Why do people call me too sensitive or too angry? Am I? Well, I am and not because I identify with multiple marginalized groups, but because I am Christian. I get angry with injustice, I am sensitive with people's stories who are dismissed because others don't understand or agree. I am hurt, by the lack of compassion for the 'others'. My faith in the gospel makes me very sensory and calls me to do and/or say something.
I have a voice that I didn't have when I was in my teens or early 20s. I would look past injustices saying confidently it is not 'my battle'. Caring for others is exhausting, painful, and downright messy, but it is the life that I CHOOSE. My faith in humanity often wavers when I am in community and told well this group doesn't matter vs. this other group because they sin too much or they aren't holy. WHAT? I am sinful and I am broken and I thank God for those who saw me as Christ sees me. I am loved! And I am as His daughter someone to fight for, advocate for, love, correct, love some more and rejoice in.
I CHOSE to extend my voice because someone did so for me when I wasn't a 'good enough' Christian, meek, gentile or submissive. I chose to lend my voice because someone reminded me that being a woman my God celebrates and honors as an ezer of his kingdom. I chose to be sensitive because I am loved even though my community often is viewed with suspicion. I am angry, because I am sometimes the other to this day, even with my accomplishments. I am burdened, by having to correct people who intellectually want to justify oppression to elevate their own agenda. I am saddened, when compassion is seen as weakness or a defect. However, I am renewed when I remember this voice, my voice is needed because of the enormous brokenness we live in everyday.
2 Corinthians 12:10 says, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Am I too sensitive? Am I too angry? Yes, now what? What does it say about you, that you are not too sensitive or angry?
