In her own wor ds: "I am powerful and fragile and searching for balance between the two. I am a lover of God, and of people. I'm a believer in justice, compassion, the power of words, soul-mates, and soul siblings. I have loved and have lost in the same amounts but I don't plan on giving up on love any time soon."
As I've mentioned many times, this blog is about intersections. And, while we're all misunderstood at times, it's especially easy to be misunderstood when your place is the in-between. Multiple identities sometimes means we may feel as though we don't fit in anywhere and that no one understands us...
With that being said, here's
"A Revelation (An excerpt from my personal notebook)"
Dear Reader,
There is something that I have recently learned from the Bible, a revelation, that I want you to keep in mind – When Jesus was on this earth, He had problems that many of us face today. He had a family, but they were kind of odd for the day that they lived in. There is a part in the Bible that leads us to believe that His own brothers and sisters didn’t even like Him very much. He was strongly rejected in His own hometown for His ‘unique behavior’ and for His ‘lowly’ birth. The government and the religious groups of authority thought of Him as a foolish troublemaker. He was asked to leave different towns on a few occasions. He was branded a liar, a blasphemer, an outcast, a criminal, a show off, and overall, a general pain in the neck. He had few friends, and as for those – some couldn’t even be bothered to stay awake and pray with Him, one outright sold Him to the highest bidder, and another (possibly His closest friend) completely denied knowing Him…not once….but three times. They say Jesus was not handsome, and that He was well acquainted with grief and sorrow. He was both God and an ordinary guy, so in addition to all the pain He felt for being rejected, He also felt the pain of knowing that He loved those people more than anything, and that He was going to die for them. He had all of that pain and isolation (for who around Him could really identify with everything He was going through?) and yet – He never lost sight of His purpose. No matter what was going on around Him, He stayed on the path set before Him.
Now, I know that we’re not Jesus, but it definitely helps to know that we are in good company when we feel lonely, isolated, betrayed, unimportant, and otherwise unjustly treated. Jesus went through those things too. Knowing this gives us a good idea as to what our reaction should be. Jesus never stopped loving…not the people who hated Him, and not the people who claimed to love Him with their mouth but claimed otherwise with their actions (something many of us still do). He forgave them. He sacrificed for them (not just His precious body and blood, but before the crucifixion can you imagine how many times He had to sacrifice and lay down his feelings of hurt, of wanting to be happy, and the very normal, human need of feeling loved and important). He encouraged and exhorted them in their purposes, He never became self- seeking…
AND ….. He kept on with His mission that the Father gave Him even though everything conspired against Him to distract, disable, and to otherwise keep Him from His Father’s work.
This might be hard to hear but – Your friends, family, and whoever you love and trust the most on this earth, inevitably, will let you down, and hurt you. At some point in your life (most likely more than one point) you have been, or will be betrayed. Your dreams, plans, and expectations will be shattered time and time again. You will fail and disappoint others and yourself more times than you will want to count …. BUT ….God will never fail you. So, keep your eyes on Him and the task He has set before you. Do not become distracted, and disillusioned by the hardships that will come your way as you endeavor to do His work.
In all of this, don’t forget – He knows, and understands, more than anyone in the history of the earth, exactly what you’re going through right now and He can tell you what to do to get through this.
I sincerely hope that this revelation imparts as much peace, and comfort, to you, as it did to me.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
[The Bible -Romans 15:13]
– Yas