Enemy or Footstool

In my last blog I wrote about how God can use our enemies to elevate us to another level of blessings.   God said in His word to “Sit until I make your enemies your footstool.”  This was a phrase that I heard before many times and I thought I understood what it meant. But I never really understood it until God allowed me to learn a whole new perspective on it through a real life experience.

 Recently, God blessed me with an awesome opportunity at a new company.  It was tailor made for my personality, my schedule my family and my lifestyle, not to mention it had some tremendous financial benefits attached to it.  There was only one problem, one of my coworkers turned out to be a serious “Hater”.  Even though I had a feeling that something was not quite right with her, I chose to ignore my instincts and tried to be friendly and cordial towards her.  I thought that I would make the best of the situation, because unfortunately not only was she my coworker, my boss thought that it would be a great idea to have her assist in training me as well.  I began to trust my instincts that something was wrong when she repeatedly asked me to accompany me on her daily errands and shopping trips instead of training me for the daily functions of my new job.  She would even tell me to knock off early and in some cases not to come in at all… hmmmm, I thought this is starting to get a little suspicious.  So finally I decided to listen to that small voice inside of me and request a meeting with my boss about the progression my training.  I didn’t want to be unprepared for my job when the time came for me to fly solo.  I was glad that I did so, because it was at that time that I found out that she had been giving my boss false reports about everything from my attendance to my performance and attitude.  I also found out that not only was she lying on me and trying to make me look bad and refusing to train me, she had also fabricated an elaborate vicious lie about me, went in to see the owners of the company, told it to them  and every person that she came in contact with in our small company.  But she wasn’t done yet; she also went to the owners of the company and requested to take away every single account that I had that could possibly help me to generate any decent revenue in my territory.   And to complete her diabolical scheme, she also enlisted a friend of hers to help her. This friend of hers happened to work in the department that controlled our sales leads, and she told her to make sure that I didn’t receive any leads and that they would all go directly to her.  It all made sense to me now, why everyone including the owners was now treating me so differently.  Everyone was extremely cold and stand offish with me.  I was totally oblivious; I thought it was just because I was the new girl.  Now I know why my team had been excluding me from social functions and leaving me out of the friendly huddles and brain storming sessions.

I felt a surge of fury and devastation rush over me all at once.   Why was she doing this to me, what possible reason could she have for treating me this way?  Why would someone I barely know try to sabotage my career, ruin my reputation and try to take away my livelihood, the way that I provide for my family?   For one fleeting moment I even went so far as to ask God why He would put me in a situation like this.  But at least I did have enough spiritual maturity to answer that question for myself and not insult God with it.  Just because God gives you a blessing it doesn’t mean that there will not be challenges or obstacles that will accompany it.  The Israelites had to go through the desert and were expected to fight their enemies to siege and occupy their promised land.  So I wasn’t about to let myself start to go down that road of feeling sorry for myself, who was I to think that I was to be excluded from problems, or painful challenges?

 My first thought after shaking off my painful, confused emotions, was that of retaliation, my feisty nature immediately took over, I wanted to meet her in the parking lot and just beat her butt.  Not literally of course, but emotionally and professionally definitely.   I wanted revenge; I wanted her to feel the same pain that I was feeling.  After all I told myself that anything that I did to her right now would be totally justified.   I could very easily plot and scheme against her and her little minion until their lives were just as miserable as mine was.  But my soap opera revenge fantasy lasted only for a brief second before I let the whole mellow dramatic plan go.  I knew in my heart that it would be the wrong thing to do, maybe in a past life I might have gone there, but it just wasn’t who I was anymore.  And it was also at that very moment that I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Sit still and let God handle this.”  This seemed to be a very simple request, but it was not an easy one.  In fact it was and to this day one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.  And because she and I still work together and she and her little sidekick are still up to their same old tricks, it is still one of hardest things that I pray for the strength to continue to do every single day.  As a matter of fact today was one of those days, I saw her in the parking lot and the urge to run her down still came over me.  I just prayed it away and drove out as quickly as I could before my car “ACCIDENTALLY” lost control and hit her…oopsy! J

But anyway, as I was saying, when I read the verse, “Sit until I make your enemies your footstool”,  I was kind of hoping that in this case God meant it for me in its most literal sense.   I wouldn’t mind putting my feet up on top of my coworker, heck I probably would even be okay with jumping up and down on her at this point.  LOL, just kidding J  But what I know today is that God was saying this to me.  One day, not only would He allow our enemies to serve us by acting on our behalf in a role of support or subordination to us somehow, but now I understand it in a deeper sense to mean something much more profound.  This verse was mentioned at least three times in the bible, Luke 20:43, Acts 2:35 and Psalm 110:1.  There may actually be more occurrences, but those were the only ones that I counted.  So what that tells me was that there was something rather significant in its meaning for us, that God felt the need to repeat it so often.  And although it appears to be very short and simple, for me, its meaning was very deep.

