No need to defend…

/ Lesa / 8 Comments

When you share from the depths of your heart, and put it out there for the whole world to hear, you are bound to get some feedback.  Between our church website, and the YouTube audio video that was created, the sharing of my story that I did at my church back on July 5th has been listened to 424 times.  Pretty surprising considering it’s about an hour and a half long (smile).

Some of the feedback that I’ve gotten has been really amazing.  It seems that listening to my story has helped some people in profound ways.  God uses our stories.  There are some, however, who have felt the need to tell me how wrong I am in my beliefs.  I find that surprising since none of these people have asked me why or how I’ve come to what I believe…or even what I actually believe.  They feel they are right and I am wrong.

I was having some trouble reconciling this in my spirit.  It’s like my brain knew all the right things to tell myself, but once my heart was bruised by people’s opinions of me, it was hard for my heart to get the message.  Through the amazing support of some moms in a private FB group, and a telephone conversation I had with John Pavlovitz last week, I’ve been able to pull myself out of the funk.  John referred me to a post he did on the topic of defending your faith and it was helpful to me so I thought I’d share it here because it’s something that a lot of us go through on this journey:

John Pavlovitz – Stuff That Needs to Be Said

Again…my head knows what I should do, but my broken heart isn’t always on the same page.  Part of this journey has been feeling the need to defend my beliefs.  Really there is just one authority that I need to be concerned with when it comes to my beliefs…and that is God.  He is the only one that has been intimately involved in this journey with me.  Not even my husband Mike knows the depths of prayer and searching I did with God as I do not know the depths of his journey with God.  When I share with people, I tell them I don’t expect them to believe the same way I do.  I get it.  They haven’t experienced it personally.  I just wish that some would extend me the same grace.

photo-2Love matters…but how we love matters even more.

The face of courage…

/ Lesa / 17 Comments

In the weeks following speaking at church, people have been telling me that I am brave…that it took a lot of courage to do what I did.  I appreciate their kind words.  It would have been much harder to get up there if I didn’t have so many people praying for me.  I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true.  I really felt like Jesus was sitting on that stage with me.  It gave me the strength to share what I did.  The harder part for me has been the aftermath.  I knew it would be difficult…living in the tension of wondering what people are thinking of me.  The tension of worrying about people being upset and possibly leaving my church…just for having the conversation.  I know that discussions are taking place, but I don’t know the content of those discussions.  I knew all of this going into that Sunday morning, but courage doesn’t mean things will be easy.

Courage looks different depending on the circumstances:

The little girl who is afraid of water, but trusts her dad and leaps into the pool into his arms…has courage.

The little boy who rides his bike without the training wheels for the first time…has courage.

The child who raises their hand in class to answer a question…has courage.

The parent who teaches their child how to drive…has courage…can I get an AMEN (smile).

The recovering addict who swings their legs over the edge of their bed in the morning and faces the day sober…has courage.

The soldier who defends our country…has courage.

The family who waits for their soldier to come home…has courage.

There are many courageous things that people do every day.

I didn’t want to write about this topic.  I felt there had already been a plethora of discussion about it already.  You would have to be living under a rock to not have heard all the verbiage about Caitlyn Jenner recently. Especially when she received the Arthur Ashe award for courage.  Many were up in arms about her receiving such an award.  I like the saying…’Comparison is the thief of joy,’ but I think comparison is the thief of a lot of things.  I don’t think anyone has the right to tell someone they aren’t courageous just because their courage looks different then someone else’s. My guess is that the people who had a problem with her getting the award have never known a transgender person…or the parent of a transgender person. They’ve never buried a transgender child or held vigils at a hospital bed because someone tried to murder them. How would they know what any of them have gone through? How can they judge their courage?

I felt prompted to write about this when I first saw the courage comparisons that were being posted.  I ignored it.  Like I said…so many people had already written about it.  Unfortunately, I still see the jokes on FB about Caitlyn Jenner.  And I guess the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back…was my birthday.  On July 23rd, a transgender woman was murdered…the eleventh this year.  She was 66 years old and was stabbed to death…left for dead in the street.  So you see, the meme’s that you post on FB about Caitlyn Jenner and others make a difference…in a bad way.  They contribute to the misunderstanding of other human lives.  They portray that person themselves as a joke…and I think that is dangerous.

So whether you agree with the person or not…think about what you post.  Think about who may see that post.  The suicide rate among transgender teens is staggering.  Please don’t contribute to their pain.  Think of what it might be like to walk in their shoes…

 

walk_a_mile_in_my-101006

 

Love each other because love matters…but how we love matters even more.

 

Sacred moments…

/ Lesa / 8 Comments

It’s finally a nice enough evening to sit on my deck to write.  It’s been a while because there has been tons going on.  Good stuff, hard stuff, meaningful stuff.  It got me to thinking about the sacred moments that God gifts us with when we slow down long enough to pay attention.  I think they happen more often than we realize…I mean God is omnipresent so how could they not.  Right?  Some of those moments though are so big that they can’t be missed.  I had two such moments like that recently…

The first being a weekend away.  Seems normal enough…but this was not your average get away.  It was two days spent with the most amazing women I am lucky enough to know.  A group of kindred spirits who for many met for the very first time…myself included.  It took place in North Carolina and was about a five and a half hour drive from my home.  But really I would have driven 20 hours to meet these women.

