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.

               

Red Rover

Welcome to Unseen today.  We are in the middle of the holiday season. I am willing to bet that as people who live unseen, you have experienced some hurt this holiday.  We are challenged to be thankful, but life is full of pain and it is easy to feel alone in our pain. Today's post is about ways to deal with that feeling.

 

RED ROVER, RED ROVER

Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:3

Remember the old playground game, Red Rover? You divided into teams and team members locked arms. Then one team would call out, “Red Rover, Red Rover, Let Stacy come over!” Stacy would break from the ranks of her team’s line and run as hard as she could toward the other team’s line. She would try to aim for what she felt was a weak link. If she broke through the line, she could take one of the players for her team. If she did not break through, she joined the team that called her, and her team lost a member. The best strategy for keeping a player from breaking through your line was simply to hold on tight to the people on either side of you.

            What we need in the church today is the same kind of determination to hold on to the people on either side of us.  Our enemy is trying desperately to take some of our friends and family off our “team.”  This week in our ladies’ class there were several prayer requests that made me realize how much we are under attack. A young woman was grieving on the anniversary of her daughter’s death. Mothers were struggling with children in addiction. Several had serious health concerns. One of my husband’s oldest friends was killed in a robbery. How can we help each other through things like this? We need to hold on tightly to each other. Just as in the game a player looks for the weakest link, the enemy hits us at our weakest point. We need to be in fellowship so we are not fighting alone.
            The Bible describes the church as a body. 1 Corinthians describes the way the body is supposed to work together as well as some ways that it should not work. It can be tempting to say to our fellow believers, “I have no need of you. I am fine on my own.”  This is a lie from the enemy who wants us to be disconnected. We are encouraged in Rom 12:15 to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Then in Galatians 6:2 we are told to bear one another’s burdens. Many other passages have advice on how to relate to one another. A common theme is that we must stand together.  
            Unlike Red Rover, we are not in a game. We are in a war, and we need to fight together. The unity of believers, empowered by God and his spirit, will be a key factor in the victory. Our ladies have begun to learn this. Our unity is not because of our similarity to one another. We have a wide age span, different financial situations, different ethnic backgrounds and we came to God from some very different places. Our unity comes from being devoted to the same Lord. While I, who came to God from the third pew, may not be able to understand my sister who came to God down the road of addiction and abuse, I can stand with her and draw strength from her.
            Stand together and hold tight to each other. We can’t let our marriages, our children, or our Christian families to be pulled back to the other side.

Lord, Help us to fight together and to fight with you.

A New Pair of Glasses

Welcome to Unseen this week. Adjusting to full time work has been challenging and exciting. I hope to be back to weekly posts soon as I get my time schedule back on track. With Thanksgiving coming up, we are hearing about gratitude. Read on for my perspective.

A new Pair of Glasses

Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Romans 12:1

    My dad went through a grueling battle with cancer and Alzheimer's disease.  It was very hard to watch this strong, passionate, independent man be reduced to one who was confused and vulnerable.  We found that we had to find humor where we could to cope with the situation.  There were funny things that happened, too. He loved Braum's ice cream, and wanted my sister to bring some every time she came to see him.  To save money, she bought a ½ gallon carton. She brought him some in a Styrofoam cup and he declared that it was not nearly as good as Braum's ice cream.  He would not believe that it was Braum's, so she went to the car and got a Braum's cup. She washed it out and put the ice cream into it. When he tasted it, he said, “Now, this is the good stuff. It's way better than what you brought me before.”

    Dad, like so many Alzheimer's patients, did not feel that he was confused. He desperately wanted to go back to work.  He was telling me about a test that the doctor had done, apparently to check for cognitive loss. He said that he didn't do that well on the test and the doctor had said he was concerned. Dad insisted that the reason he had not done well on the test was that he could not see the questions very well. He stated that he was going to get new glasses in a few weeks and then he would be fine. He would be able to go back to work then. 

    When Dad told me this, I just shook my head and laughed. Then I thought about what he said. How many times in life do we just need a new perspective, “a new pair of glasses”, to get us through a situation?   It is so easy to complain about the way life is. We see the co-worker who is difficult rather than the blessing of having a job.  We see the amazing amount of food that teenagers eat and miss the

blessing of having teens who are home to eat it.  We see the spouse who has to be asked more than once to take out the trash and miss the blessing of having a spouse who for all their faults has been faithful and loving.

      Proverbs has a lot to say about our perspective in life.  For instance, chapter 15 and verse 16 tells us, Better is a little with contentment than great feasting with strife. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows us things that are out of perspective. The beatitudes show us that what we think of as bad, being meek, mourning, or being persecuted, are actually things that will give us blessings.  Later he chastises the Pharisees for tithing mint, dill and cumin, while neglecting the weighty matters of the law, such as love and mercy.

