HaileyWrites

El Roi: The God who sees me. Hagar was an Egyptian slave. When Abraham and Sarah couldn't yet conceive, they grew impatient and were unable to wait on the promise of the Lord. As a result, Hagar was given to Abraham so that Sarah could have children through her. Bearing in mind that Hagar was a slave, it means that she probably didn't have a choice and she was bound to heed the word of her mistress Sarah. After Hagar conceived, she stopped respecting Sarah and as a result, Sarah mistreated Hagar. Genesis 16:4 (NKJV) So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. Genesis 16:4 (EASY) Abram had sex with Hagar and she became pregnant. When Hagar knew that she was pregnant, she no longer respected Sarai. As a result, Sarah dealt harshly with Hagar, and she fled into the wilderness where she met with the Angel of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord told Hagar to go back to Sarah and submit to her authority, an...

F ea r - an intensely unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm. I recently started reading a book titled, "Welcome Home" by Najwa Zebian and one paragraph deeply resonated with me. It says, "One of the most defeating forms of self oppression - to know you have power, but not to use it. To know you have a voice, but not to speak. To know you are in the wrong place, but stay where you are. To know you have so much potential but not use it. I think its safe to assume that the reason behind these forms of self oppression is simply fear. The paragraph resonated with me because I have a lot of irrational fears that cause me to miss out on a lot of things. After reading the paragraph, I had a playback of all the missed opportunities because I was scared to speak up. At times, I am my own enemy. I often overlook my own potential and succumb to my fears. However, its a new year and that needs to stop! I have been a slave to my fears for many years now, I al...