"You Don't Belong"

I'm having a hard time starting this article. After reading through my past couple posts, I want to share something different with you. I want to share something like the first few posts. Something encouraging and uplifting. The truth is though, that I still wrestle and always will wrestle with these dang human emotions and feelings. I want to be genuine and authentic. So you are going to get it all. Not only the high points, but the low points.

God is good. He is SO good. I love Him so much.

I still have all my photo albums on Facebook that contain pictures and memories of my ex husband. Our mutual friends, our families, our beautiful children. There were a lot of sweet moments and memories. Even before we were together, there are a lot of great memories with my family and my friends from college. I have great memories of my childhood, too. Playing with the Riggs' boys and my friend Danielle. Those were great times.

Lately I've been feeling very out of place. Feeling like I don't belong. This season of life is completely foreign to me. I'm single at 27 years old. Not only am I single at 27 years old, I'm divorced and I have 2 kids. There aren't many people in my circle of friends who are in the same position as I am. There aren't many social functions geared specifically to people in my demographic. None that I've discovered at least. There is a new study starting at a church in my town focused on marriages and how to make them better and more Christ centered. It's a study I KNOW I could benefit from. One I'd like to be involved in and contribute to. I was, after all, married for 6 years. All of a sudden though, I hear that voice. That nasty voice telling me "You don't belong. Your marriage failed. Who are you to offer advice and encouragement after what you did?" I feel disqualified because of who the world sees when they see me.

This feeling isn't exclusive to my situation. I believe in each new season of life, there are always times when we feel out of place. We feel like we don't belong. We feel unqualified to serve God and contribute to the furtherance of God's kingdom.

You know what I say to that?

OUTRAGEOUS!!! Oh how I wish you could of heard me shout that word out loud and I wish you could have seen how high my cat jumped in the air!!

This is simply outrageous!!!

Know why? KNOW WHY???

YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE QUALIFIED TO LIVE THE LIFE GOD GAVE TO YOU!!!!

YOU!

JUST YOU!!!!!

CHILD! You are CHOSEN! You are SET APART! You are a TREASURE!



YOU ARE THE ONE!
YOU ARE THE ONE GOD WANTS!
AND AS LONG AS YOU ARE OBEYING GOD AND FOLLOWING HIS WILL, YOU ARE EXACTLY WHERE HE WANTS YOU TO BE!
YOU ABSOLUTELY BELONG BECAUSE YOU BELONG TO GOD!


This is why I like to record videos...because when I get crazy with expression, you can actually see what my face is doing and it doesn't feel like I'm just yelling at you hahaha!

A friend of mine is going through a situation similar to my own, but different in some ways. He's a person who, through all of this, both his situation and my own, a person who has always given me godly advice. Even when I didn't want it. I blew him off a lot in the beginning. Mostly because I knew he was spot on with his assessment of it all and I didn't want to be convicted yet. I was talking to him recently about feeling so out of place being divorced and not in a relationship. He said something very thought provoking and I asked if I could share it on my blog. He said yes, as long as I corrected his spelling errors... so hopefully my home school education will do him justice!

"Western society puts such a stress on marriage as part of Christianity. I don't think it is as important as it is made to seem. It puts the relationship with Christ on the back burner and replaces it with a relationship that is more tangible, more palatable, but less everything that is worth anything. In this new life...Christ is all that matters. (part of Colossians 3)"

The last part of his quote is about Colossians 3. He has been memorizing Colossians chapter 3 and I decided to do the same. I've been wanting to memorize more scripture, but didn't know where to start. Let me tell you, Colossians 3 has already been VERY thought provoking and convicting to me!

Here is the passage he's referring to:

Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT)

"1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory."

When you are a child of God, you have been raised to new life! Your identity is in God now! The world wants you to feel insecure and out of place! It puts these limits on you and tells you that if you don't look a certain way, do certain things, or live a certain lifestyle, you don't belong! BUT YOU HAVE DIED TO THE OLD LIFE! YOUR NEW LIFE IS IN CHRIST! And when people's eyes are opened to Him, they will see that you have been faithfully living in obedience this whole time! You will be a testimony of God's grace and evidence of what can happen when a person patiently waits for God's will and His next steps in their life!  

God is calling your name. He has something for you! You belong to the family of God! What are you going to do about it???