Last week, I wrote about the rules that pervade our society, ultimately making an effort to silence, disenfranchise, and destroy the Black community. But I also wrote about the part in all this that is often left out of the conversation and immensely undervalued, and that is faith. As hard as the world, this country, and the systems it has implemented work to eviscerate us, God works harder, and at the end of the day, His plans and His will are the only things that are perfect and are carried out always. After all, they keep trying to bury us, but we are seeds that keep growing – out of pain, out of oppression, out of loss and we triumph, so it would seem, to me, that someone else’s (God’s) plan is far more successful than the plans that are working against us. Now, I have access to and proof of this liberating truth because I have been a witness to my parents’ faith, but also, because I’ve opened the Word of God on my own to learn of God’s character, His propensity for mercy and redemption, and because I can trace Him in my own life and more specifically, in the moments when I was undervalued and dismissed, His will was done and it was done in my favor. It is for all those reasons I fret not and I know that I am free through Jesus Christ, but what about my neighbor downstairs who lives in fear because she doesn’t know what I know, or even your neighbor? What about them and equally important, how will they know? Who will tell them? Well, the answer lies in the question, which is to say if they don’t hear about it from me, or from anyone who knows, then there can be no hope and thus, no faith.

Now, what I am not saying is to go up and down the streets jamming messages of hope and faith to everyone you see. It has to be done with tact and a Spirit of discernment – not on a whim or in judgment. I’m also not saying it is easy because I have been in many situations where the Spirit moved me and I hesitated, took my eyes off the task, and just thought about how people in the room would react and I panicked. Sure, the words came out, but not with much conviction. But one thing I can promise you is that over time, it becomes less scary and more liberating, about wanting to share your testimony and your experience – wanting those around you to feel as free and loved as you do.

Last week, I was on Zoom in my psychology class the day after the Presidential Debate and everyone was commenting on what a mockery it was, all the ways in which we’re screwed, and how this country forsakes the needs of Black and brown people, as well as our existence. It seemed like everyone was just lingering on the hopelessness of this nation and the inevitable doom of Americans, and the conversation made me uneasy because I did not live in the world that my classmates were describing. Yes, we watched the same debate in immense disappointment, but no, I was not without hope or faith or without the understanding that Donald Trump doesn’t have the last say – not when God reigns. But the class and the conversation was without hope. So, I spoke up and shared how my faith sustained me through this pandemic, that debate, and each and every day and ultimately, kept me sane. Per usual, it silenced the whole class before the subject was changed, but then I got a private message from a classmate. She said thank you because that is what the discussion was missing – God, and she shared how God had been sustaining her as well.

Now, it will not always be like that. As my mother always reminds me and as it says in 1 Corinthians 3:6, we plant the seed, we share our testimony of how God sustains us and He does the increase. We won’t always be appreciated for sharing our testimonies and nine times out of ten, we may not even know if what we’ve said has reached or helped anyone, but that is not for us to figure out or worry about. That is where God comes in. Our responsibility is to share – what they do with what we tell them is entirely up to them. The point is to share and to speak your truth. If God has truly been good to you, it is almost impossible to keep it to yourself most of the time anyway. It is just too exciting and comforting to know that in spite of all the world throws at us, we have a God always working in our favor, cheering us on, encouraging us, and loving us – whether we want Him to or not, whether we’re obedient to him or not, and whether we know it or not. Put it this way, it is like my father always tells me in Sunday School, your testimony is not for you, it is for others, it is for the world to see and know the glory of God, to know what He is capable of, and to know regardless of who we are, what we’ve done, and where we have been, there is nothing He can’t do for us and nothing he won’t do for us.