To be chosen is always a wonderful feeling. Do you remember a time when you stood with your classmates in gym or in the backyard with friends and a team leader would choose one by one who they wanted to be on their team? Even as I write this I can almost feel the lump in my throat. I always ended up on a team but I must be honest, I was usually the last person picked. It was so embarrassing standing there hoping that each time would be different.
Far worse than being picked last for a team, was finding out as a young girl that my daddy was not actually my biological father. It was the worst feeling in the world. I had always felt like I was on the outside looking in . . . now I thought I knew why. However these feelings where just that — feelings. They were little thoughts that would run through my mind. Satan loves to plant lies that cause division and pain.
My Father’s Homegoing
Recently at my father’s death, Satan tried to feed me the same old lies. I had been with my dad at the hospital through the night. It was a particularly hard night for him. He struggled to breathe all night, begging me to turn off the oxygen. He was so ready to go home. He asked for me to call everyone so he could see them before he went to be with the Lord. I waited for the sun to rise and called my brother and sister, followed by his precious wife and explained that if they wanted to see him they needed to come as soon as possible.
Daddy had been sick for an extended amount of time and his pastor had always been there for us. This time was no different. He was there even before I had a chance to call. Breakfast was being served, and I asked daddy if he wanted anything; to my surprise, he answered, “Yes, I will try a little something.” I cut the pancakes and sausage into small little bites and fed him, but what he wanted most was coffee! This is where dad and I had a lot in common; we like our morning “go juice.” He had rallied back.
As family started coming in, he was sitting up in the bed eating. And for the first time in many years (if ever), daddy’s oxygen was reading 100 percent. Everyone looked at me like “what is going on….?” This did not match the phone call I had made. With each person that came in, he spoke and smiled. At this point I was confused after the night we had.
After being up about 36 hours I was dead tired. Everyone encouraged me to go home for a few hours to rest and I reluctantly left. Just a couple of hours after being home the phone rang… It was my sister and my daughter crying and saying they were so sorry… he was dying. They held the phone to his ear so as he slipped from this earthly tent to his eternal home I could talk with him. Oh, the pain was so great that I was not there with him!
Satan’s Old Lies
Instantly I heard the enemy’s voice taunting me. Taunting me that I was not there and my brother and sister were…his “real” children. For a short time I couldn’t stop the lie that was spinning in my head. But then I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart “He chose you.” I remembered one day when I was still quite young, my aunt was talking to me and said, “Did you know your daddy fell in love with you before he did your mama?” You see, I was a baby when they met and started dating. Daddy didn’t get to date just Mama, we were a trio! I was chosen, not last but first. He made a choice to be my daddy.
God’s Prevailing Truth
Truth prevailed. “Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). I was chosen by my earthly daddy and what joy that brings! But the greater joy is this:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God did this for me. He chose for me to be His child. He called me into a relationship with Him, so that I would be a daughter of the King. Never again will I be left wondering if I am going to be chosen. I am His, and He is mine. I am on the winning team.
Chosen by God Himself
Are you wondering if you have been chosen? Wondering if someone would love you enough to choose you? I can tell you Jesus loves you. He purchased you with His blood at Calvary!!!! And if you choose to follow Jesus, the enemy has no hold on you. The chains are broken, the lies are uncovered. Those who trust in Him have been adopted by God Himself into His eternal family. I didn’t get to be with my daddy when he left this earth, but I will see him again because we both were chosen to share in the inheritance of God.
Satan’s lies (John 8:44) are old and worn out — never to be believed again by this girl. I was chosen!
I would like to leave you with these beautiful reminders of being chosen.
- But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
- Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will (Ephesians 1:4-5).
- You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you (John 15:16).
