CHARLO, New Brunswick, April 10, 2024 – I’ve had this blog now for nearly 10 years. During that time, I’ve corresponded privately with a lot of people who contacted me because of something they read here. Most of the correspondence has been amiable, some of it has been odd, a fraction of it has bordered on abusive, and a few of the correspondents eventually did turn abusive and/or aggressive and I had to block them.

As a female raised in the late 20^th century in a first-world English-speaking country, I was taught to be polite and pleasant to everyone. I always had a smile on my face, even before I was born-again. Some people used to snidely call me “Miss Halifax” behind my back, in reference, I guess, to my hair & make-up routine and ever-present smile. But I learned the hard way that you don’t have to smile at everyone, certainly not all the time. Sometimes you don’t even have to acknowledge them.

Jesus didn’t heal everyone who called out to him to be healed as he walked through this village or that. He didn’t even heal all those who made the effort to come to his house in Capernaum. He healed only those God showed him were ready to receive his healing; the rest he let be.

When I say: “ready to receive his healing”, I don’t mean they were pure when they came to Jesus for healing. Not at all. I mean they were ready in their heart to do whatever it took to get healed. That’s not the case with everyone who cries out to God for help today any more than it was the case in Jesus’ day. Some people cry out to God in anger; some people cry out with a list of conditions; some people assume a demanding stance, with heavy expectations; and some people just want to test God to see whether or not he exists.

For those of you who’ve contacted me over the years because something on the blog has resonated with you – God bless you for reaching out! Your kind words encourage me, and I appreciate them. But for those of you (and you know who you are) who just want to lock horns or bait me – God has taught me that I’m under no obligation to respond to you. Jesus received Nicodemus because he came to him with a sincere yearning to understand what Jesus was teaching. On the other hand, Jesus all but ignored the scribes and Pharisees, because as much as they feigned interest in the Kingdom and would show up at his teaching sessions on occasion, their baited questions revealed their true intent.

I will continue with this blog as long as God gives me the green light to do so. In the meantime, anyone who wants to reach out in sincerity has my full attention. But those who reach out with other motivations might not get the response they expect, if any at all. Yes, I’m polite and pleasant (and still smiling!) as a born-again believer, but I don’t take the crap I used to.

Just a heads-up! 😀