Uninvited

I have done on-line bible studies (OBS) since going on the field more than 10 years ago.  I always loved being involved in bible studies with my home church, or attending Bible Study Fellowship.  However, on the field, it's a bit more challenging.  So, I supplement my daily devotions with an on-line bible study.  Some have been great, some have been challenging, others haven't really "fit" with me, and some have been just down-right perfect.  The one I just completed with Proverbs 31 Ministries was called Uninvited, and was written by Lysa TerKeurst.

The subtitle of the book is Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely.  On her dedication page, the author writes this:

"And to anyone who has felt the sting of rejection, grieved the deep loss of a relationship that was there one day and gone the next or questioned whether God has any good plans for you at all...I understand.  God made sure to get these words of hope to you.  He loves you and so do I."

This last season of my life has been one of the most challenging in my adult life.

Uninvited:  the last few years have been one of being uninvited from events, uninvited from participating in activities, and outright excluded.

Less Than:  The rejection I have received recently was...difficult...when people you call friends outright reject you, it is an affront that goes deep.

Left Out: (see Uninvited)

Lonely:  When you are kind of out there on your own, even in the midst of a lot of people, it really is a lonely place to be.  Gratefully, my husband and I have grown together as a couple more and more as the years have gone by, and I am so very grateful that he has chosen this path for us to follow.  I maintain contact with some amazing friends back in the States - but electronic mechanisms of reaching out can only reach so far...the comfort of hanging out on the couch of your BFF and chatting the night away seems so long ago...

So, this book came at a great time.  Some things I highlighted in the book:

1.  "Rejection steals the best of who I am by reinforcing the worst of what's been said to me."

"God is good.
God is good to me.
God is good at being God.
And today is yet another page in our great love story."

2. "Sometimes the equation is make a friend, try your best with that friend, and things go cold.  Really cold.  People who care more about being right than ending right prove just how wrong they were all along."

"God's love isn't based on me.  It's simply placed on me.  And it's the place from which I should live...loved."

3.  "If their absence was caused by death, you would grieve their loss.  But when their absence is caused by rejection, you not only grieve their loss but you also have to wrestle through the fact that they wanted this.  They chose to cut themselves out."

"Relationships don't come in packages of perfection, relationships come in packages of potential."

4.  "Rejection isn't just an emotional feeling.  It's a message that alters what you believe about yourself.  And the minute you sense that happening is the minute you must stop the run-away thinking with truth."

"You aren't set aside.  You are set apart."

5.  "Remember:  like a lion is drawn to a food source, Satan rushes in where he smells emptiness, deprivation, and rejection."

"Truth is the perfect tranquilizer.  The enemy's power is rendered powerless in the presence of God's promises."

So...there are so many great things in this book, and I pray it can be a blessing to you as well.  And if not to you, that you may glean some truth from it to help others out.  Something I've always told my daughter - that I might not like the way that God brought me to this place in my life, but I can't help but see the wisdom in it.  I certainly would have chosen a very different path to get me here,  but then, I wouldn't be the same person that I am today.  I am a sum of my parts - I am God's creation that he has pounded me, molded me and created in me the person I am today...and I like that person :-)  I like that God uses me in all my circumstances, and that because of my past I am able to help others.

So my OBS is done, and I'm getting ready to start another study...we shall see what I glean from this one :-)

Blessings to you all - and LIVE LOVED!