Have We Believed the Lie?

Have you ever felt alone in a crowd?

Standing in a roomful of people, your deodorant quits, as you imagine everybody noticing nobody is talking to you.

You awkwardly move about the room, attempting to jump into conversations like a competitor in a double-dutch competition.

You wind up alone in a corner, sipping punch so your hands have something to do. At this point, you’re either feeling invisible, or that people are staring right at you, as if your hair’s on fire.

Maybe you’ve never experienced this scenario, but I have a feeling some are saying yes, how did you know?

I know, because it’s happened to me.

Perhaps you haven’t experienced that, but you’ve experienced this:

That friend’s family who thinks you don’t measure up, or that promotion you didn’t get, or that guy who stood you up, or that parent who bases your value on a letter grade.

Let’s keep it real, those things cut deep, don’t they?

Those events can make the value meter hit bottom.

But hear me, we’ve got to trade those lies about our value for the truth.

The truth is, we’ve been lied to by the enemy of our soul.

He magnifies our insecurities, until we feel like something we’d scrap off the bottom of our shoe.

He tells us we don’t belong, and we believe it.

Because when we focus on ourselves, we’re not focusing on God.

What if we flipped the coin, turned the tables, chose truth?

What if we stood in a room where nobody is speaking to us, and made it missional?

Instead of trying to jump into conversations, how about we start a new one?

Yes, with the other women in the room nobody is talking to.

We were born for community, God created us that way; and we don’t need to wait for an invite.

And when we believe we are of little value, what we’re really saying is this: God has created something of little value.

I don’t agree with that, do you?

So next time we’re tempted to believe who we aren’t, let’s go to the Word to confirm who we are.

Here’s just one passage of many:

In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:11-14

Popularity is man-made.

Let’s be confident women in Christ, who know our value comes from God.

That’s the kind of woman everyone wants to be around. Not because we’re all that, but because we’re all His.

So next time we find ourselves feeling alone in a crowd,

let’s commit to:

• Standing confidently, knowing we are where we are for a purpose and a plan
• Becoming acutely aware of other such wallflowers and create a bouquet
• Remembering this post, and that you are not alone

Will you join me in this commitment, and stop drinking punch in the corner?

See a Dead End? Look Again

What can we learn from a dead-end?

I love that two of our grandsons live on a dead-end road. There’s less traffic, and when an unfamiliar vehicle finds it’s way down that way, people notice.

Figuratively speaking, we may feel our life has detoured down a dead-end. We can feel stuck, trapped, a life turned stagnate, rote, meaningless.

Same job, same routine, same old same old. Even the cat looks bored.

We wonder what’s the use?

What’s the point?

Why get up every day, why put one foot in front of the other, do the whatever, and call it a day. Then call it a night. Then do it all again. We can feel caught in a trap…

We may feel nothing is happening, feel God is not listening, feel He’s not there.

But our feelings can distort the truth. The truth is, something is always happening, He is always listening, and He is always there.

Are we looking far too inward, when we need to be looking outward and upward?

If you begin to fear you’re going nowhere, stop right there and remember this:

God didn’t create us to spin our wheels standing still. We are being called to action. Click to tweet

Here’s the thing, when we feel we’ve hit a dead-end, we need to look around. There are others there too. If we hadn’t ventured down that road, we would never have encountered those who live there, those who work there, those who hide there.

We may have been sent that way for them, or we may have been sent that way for us. We may be there to teach someone, or we may be there to be taught. Look again. Look deeper.

The Word tells us of signs and wonders. There’s one sign His children won’t see: Dead End.

There are no dead-end roads with God, unless of course we try paving roads on our own. He’ll allow it if we choose it, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

You know that phrase marketers think they’ve invented? You’ve heard it: The gift that keeps on giving? Well God was first with the concept. He has gifted us for a reason, because the gifts He has given us are not meant for us.They are meant to be used on all the roads we find ourselves on, even the roads less traveled.

God is calling us to use our spiritual gifts. Every believer has been given at least one.

If you’ve never completed a Spiritual Gifts Assessment, it’s a great tool. Here’s a link through Lifeway, where you can print a list of spiritual gifts, and the assessment:

http://www.lifeway.com/Article/Women-Leadership-Spiritual-gifts-growth-service

Discover your gifts, use your gifts, give your gifts; so that through them others will come to know Christ and God will be glorified.

So before we’re tempted to turn around when our human eyes see a dead-end, pray for spiritual eyes to see if God is asking us to put it in park.

Remember, when we venture down a dead-end street, people will notice. Through us may they see Jesus, cause we’re not the Famous One, and when we share about hope in the Famous One, people will take notice.

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:6-8

Sharing prompt:

Has God re-purposed what you thought was a dead-end? What are your spiritual gifts, and how can you use them for ministry?