Miracles

My middle daughter has had a torrent of medical issues. The most recent is a cyst growing inside the ninth rib on her right side.

The cyst was growing so large, her rib was paper thin around it. This cyst seemed to be eating the bone. It was brittle. So brittle that she coughed and the bone broke.

It is called a cyst for lack of a better term. No one knows what it is.

Or what it was.

We got the latest test results back today and whatever it was that had been growing inside her rib is gone.

No trace that there was anything there.

The rib is 100% normal.

Today, God graced my daughter with a miracle.

People never change

It doesn't matter where you are, people are people. They always will be. Nature does not change.

When someone deems you not worthy of their time, you never will be.

When you are not the type of person that they want to associate with, they will never like you.

If you are not the kind of person that they want representing your organization, move on.

Accept people for who they are, even if they won't accept you.

Christ loves everyone. Love like Christ, not like people.

Victim v. Survivor

There is a difference between a victim and a survivor. One wallows in their circumstances, the other overcomes it.

Not this! This is different. Let me explain.

 Victim can be defined as:

n. a person or thing that suffers harm, death, etc. from another or from some adverse act, circumstance, etc.

Survivor can be defined as:

n. a person who copes well with difficulties in their life

One suffers, and always will suffer, and the other copes.

Victims never recover, they never move on to the survivor stage. They should, but don't. They always have a  'poor me' scenario. These people tend to play on the emotions for others. They never take responsibility for their own actions in their circumstances. It's always someone else's responsibility. It's always someone else's fault. They will always suffer.

Survivors overcome. They learn from their problems and hardships. When something happens, they walk away stronger and healthier. They accept that things happen. They acknowledge that they could have made better choices. They reach out. They are only victims for a short time.

Our world has a cesspool of victims.

We need a myriad of survivors.

Does God have favorites?

I was sitting in a group in my new church, in my new state, when the pastor mentioned that God has favorite people, just like people do. People having favorite people- I get it. God having favorites? God? Having favorite people? People He made?

This idea unsettles me. Deeply.

What hope do those like me have? Little to none.

I'm not a popular person. I know this. I'll never be charming and charismatic. I know this, too. And I can't learn to be, or let myself be. It's not written into my DNA. I can change the way I think. I can change how I treat others and who I associate with. I cannot change who I am at the core. And no one should ever ask me to.

I digress, back to God's favorites.

I understand that God honors some more than others. God blesses some more than others.
This ideas settled on me like a storm cloud. It followed me around and hung right next to me for days. It was always in my thoughts. It became an insistent drum beat.

God has favorites... God has favorites... God has favorites...

I started watching people. Were they one of the favorites? Probably. Why wouldn't they be? They're likable people. Not a weirdo like me.

Then the thought set in. That one that takes you to a new level. The one that destroys everything forever.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. ~Proverbs 139:13
I knew you before I formed you in the womb. ~Jeremiah 1:5a

If God has favorites, and God formed me, then God had no intention of me becoming one of His favorites. God had cursed me to be the person I am.

Simply being myself is my own cross to bear.

This simply can't be true. Where is the hope after your assurance of Heaven? Why trust that God will even allow you there? He can make Heaven for His elite. His chosen. His favorites.

This has comforted me:

As for those who were held in high esteem- whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism... ~Galatians 2:6