    Christian life requires a new perspective, or a new pair of glasses. The things we are asked to do don't make sense to our natural minds.  Where is the logic in being the greatest by serving others, or in praying for those who persecute us? Romans 12 tell us that we must not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. If you are struggling with a situation, ask God to show you how he sees it. Also, when we talk to each other, let's practice looking for the blessings and not complaining. You never know what you will find.

 

Work in Progress

Welcome back to Unseen. I have started a full time job and have been looking at the changes in my life and my attitudes. Read on to see what I learned.

Work in Progress

            And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit 2Cor. 3:18

            My little boy was very allergic to mosquito bites, and they would swell and itch miserably. He had several bites on his ankles and had scratched them until they bled.  Then the blood dried, effectively gluing the socks to his legs. I did not realize this and when I was getting him undressed that night I pulled his socks off and he howled. He put his little hands on his hips and said, “I wish I had the kind of mother who would take my socks off slow when I have a boo-boo.” Full of remorse, I said, “I am so sorry. Will I do until they can find you a mother like that?” Wiping his eyes, he said, “Yeah. They’re working on that kind of mother but they are not finished with them yet.” God is still not finished with me as a mother.

            Yesterday I was walking to the library to work on proofreading this book. I was a little distracted but my attention was quickly arrested. Our part of West Texas is on the path of the monarch butterfly migration.  Between the sidewalk and the library, probably a hundred gorgeous monarchs flitted in front of me. It was so exciting that I felt like a child. It made me think of the awesomeness of the creator and also of His transforming power. The proud-looking monarchs with their bold orange and black coloring come from a striped caterpillar that bears little resemblance to the adult.  I am so glad that the same God who can make that transformation is at work in me.

            2 Cor. 3:18 says “and we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” I am so glad that God did not leave me as I was when I first came to Him in 1978. I am glad He did not leave me as I was in1994 when I re-dedicated myself to serving Him out of love and gratitude for who He is, not just to follow the rules. He has used situations in my life to draw me closer to him and make me more like Him.  He has shown me His glory in valleys He has brought me through and in people who follow Him. He has taught me things in His word and molded me through service. 

The more time I spend with Him the more He changes me.

            It is easy to get stuck at one level of grace or growth. How do you avoid this? If you want to be

changed into God’s likeness, you have to behold His likeness. Spend time with Him in study and

worship. Spend time with His people. James says, “Come near to God and he will come near to

you” (4:8). If you want more of God, He is willing to meet you.

Our greatest fear

Living unseen creates many fears. There is fear of never being good enough, of never being noticed, and of being abandoned. I have learned, though, that there is another fear. Today's post is a poem by Marianne Williamson that teally speaks to me.

Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

Behind the Scene

Living unseen is hard and we can feel that the barriers we have to overcome are too much for us. We feel alone and forgotten. Today's post is about that feeling

Behind the Scene 

    My ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8

 

    In high school, I had the chance to be in some plays.  From the audience everything looks calm and smooth.  Actors enter and exit flawlessly and the scenery is changed at the appropriate time. From the other side of the curtain, though, it is a completely different picture.  Tech people are bringing lights up and down. Make up is being touched up, and costumes are being changed.  When the curtain goes down, prop managers scurry on and off stage.  The props and scenery from one scene are often completely different from the one before.  Places may be marked with glow in the dark tape.  Think of the hours of practice that have taken place beforehand, with movements mapped out and practiced.

Can you imagine an actor making an entrance onto a dark or semi-dark stage?  He has made the entrance dozens of times before, but this time something is different.  The prop manager did not get a piece of scenery off the stage from the previous scene. It happens to be right in the way and the actor trips or even falls.  The audience gasps, or maybe snickers.

    There was a time recently when I was waiting for something from God. I was doing everything I was supposed to do. I had confessed every sin I ever thought about committing, fearing that the reason I was not receiving what I was waiting for was because I was being punished. I begged. I pleaded. I cried. I got angry. I told God that He was not paying attention, and He apparently wasn't doing anything about my situation. Finally I got a picture of a scene backstage, with prop managers scurrying madly. God reminded me that He is in control, and that I would not want to make an entrance until the stage was set, because I did not want to fall over something. 

          I received what I was waiting for, and it has been fantastic. I see some of the things that were worked out, but I know there were many more that I will never see.   I have no idea what God is doing when He appears to be doing nothing.  We need to have faith, because God has seen the end from the beginning. Nothing surprises him and he is in control. Take courage as you wait for what you ask for. God is faithful.

LORD, Help us to remember that there are things we cannot see and that you will never leave us.