https://www.facebook.com/theforgottenpetadvocates/photos/a.379465432069071.116686.379450892070525/921784281170514/?type=1&pnref=story
Just in case you said, "psssh, I'm not going through the trouble of copying a pasted" I'll summarize the main points. The post corrects misconceptions about possums and the last sentence says "practice what you teach your children: don't be mean to me just because you think I'm ugly."
As an animal lover, the last sentence broke my heart. I believe we are to treat creatures with kindness no matter how they look. I wanted to pick up all the little possums, hug them, and (here is the very cheesy part I am embarrassed to bring up, but feel I must) tell them, "You're so beautiful. Not ugly at all" and heal them with (...oh gosh this is so cheesy and embarrassing haha) my love.
I thought about what God might say and it went something like this: "What about the people who others hurt and reject because they are not deemed 'loveable' or 'beautiful'?" Then he brought to my attention the truth that he feels the same way toward humans, young and old, who have been abused, those who feel worthless, those others reject.
He wants to pick each one of us up, hold us tight and tell us we are beautiful and precious until we finally come to believe it. He wants to do that for you and for me. He dealt with the same heart ache.
He was despised and rejected. He was not esteemed, but deemed smitten of God and afflicted (Isaiah 53). If he were to sit with us in the physical I bet we would see the scars on his face, his hands, his feet, and if he turned around and uncovered his back we would see those horrendous deep stripes from being whipped by the cat-of-nine-tails (that awful whip they used), see that piercing in his side and we would probably break out into uncontrollable sobs.
Even more, I bet if we could literally see his soul we would see more scars, perhaps even more brutal than the ones on the outside. I have been getting pictures of God's love seeping into the cracks, the cuts, and deepest wounds of our souls. The same healing oil that flows through his own hurts. Will we accept his love in spite of how we feel about ourselves? Will we let him put his arms around us and just relax and lean into him? Here is a passage that describes Jesus' mission to the human race.
I thought about what God might say and it went something like this: "What about the people who others hurt and reject because they are not deemed 'loveable' or 'beautiful'?" Then he brought to my attention the truth that he feels the same way toward humans, young and old, who have been abused, those who feel worthless, those others reject.
He wants to pick each one of us up, hold us tight and tell us we are beautiful and precious until we finally come to believe it. He wants to do that for you and for me. He dealt with the same heart ache.
He was despised and rejected. He was not esteemed, but deemed smitten of God and afflicted (Isaiah 53). If he were to sit with us in the physical I bet we would see the scars on his face, his hands, his feet, and if he turned around and uncovered his back we would see those horrendous deep stripes from being whipped by the cat-of-nine-tails (that awful whip they used), see that piercing in his side and we would probably break out into uncontrollable sobs.
Even more, I bet if we could literally see his soul we would see more scars, perhaps even more brutal than the ones on the outside. I have been getting pictures of God's love seeping into the cracks, the cuts, and deepest wounds of our souls. The same healing oil that flows through his own hurts. Will we accept his love in spite of how we feel about ourselves? Will we let him put his arms around us and just relax and lean into him? Here is a passage that describes Jesus' mission to the human race.
Isaiah 61: 1-3
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
I copied and pasted this from:
<https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+61>
I copied and pasted this from:
<https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+61>
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