Dancing Through Life by Candace Cameron Bure, Erin Davis Page A

manages, posts, and comments on all my social media? I do! Not a personal assistant, not my publicist, not my agent or managers, not my kids (well, sometimes if they hack it), but me. Which means, I’m the one who reads your comments. I did make an effort to stop reading the majority of comments in preparation for the Disney week show, but there was no avoiding the tidal wave of opinions that flooded in after the show aired. My costume choice also became a hot topic of discussion in the blogosphere. I may have wanted to bury my head in the sand and ignore it all, but I’m not sure there’s a desert big enough!
“You’re not godly enough.”
“You’re not very humble.”
“Your brother, Kirk Cameron, is a better Christian than you.”
“You need Jesus more than ever.”
“You’re too worldly.”
“You’re not modest enough.”
“You’re such a disappointment as a Christian.”
“You’re a show-off.”
“We used to look up to you, now you’re just like the rest of Hollywood.”
    That’s a sneak peek at the kind of comments that found their way onto my computer screen. I had already resolved to stop worrying about what other people thought about me and my Christian walk and to live my faith on my own, between me and God, but that didn’t keep me from being saddened by the culture of criticism and conflict that develops so easily online, particularly from other Christians.
    I’m no stranger to criticism. It’s a nasty side effect of being a celebrity (and a human being, right?). Over the years, I’ve had to train myself not to be defensive or reactionary. I’ve grown a thick skin and figured out how to “Shake It Off” in the words of Taylor Swift.
    Instead of defending myself against every critique, I’ve learned to race toward Psalm 91:1–4.
    The one who lives under the protection of the
Most High
dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the L ord , “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
He Himself will deliver you from the hunter’s net,
from the destructive plague.
He will cover you with His feathers;
you will take refuge under His wings.
His faithfulness will be a protective shield.
    God is my refuge! His presence is my safe place to run when I am under attack. Having the right words at the right time can’t always shield me from criticism. Neither can trying to live like other people want me to. Remember? That’s a snare, not a safety net!
    This passage says that God will deliver me from the hunter’s net. This passage is describing someone who is especially good at laying traps. I’ve certainly encountered a few hunters online! But God is able to defend me. I don’t have to work to avoid the trap all on my own. He can also protect me against “the destructive plague,” those attacks that come all at once. That’s a pretty good description of the heat I took for some of the choices I made on the show.
    Looking back I can see that part of the reason that Melissa fought so hard to keep me out of that Ariel costume was that she was being defensive for me. She was trying to shield me from the potential onslaught of others’ criticism she figured was coming. As my big sister, she wanted to protect me. But ultimately, she couldn’t. God had to be my defender.
    Maybe you will never face thousands of critics who are mad at you for a costume choice. Maybe no one will ever blog about whether or not your clothes match what you claim to believe, but the lessons of Psalm 91 still apply to you. You will face criticism. You will have people in your world who don’t affirm you in the way you want to be affirmed. You will be misunderstood. Then what?
    You can run around trying to counteract every negative comment or opinion, but you will probably just end up exhausted from all the effort required and there’s no guarantee that the naysayers will ever see it your way. A better alternative is to seek refuge under the mighty wings of the Lord. To remind yourself often that