D.O. Use your voice. It’s part of self-care.

I’ve started a new blog series on self care vs. the biblical concept of “dying to self.” I’m sharing delineations that are important to understand if we want to heal our personal and family relationships, which will then begin to heal our nation. 

One of the main messages of the overall Common Ground project is, “What divides a family divides a nation.” For a long time, I believed that we had a top-down issue in America, and in one sense, we do. Politicians and media sources profit from relational division. With some rigorous research and processing through my own relationship issues, I’ve found that not to be entirely true. Possibly the most important truth is that we have more of a bottom-up issue. Unless we focus on healing personal and family relationships, our divided nation doesn’t stand a chance of healing. 

It could take years to see the result of a bottom up solution, but I say let’s get started! I continue to believe in the main message of the Common Ground project, which is, “Return to (God’s) Love, repent, and reconcile our relationships.” It may seem overly optimistic, or pie in the sky. Maybe you feel it’s simply too late. I understand those feelings and often have them myself. But here’s the thing.  I don’t want to stand before the Lord knowing I didn’t try to do my part in this. When others say, "Don’t spend time on something so futile." I say, “Do! Use your voice to restore broken relationships.” 

D

Devote yourself to loving one another. (Romans 12:10, Ephesians 4:32, 1 Corinthians 16:14) 

O

Overcome the divisions with God’s help. (Prov 15:1, Col 3:13, Ephesians 4:2-3) 

The more we use our voice to heal our broken and divided personal (micro) relationships, the more we will see healing come to the broken and divided national (macro) relationships.

This healing starts with self-care. Some of us are confused by self-care vs. “die to self.” This blog can help clarify that. Using your voice, or in other words, speaking your truth in love, is a critical part of self-care. 

On the micro level, self-care is a must for healing relationships. On the macro level, every voice in our nation needs to be heard. Whether that’s over coffee with friends, or blasting the truth from the mountain tops, your voice is needed in this nation. 

We are in the midst of so much darkness, and if you thought 9/11 was bad, or you think the polarization of the nation is bad, or 2020, or Covid, or the Epstein files, we haven’t seen anything yet! If we don’t reconcile relationships, unite, and use our voices, we are headed for more darkness than we can handle. I believe we are possibly even headed for all out war on American soil. We are going to need each other more and more from here on out. We are also going to have to use our voices to stand together against the continually escalating darkness in our nation.

Love to all,

Jill Riley