wife, and mother. She is a literary agent for Wordwise Media Services and a certified writing coach. Her new children’s book Hall of Faith encourages kids to understand God can be trusted. When not working, she enjoys sipping a Starbucks latte, collecting 80s memorabilia, and spending time with her family and her crazy dog. For more info, please visit her website www.michellelazurek.com.
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