Think about it, what the heck is a footstool?  Immediately when I ask myself that question I pictured myself, kicking back with my feet resting on a plush ottoman. But footstools can also serve us in more than one way.  A footstool can also be used as a prop to boost us up to a higher level in order to reach something we could not ordinarily reach without assistance.  Now what I also found interesting about this verse was that God also gave us one very important and explicit instruction to accompany this promise.  And instruction He gave was to “SIT”.  Yes that’s right He said sit, just sit, be still, do nothing, don’t fret, don’t worry, don’t scheme, don’t plan, don’t plot, just give it over to me, He said, and let me handle it my way.

 I believe that God wants us to know that when situations arise where people hurt us or betray us without cause or provocation that He wants us to give the matter over to Him, trust Him to handle it, and then just sit and wait on Him to do his thing. For most of us, this may be the hardest part of the entire process. But if we can trust Him to handle our battles, He will take care of our enemies and the circumstances that are associated with the issues they have caused for us. “We know that all things work together for good for those that love God.” (Romans 8:28). God wants us to know that if we suppress our natural tendencies to seek revenge, lash out or retaliate against our enemies, and go through the situation prayerfully, giving it to Him, we will grow stronger, more mature, and therefore move up to a new level of faith and trust in our relationship with Him.  But not only that, God has a way of avenging us and disciplining our enemies in a way that will have long lasting effects on their lives. 

God’s revenge is always sweeter than any plan or scheme we could ever come up with, because God has created us all, and He knows what make us tick, He knows how to push our most sensitive buttons.  I believe that God will discipline our enemies on our behalf and cause them to be a witness to the blessings that the He is giving us, in spite of all they may have tried to do to prevent it, and it will hurt. Because truly the best revenge is living well, being prosperous, successful  and happy, in spite of our enemies or the circumstances going on around us. Nothing hurts your Haters more than watching you get better, happier, more prosperous and more blessed.

I know that if we let Him, God will use your enemy and the whole situation to make you into a stronger better wiser person, and just like a footstool, your enemy will serve you, and they will have made you stronger, because you had to persevere through the struggle that they took you through.  And you would have defeated them and therefore used them as a stepping stone to rise to new, greater and higher levels in your life, including your faith and trust in God. And for this He will reward you handsomely.  If you are innocent of and remain righteous, you will always wind up standing on top of your enemies.  For “If God is for you, who can be against you?” (Romans 8:3) And let’s not forget,  “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Isaiah 54:17. We will indeed come out on top of our enemies, if we do what God is telling us to.

And I know this from personal experience.   God has already blessed me tremendously in my new position already,  He has opened doors for me that have never been opened previously and allowed me to plant seeds of opportunity that I know will grow into amazing revenue streams for both me and my company, and I know that this is just the beginning.  I’m not quite sure how all of my blessings will manifest themselves, but I am anxiously waiting to see what miraculous things God will do on my behalf now and in the future.  I know that with God it’s always a surprise, you just never know, but I will definitely be keeping you posted.

A SPECIAL DEDICATION TO ALL OF THE HATERS OF 2011

Was 2011 your year for all of your enemies to attack you.  Did it seem that no matter where you turned, there were enemies all around you?  Were you the innocent victim of betrayal, gossip, lies, slander, infidelity or broken trust?  Did someone leave you heartbroken, or  did they steal something even more valuable from you like your trust? Has someone stolen something near and dear to your heart like a lover or a promotion, maybe you were even conned out of your life savings?  Did someone falsely befriend you, only to use you to get close to another person in your life?   Or perhaps the person that hurt you was not an obvious adversary, maybe there is someone in your circle whom in the nice-nastiest way, is constantly trying to belittle, degrade or take potshots at you at every available opportunity.   Pretending to be your friend, knowing that all the while they are filled with jealousy and contempt for you.  These types of people pretend to be your best friends in order to stay close to you.  Because it’s easier to do the most damage at a closer range as a friend than it would be farther away as an enemy.  So they stay in your life, continuing to be the only thing that they truly ever could be to you, and that is a” Frienemy”.  Or to put it even more plainly, an undercover Hater disguised as a friend=Frienemy.   

