Proverbs 31 OBS Uninvited Week 6 My Key Takeaway

Well here we are at the end of another amazing Proverbs 31 Online Bible Study.  I remember signing up for my first one What happens when Women Say Yes to God 3 years ago.  Yep it was right after that June 30 "experience".  I always take something out of these Bible Studies that carries me on to the next step of this Sacred Journey

With this study of Rejection centering on Rejection my Key Takeaway was that:  I am set apart for God's usefulness.  If you decide to sign up for the journey with God and look to him to be your refuge, then he will do just that and protect you from yourself and your bad decision making!

What I have called rejection is really more like protection.

As I went through Lysa's 10 point prayer in one of the last chapters I had that A-ha moment as we went through Psalms 91 and we kept referring to God as our refuge.

The definition of Refuge is: shelter or protection from danger or distress.

Say it again for the people in the back!

A Refuge is a shelter or protection from danger or distress.  Amen.

So many times believers say, "When God When?  Why God Why?  I was doing the same thing when I was wondering why I didn't meet anyone like the handsome motivational speaker.  If God is our refuge, then he is providing us shelter and protection from danger and distress. I have learned that what we think we want may actually turn out to be a disaster of EPIC proportions.  EPIC proportions.  So Thank God for the "Rejections" that keep us safe.  I am thankful that God has saved me from my own bad decision making.

Dealing with Rejections of the Past

This week I also started thinking about the rejections of the past and how that also was me being set apart and prepared for usefulness.

I never fit in much with the people I grew up around.  I especially did not fit in with the people at the church where I grew up.  I always thought to myself that this is exactly what I didn't want my life to be like.  I always say one of the best things I learned from them was what NOT to do.  I didn't fit in with my peers at the time and of course I felt rejected because I didn't have anyone else to build me up and affirm me except for maybe teachers at school.

However now that I am older, I am so thankful that I went through that because I believe that's where I got my fire for wanting to help others live better.  I saw so many people who were having their spirits killed by false teachers and people living such miserable lives that I wanted to do something to help people take back their power.

Going through all of that made me determined to get to know the Lord for myself because it was apparent that LEGALISM was not the medium in which to get to know the Lord.

I don't regret for one moment leaving the false teaching of legalism behind and it was worth every moment of criticism and put downs.  Probably if I had not been rejected and fit in, I would be another social club Sunday "Christian" or I would have been so disgusted that I quit Christianity altogether.

Not Destroyed

I have always loved this scripture and if I am being honest and absolutely petty, on those rare occasions when I run into those folks from the past I just feel myself stomping all over the devil.

I will not be destroyed.  You can talk all the yang yang you want to. You can criticize, put me down, or whatever but I am still here.  I am still standing and I am not destroyed.  That's kind of a surface viewpoint.

Last week I was talking with someone and posing the question of "What can churches do to help people who are absolutely lost and have no direction?"  Can we let them know that if they surrender to God, then:

•  they may still be troubled but not distressed because God has the answers.  
• They may be perplexed about how they got so far off track but they are not in despair because God can get them back on track
• They may be persecuted but because God is faithful then they are not forsaken.
• They may be cast down in the miry pit right now but they will not be destroyed because the whole point of Christianity is resurrection from what looks like certain death

Is that the message we're sending them with our own lives?  Are people wondering what these people have that they're not wringing their hands in despair?  Or are they like me growing up watching the people at church and saying:  "OK This is what NOT to do"

Some interesting questions to ponder because I don't know if you are watching the news lately but there are a lot of lost people out there.

I don't know that if the institutional church is the best place for these folks.  I've felt uninvited in churches myself so I can't imagine what the  lost who don't know Jesus feel.

Perspective Change

As I said I had a big perspective change with this Bible Study.  Rejection really isn't that in many cases.  It's the refuge and protection of God.  Also when we feel rejected, we really need to go back to the basics of "I am Enough".  When we have that imprinted in our mindset, then I believe that we will not allow others to define us by our circumstances.

We may have messed up royally.  I mean the EPIC FAILS to end all EPIC FAILS but instead of letting that define the rest of our lives, why not use that as an opportunity for growth and to help others avoid those same mistakes.

Yes that sounds overly simplistic but what's the alternative to stay in the heartbreaking season and wallow in the mire for the rest of your life.

Trust me I have watched people who have done just that and it's a miserable experience both to be in and to watch.  They've allowed their mistakes and heartbreaking season define them and the rest of their life and they've been living in these self inflicted prisons for years.

It's terrible.

The Time is passing either way so which would you rather choose?  Be defined by your epic fails and royal mess ups or decide to grow from that experience and then use that to help other people?  

I would much rather grow and evolve than to stay in the miry pit for the rest of my life because THEN you'll really be Uninvited because nobody wants to be around that kind of person.  They suck all of the joy out of everything because misery is their default mode.

Thanks to Lysa for another great Study!  Can't wait for our next study:  Wait and See.

Hmmmm this seems to be a Fall Theme when it comes to my Fall reading schedule as you will see!

To God be the Glory!!