Well, it's back to Isaiah 49! I just can't get it out of my system yet. Lately a number of folks around me have been going through some pretty rough times. Setbacks at work, health issues, children problems, aging parent issues, and discouragement. What can one say that lifts us out of this despair and into hope?
Hang in with me on this one, because I have to tell the story for you to get what I mean. God knew each of us when we were in the womb. How powerful is that! It is such an incredible thing that when I am low I say it over and again - God, you knew me before I was born!
For some people this might not seem like a remarkable thing, but for me, it has been and is life altering. I was not one of the fortunate ones to be born into a family of responsible adults who actually wanted to be parents. Instead, I was one of five born to two people who had serious alchohol addicitons along with many other bad habits, including violence. As a result, my growing up years from age birth to age 18 were spent being tossed from foster home to foster home. One would think that if the welfare system took me from a bad situation, they would put me in a better one, but that was not the case. Many of the homes were worse than the one I left, but alas that is best saved for another day.
I tell you this because even though I wonder why this happened to me, why I had to be without parents, separated from brothers and sisters and received great abuses - physical, emotional and sexual, I always knew that I was God's child. Oh sure there were days I wondered where God had taken off to, but deep down in, I knew I was God's daughter.
I used to spend a lot of time climbing trees and I would often sit in a limb and talk to God. I would say, God, I might be a foster child to everybody else, but I'm your daughter. Imgaine that! God's real daughter - nothing temporary or fake about it.
It wasn't until many years later that I would read this scripture and know that I had been right all along! So now, when things are really tough, when I feel hurt and scared, I remember that I am God's daughter and God knew me even before I was born. I like to visualize that I am sitting in God's big lap and being held so closely and nothing can hurt me. Not only has this been healing for old wounds, but it keeps me grounded in God's love now.
So I invite you to claim your kinship with God! Go ahead, say it, God, I am your daughter, your son and I know you love me. It is my prayer that in so doing you will discover healing and hope in your life.
Reflections and journaling
Blessing - spend time proclaiming that you are God's child. What does it feel like? How does it change the way you see your life?
Challenge - what are the wounds that you need healed? What is keeping you from claiming God's love in your life? What steps can you take to gain strength in these troubling times? Write down something you want to share in your small group, with your prayer partner or with your pastor about areas that need wholeness.
Prayer - Healing God, you knew me before I was born. I imagine that when you created me you held me up and said, ah, this is my child. Let's see what she/he will do. You blessed us at our birth and you bless us even now. Sometimes we miss seeing you as Parent because of our own earthly parents, or because of the way we parent. But you go way beyond anything we can imagine and call us your own. I love you God - Mother, Father, Parent, Friend, Amen
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