Dementia for 2

For those of you that have been following me for a while, you know that my sister and I have been on the outs for over 5 years now. For the rest of you, well, you will have to go through the archives and catch up.

My daughter is friends with my niece on MySpace. At least that was the case until a few days ago. B came to me about a month ago and we were discussing my niece's page. She has posted some things that are not very ladylike if you get my drift. You can tell by the photos and captions of some of her photos that she has made a life changing decision. A decision that if not handled properly by her parents could result in irreparable damage being done to their relationship.

This has been a burden to me because I just did not know if my sister knew. If she knew, how was she holding up? How are she and my niece doing? I have a genuine concern for them regardless of our personal relationship.

Obviously this has been a burden on my daughter also. I say this because she went to visit sis the other day. She questioned sis about my niece's choice of friends and sis feigned ignorance. B told her some of the things that were on the web and sis wanted to see them. When B tried to bring them up, my niece had decided BEFORE B came over to remove her from her friends list. Now my niece is 21 and she is making her own decisions. It isn't like she could be grounded over this. They have made decisions concerning their children that are in direct conflict with the Word of God. As professing Christians, they will have to answer to a higher power for this.

I also have a deep concern for my niece. She has been allowed to lead a double life and now that it is out in the open, I don't know how she will handle it. If my sis and her hubby handle this wrong, they could lose her forever. She could not only turn her back on them, but she could turn completely away from God.

We are told in the Word to love the person and hate the sin. Unfortunately, most of us are not able to do that. We condemn, judge, and gossip about the person behind their back. To their face we treat them as an outcast among us.When this type of behavior starts in the home, how are they supposed to think anyone else will treat them any differently? I am not advocating that we all go to the crack houses and street corners to witness. But as the Body of Christ, we are to encourage one another, lift one another up. We are also to mourn with one another, cry with each other, and pray together for one another.

I hope that God intervenes and uses this episode in their lives to really heal and reconcile them not only to one another, but to Him.