I’m part of a private Facebook group of moms with LGBTQ kids.  When I joined sixteen months ago, I was number seventy-eight…now we are over five hundred strong (smile).  The group is a safe place to go with questions, hurts, fears, victories… We support each other via cyberspace and we are located all over the United States and other parts of the world.  We share a common goal…to love our kids unconditionally.  The group is a remarkable place for resources and has been a life-saver to many.

As remarkable as it is to be a part of this group on the internet, it is even more meaningfull to get to meet a mom face-to-face. I’ve had the opportunity to do that with some of the moms that live closer to me and I’ve made incredible, life-long friends. But on this particular weekend, I got to meet twenty-five of these amazing moms (there were twenty-seven of us, but I had already met two of the moms in person).  We got to break bread together, cry together, laugh together, and share our powerful stories about our kids and the path that they’ve put us on and the journey that God has brought us through.  Each person’s story has a piece of our own…different…but the same.  And when the pieces all come together…fitting intricately each intertwined with the other…you get the perfect picture of God’s abiding love.

Me and Justin

Me and Justin

On Saturday, we had two special guests join us for breakfast.  Justin Lee, executive director of the Gay Christian Network, and the author of Torn:  Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays vs. Christians Debate, and John Pavlovitz, pastor and blogger who shepherds another private FB group of moms of LGBTQ kids where I am also a member.  It was lovely meeting them and I especially enjoyed my time chatting with Justin letting him know how much his book changed my family’s journey.  He is gracious and humble and it meant so much to me to let him know that his heart shined through his book and is making a difference.

Overall, it was an amazing weekend.  This group of women and all of the women who couldn’t be there are some of the strongest and courageous women I know.  We refer to ourselves as the Mama Bears because we fiercely love our children and will go to great lengths to protect them.  We have a mom in our group who is a graphic artist and she came up with the graphic below for us.  (If you are a mama or papa bear, or even a grandma bear and would like to visit her shop you can do so here.)  We could be our true selves without any fear of judgement.  We didn’t have to worry about what we said or how we said it because we knew our hearts were safe with each other.  It was an incredible, God-filled, sacred moment.  The timing of this weekend was a huge blessing to me as it led into my second sacred moment the following weekend.

Graphic design by Jennifer Stake White

Graphic design by Jennifer Stake White

If you ask anyone who knows me well how I feel about public speaking, they would tell you I would rather eat dirt then to do so.  I’m not a fan of being in the “spotlight.”  I’m more of a behind-the-scenes kind of girl.  So when my pastor asked if I would speak about my journey in front of our congregation I said yes with some fear and trembling.  I don’t like to speak in public, but more importantly, this had the potential of ruffling some feathers (to put it mildly).  The LAST thing I ever would want is for something I did to hurt my church.  I took it very seriously and honestly put a lot of pressure on myself.  The series that my pastor is currently doing is on Ephesians and this particular Sunday he talked about Paul standing in the gap for the Jews and Gentiles.  He felt that my journey of standing in the gap for gays and Christians would be a good modern-day example.  I didn’t hesitate to say yes because God had already been whispering in my ear that I would one day speak about this. Part of me hopes that this is all God was referring to (smile), but I’m not so sure about that.  Yikes!

So why was this a sacred moment?  I’m not going to tell you what I said because I’m going to include the link so you can listen for yourself if you like.  It was sacred because God was present.  I had weeks to think about what I was going to say.  I had conversations with my pastor asking if particular things that are part of my journey were ok to discuss.  But how do you sum up an eight year journey on a Sunday morning when SO much has happened?  You let the Holy Spirit take over (smile).  I let go…I told God that this is the journey You’ve taken me on…You tell the story the way You want it to be told.  And He showed up…in a BIG way.

I woke up that morning shaking so badly from nerves that I could hardly get my the toothpaste on my toothbrush.  I knew I had lots of people praying for me and took a moment to zone in on those prayers.  I had an incredible sense of peace come over me.  So much so, that I had to remind myself while sitting in the pew waiting for my turn that I was actually about to get up there and speak (smile).  I got up there and shared my journey.  I survived!  The response I’ve gotten has been overwhelming now that the message is on the internet.  I can barely keep up with the comments I’ve received and I’m humbled to be used in such a way by God.  It was a sacred moment…one that I hope you will take a moment (well a long moment – smile) to listen to:

Standing in the Gap  – I come in around the 20 minute mark.  I have this in written form as well.

 

sacred moments

Love matters…but how we love matters even more.

