Three things that made me feel sad

Earlier this week I finished reading a book called The Stolen Children. The title refers to all the half caste Indigenous Australian children who were removed, in many cases forcibly, from their families as part of a racist and shameful government policy designed to 'whiten' Australia. You can read my full review of the book here on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3186726-the-stolen-children 

Some of the stories are very upsetting and depressing. My overall feeling was sadness.

In 1989, I joined YWAM (Youth With A Mission) which is an interdenominational Christian missionary organisation. During 12 fantastic months with them, I learned an incredible amount about God and about myself, I had some amazing, once in a lifetime experiences and I met some wonderful, beautiful people from all over the world. I recently learned that one of these inspirational followers of Jesus Christ, no longer considers himself to be a Christian, and has turned his back on his saviour. His is not an isolated case. I have been a Christian for 28 years, and I always will be because I cannot see any purpose in my life, or life in general without Jesus. It saddens me greatly to think that some have turned away from the ultimate source of love, faith and hope.

A fellow Christian recently read my novel, Loathe Your Neighbor, and said that I was not a good person, and could not be a Christian because of what I wrote in my novel. I have met this man once and had a very brief conversation with him, and now he has judged me. I feel sad whenever I encounter such narrow minded, grace deficient thinking. I feel even sadder when I consider how many people are like this.

There is much more to each of these anecdotes. There is always more to the story which is why I try to love and accept people instead of judging them.