Blessed Are the Meek
“Rejected for Good”
Outside in the Hall
Do you remember reading On the Rock, “Set Apart” when Erin’s desk was moved out into the hallway as punishment? Well, Erin spent a good portion of her school years—rejected. And even though no one wants to be rejected, God selected the rejected for good in order to build His ministries and missions.
To bring about God’s plan, Erin needed to be rejected in order to be set apart from her classmates. For years her desk was either up behind the teacher’s desk so she was facing the corner, or her desk was outside in the hallway. The only time students were permitted to talk at her private school was outside during recess—never in the classroom or washroom or in the hallways. Yet for months at a time, Erin was denied recess.
Remaining quiet all day was difficult for Erin because of her God-given passion for communicating. But like all God’s gifts, they’re reserved for His good use—not to feed our flesh and make us feel good. Feeding our flesh is human nature but it falls short of our spiritual nature designed for us as His prince.
Yet, facing the corner or in the hallway, Erin never felt she was alone. Remember how she’d learned that she was with her Prince of Peace who was closer than a Brother? Sadly, too many people in the world never realize that the Lord is right next to them—simply by inviting Him into their hearts—as I hope you read in My First Love "Closer than a Brother." If you don’t feel the Prince of Peace who promises to be closer than a Brother to you, then this is the appointed time. He’s been waiting for you.
Having the Prince of Peace who was closer than a Brother meant that Erin could talk all day long, in her heart, to her Prince of Peace who rescued her from ever feeling rejected. Have you discovered this too? If not, just ask Him and He will do the same for you.
SELF-Love??
Did you know that feeling alone is a clever scheme the enemy uses to make us believe the lie that our heart is heavy because we need to learn to love ourselves? But GOD that’s a lie because His Word says no one ever hated his own flesh, we cherish it. We are born SELFish. A baby is born demanding, crying for what he or she wants until he or she is old enough to be trained to not love only themselves. Notice the keyword SELF?
When God sent His Son to live on the earth, He came for many reasons. The first was to break the chains of death so we can live eternally, living with Him now and forever. Another reason God sent His Son to live on the earth was to leave us an example to show us how we are to live while here on earth. The Good Lord describes Himself saying, “I am gentle and humble in heart” so when we live like this, humbly, we are promised to find rest for our souls—no matter what is happening in our lives or what’s happening in the world. Our Lord also says that the only way we can live humbly is for us to be yoked or connected to Him and this will make our lives easy and light.
Think of yoked to the Lord of Hosts, tethered to the Lord as we leap out of a plane on a secret mission. Imagine yourself as you board an aircraft and soar to 13,000 feet or almost 4,000 meters (approximately 2 miles or over 3 kilograms high in the air)! When you and your Savior leave the plane, you will be falling at about 120 mph, 54 meters per second, reaching the ground in around 40 seconds! Who would YOU want to be yoked with?
Of course, the Lord of Hosts, our Prince of Peace, who exceeds all other armies, much like a Navy Seal who parachutes behind enemy lines to help guide more planes. But His planes are filled with His disciples who are ready and eager to save the lost. Erin’s nephew, James, did just that as a U.S. Navy Seal. Back when James was on active duty (which you can read about at the bottom of this Salvation Story), his mission was to fight an enemy he could see. Now James has a new mission—the same as yours—to save the lost and share God’s Word after He became a believer, God’s Mighty Warrior.
The Good Shepherd, our Prince of Peace, lived on earth to save the lost. He didn’t come to judge the world, His Father is who does that. He lived His life in such a way that He never thought of HimSELF. He carried out the mission of His Father who sent Him. Laying down His life, He lived humbly so we could follow His example so we would think of others as more important than ourSELVES. As His Prince, as God’s Mighty Warrior, we never need to be concerned about ourSELVES because God promises to supply all our needs—far MORE than what anyone or anything on earth could give us!!
It works like this: As we pour our lives and love into others, He pours everything into us! It’s just like the Creator designed our hearts to work since we are fearfully and wonderfully made, made in His own image, in the image of God!! Picture this, God designed our hearts to pump and give oxygenated blood to every part of our body, then the blood returns back to the heart to receive more oxygen. Each beat pumps or gives more oxygenated blood to every part of our body so we can live! Imagine if our hearts didn’t give and thought only of itsSELF?! What if God didn’t give His only Son?
SELF-Sufficient or Servant of All
Another lie is how we will be happier if we are independent and become SELFsufficient. Again, God’s Word says that’s a lie. God says we are His body, one body, and each part of our body is dependent on each part in order to function harmoniously—not INdependently from one another. Our dependence must be on Him alone—He is the vine and we are the branches. This means apart from Him, our heart, we can do nothing. Yet, as one body, He showed us by how He lived His life that we are happiest when we serve, not focusing on ourSELF and becoming SELFsufficient. No, for true happiness we need to be a servant of all.
Is this really true?
