I See YOU!

In conversations, we share life with others, we share our joys, our sorrows, our experiences. Have you noticed in these, we too share our … comparisons. We mask them with closing statements of ‘I’m  not there yet.‘ Not there yet? Meaning, there is a goal, and I fall short. THERE is the carrot, and I am ever running after it, tumbling, tripping along the way… but THERE it is. I am here, and NOT there. We want to do and be something other than we are…

Oh I too am not there yet either, however, I am learning that whatever, wherever ‘there’ is, it is NOT up to others to criticize or define it for me. Family, friends, the church, yes they are a voice in my life, I honor, respect and consider their input. Yet, my there can only be found in God. HE is the blueprint designer of my life.  The sad thing about the ‘not there yet’ concept? We fail to live in the NOW! Face it, we WILL continue to  ‘not’ be something … not thin, smart, rich, fit, strong, happy, healthy, unselfish … enough. The list is vast.

Remember the story of Hagar, poor gal, she was just being obedient. She was told to go to Abe’s tent … etc … etc … etc. (see Genesis 16) Following this, where did she find herself? In the ‘ick’ of life. If I could interject just for a moment, a woman’s point of view, the struggle we ALL face, (us women) the thought, the attitude … “If I were a better woman, I would _____ ” and we fill in the blank. We are our best critic, we long to be/do it better. Yet when we don’t, our mind set is, ‘just not there yet,’ and consider ourselves a failure. Please note: Not quite there yet, doesn’t mean we aren’t ‘somewhere.’

I am sure Hagar felt the same way, if I were a better woman, a better servant, I could handle this. Hurt, frustrated, and confused, she takes off, runs away. The part that is totally cool? God found her, ‘where’ she was. He called her by name, it wasn’t “hey you, over there, yep you the one that everyone hates, the one who didn’t get it right,” He called her by name, “Hagar.”

God being God, He asks her questions, not that ‘He’ doesn’t know the answers, “Where have you come from and where are you going? By asking these questions, they are now in the moment. It is God’s invitation, the invitation to process through the ‘stuff’ with Him. She shares her ‘ick’, and God encourages her with His promises. What a deal, our ick for His promises!  I LOVE how she wraps up her time with God, she call Him El Roi… “You are the God who sees me, for I have now seen the One who sees me.”

My point is ~ the next time we are tempted to believe the “LIE” that since we are not there yet, we are not good enough. Instead, we focus on here and NOW, where God sees us!!!! He calls us by name, DeDe, Sue, Jim, Linda …

May we not only strive to be ‘there’, continuing to grow in and through our weaknesses, but may we be in our here and NOW, experiencing El Roi, the God who sees me. The God who extends love, grace, mercy, and strength.

And His promises? DANG, they are great! I encourage us to read His letter to us, find those things that we ARE, (in Him), the qualities and inheritances that are ours due to relationship. May we do this, instead of focusing on what/where we are NOT!

Loved one, do you need to be seen by the One who sees … El Roi, the God who says, lovingly, “I see YOU!”  I see you NOW, who & what you are NOW, I will not love you anymore when you get ‘there’. I am the God of your NOW!”  Stop, and engage with Him!  Your goal ‘is’ now, not only … there

Not there yet, but by golly loving, living in the NOW!

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love & good deeds” ~ Heb. 10:24)