Healing of the Outcast

One of the biggest problems people face if feeling insecure about their appearance
or education.

In the past few weeks, I have received several anonymous notes from well meaning people
offering to send me wrinkle cream so I would look younger.

At first I was a little offended thinking why would someone send me such a thing…and
then God reminded me of this scripture…Great peace have they who love your law
and nothing shall offend them.

The Bible says…Favor is deceitful, and beauty vain, but a woman who fears the LORD
shall be praised.

Many people are so unhappy with the way they look they spend many years of their

life tormented. Some spend their days, endlessly thumbing through

fashion or sports magazines… wishing they had the bodies of the models

in the books.

Eating disorders, self injury, and suicide often come from a person having low self-esteem

and not realizing that God made us each special and unique…

in his own image.

He loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins.

When we starve ourselves, over eat to excess, make cuttings or take drugs…
we can do physical harm to the very body God created.

We each even have our own finger and footprints…for God wants

us to all be different… so he can show his glory through us.

The Bible says…Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance
were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also
are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sands:
when I awake, I am still with thee. Psalm 139:16-18
Perhaps you may be suffering from addictions, eating disorders, cuttings,or thoughts

of suicide… because you feel unworthy or unaccepted the way you are.

If you feel empty or unloved, you need to know today that God loves

you, unconditionally.

You don’t have to win his approval or do everything right,

to receive his love or talk to him.

You don’t have to look like a model in a fashion magazine

or starve yourself to find love and acceptance.

God created you and you are precious in his sight. His thoughts about

you are more than all the sand in the sea.

God is always ready and waiting to listen to whatever is troubling us,

and it is through our speaking to God, we pray.

We have an open hotline to someone who can help us 24/7 with any

trouble or trial we’re facing.

So why don’t we feel loved?

Perhaps all your friends have boyfriends or girlfriends and you don’t.

Maybe you wish to be in a special club and are not accepted…

or maybe you wanted to play a specific sport…but are not

athletically gifted.

The wonderful thing about God is He is not prejudice and does not

favor one person over another. In fact, he often chooses the down

cast and rejected of society to work for him…

Many are called during times of loneliness. In the quiet moments

God sees our tears and can comfort us like no earthly friends or family can.

For many years I suffered with an eating disorder because I felt ugly

and unloved. Like an Outcast.

In my early teens I was as skinny as a beanpole, had huge feet, pimples

all over my face and back, was flat-chested, and was teased about having

4-eyes…wearing thick glasses.

In gym class girls would throw my undershirt in the shower and mock me.

To find comfort, I began eating excessively and became addicted to

sweets. In a couple of years, I’d ballooned up to a size 14 and weighed

165 pounds. The only time boys paid any attention to me was to copy

off of my homework.

I only had one friend in high school, and because we were always together,

people began to call us lesbians. We couldn’t stand the peer pressure, so we

stopped hanging around with each other.

When I arrived in college I was devastated to find all my roommates were

raving beauties and pencil thin. I chose to go on a crash diet, and lost about 70

pounds in less than a year. I became obsessed with being thin…but no matter

how much I dieted or exercised…

God never allowed me to looked like one of those models in the books….

nor did I ever get accepted into the in-crowd, I coveted.

Years later, God began to reveal to me, I was making my weight

and looks, an idol over Him. I spent all my time trying to be beautiful…

yet when I did get thin…I still wasn’t happy.

Boys who rejected me…now asked me for dates…

but most only tried to used me and then cast me away.

I don’t blame them…because I allowed them

to treat me that way.

I foolishly thought if I was thin, I’d be loved, but instead I felt more

despised and rejected than ever before. I went into a deep depression,

because of my horrible sins and walked away from God.

My eyes were blinded, by my obsession to be loved…

but God picked me up and showed me… I was beautiful to him.

He explained to me the reason my thighs still had lumps and my

stomach didn’t look like those in the books…was because I was his

priceless treasure…and those parts of my body were to be covered.

In Genesis 1:27 the Bible says that God created us in his own image.

