Loving In The Face Of Fear

At present, I’m struggling with myself, wrestling with my soul as it were, about the best response to make in a very difficult situation.
What response do you make to people who are happy to make you speak up on their behalf, then suddenly align with the very people you challenged? What do you when you’ve constantly been used, then sidelined and marginalized by people who are supposed to be your own? How do you respond when you speak out and no one acknowledges that you did, much less, listen to your words?
It takes courage for someone like me to express their feelings. I’ve had to work on it for many years. Then to have those feelings ignored, sets you back. It fills you with fear. Should I continue to express my true feelings? Must I make myself vulnerable? Should I lay myself on the line again? Must I continue to love in the face of fear?
Then I go and read this:
To love in the face of fear is bold. To love in the face of hatred is courageous. To make the choice to stretch through resistance to love even more deeply and widely in the face of blatant acts of fear and hatred is a heroism of the heart that may be our only hope to heal this world. Kristi Nelson
I realize I have no choice.
“Love without expectations”, my inner voice says. And I must follow.
