Disowned and Redeemed

At 24 I came to the LORD - God, Yaweh, Abba, I AM. Lot's of names. I like to call him "Creator of the Universe."
At 29 I was disowned by my family (for other reasons which may eventually come to light in this blog) - but God stuck with me.

I didn't have to please God (he's 'Father to the fatherless') though if I'd had a chance I would have reconciled with my dad - but he died less than a year after he disowned me. To a degree there was reconciliation with my mom - she's gone now too. None so far with my sibling though.
That's the disowned part.

The redeemed part is that I'm accepted by God and loved. And I want to do my best but not for love or acceptance but out of a desire to put into the WORLD Life! A positive pursuit.

I write, not because I have all the answers, but because God does and I have a lot of questions.

There's suicide out there and a lot of it seems to come from teens and twenty-somethings. I wanted out a number of times. But I'm passed that age and I'm still here and I'm SO glad I am. So sticking it out is worth it. NO MATTER WHAT!

At 16: I shouted at my dad. I remember distinctly saying to him, 'You say I've got so much wrong with me, but I get good grades and I don't come home drunk...' I stormed off.
A while later my mom came into my room and said, "Your dad says he's sorry."
God is Father to the fatherless.
Some don't even have dads. There are different ways of dads being absent.
But God's always present. And he's a great present (pun intended).

According to Mirriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary*
Disown = to refuse to acknowledge as one's own
and
Redeem = to buy back

Well, I was bought back by God before I was disowned. That helped me through the family rejection. But more, it means I belonged to Him in the first place, whether I knew it or not.

The pic shows a road. When I was about 26 I read THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED by Scott Peck (he's dead now too because he got old and sick like my parents). The book is fab. It starts off, 'Life is tough... when you realize that it becomes a lot less tough.'** (Loose translation)

We never really know the road ahead. But it goes on, whether we go on it or not. It may be curvy, or straight, it may be rocky or smooth. But it's worth staying on it. Life's always interesting. Always enlightening. Always challenging. Always worth the pursuit.
That's what I think.

Stick it. It's worth it!

*eleventh edition, Part of Encyclopedia Britannica
** Arrow Books, Part of Random House UK