I was sitting in my home office listening to Fr. John Riccardo talk about what God thinks of us. I realized that as I get older, I care a lot less about what the world thinks of me and much more about what God does.
I used to be so concerned about hiding my political views and religious beliefs fearing liberal members of the media would grow to dislike me and not want to cover my clients’ stories as a communications strategist.
As my faith grew, my worry decreased. We have to ask ourselves: are we seeking the approval of the people or of God. “ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ ” (Gal 1:10).
Are you afraid to speak truth on social media because you are worried you might offend someone or someone might not like you any more because of your views? During this whole COVID-19 crisis, I posted a couple of things that were not controversial and were from secular news sources but because the stories supported more conservative views, liberal Facebook friends including members of the media commented condescending remarks back to me. At first, I was offended but then I realized that I don’t need please them. I need only to answer to God and speak Truth.
As I read more posts on social media, I was becoming so angered by the vicious attacks towards conservatives and Catholics. I called Teresa Tomeo one Sunday night to vent. We spent about an hour on the phone talking about the injustice and how the conservative view is unfairly censored in the media including on social media platforms. I prayed before I went to bed. I woke up still annoyed and prayed before I got out of bed. I basically said, “Okay God, I will do all that I can but crazy is on you.”
As I was still sleepy walking to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, I glanced into my office and in a shadow across my window was the image of a very large cross. I stopped in my tracks in awe. I snapped a photo and said a prayer of gratitude. I felt like God with me. I emailed the photo to Teresa and she replied back, “V, God just gave you a big hug. He left you that sign in the office you communicate.” At the end of the day, God is all that matters. Jesus tells us that we will be hated as his followers. I am just fine with that. When I posted about the how degrading the 2020 Super Bowl half time show was with Jennifer Lopez, a couple of those liberal reporters chimed in immediately disagreeing with me. I looked at their comments, said a little prayer and went on with my day believing God would be pleased with me.
After all, when my time on earth is over, I want to hear the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Vanessa Denha Garmo is a Communications Strategist & Coach. She is the founder of Epiphany Communications & Coaching and the Communications Evangelist Institute. She is a talk show host in both Catholic and secular media.