The type of hurt inflicted by a friend can be the most painful of all.  But the solace to that bitter pill is that at least in some twisted way, it does make more sense for someone who is closer to you to hurt you than it would be for a complete and total strange to hurt you.  At least they know you, and no matter how twisted the reasons are that they have fabricated in their mind, they know what your life is like, and maybe watched your happiness, gifts, talents and blessings from afar and grown envious overtime. Like I said, it is twisted, but in some way it does make sense. In my mind it makes a lot more sense than when a stranger who knows nothing about me, targets me, to hurt me for absolutely no reason.  I know that for me, when I have been attacked and purposely hurt by someone who doesn’t even know me, it baffles me.  The pain that I feel is compounded by the confusion that comes along with a situation like that.   In the past, I’ve spent many long hours trying to figure it all out.   I keep asking myself what I did or said wrong to make them treat me this way, to make someone seek me out to attack me maliciously without cause or provocation.  And the answer I got was this:  “People always throw rocks at things that shine.”

 I heard that line in the lyrics of a Taylor Swift song.  I’ve got to give it to her, for such a young girl, she has either dealt with a lot of “Haters” or been blessed with wisdom beyond her years. Because not only did she sing those words, she also wrote them.    And when I heard them, they so perfectly expressed exactly what I was feeling.  Because it seems to me that the more joy, talent, beauty, prosperity, blessings, love, happiness or wealth you have, the more some people want to hurt you.   My mom used to tell me when I was growing up that no matter how much you do to please people, there will always be someone that doesn’t like you, for whatever reason.  There will never be a way to make everyone like you. You will never be able to please everyone. So don’t ever try, just be you, “Do You.”  Don’t  ever try and “Shrink to Fit”,  in order to make someone else feel more comfortable about themselves.   Don’t ever put a dimmer on the brightness of your shine; just learn how to dodge the rocks.

We may never know why there seems to be this natural inclination for some people to hate those who are happier or that seem to be more successful than they are.  Maybe seeing the happiness of others reminds them of how unhappy and disappointed they are with the way their lives have turned out.  Seeing our happiness reminds them of the misery. And instinctively we become the enemy, the obvious target of their pain. That is just one theory of mine, but really we may never know why The Haters that we encounter, do what they do. Maybe Satan just needs to use someone to assist him in doing his dirty work.  And even though it may not look that way right now,  if any of these things have happened to you, like myself, if you have experienced  unwarranted pain or hurt this past year as the result of any of these events, do you know what I have to say to that?  GOOD, NO GREAT! THANKS HATERS!”  Because believe it or not they have actually did us an enormous favor.  So to all of the “Haters” out there, I say THANKS, because you’ve  made me stronger, tougher, smarter, wiser, helped me to sharpen my instincts, you have also made me more determined to be better, no, to be the best that I can be in spite of all that you have done to sabotage me.  And by living my life this way, being the best me that I can be, happy, healthy and free, I am insured to have the best and sweetest revenge possible.  Although I must point out, that this is not my goal.  It is simply the result of living well.  The best revenge you can ever have in life, is to live well and be happy.  And the benefits do not end there; the best news is still yet to come.

Because what I’ve learned is that whenever we are the target of unprovoked attacks, it means that God has a plan for you.  It means that like Job, He thinks very highly of you, and after you have passed this test, and gotten through this, He will elevate you to a higher place in your life.  And the cool thing about God is that whenever you pass a test and move on to the next level, he always rewards us with blessings and a higher level of favor and He will use your enemies to assist Him in doing so.   Just as He has said in His Word, “If God is for you, who can be against you?”  He has also said many times in His Word, “He will use your enemies as your footstool.”(Luke 20:43).   But in order for this to happen for us, there are certain requirements and behaviors that God expects from us during this challenging time.   As I stated earlier, I know this from personal experience, and in my next blog I will share exactly how God did that for me and I received blessings and incredible favor from God as a result.