When I saw that, it was life changing for me… for I realized
I looked like God wanted me to. God lives inside me and it

is important to maintain a healthy body for him to live in and

represent him.

The Bible says…

God giveth it a body as it has pleased him…1 Corinthians 15:38

I was starving myself to be accepted by others, but I was already

loved by my Father who created me. Before I was even conceived in

mother’s womb, God knew what I’d look like and what I’d go through in life.

When we focus so much on our weight or looks, we make ourselves an idol.

It becomes more important than having a relationship with God and

with others. When I began to ask God to help me eat right and treat my

body with the respect it deserved, he began to heal me from within.

God showed me that it was wrong to continually focus on my appearance,

instead of being thankful I could see, and walk, and think. If God

has blessed us with the gift of food, then we should be thankful we are

not starving, for real… in a foreign country like Afghanistan, Haiti, or Africa.

Is there a hole in your heart today?

Maybe you too have tried, self harming, sex, alcohol, or drugs to take away

the pain. You’ve cried a million tears and have considered suicide.

Beloved, Jesus loves you and so do I.

Pour out your heart to him and write a letter expressing your pain.

Take it to the cross of Jesus and nail it on his body.

He bore our sicknesses and diseases for us.

By His stripes, we are healed.

Bury that letter with Him in the tomb.

Rise with him from the prison of sorrow and become

a new creation in Christ. He’ll cover your sins with his

blood and remember them no more.

Godly women and men chosen by God…must “die” to the

idolatry of needing acceptance from man. We are to

dress, like a son or daughter of the Almighty…and our

choices of apparel, may not always reflect the fashion

statements of society.

We don’t have to act seductively to catch a man or woman…

for if we pray…God will bring to us the right person who will

love us and respect us for who we are…the sons and daughters

of God.

Our worth and value comes from knowing God loves us. We submit

our body to the LORD as a living sacrifice…holy to him.

The world will see we are different…and may even mock

or judge us…but God is just…and has promised to

never leave us or forsake us.

Do you feel like an Outcast beloved?

The Bible says…

For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds,
saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast. Jeremiah 30:17

Jesus said, Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you

from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of

man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great

in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. Luke 6:22-23

No one can or will ever love us the way God does. The Bible was written

by God, through the hand of various men, to leave us with a written

letter of love to share with us his warnings and promises.

We begin to understand how He feels when we reject or

disobey him…when people reject of mistreat us.

The battles in this life, are sometimes overwhelming and confusing.

School, divorce, unwed parents, blended families, or single parent

households are causing people to not realize the importance of God in

their lives.

Friends, family, and lovers will disappoint us, but Jesus is our friend and

comforter for life.

He too was despised and rejected by men…a man of sorrows and acquainted

with grief. Even his own brothers and disciples deserted him…yet in love,

he prayed Father forgive them.

Jesus commands…Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you,

Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Luke 5:27-28

Precious one…

Whatever your need is today, I encourage you take it to

Jesus.

Let his unconditional love restore you to health, heal your wounds, and

transform you into the awesome disciple he created you to be.

Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:

I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with

the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:9-10

Our Father in Heaven,

Please forgive us for abusing our bodies with things that are harmful

or starving ourselves to try to be perfect and feel loved. Help me to make

right choices, and feed my body with the right foods to maintain a healthy

weight.

May we not hurt or harm our bodies or anyone else by our behavior. We look

to You to heal our hurts and wounded spirits. We were despised and Outcasts

like your son, but we rejoice in knowing you love us, and great is our reward

in heaven. We pray for those who have hurt or despised us. Father forgive

them, as you have forgiven me.

We cast all our cares upon you, for you care for us. We thank you

for your amazing grace, help, and deliverance. We can do all things

through Christ who strengthens us.

In His blessed name we pray.

Amen

Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou has in love to my soul delivered

it from the pit of corruption: for thou has cast all my sins behind thy back. Isaiah 38:17

Your sister and servant of the LORD,

Valerie Rousseau