There is a place...

-->

52 Dozen. Week 40.

There is a place I am wanted. There is a place where I am desired. A place where I am beautiful.

There is a place where I will be included. There is a place where I will belong. A place where I never feel the sting of rejection.

This place is warm, inviting, loving, caring, inclusive, comfortable, and safe.

In this world there will always be those moments where rejection, whether intentional or not, takes over your heart and makes you want to hide from everyone, not knowing who will be the next to hurt you.

I remember when I was a kid and we didn’t have Internet, much less social media. You didn’t know you were missing out on something you weren’t invited to unless someone mentioned it later and even then you didn’t have the pictures in your face reminding you that you weren’t invited. You didn’t know when people were intentionally seeking time to build friendship with others and not you. You weren’t constantly reminded that you don’t belong or shown your deficiencies through the perfect lives of others. Back 20 years ago as I entered adolescence I can’t even imagine how I would have responded to the constant parade of perfection in life, friendship, and family on social media. I remember the constant desire to be included, to be liked, to be loved, and to be accepted. I struggled, hard.

And then I remember when I finally found Christ, or rather He found me.

We grew up in a traditional Methodist church near our home, which was full of the ‘popular’ kids in my school. I can’t say I knew much about Jesus outside what my mom taught me at home. At church I don’t remember learning who He is, His love and affection for me but I do remember saying the sinner’s prayer at the age of 7. Then my dad came to an interest in Christ and my mom agreed we would switch churches to one of his choosing. He chose a large Assemblies of God church near downtown Orlando. Within a few short weeks of attending I found the love and acceptance of Christ through a program called Missionettes. I quickly invited Christ into my heart and surrendered my life to Him having a much better understanding of what that meant. I was instantly surrounded by girls my age who were equally interested in have a life led by Jesus Christ. Within a few short months I had memorized dozens of scriptures, witnessed to countless friends in my middle school, started leading worship at our church’s children’s church. I even acted in a Christian-based film produced by our children’s pastor. Any of my former Sparkle girls reading this?! Holla!

Right before entering high school I completed the three-year commitment to Missionettes which ended in a beautiful ceremony called a ‘crowning’ where each girl dressed in white and is presented to the church by her family.

Entering high school the Internet slowly started to get noticed by my friends, but just enough to have email (which I still did not for 1-2 years) and then AOL Instant Messenger by my junior year. By then, I had a pretty well established circle of friends who were good influences, encouraging, inclusive of one another, supportive of one another, and even protective of one another, most of these girls were my bridesmaids in my wedding. A few of my close friends through high school probably should have been bridesmaids but I had to stop at 7…7 bridesmaids seemed like plenty. Throughout high school I did have a few encounters with other groups of girls who were not good influences and were making different choices with their life that I knew weren’t something God would have wanted for my own life and I must admit I followed them in quite a few unwise decisions but for the most part I look back now and see how God protected me. He guarded me from developing deep relationships with those who would hurt me or lead me astray.

Even in college I see how God led me to the right ministry where He would be able to keep constant contact with me in worship, prayer, and fellowship. I see how He surrounded me with a new set of friends who would love me, accept me, and be inclusive of me. I saw how God taught me generosity with my time, talent, and even treasure with my close friends.

By college I saw social media take off! In fact I joined Facebook when it first opened up but only to those with “.edu” email addresses and therefore only included college students. Although my husband and I went to high school together, Facebook is how we reconnected and ended up meeting up and eventually dating. Facebook is where I first invited my husband to hang out and invited him to church, where he later accepted Christ.

Social media grew to be a primary way to find friends, social circles, organizations and clubs to join, and form a base for who you would surround yourself with.

As an adult social media has become a place to share my life with my family who lives far away, for them to see snapshots of our life hundreds of miles away and maybe help that distance feel like less.

As I think through all the positive that has come from the growth in social media throughout my life I can’t help but see another trend, that I am also most guilty of.

Social media has excused us from real relationships; talking as often is no big deal because we ‘see each other’ on Facebook. I don’t need to ask what you think about a particular issue and have a conversation about it; I can see what your thoughts are by what you post on Facebook. I don’t have to ask you what’s going on in your life and how I can pray for you, I can see all that on Facebook. I am so guilty of this, but I’m afraid our whole culture is now.

Who are our real friends? The ones we share our heart with or the ones who ‘like’ all of our Facebook posts?

I know Facebook and other forms of social media have brought some simplicity to things like inviting people to an event or organizing one but I can see where true friendships have grown and it’s not on Facebook. It’s with the people who have invited me into their life, their family, and their hardships and the people whom I have invited into mine.

So in those moments when we see something online that reminds us that we don’t have as many friends as we thought we did, or the people who ‘like’ a lot of my posts aren’t necessarily rooting for me I’m finding that I need this simple reminder and perhaps you do too…

There is a place I am wanted. There is a place where I am desired. A place where I am beautiful.

There is a place where I will be included. There is a place where I will belong. A place where I never feel the sting of rejection.

This place is warm, inviting, loving, caring, inclusive, comfortable, and safe.

This place is in the arms of Jesus. That’s the ONLY place of consistency and true value.

Are you feeling alone? Run, don’t walk, to the arms of Jesus. Let Him cover you with His grace and mercy and forgiveness. Let Him cover every moment of loneliness with His presence. He is big enough, He is strong enough, He is enough for whatever you got for Him.

And let people in. Let people into your real life, not just your online life. Let people love you. If you are a believer, let the church love you in a real way by letting them in, even when you’re unsure, insecure, or afraid. Let them know how you feel and then let God use the people He’s surrounded you with to encourage you, sharpen you, see you for who you are and love you.

Here’s a tough one for me: Let people HELP you. You cannot do this life on your own and yes, that rejection or hurt will come, even from someone of similar faith, but forgive and allow Christ to mend those hurts. The people who God has designed for your life will be in it if you let them be. The adventures Christ has in store for you will come at a cost but know that even the sting of rejection is something specific to this life here, not the one Christ has for you for eternity.

And so I sang today in church, it is well, with my soul. Even when the circumstances of this world are unpredictable and even unfavorable, He has secured a future of peace and safety for me, in His arms.

These words are something God has been speaking to me this week so I hope they are encouraging to you, no matter what mountain is in front of you, He will throw it into the midst of the sea.

8 oz. semi sweet chocolate
6 tbsp butter
2 tbsp instant coffee powder (I used decaf so my son could eat them)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp sea salt (optional)

1.       Melt the chocolate, the butter and coffee powder in the microwave by heating them 30 seconds at a time and stirring in between. Stir until smooth and melted. Let that cool a bit.

2.      Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

3.      In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light.

4.     Add the chocolate mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

5.      Fold in the flour mixture until just combined. Cover in plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight so you can bake in the morning before work.

6.      Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

7.      Line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper.

8.      Drop dough onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart (yes that far apart because the cookies will flatten more than you think!)

9.      Bake for 10-12 minutes.

10.    Top each cookie with a pinch of salt if you like but I did not. Enjoy!