Well, do you know that most of the wealthiest people on earth soon realize that money doesn’t make them happy? With all the money they have and all the possessions they can buy, they discover their happiness is in giving to people in need. They become what the world calls a philanthropist, which simply means a person who gives money or gifts to charities, or helps needy people by the generous donations of their money to good causes; charitable acts, or other good works that help others.
Another interesting fact is that the more money a philanthropist gives away, the richer they become! That’s because God’s universe, the way He created everything, was set up with His laws of nature, the spiritual laws, which work even when you don’t know that law exists—like the law of gravity. Whether you understand this law doesn’t matter because if you jump off anything, gravity will force you to the ground. It’s only when you understand the law of gravity and use it to your advantage will you be able to fly.
So as His Prince, how can you use these important spiritual laws, like being selfLESS and begin to give and to serve others? The best place to start is in your home with your family. Make it your mission, your charge to battle, to conquer your flesh and become the greatest among you, the servant of all.
- Give away your time and you’ll discover you have more time to do really fun things.
- Give away your possessions and be ready for what He has stored up just waiting for you!
- Give and it will be given to you so people will become amazed and baffled and what Who you have!
Amazed and Baffled
Let me tell you a story. When Erin was just ten years old, her mother decided to plan a trip driving around the United States and then drive up north and drive west across Canada. This was the summer after her parents sold their family’s beach house and how they were going to spend the summer. The problem was, ever since Erin had started finding her way back home alone (as you read in My First Love "Closer than a Brother") she wanted to be at home where she felt safe and peaceful.
It was only when Erin was older that she realized this was her nature, the way God designed her to be so that later He could use this for GOOD. God formed and created Erin and created you by shaping and weaving all your traits together in a secret place, in the safety of each of our mothers’ wombs —perfectly, carefully, and skillfully each of us was made!
The skillful way God designs us and the difficult things He brings us through is so that He can reveal many amazing things others will witness and be baffled about. Those who knew Erin’s nature were the most baffled when God later called her to travel around the world many times and have no “home” to return to! God knows that when people are amazed and baffled they will begin to seek to know more and we can introduce them to their Savior, the Prince of Peace!
Driving around America was challenging for Erin because for 3 long months she wasn’t able to see or talk to her father, her father who she adored, nor could she be at home where she felt safe. It was before cell phones, before video chatting. Nevertheless, she didn’t share her feelings with anyone. She only spoke to her Heavenly Father who she knew would be with her.
The reason for this happened about halfway through their trip, after they’d traveled all the way from the West Coast of California to the East Coast to the tip of Florida. After they drove up the East Coast and moved into a house in the tiny seaside borough or town called Ocean Gate. The house was on a dead-end street next to the shore, a house that had been in their family for generations. It was there that Erin met her father’s brother, Uncle Sherman, and it was like she was spending time with her own father. But something else important happened while in Ocean Gate. Erin was called to that seaside town to rescue someone who would have died had Erin not saved them. No, not spiritually or emotionally rescuing and saving them as you read in On the Rock but physically rescuing a teenager—becoming his only lifeline!!
Disobedience is Dangerous
All morning Erin had been out swimming, jumping off of a very long pier when she noticed a group of teenagers who were relentlessly teasing a boy. She couldn’t hear what they were saying to him, but the next thing she heard was a splash. The boy was on the bottom and wasn’t coming up!! Right away Erin could sense he couldn’t swim!! Surely someone would soon help him, but instead, Erin was shocked that the group of bullies was running away and the lifeguard was too far away to rescue him and hadn’t seemed to notice what had happened. That’s when Erin knew she was this boy’s only hope of being rescued or he’d drown.
Erin was taught at a young age the real dangers of drowning because Erin’s mother, Grammy (who you read about in Macy's Barn Cat) told her children a very sad story many times. It was the story of how her mother and her mother’s younger brother, Richard, had disobeyed their parents by playing in a rowboat tied to a dock. When her mother, Grace, suddenly noticed the boat had started drifting far from shore. Grace told Richard not to worry because she could swim to shore to get help and to wait in the boat. Grace was a good swimmer but Richard was just learning to swim.
Sadly, when Grace got help, 6-year-old Richard wasn’t in the boat. He had disobeyed not just his parents but also his older sister and didn’t wait for help. While trying to swim back to shore Richard had drowned. Disobedience is dangerous. This is what Erin taught her children each time she told the story of how her mother, Grammy, grew up as an only child, losing her only brother when he was just 7-years-old and what led to her parents divorcing. Grace and Richard were both taught by their Quaker aunts that children must obey their parents in the Lord, for this is right and so that they would live long on the earth because it’s not God who says “the good die young” but the world.
So when Erin saw this boy on the bottom of the very same bay where her uncle had died, she quickly swam down to the teenage boy. Erin grabbed hold of him while standing on the sandy bottom of the bay, and pushed the boy up to the surface to get air! Erin hadn’t learned any lifesaving skills but when she grew up and became a lifeguard. Knowing everyone needs to know how to rescue someone safely, Erin taught lifesaving skills to very young children—one was a little girl who saved her younger brother— a little boy who was younger than Richard. This little girl was awarded a medal for saving her little brother and Erin’s reward was seeing this little blonde-haired boy very much alive at his summer swimming lessons where she taught him how to swim. Now Erin teaches spiritual lifesaving skills to adults and very young children, like you, so you are confident in saving someone from death—giving them a new life!
