Bulletin Article March 2024
by Justine Bowtell-Harris
Choosing Life
As a community, we have just listened to Dennis Peacocke share in Living Life God’s Way on the topic of “Choosing Life Every Day”. Because God is not a God of coincidence but is strategic in all things, this message aligned with a tough-love conversation I recently had with my dad. The question Dad posed at the time was, “Is there pain that has not been properly worked through from your past?” It’s an uncomfortable question, certainly, but one I believe is essential to ask if we want to address the issue of pain in our lives and live according to Psalm 119:133: “Do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. Establish my footsteps in Your word and don’t let any sin take me captive.” Simply put, if we want to choose life every day, we first have to stop being captives of death in our own lives.
I, as I am sure many of you have been also, have been a victim at times. Perhaps, like me, you have been the victim of road rage when making a late turn or faced verbal abuse from strangers while navigating your autistic son’s public meltdown. Maybe it’s the sexual assault endured by someone with significant influence in your life or false accusations from a brother that have deeply wounded you. Maybe… your experiences are even more grievous.
These incidents leave marks; they hurt. Pain like this can feel so real it’s almost tangible and all-encompassing. Yet given a chance, this “real” pain can alter our perceptions, views, reactions, and actions, ultimately leading to a distorted view of reality.
What I have come to believe at my very core, with the help of the Living Life God’s Way materials over the years, is that we are called, by the power of the Holy Spirit and with the Word of God as our guide, to choose life in a manner that aligns with God’s perspective and not allow events that taint our perspective to define us.
Revisiting pain is painful; it dredges up memories and feelings we wish we had not experienced. Yet sometimes, dare I say most of the time, it’s essential to revisit that pain to ensure it isn’t influencing our current view of reality. We need to confront our pain, not because it is enjoyable to relive it, but because if we genuinely want to live, we need to be free from its grip on us. Being a victim of pain does not mean we have to, nor should we, let that pain define us and live with a victim mentality.
When we give in to a victim mentality, when we allow pain to alter our perceptions, we internally magnify the negative and distort reality. By contrast, if we reject a victim mentality and confront the pain that we have endured, we are as Dennis says, actively rejecting death and practising the art of choosing life and truth.
Events and circumstances do not have the authority to shape our identity; only God, through His written word, has the ability and authority to define who we are.
The purpose of revisiting pain is not to give the enemy any airtime in our lives. It is not about dwelling on the circumstances or letting a victim mentality take hold of our thoughts and emotions. The purpose for revisiting painful events, as disciples, is to be free from the grip that they can have on our lives. Because when we are free, we can walk in the transformation of our thoughts, our emotions, our actions, and our spirits as they align with God.
So the question is: will we let pain define us or are we going to choose life, walk in his abundant comfort and live in a reality defined by the one true King?
God bless.
Justine.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4