Have you ever felt left out or over looked, like you are not very important to anyone? If you have never felt this way, be very thankful and try to be aware of those who are not so fortunate. Many people have been downcast and overlooked by other people from childhood to their senior years. Many times by their own families or by their caregivers who are supposed to build them up with positive words of affirmation. Because of broken humanity, hurting people hurt people. Children learn bad behaviors and sometimes don’t even get taught basic social skills like communicating well or manners. It’s all relative to the family and circles we grew up in. Bottom line is, all people have a need to be seen and loved regardless of the family they originated from.

I lived many years feeling abandoned because I didn’t have a father in my life during a time when most families I had been exposed to had a normal family unit, with a dad, a mom and kids. It was during the sixties and seventies that I grew up feeling like I didn’t fit in, even though my mom did her best to care for me as a single, working mom. A few years later I found myself in an abusive marriage as a young woman attempting to be seen and loved. I felt invisible and overlooked, like my life didn’t matter. Unfortunately, a lot of people find themselves in situations in life that make them feel like they don’t matter.

I will never forget the events that followed after I began asking God if He cared about all the suffering in my life. It was as if He directed me to cross paths with kind people who pointed me to Jesus. Once I made the decision to accept the gift of salvation through receiving Jesus as my Savior, everything changed. I began to feel seen and loved. Like He was there with me the whole time I was suffering, I just didn’t know it!

Romans 10:9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, You shall be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

I first experienced the love of God through Jesus Christ. I then began to find treasures beyond measure in the Bible about how God watches over us, even when we don’t know it. This is why the blog is called Treasures Beyond Measure, God’s word has been treasure to my life. It has saved me, healed my broken heart, counseled me, directed my steps and most importantly made me feel loved and seen. I fell deeply in love with the One who loves me most! God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are One and fulfill all the voids of our human hearts.

Ephesians 1:4-9 “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace in the One He loves. (Jesus). In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He (God the Father) lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ.”

Verses 11-14 continues “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity to the purposes of His will. In order that we, who were first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. And you (all who believe) also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.”

We are chosen if we believe in Jesus Christ! But when we come into the family of God we have to learn how to navigate a new family with a bunch of different backgrounds. It takes time and some effort to be vulnerable and learn new ways, better ways of communicating and how to love people well. Again, this all is a process, but we have a teacher to help us learn the new ways of God, the Holy Spirit.

John 14:15-17 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (AMP) Jesus words.

John 16:13 “When He the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth (full and complete truth). For He will not speak of His own initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears (from the Father-the message regarding the Son), and He will disclose to you what is to come (in the future). He will glorify and honor Me, because He (the Holy Spirit) will take from what is mine and disclose it to you.” (AMP) Jesus words.

I used the Amplified version of the Bible for those verses because it is so explanatory to help understand how the Holy Spirit teaches us truth. God so desires that we all learn and understand His ways. To experience His love and then reflect that to others in our lives, at home, at church, at work and everywhere we make contact with other people. Not excluding anyone, even those who feel left out. Attempting to be aware of the ones who need a little extra love and guidance, the broken people, is at the very heart of God.

Psalm 18:6 “In my distress I called on the Lord and cried out to my God and He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”

Psalm 116:1-2 “I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications (humble requests). Because He inclined His ear unto me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.”

He hears our concerns and the cries of our human hearts when we call to Him. You are seen and loved by God my friend. When people fail you, yes even people at church will fail you sometimes because they are only human, but the Lord will never fail to love you and see you. I encourage you to seek Him with all your heart and He will use your life for His purposes…to love Him with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.

In His Love, Sharon Kay