Mask Be Gone!
As I got into the car yesterday..what seemed to be just an ordinary trip to Target turned courageous!
As I pulled into the parking lot, I asked God to give me the courage to walk in...DARE I SAY MASKLESS?
Who would have thought a year ago, it would have taken any courage at all?
After one year of lockdowns, one year to flatten a 15 day curve..I can no longer participate.
While I am sad that people have been sick and/or have passed from Covid, these lockdowns have quarantined the healthy, deprived kids of school, family abuse, divorce, addictions, suicides, unemployment, businesses permenantly closing are all on a horrific rise. So many people suffering from loneliness, fear, and anxiety. While the media and political pundits scream "all in the name of safety", these lockdowns are not safe.
After a year of researching the effectiveness of masks, after a year of witnessing the success of other states that are open, after a year of knowing the surviveablity rate, I decided to show my face at a New York retail corporation, and it was liberating. It was human. It was good.
As I walked around Target maskless, respecting those of their space, I was surprised...there were no confrontations, security didn't follow me and ask me to leave. It was a small statement, one I felt compelled to do while shopping for a few neccessities (all while smiling, lots of smiling as I was no longer faceless!).
The biggest tool Satan uses to mess with your life is fear. The Bible clearly says that fear doesn’t come from God: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18 NIV). The Bible also says, “God is love” (1 John 4:16 NIV). So when you’re afraid, that’s not from God—because there is no fear in love, and God is love.
The number one thing most people fear is death. Satan will use that fear to manipulate you. Look at the past year, so many terrified to die, they have stopped living.
But Jesus defeated death; he destroyed the Devil’s work. And so, when you as a Christian grieve a death, you grieve with hope.
He set us apart to do extraordinary things, to make leaps of faith, trusting him in this journey. While I have been extremely frustrated at the response of Covid, I am grateful for these strange times. Once again it allows me to run to Jesus, to seek him, and to be courageous knowing he will be right there with me, mask on or off.
While going to the store maskless may not seem very courageous to some (try living in NY, haha), it was for me..it was me taking a tiny step to trust Him. Tiny steps lead to bigger steps. Biden wants us to trust the government, Fauci, "the science", but these things are flawed, inconsistent and can be one sided. It's time for common sense to prevail! If we want to get back to living, really living extraordinarily let's remember Martin Luther King Jr.'s declaration years ago.."one has a moral responsibilty to disobey unjust laws".
Love,
Lisa Ray
Picture taken INSIDE New York Target!
Special thanks to Shannon Joy, Laura Jean Diekmann, Christina Higley, and Samantha Moore for inspiring courageous living!