So since Erin had no life-saving skills, she simply trusted God to help her rescue the much larger teenage boy. Grabbing his legs, she’d shove the boy up to the surface where he could breathe as she walked along the bottom towards the ladder. When she couldn’t hold her breath any longer she’d let him go, quickly resurface for more air, and then dive back down again to lift the boy up to get more air while she continued walking towards the ladder.
After repeating this several times, she finally was able to shove the teenager towards the ladder, and thankfully, the lifeguard was there to grab and pull the boy up out of the water as he coughed and cried. As Erin clung to the steps, coughing and spitting out all the water she also had swallowed, is when she noticed there was a large crowd watching her. Embarrassed, Erin hurried past assuring everyone that she was fine, and headed home where she felt safe. The last thing Erin wanted or needed was anybody’s attention or praise.
This is one of the many reasons God allows us to be treated unjustly and wrongly punished as you read about in On the Rock. God uses unfairness for GOOD so that we are trained to not be motivated by criticism or praise—because praise can easily make us proud. And though the world says being proud is a good thing, God says the opposite. God says having pride comes before destruction, and being arrogant before we fall.
When Erin finally got back to the house, she never mentioned what had happened to her mother or aunt. Again Erin didn’t want or need anyone’s attention or praise. It was later in the day, that evening, that God orchestrated her reward. While sitting on their screened porch Erin’s aunt asked if the little girl everyone was talking about was her. Even though everyone in town was talking about the little girl who’d rescued the teenage boy from drowning, no one knew who the little girl was who saved him.
When her aunt asked if she was the little girl, Erin looked up and nodded yes. That’s when Erin was rewarded. With tears in her eyes Erin’s mother, Grace smiled and said, “Erin you did a good thing today” and she knew her mom was thinking of her own brother who had drowned because there was no one to save him.
Sometimes we aren’t able to save our own family members, the people we love most in the world—but God chooses to send other believers to save them—while we rescue the family members of people we don’t know. That’s why we can never hesitate or believe the lie “we don’t have what it takes.” We are never too young or too weak because He makes us strong and will do it through us when we are weak. All we need to do is tell people our story, our testimony and this will lead to saving someone who is dying spiritually. We simply need to tell one person our story, our testimony of meeting our Prince of Peace.
Tactical Mission
Your “tactical mission” as God’s Son, God’s Mighty Warrior is to use the spiritual military tactics, His plan, so the emphasis, your focus is on the outcome of your mission, eternal life, rather than the specific means of achieving it and how you share your story. It’s also important that as Mighty Warriors we understand that our weaknesses and fears are what He planned to use for GOOD in order to destroy the enemy and rescue the lost.
Every training measure God uses is so we can gain our real strength, our spiritual strength to overcome the wicked one. Coupled with our trust in Him as our leader who leads us by His example and by being yoked to Him will mean we are no longer SELFconscious. When our focus turns toward the needs of others, the SELF in us will fade away. Rather than worrying about what others think of us, we valiantly follow His example and put others first.
Being set apart means we are often put in uncomfortable situations so we gain a better, closer relationship with our Forever Best Friend and find the comforting protection of our Heavenly Father. Once Erin met her friend Liesel who you read about in On the Rock, the next year and the next and the next God made sure she went to a new school where she knew no one. At one new school, God turned the hearts of all her classmates so for six long weeks and she ate alone—giving her the determination to make friends so she could introduce anyone eating alone to a group of friends. That way no one had to face the rejection of eating alone!
God’s mission led Erin to walk around the cafeteria and the courtyard at lunchtime looking for anyone who was eating alone. She’d simply walk over and say, “Hi, I’m Erin, would you mind if I eat with you?” and then ask to meet and have lunch the next day. The second day Erin would suggest eating and meeting some of her “friends” introducing them to a group of friends who were most like her new friend.
In each difficulty, in each challenge, and in each of our trials there is a hidden pearl—an opportunity God has given us. Once we believe in our hearts that God causes all things to work together for good and that God created each calamity for us to bless someone else—this becomes our mission, our calling that comes directly from the Father as we yoke and tether ourselves to Him—freefalling— that very soon will become exhilarating!
What’s funny is that most people believe that Erin is outgoing and brave, overflowing with a lot of SELF-confidence, but the truth is that is not her nature. The reason she looks out for others is that He looks out for her and her assurance is the best assurance anyone could have and everyone needs to have! The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen because her hope and trust IS the Lord. What about you?
If you’ve been rejected once or all your life, take heart—you’ve been rejected for good—and as you look to Him and trust Him I promise everything will turn out for good, for you and as you serve others! Begin today by sharing “Rejected for Good” and the other stories you’ve read.
- Share them with your classmates when they ask you why you are so kind.
- Share them with your parents when they ask you why you are so giving.
- Share them with anyone you meet when they ask you why you are so full of joy.