Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do

A few months ago I confronted a man at the church we went to about some things he was doing. He was pretty much destroying the church and intentionally working against our pastor and my search committee. I was a direct recipient of his actions a lot of the time and I just got tired of watching him do these things with nothing being said or done to stop him. My husband and I asked some of the men in the church to speak to him about what he was doing- they said they would but never did. Well, I just got tired of it and the Bible says you need to confront people when you are offended by them. I did confront him with a letter. (This is after a couple other people called him and asked him nicely to stop doing what he was doing and he did not.) Now- I will admit that I was not "loving" in my letter. He had put me and my family through a lot and I was at the end of my rope. I wouldn't say I was hateful- more like blatantly honest. Nothing I said to him was untrue. Well, he sent copies of my letter to about 1/2 the church (mostly people who thought he could do no wrong) and said he had to leave because of me. Then half the church thought of me as the devil and since no-one in leadership decided to address this, that remains my reputation there. Even people who knew what he had been doing criticized me for not being more loving in my approach. ( Well, all kinds of those people had the chance to handle this themselves and didn't- I may not have done it right, but at least I did it.) I am over it, but the reason I felt like writing about it is because I had somewhat of a "revelation" about it all this week. I was listening to the radio and the song "The Voice of Truth" came on. It was talking about how we should all have the faith that David had to face the giant, Goliath. Well, then I thought- David didn't go to Goliath in love. He knew Goliath was a threat to him and his people and he went out there and nailed him in the forehead with a slingshot and killed him. Why was that okay? For me it told me that God doesn't always send people in love. Sometimes He just sends them to get a job done. I am sure that Goliath knew that what he was doing was wrong, just like the man I confronted. This man had already been spoken to in love- it did not phase him. So, then what? I am not saying that I shouldn't have been a little nicer, but I don't question my actions quite as much as I did before. In fact, even though this man left the church I went to, he is still to this day calling people who still go there and telling them they should leave. He is also still spreading lies about my husband and me to whomever will listen. It is a real good thing that I don't let other people determine my character. I have gotten hate mail and other stuff mailed to me, but I know that God and I are straight on things and that is all that matters. I have given forgiveness where it is due and I have asked for it where I needed it. But I can't help but think that God does not always send people in love. There comes a time when if love is not working, you just have to do what needs to be done. Not everyone will agree with this I know- these are my thoughts and I am allowed to have them. But it was just a thought that I wanted to share and maybe cause some people to look at things a little differently. I hope I never feel compelled to do something like that again. It was not something I enjoyed- but I still think it was something that needed to be done. Oh, well- other than that- we are still looking for a church. I would love to go to the church we got married at but it is a bit too far, so we are getting discouraged. I know we will know what to do in time. That patience factor, once again, is pushing me to the limit. Sometimes I wish I could see where we will be in a year-where we will live, go to church, etc. But God knows and I can take comfort in that. Until then, I will wait- I am getting good at that.