Chosen

    As the first order of business today I want to honor one of the great unseen heroines in my life, Jimmie Gomez. From the day I met her in 1985 I felt like she was my own personal cheerleader.  When I saw her after being away from Abilene for several years, she was in a wheelchair as a victim of post polio syndrome. She had a phone call ministry from her wheelchair and could pray with the best of them.  As one friend described, "She had the 'red line' to her Daddy's phone."  She encouraged me in my school and in my writing and planned to be a guest blogger here on Unseen. She was very instrumental in praying my child out of the pit. She loved him and believed in him when not many people did.  He loved her too and when he was angry at God and church he always loved seeing her. Now that he is out of the pit, he is committed to praying for Jimmie's grandson who is trying to get out of the same pit. Isn't that just like God?  Now read on for ideas about being chosen by God.

Chosen

You did not choose me, but I chose you that you may go and bear fruit and that your fruit may endure. John 15:16

When I was growing up, I felt like I had a sign on my forehead that said: ALMOST GOOD ENOUGH BUT NOT QUITE. It was more than not being part of the in crowd.  I grew to hate PE, especially if we picked teams.   I was almost always among the last three to be chosen. Academic teams were a completely different story, but the pattern started early of focusing on what I couldn’t do rather than what I could do. As I got older, I tried out for teams and groups, and many times I almost made it. All district choir. All district band. Homecoming Court. There were nine girls in my ninth grade class and eight spots on the Homecoming Court. I was the one sitting in the bleachers. It was the same story with cheerleading tryouts. I had a very rational response. I grew to hate cheerleaders. Interviews, when I made it to the top two or three and didn’t make the final cut, added to the feeling.  None of these experiences by themselves were that bad, but the sum of them left me with deep wounds. I felt like I would always fall short, no matter what I tried. This conflicted with the message that if I tried hard enough I could get anything I wanted and do anything I wanted. I was confused and frustrated.  I coped by trying to never hope so I would not be disappointed. Would you like to guess how well that worked out?

            Even growing up knowing God, I was shocked when I found what Jesus said in John 15:16. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you that you might go and bear fruit and your fruit should endure.” This verse began the slow process of setting me free.

            Maybe you are like me. Maybe you have wounds from rejection. Maybe you don’t see why anyone would choose you, much less the God who created heaven and earth. It is the truth, though. He assures us over and over that we are His beloved and His chosen. Isaiah 43:1 says that He calls us by name. Imagine being at an event where the governor is speaking. When he announces the team to manage a new project, He calls your name. He doesn’t just say, “I want the short lady with the short blond hair.” He says, “I want Susan on my team. I have work for her to do.” What an honor that would be, and that is what God did for each of us. He told Jeremiah that he chose him and consecrated him (set him apart) to be a prophet before he was born. You, like Jeremiah, were made on purpose. Ephesians 2:10 says God had good works prepared in advance for us to do. Finally 1 Peter 2 tells us that “We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a peculiar people so that we should show forth the praises of God, who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

            Knowing the truth of our destiny, it is vital that we get that truth into our spirits. We have walked around long enough in hurt, fear and rejection. If the enemy can keep us there we will not do the works that God prepared in advance and we will not show forth the praises of God. The enemy will shine the light on our rejections and replay our hurts in our minds like DVDs. We can choose to take hold of the spotlight and shine it instead on God’s acceptance and show others how to do the same.

            One final note: once, on a retreat, I was dealing with rejection that I felt. I had an image of my hand and it was bleeding from many places, like pin pricks. Then I saw Jesus nail scarred hand superimposed on mine. He said, “What is their rejection compared to my acceptance.” Good question.

Dive!Dive!

It's definitely the Christmas season.  There is a tiny bit of snow on the ground and last night Charlie Brown's Christmas was on TV. Living unseen can tempt us to focus on our concerns and get our eyes off of God and his purposes. Read on to find out how I learned to reach for what God has and who He is.

Lessons from the Dog

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Ps 34:8

                My silly little dog is a treasure. He is always glad to see me when I come in, even if nobody else is. If I am feeling sad or scared in the middle of the night, he hardly ever fusses about being picked up and cuddled. As little as he is, I have no doubt that he would tear up someone who tried to hurt me.  He loves to go for walks. I was saying, “I’m going to take the dog on a ‘you-know-what,’” so he wouldn’t flip out when I said walk. Now he knows what a “you-know-what” is and starts flipping out when I say that. One day we went on a “you-know-what.” It was summer time in West Texas, and it had been miserably hot. (That may be redundant.) We had had a thunderstorm which had cooled it down some, and we took the opportunity to get outside. As we walked along, I guess Benji’s little feet got hot. When we crossed a street about halfway through our route, there was a puddle about two feet across. He stepped into the puddle. I expected him to take a drink and then keep going, but he had other ideas. He lay down in the middle of the puddle with all four feet stretched out. I laughed and so did several people driving by.  I tried to get him to come on, but he had the brakes on. I finally managed to get him out of the puddle and walked home with a pile of soaking wet puppy dog.

                While I was minding my own business laughing at the dog, God showed me something. Many times when I come to worship or have quiet time with God, I am tempted to just stick to the edges. I may read my devotional books but not really focus. I may sing but not think about what I am singing. I may even sit on the end of the pew and be tempted to leave early. I have told my friends before to let me sit on the inside so it will be harder for me to bail out. Sometimes it is busy-ness and sometimes it is feelings of unworthiness or guilt. What I want is to be like my dog. I want to plunge into God’s presence and revel in it. One thing I need to do more of is just sit in God’s presence and be still and listen.  That is not a natural thing in our culture, but we need it.

God is never too busy for you and is always available. He wants you to share your hurts, your fears, your joys and triumphs with Him. The psalmist says, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked” (Ps. 84:10). We also read, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalms 34:8) Hebrews tells us that through Christ we can come boldly before the throne of grace. (4:16)

                If you need friends like mine who will help you into the presence of God and not let you skip out on it, I pray that you will find them. Let’s desire the presence of God so much that nothing can keep us away. Whether you meet Him in your prayer closet or in your worship service, meet with Him. He loves you to the very core of your being and sent Jesus to die for you so that you could be His child.