Perspective…sometimes it knocks you off your feet…

/ Lesa / 12 Comments

“Lesa!  Watch this!” my sister called out to me.  It was Sunday and we were visiting my grandparents like we did every week.  I was playing touch football with friends that I had in my grandparents neighborhood, and my sister, well she was finding fun of her own. “Niki, don’t do that.  You are going to break the window,” I replied.  “No I’m not…watch.” she insisted.  My parents car was parked in the alley and my sister had collected some rocks from said alley and was tossing them over the car. She was pretty proud of herself.  Each time she made it, however, she would take a step back, pick up another rock, and toss it over the car. Window I heard several of those “Lesa!  Watch this!” exclaimed at me.  And then it happened.  Step, toss, SMASH!  She didn’t quite make it and this time I heard, “Ohhhh, I’m in trouble!”  She tried to talk me into going into the house with her to tell my parents that she broke the car window, but I told her she was on her own.  I’m pretty sure I added, “I told you to stop doing that!” in my most annoying big sister voice (smile).

Her perspective was that since she made it once…she would always make it.  The mistake she made was not taking into account her changing circumstances (stepping back each time and choosing different rock sizes).  I’ve certainly done that before, but instead of rocks and car windows, I’ve done it with God.

I’ve suffered with chronic fatigue and pain for the last 21 years.  About 15 years into my illness, I had a Christian friend tell me that God wasn’t healing me because I didn’t have enough faith that He could do it. (Gay people are faced with these types of statements all of the time)  I remember feeling like I had been punched in the gut.  How could this person possibly know how much faith I had in God?  How could this person truly know about my relationship with God?  For them, it was very simple.  I wasn’t praying hard enough and lacked faith.  Then this person got cancer.  Their circumstances changed…and so did their perspective. When the tables were turned, they understood that you can have all the faith in the world, and pray continuously for something…but not get the answer that you want.  Sadly this person lost their battle.  Perspective.

It’s really easy to think of what someone else should do when faced with certain circumstances.  I’m often asked what changed my mind about what the Bible has to say about LGBTQ individuals.  The easy answer…circumstances….perspective. The longer answer…well really I would have to answer that in person. But I can say that when life’s circumstances change…you are sometimes driven to look for answers to questions you never thought you would have in the first place.

I did lots of reading…

I did lots of research…

I did lots of soul-searching.

It was scary because it brought up lots of other questions.  I’m so thankful that God was faithful to be with me through the whole process.  He was ok with my questioning.  I don’t have all the answers…I never will…and I’m totally ok with that.  It took me awhile to get there…and honestly sometimes I get scared about whether I’m “hearing” God correctly…but each and every time I wonder that, I get what I feel is a sign from God to keep pressing on.  He is cool like that!  The greatest thing I did for myself in all of this was to put myself out there and meet more LGBTQ people.  THAT is what cemented my perspective for me.  I’ve met the most amazing people and I’m a better person because of it.

There was a time when the Bible was used to support slavery.

There was a time when the Bible was used to persecute Jewish people.

We look back and think…how could people back then do that??  And then things changed.

Circumstances…perspective…sometimes it knocks you off your feet…and sometimes it knocks you off your pedestal.

perspective

Love each other…because love matters.

Yes even rioters deserve love…

/ Lesa / 2 Comments

Given the Facebook posts I’ve seen this week…I may get some flack for this post.  Boy oh boy…people have had some opinions this week.  Strong ones.  To think that I just visited my old neighborhood in Baltimore just two weeks ago and this week so much has happened.  I lived in Southwest Baltimore so it wasn’t at the heart of the protests, but there were some fires there on Monday night.

As I was watching the news coverage, I was filled with a lot of emotions.  I would say the first being anger.  Angry that people would act in such a violent way.  As I watched what seemed like hundreds of people looting a CVS store, it was just so surreal.  I felt like I was watching a movie…not something that was occurring in real life.  But the longer I watched the live news feed on my television, the more I was overcome with compassion.

It is easy for me to sit in my house in the suburbs and judge what is going on in the city.  It’s also wrong.

I realized that I have NO CLUE what it’s like for the people living in this part of the city…

I have NO CLUE what it’s like to be a police officer working in the city…

And I have NO CLUE what it’s like being a leader making decisions in very stressful situations in the city.

I do know that there are families that have to choose whether or not they feed their kids, pay their rent, or pay their utility bill each month.  I know that there is a system that fails them countless times..  I know that there are issues passed down from generation to generation.  And I can imagine how hard it is to not feel desperate, hopeless, defeated…over and over and over again.  Just like I can imagine how difficult it must be to be a police officer trying to keep the community safe, as well as themselves, and how they must get frustrated when they see people they arrest right back out on the streets again.

I’m not making excuses for the rioters or the police brutality that happens.  Both obviously are wrong.

I do know, however, that the hateful dialogue that was going on in social media will not help the situation.  I was ashamed of what I was seeing.  We need to learn to listen.  We need to learn empathy.   And most importantly we need to remember that everyone deserves love…period.

Sometimes things need to break down in order to be rebuilt.  Baltimore has been here before.  I hope we are learning.  But more importantly I hope the leaders of Baltimore can stop for a moment and let the citizens of Baltimore know that they are:

Seen…

Heard…

Their struggles do not disqualify them from love…

And that they have something to offer.

For ways to get involved, check out what Somebody Cares Baltimore is doing.

Love your neighbor as yourself…even when you disagree with them…because love matters.