Have you ever been Ghosted?

17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Romans 12: 17-18

Have you ever been Ghosted? I'm not writing about an eerie encounter with something other

worldly, though if you ever have been Ghosted you will have your world rocked for sure!

"Ghosting" is when someone you're dating ends (Though it is not reserved just for dating relationships) the relationship by cutting off all communication, without any explanation. … There are many psychological reasons why someone ghosts, but at its core, ghosting is avoidance and often stems from fear of conflict.

As stated, it's not reserved to just dating relationships, I have experienced people I thought would be in my life forever, fade from my life like a sunset. Burning bright and beautiful for a short time, before the relationship goes dark

In a recent PsychCentral online article, I read: Ghosting might start with an unanswered text or call, or long silences between replies, until there are none. Here are eight reasons why a person might ghost instead of communicating:

1. They are chicken: People who do not handle conflict well fear confrontation.
2. They are avoidant: Ghosts are more likely to have intimacy problems.
3. They are ashamed: People with low self-esteem want to avoid criticism and the shame they will experience if you get to know them better — one reason for avoiding intimacy. They also expect to feel shame for hurting you.
4. They are busy.
5. They are game players: To some daters, particularly narcissists, relationships are solely a means to satisfy their egos.
6. They are depressed or overwhelmed: Some people can hide depression for a while. The ghost might be too depressed to continue and not want to reveal what is really going on in his or her life.
7. They are seeking safety: If you have raged in the past or are violent or verbally abusive, the ghost may avoid you in self-protection.
8. They are setting a boundary: If you have annoyed and smothered your friend with frequent texts or calls, especially if they have asked you not to, then their silence is sending a message.

What do you do when you have been Ghosted?

Never pay back! Let them go! Acknowledge to the Lord the appreciation you have for having shared a season in their path and release them! I believe firmly in the Sovereignty of God with all my heart. Everything that happens to a believer must pass through the permissive will of God! Everything! The one who directs my path, and yours is the one who orchestrates Hellos and Goodbyes, often has people positioned in our lives for a particular time. We all can look back to segments, chapters of our life when people so needed then, were there, now there not, and we and they have moved on.

Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Refuse to vilify them, by believing and saying things about them that denigrates or devalues them!

 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Sometimes it's possible, to live at peace sometimes it's not, if you haven't been Ghosted, you most likely will be... choose peace, and rest in knowing they were there for a time, and if God wanted them in your life for a longer period of time they would have been.

There is a line from a long forgotten movie that I cannot forget..."No matter how good a friendship is, it always has it's time." When I rest in God's permissive will, and the reality that people come and go...should they choose to go, I can and will move on, come to think of it in light of God's will for me, Ghosting doesn't have to be that scary!