Praise and Glory to God, the Most High! I am so excited, and I hope you are as well. I hope you came home from your church today, charged and ready to do some of the work the Lord needs us to do. Came home from church ready to keep growing and stretching. Came home from church, seeing hope in the future. Came home from church and you can't quit mulling over the Word of God the pastor has assisted feeding to you today! I know I did! I am on fire. I am keeping "watch" out for the Enemy, though. He loves to plant thoughts quickly in our minds, as soon as he sees we are overflowing with new life, due to instruction from church or Bible reading. (hopefully almost daily for you). I am on the front lines for the Lord. I am being vigilant in my guarding myself, from the Accuser. Do you realize that is what the word, Satan, means? It means accuser!!! Most folks think Satan is scary and causes us to do things like murder or adultery. Sins that are flagrant and obvious. But, as a new believer, I can tell you, he is crafty. Especially if you at any time in your life have admitted to being a Christian. If your parents planted any kind of Christian seed in you, you are at risk. And the more outspoken you are for the Lord, the more at risk you are. I am going to enjoy my Sunday, darn it. I am going to keep spending my Sunday with the Lord, even though church is over with! Blessings as you read this. I am hopeful it will convict you, if anything, about your long lost relatives.......that the Accuser has so skillfully assisted in keeping you from loving. Please read on. Do not fear. Jesus hates lies and deceit. Jesus loves truth and second chances and crumbling lives restoring other crumbling lives.....
Every family has a black sheep type situation. I hate that term. I am not saying that with any confidence or boldness or arrogance. I am saying that because I need you to understand "who" I am talking about. From here on out, I will call these people in all of our families, "the forgotten". Let that sit with you. Hmmm. Not comfortable.
What is so interesting, is that you can weave back through the years, decades on how these forgotten had been forgotten. How about the whispers at Christmas gatherings about the relative who obsesses about her health? How about the one who you purposely did not invite to a family gathering? How about the talks of the one "lone" alcoholic in our family, and as we are having these talks- down -our -noses discussions, we have a cocktail in our hand? Shame on me. Shame on you. I don't need to worry about the others involved. I am the one who has to answer to God someday for my sin. And I have much to explain to my Lord. I am explaining daily to Him and begging forgiveness, as almost daily, He reveals a past sin to me, that I have not yet owned up to. Ask Him to do that to you. He will grant it. And it will change your life! Do not be afraid.
Most families have forgotten members who are either: drinkers, druggers, squatters, sexually "immoral", hypochondriacs or just "not like the rest of us in the family". Oh, and let's not forget the shameful divorced people (that have tarnished our squeaky cleanness).
My extended family has all of these. (Meaning aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, siblings, parents, etc.) It almost seems like the common thread I see, and believe me, I don't know much, I just type this type of content because I am trying to learn from my evil ways and walk with Jesus closer every day, is that somehow, someone in each set of children gets to play this awful part. At least it does in my large circle of relatives and inlaws.
The irony of it all is that, I come from a Christian family. But, I do not come from a family of all out Jesus Followers. You see, Jesus Followers are very interested in the forgotten. They are spending their time either praying for the forgotten, or actually seeking them out. They don't spend their Christian time gossiping about the forgotten. They either try to redirect questions about the forgotten to something positive, or they eventually do decrease the amount of time they spend with the "haves" and increase their time with the "have-nots".
I am not righteous. I am guilty. I am a grave sinner. I have turned my life to Christ just 8 months ago. I was a Christian, and now I am a Jesus Follower. I now have a new family. My Father is God. I have new brothers and sisters in Christ, who support me and love me and encourage me. I have much hope for my earthly family. I will welcome them into my life with open arms when they accept me as a Jesus Follower, who is powered by the Holy Spirit. Who is still a sinner. But, who is living by the Word of God, who is turning from sexual sin and numbing agents including Xanax and booze. The Lord took me into His arms and has asked me to obey. And now that I have finally made a real Father connection, I understand why and how to obey. I was denied that opportunity until I found a Father in the Lord. My rebellion has ceased.
What a relief!
