Donna Barber - Bread for the Resistance: Forty Devotions for Justice People

InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
ivpress.com
email@ivpress.com

2019 by Donna Marie Barber

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges, and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, visit intervarsity.org .

Scriptures marked NKJV are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION (NKJV). Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

While any stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information may have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Cover design and image composite: David Fassett
Interior design: Daniel van Loon
Images: old wall: 123foto / E+ / Getty Images
industrial silos: rrenis2000 / iStock / Getty Images Plus
abstract painted background: Don Farrall / Digital Vision / Getty Images
woman holding up fist: PeopleImages / E+ / Getty Images
graphic skyscrapers illustration: Jutta Kuss / Getty Images
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ISBN 978-0-8308-6380-8 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-4396-1 (print)

This digital document has been produced by Nord Compo.

This book is dedicated:

To the powerful men and women of God who taught and challenged me through his Word and lived out its teachings before me: Pastor Hiawatha Coleman, Reverend Gregory Johnson, and Thornton and Frances Anderson.

To the mighty women of prayer who instilled in me the discipline of devotion, the necessity of solitude, and the power of the Spirit: Denise Van Dorn and Rachel Barber.

To my comrades in this fight for justice: Lisa Sharon Harper, David and Joy Bailey, Rudy and Juanita Rasmus, and Ken and Tamara Wytsma.

To my bestie, Jen Casselberry, whose loving, persistent nagging demanded this idea become a reality.

To my amazing children who fill my life with joy and keep me on my knees: Jessica, Joshua, Joel, Lea, Asha Joy, and Jonathan.

And to my husband and friend, Leroy Barber, whose fire and faith inspire me to believe that not only is it possible to change the world but also that we are required and accountable, as Jesus followers, to do so.

Sometimes you get tired. In the midst of the marching and the posting and the blogging and the meetingsyes, the many, many meetingsyou get tired. Tired of having to explain it again to people who dont get it. Tired of figuring out the wording and the right tone of voice. Tired of swallowing the frustration that rises like bile in the back of your throat and tired of pushing down the anger or the sorrow or the fear. Sometimes you get tired while pursuing this thing called justice, and you just have to pause, breathe, and steal away until the dust kicked up in that days battle settles. Sometimes you have to take a moment to feed your soul.

I was able to get by with snacking on Sunday morning sermons and sporadic, repetitious prayer when I was schlepping through the dull routines of lifework, eat, sleep, school, eat, sleep, play, eat, sleep. But when I dared to pursue the narrow way of the kingdom, to discover and fulfill purpose, to hear and heed the call, I slowly realized that my spirit required something more substantive and nourishing.

Doing justice is often intense and progress painfully slow. For it requires both strength and endurance to accept the mistake, the misquote, and the misunderstanding, or to push through the pain of disappointment . . . again. You must be willing to be a friend without making friends and to find glory in your weakness. Days are sometimes wrought with emotional cuts and bruises, and relationships are often strained or lost. Patience is tested. Courage is tried.