The other night I had dinner with some of my deeply atheist family members. One of them, my sister, is a more recent atheist, as she and I were raised together in the same reformed baptist household. The others are family by marriage. I have struggled in the past with some gripping sadness over the spiritual condition of my family, but more recently, as God has allowed me to digest and learn from the teachings here, I have been becoming almost blissfully devoid of worry or concern over it. This is not to say that I am not praying for them and hoping that they might learn truth, but I don't feel so much anxiety about them anymore! I am hopeful that this feeling will be something that God gives me for everything in my life, so that I can truly be 'anxious for nothing'. And believe me, I'm good at worrying..:/ The realization that I've been given a peace that I didn't have before made me feel like I'd lost a part of myself, but, in a really good way...(maybe like losing a baby tooth?)
All I know is, I'm ready to lose more..I'm longing for this peace over my life and to overflow into those lives around me.