The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Ex. 14:14)
AS A PRO-LIFE SPEAKER, I often share my testimony of keeping my daughter, who was conceived through rape. The crowd is usually affirming of my decision, but not always. Once I spoke at a venue in which I was warned there would probably be representatives from an abortion clinic trying to disrupt the event. Sure enough, during the question and answer time, a woman began to launch inappropriate accusations at me. Oddly, I felt only compassion for her; she struck me as a lovely, passionate, sad young woman. I was hardly aware of my responses to her. Afterward, the event organizers expressed their amazement on how the situation was completely defused; better yet, the young woman found me and sincerely apologized.
I wish I could say I always respond graciously to personal attacks. In reality, I too often allow tension to rise in me, sometimes to the point that I take retaliatory action—which is not just wrong, but rather silly, because when we take matters into our own hands we lose any advantage we have over our enemies. We lose the power of God working on our behalf. We give up supernatural, undefeatable strength in favor of our blustering incompetence.
Trusting God to fight for us is an act of worship. When we are still, waiting on Him, He displays His righteousness.
Plan in advance how you will respond to a hostile situation.
Heather Gemmen Wilson is a bestselling author and international speaker. She is married to a Wesleyan pastor, and together they have six children. She is also author of the preteen Lydia Barnes series (WPH).
