And He has, yet again, shown His faithfulness!
I've talked to y'all about strength and weakness before. Because my God is strong, I can and am proud to boast about my weaknesses. You and I both know that. But today, God completely revealed to me a different side of weakness and strength.
Yesterday, a friend of mine and I were talking about the frustrations we have about ourselves, the people around us, and just our generation. Don't get me wrong, we weren't angry or upset towards specific people. But my friend was upset because she knew that she didn't look like a very exciting person people would want to get to know (I'm only repeating what she said. I think she's a beautiful person inside and out and that she's so totally fun to be around!).
But my friend was telling me that people who kind of have to know her (people she works with, her classmates, people who live in the same building, etc.) know how great she is, but at the beginning, they didn't think she was someone they'd want to get to know. They thought she was, and I quote, "boring, quiet, shy, and cold."
It broke my heart to hear my friend repeat those things that people had thought about her. Of course, it hurt even more because we both realize that we do that to other people too, whether they be on campus or not. We look at someone and in 10 seconds, we've placed in our minds whether or not the person is worth getting to know or if they're someone that would want to get to know us. It's a messed up system, and my friend and I were very brokenhearted about it.
She also told me that she knew that people looked at her and didn't expect anything from her. And I could relate more to this as well. People don't look at her or me and think, "Wow, they could really do something big on this campus or in the world." You know who they say that about? The people who are "popular," who constantly are doing things and are active on campus, whether they are leading praise and worship in chapel, are part of 10 different clubs and sports teams, are a part of the Student Senate, whatever. It seems to us that the same people get the same things and that there isn't much branching out when it comes to making leaders.
I may sound bitter towards these people, but trust me, I'm not. I really admire these people and, I'll admit, I'm sometimes jealous of them. Because I want to be a leader too. I want someone to look at me and say, "She looks like she has the potential to be a leader." But I'm not seen as that. And neither is my friend. And this just made us even more frustrated.
What did it take to be like that? How can people look at someone and automatically tell that they are leader material? How are people, so suddenly, more well-known than others and seem to be more respected or are even more focused on being trained to become a better leader?
My friend and I wanted those things, but not the normal way that the people we knew were getting it. We definitely weren't going to change in order to become those type of people, because we shouldn't have to change. I personally think that everyone should be able to look at anyone in the world and say, "That person has potential. I don't know what in or what for, but God has given that person potential for something." I believe that inside each of us there is potential to be something amazing in this world. Amazingness isn't limited to anyone.
But anyways, I was just so encouraged today. I was reading my Bible this morning and finished Romans. I wasn't really satisfied though since I'd read Romans 16, Paul's greetings to certain Christians. I'm not saying that this part of the Bible isn't important, but I was just thirsty for God's Word so I continued onto 1 Corinthians.
I'm not going to lie to y'all: at first, I was reading it really fast, my mind wandering to the many different realms of my life and then I would go back to trying to focus on the passage again. Although I really wanted to hear what God had to say to me, I also really wanted to get back in my bed and take a nap before my 10am Old Testament class. Oh, the flesh side of me is so horrible... :(
I read past some verses and stopped myself. I knew, somehow, that I had passed over some very important stuff and I went back and reread the verses. And that's when I knew. The Holy Spirit completely interceded and woke my mind up to realize that God was trying to speak to me through His Word. And I needed every part of me to pay attention.
And man. I am SO GLAD that I listened.
1 Corinthians 1 totally just spoke to my heart. Particularly verses 18-31. And, of course, I'm going to put them up, but I encourage you to look up this passage in the Bible yourself! :)
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (NCV)
18 The teaching about the cross is foolishness to those who are being lost, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 It is written in the Scriptures: "I will cause the wise to lose their wisdom; I will make the wise unable to understand." Isaiah 29:14
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the educated person? Where is the skilled talker of this world? God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. 21 In the wisdom of God the world did not know God through its own wisdom. So God chose to use the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe.
22 The Jews ask for miracles, and the Greeks want wisdom. 23 But we preach a crucified Christ. This causes the Jews to stumble and is foolishness to non-Jews. 24 But Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those people God has called--Jews and Greeks. 25 Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, look at what you were when God called you. Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence. Not many of you came from important families. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, an He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
28 He chose what the world thinks is unimportant and what the world looks down on and thinks is nothing in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. 29 God did this so that no one can brag in His presence.
30 Because of God you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. In Christ we are put right with God, and have been made holy, and have been set free from sin. 31 So, as the Scripture says, "If people want to brag, they should brag only about the Lord." (Jeremiah 9:24)
Those verses just lifted my heart so much. It says that God chose what the world thinks is unimportant and what the world looks down on and thinks is nothing in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. That right there was so encouraging!
Obviously, Paul is talking about Jesus here. Despite how the world today makes Jesus appear and all the pictures of Jesus we saw in Sunday School when we were kids, Jesus was not physically appealing to the world. Why do you think most of the Jews couldn't see Him as the Messiah?
I went to my Old Testament class, pondering these thoughts and thanking God for revealing Himself to me. I was really excited to encourage my friend with what I had read!
But God even spoke to me in Old Testament class. I'm telling y'all, HE IS EVERYWHERE!!! WE ONLY NEED TO LISTEN AND LOOK! (^^) Professor Jones spoke about Saul and David and how Saul was not "the one king" God wanted to be a part of the family tree for Jesus.
Despite Saul's charisma and good-looks, his true character shined through when he disobeyed Samuel. As a result, God rejected Saul as king and He told Samuel to find a son of Jesse to be the new king.
We all know the story. David, the shepherd boy, is chosen to be the next king and is anointed by Samuel. But do you remember...Jesse, David's father, didn't even think that David could be the next king. When Samuel asked Jesse to bring out all of his sons, he never called David. Because David was the youngest, and he tended the sheep. How could he become king?
And yet, God used David, the boy whose brothers and father thought was weak and less important, who was the last person anyone would've thought could be king.
And that brought me so much joy! If God could use a shepherd boy and a carpenter's son, he could surely use me and my friend, even if we aren't "popular" or are seen as interesting or exciting. We can still be used!!! We have potential!
Again, I'm not saying that those who are obvious leaders are completely arrogant and wrong and they need to step down. But it really just encourages me to know that God can use those who are barely noticed.
He uses the weak,
those who are deemed "unimportant" in our eyes, our community, our generation,
those we would never expect to be used.
So, take heart my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ! God has made you special for a reason! Don't be discouraged if you feel like you aren't noticed enough, popular enough, strong enough, good enough, pretty enough, exciting enough, interesting enough, talented enough or just ENOUGH...
JESUS IS ENOUGH. AND HE THINKS YOU ARE ENOUGH.
He thought you were enough reason to take on every single sin and die a cruel and painful death. Don't downsize yourself! And encourage your brothers and sisters, your friends! Tell them that they are special and that they can truly make a difference!
I hope everyone's doing well! I've got Easter break coming up this week! Four days that I get to work on a paper, study for 2 tests, and finish up a math project. YIPPEE! (not. :P I'll try to have joy while doing all of that work!)
I'll be continually praying for y'all! Please, if you have any prayer concerns or just want to talk about anything, don't hesitate to email me at mishruss94@gmail.com
You all are special, fearfully and wonderfully made! God's love is so big! He wants to know you and walk with you! Let Him!!!
Have a great rest of your week! Hoping your spring weather is much nicer than ours is up on this mountain! It's been snowing all day and the wind is giving us NO MERCY! Brrrr!!!!
LOVE Y'ALL!
*~.Mishy.~* (^^) <3
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