“Many problems, but one is simply unbearable. It’s everyday slapping you in the face and the more you try to get rid of it, the bigger it gets. People have gotten accustomed to seeing you carrying it over your shoulder and so they don’t even ask how that is going. And then you hear about how you must revolt… certainly that’s something new, something nobody taught you anywhere else in life, and so you get revolted, but then what?”

Then what? What do you mean then what? There lies the problem. To be revolted is definitely not just say you’re revolted, be angry about the whole situation, and that’s it. To be revolted is to react to what you’re revolted at. It’s to go out of your way and do something different, more like crazy really.

When you read about the revolt of the prophets in the past in regards to the spiritual state of Israel, you understand this better. In those times, just like today, people didn’t like prophecies, or better, they didn’t like to know what was going to happen to them if they didn’t change and so prophets had a hard time. Most of them were killed because of their prophecies. You read about them in the Bible today because they were revolted, they did something different, different from other prophets in their time. Some walked naked and shaved their head, others lived alone until death, one in particular even married a prostitute, the other threatened the king, and the list goes on. Why the extreme? You may ask. Revolt. That’s all.

Revolt makes us do crazy things, do things that you’d never expect yourself to do, surprising people around you, causing all kinds of reactions not only from them but mostly from your own self. Every now and again I hear people say they’re revolted and yet, life goes on, their revolt makes no impact in anyone’s life, least of all their own. And the reason their revolt doesn’t do any good to them is right there, at the lack of doing something about it.

If you say you’re revolted and you haven’t done anything out of the ordinary, I’m sorry to say, you’re not revolted. You still don’t know what revolt really means. You don’t have to go naked (please!) or shave your head, or marry the wrong person, but you do have to react otherwise your revolt won’t do you any good.

When I committed my future to God and sacrificed my right to bear children of my own in order to have spiritual children, I cried. I had always dreamed of it, even had a name fixed of my ‘first daughter’ - Beatrice. But out of my revolt, I sacrificed that dream to God. Today, I’m a joyful mother of many spiritual children. I have experienced what I’m talking about, not only back then but since then.

Revolt must go along with action. Without it, you’re tolerant to what’s going on in your life. You may even say you’re revolted, but... are you really?

In faith.
Cristiane Cardoso.