My sister, who is a forgotten, spend time with me this week. We had a wonderful time. We prayed and had good positive conversation. I played a Sarah McLachlan song for her on the piano. My sister mentioned the song, "We Are Born Innocent". It also is known as "Adia". My sister said, "Yes, we are all born innocent". I corrected her. We are not born innocent. We are born to sin. That is the misdirection of the Accuser. He wants you to feel to "robbed". That you fell down so hard in this life, and you started so pure as an infant. And then, wants you to either hide from God or blame God. Look at how many people in your life (maybe including you), hold on to this complete untruth! No wonder we don't go to church. Find a Holy Spirit church! Find a church where the forgotten's hang out. Where they are welcome to communion. Where they are prayed over. I am one of the forgotten. I am divorced twice. I have been in numerous abusive relationships with men. I have been abandoned in so many ways. I have been neglected, bullied and made fun of, mostly by relatives and men in my life. I have abused alcohol. I believe I was well on my way of being somewhat dependent on alcohol as a stress reliever, among other things.
I am a beautiful creation. I am musical. I play the piano very, very well. I am a good cook. I am a great mother and grandmother. I am only 43 years old. I am bold. I am intellectual and deep and always was spiritual. I have great faith, even through very tough times. I think all of the time, and problem solve. I feel deep pain for others. I am artistic in many ways other than music. I require little sleep. I use this time to now read and be with the Lord.
All of these things now, I know I do only thru Christ. I now realize I am nothing without Christ. I was hanging on by a thread for 42 years, mostly on my own strength. My control issues, my stubbornness and my anger were part of my fuel. My fuel now is on Holy Spirit fumes. I told my sister in Christ, Denise, that I do not think I can survive now if I turn my back on God. I really mean that. I don't know if I can live. I also don't know how to put that into words for you today. But, it would be the same as dead.
God's hand was under me the entire 42 years. But, He was waiting for this, what started as a sinful creature at birth, to turn to Him for everything. Surrender it all. Quit controlling it all. Read His Book! Quit trusting the world. Search and search and search for Him!
Praise, Glory to God, the day I was saved, April 14, 2011. I shed tears for this conversion experience almost daily.
Now, I am seeking the forgotten. I was once somewhat on the forgotten list. There are many of my relatives that are truly discarded by the others. "They are crazy". "They are miserable to be around". So, the "haves" are really in the circle, and the outliers need to stay on the outside of the circle.
Well, in a sense I am in a new category of forgotten. You see, I am "in a cult". (My church is Wesleyan, so that is so untrue). People are "worried about Missy".
So, while I spend time with the Lord, or visiting the forgotten, or loving on my children and grandchildren, or get more and more involved with a healthy, Holy Spirit driven church that reaches out for more of the forgotten, the "haves" are wasting even more time, listening to the Accuser, and spreading misinformation.
The Holy Spirit spoke to me very clearly Saturday morning. He awoke me with tears and a mission. To visit a relative that is elderly and shut in. I remember her making me a pillow or homemade item almost every Christmas growing up. She was always nice and pleasant. She seemed like she was always missing some love somewhere. Like she was misunderstood, like I have felt most of my life.
I will miss the Superbowl today. I am so fine with that. God told me to seek out my Aunt and I should have listened when He told me to do it about two months ago. He then told me to seek out an uncle. That is on the agenda for in the next couple of weeks.
Both of these people are elderly, widowed, in poor healthy and are trying to live in their homes. Some or all of their children live far away. My only plan is to go there and show love. I will keep my Bible in the car and will jump for joy if the opportunity arises to go back to the car and give her some Jesus Love through the Word. I am there to listen and love. I am taking a chance. Can you imagine Jesus here? He would be visiting this aunt, shunning the opposition, and healing and loving. If I am a true Jesus Follower, I am being Jesus here.
Denying someone affection, attention and existence is next to Godlessness.
Would you try to think of one of your forgotten and pray for a way to get to them? To find strength to fight the opposition of the "haves" and just be Jesus? Please do. I bet the Lord rains blessings your way and that in turn, will propel you to keep doing it in all facets of your life. Praise and Glory to God! He is so good to me.
Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes?"
Psalm 118:22-23 The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
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