Unseen
This blog is for people who feel overlooked and invisible. It offers inspiration and encouragement for people who have physical and mental disabilities and chronic illness, as well as caregivers and family members.
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
FILE NOT FOUND
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Due to Circmstances Beyond Our Control
Friday, August 11, 2023
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Fear
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
kaleidoscope
I love kaleidoscopes. They are such simple toys, made of a cardboard or metal tubes, an opaque lens and colorful pieces of glass or plastic. When you hold the lens up to the light, you can see the colored pieces for a shape Twisting the tube just a bit shifts the colored pieces and completely changes the pattern. It can be mesmerizing to watch the colors and shapes change and can keep a child, or an adult, entertained. The image depends on the position the pieces are in.
I have discovered something in the last few weeks. What we see in life depends on our viewpoint. One small change in our perspective can completely change what we know and understand. For example, I had an experience the other day when I was complaining about a situation that occurred often when I was growing up. My husband saw the situation from a different perspective and shared with me what he saw. I felt like my memory shifted like the pieces in the kaleidoscope. Things that had made no sense to me suddenly became clear. I could see more clearly why I reacted the way I did. Old resentments and jealousy were shown in a different light, and have become easier to overcome.
The Bible tells us in Isaiah 55, “Thus says the Lord. My ways are not your ways. Neither are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."We think things should work one way but they don't work out that way. There is a country song that says, "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers." I am not saying that we should use country songs to dictate our theology, but the sentiment does support what we read in this verse.
Loook at this beautiful verse from Isaiah 46.
9Remember what happened long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me.
10I declare the end from the beginning,
and ancient times from what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.
Not only does God see things that we can't but he sees it in the context of eternity. We look at what is happening right now and can't understand.
Saturday, November 12, 2022
There is no limit to the places we can find lessons for our
spiritual lives. Believe it or not, the inspiration for today’s lesson came
from THE PRICE IS RIGHT. The item up for bid was a diamond necklace. Contestants
were bidding between $750 and $1000. The “actual retail price” was $3025. I was
impressed not only by the value of the necklace but by how people undervalued
it. Diamonds are used in many industries including automotive and medicine
because they are excellent for cutting and polishing. However they have value
apart from what they can do. Ultimately, the value of something is based on
what someone is willing to pay for it.
I realized as I thought about this that the same is true
for us as Christians. I admit that have received my value based on performance
and what I could do for God or others. Growing up, that was how I got
validation. In school, church and often at home, that was how I got attention
and approval. I accomplished things and I succeeded. I have shared before that
I loved the gold stars and happy faces on papers and Sunday school charts. I
did not learn about grace until much later and it was actually a difficult
concept for me. My acceptance and God’s love for me was outside of anything I
did or could do. It was because God chose to pay the price for my redemption. I
had value to Him outside or what I could do or accomplish.
Isaiah 43:4 has become one of my life verses. “Since you are precious in my sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other people in your place and other nations in exchange for your life.
Look at John 15:16.
Jesus tells his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and
appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
In
the beautiful passage in Romans 8, Paul tells us …31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is
for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
I
am by no means saying not to do things to glorify God or to help his people. I
am merely saying that our value is not defined by what we accomplish but in
what he was willing to do for us. The world and even people we love will
sometimes undervalue us, like the diamond necklace. God gave up his most
precious possession to purchase us. May we stand in that value this week.A
Thursday, June 16, 2022
ABIDE
Abide
When I was about 13 we went to a Navajo reservation to hold a Vacation Bible School. It was a world like nothing I had ever seen. The hogans looked pieced together but they were sturdy and comfortable on the inside. The chapter house had beautiful handmade crafts, offices, meeting rooms and a shower facility. The men built a brush arbor while we watched amazed at the transformation.
We had Vacation Bible School in the morning and Gospel Meeting at night. Afterwards we ate fabulous food that we had never had, including fresh fry bread. The afternoons were reserved for fun. There were impromptu games and hikes. That was the summer I discovered Agatha Christie. I would hike a little way from where the campsite was and sit in on of the shallow caves to read. One day as I was hiking, I saw a fox den with 2 kits inside. We watched each other in silence. They were completely unconcerned. They were sheltered from the sun and mama was undoubtedly nearby and would come running at the slightest yip.
In our Christian lives, although we trust God we feel the
need to rush around and figure out a backup plan in case he doesn’t come
through. ( Maybe that is just me.) Scripture tells us to Abide in him. Abide
means to remain stable or
fixed in a state. Like the fox
kits we need to be stable and fixed in our trust that God is a good father and
will come at our call. Life does not always look like that but we have the
assurance that it is true.
Look at this beautiful verse that I found about abiding in God. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalms 91:1) I cannot think of a better place to abide than in the shadow of the Almighty. I long for safety and shelter and I can be sure to find it there. More than that, it is my rightful place. What if a bobcat tried to move into the fox den. Mama fox would make short work of it because the den is not its rightful place. I don’t have to creep into the presence of God as if I am afraid someone will spot me.
Not
only is God’s presence a place of safety and shelter, but it is a place of
power and provision. Jesus tells his disciples, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7” If we are remaining in a fixed
and stable state in Jesus and hiding his word in our heart ( Psalms 119:11) we have a flow of blessings in him.
Abiding is not common in our culture. We are taught to strive, to work harder, to be self-made women and men. May we have the courage it takes this week to learn to be still and abide in the shadow of the Almighty.