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Posted by
Dion Todd April 14, 2015 -
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Devotional
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Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. Zephaniah 3:1719 ESV
My brother and I went into the garden once again and picked some bell peppers to eat for breakfast. After my dad left for work, my stepmother would put my brother and I outside, and then bring her children in for breakfast. She kept the cereal in a cabinet with a padlock on it. She had ten children of her own, as well as three stepchildren. Later, when we became old enough to work, she began charging us rent to live there.
We were the outcasts, the unwanted and were constantly reminded that we were nothing and would never amount to anything. When you are treated as trash for so long, you begin to believe it and expect it. I grew up with baggage that would scare many psychiatrists, but my story does not end there.
After all of that mess, God sought me out and turned my life around. It turns out that His heart is for the outcasts. God sees your suffering and what you are going through. God will change your shame into praise. When God gets a hold of your life, no one can stop Him and no one can get in His way. The ones that looked down on you will have to look up in awe at what God has done in your life, just like the half-brothers of Joseph looked up to him.
If you have been an outcast, know that God cares deeply for you. I am amazed how much God cares for the lost, the outcasts, the broken. He will truly leave the ninety-nine behind (Luke 15:4) to seek them out, and when He has found them He rejoices. Know today that if you are down, He will lift you up. When everyone hates you, He will love you. When they put you out, He will take you in. When they say that you will be nothing, He will mold you into something. God has a plan for your life. Give it to Him completely and never look back.