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December 24, 2022 - January 12, 2023
Christ’s salvation isn’t dependent upon your gender, there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
it’s politically expedient for some. One way I’ve heard the difference between gay
We shouldn’t be so quick to stand firm on a particular slice of an English translation of the Bible to support our personal biases.
Just as it’s not a sin to be born deaf or left-handed, it’s not a sin to be born transgender. And just like those who are born with a hearing or some other impairment, it may not be immediately evident until later, perhaps much later.
Even to this day, as much as I’ve cooked and baked things in real ovens, that silly little Easy Bake Oven still intrigues me as something the little girl in me never got to do.
That maybe the reason I was getting more and more miserable seeking God’s will for me, was that I limited His will to what I thought it was supposed to be. This opened to me the possibility that perhaps I was constraining God, and that His love and grace for me was greater than what I was expecting or willing to receive.
GOD DOESN’T MAKE MISTAKES: I don’t want to call that the Christian’s “lazy” response when they are dealing with someone who is transgender, I suppose it’s more of an uninformed response (and yes maybe a statement of denial that someone could possibly be truly transgender). Everyone likes things when they are black or white, yes or no, and yes—male or female with the corresponding man or woman to match. Some people say it’s “common sense.” But “common sense” doesn’t explain a lot in this world. God made me the way He made me. Am I perfectly made? Nope. But I am wonderfully made. So many people
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Jeremiah 29:11 was my life verse: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
When it was all over, I realized the bigger
picture of their intent, but what was done was done—I couldn’t “un-hear” what I heard. I just had to forgive them because “they know not what they do,” to quote wisdom beyond anything here on Earth.
GOD’S CHURCH IS NOT GOD: One thing that I’ve learned, and it’s an important learning, is that the Church is not God.
Christians who are transgender want to be a part
of Christ’s family, have communion with His people, and yet they are rejected by the Church, called sinful, and told they need to change. The result is these people forever walking away from the
community they so badly want to be a part of and losing their faith in God. We need to be sure that if our churches say, “all are welcome” and “come as you are” that we mean it...
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The fact that I loved my Lord but couldn’t trust His people ate at me.
“My darling Laurie, I wish I had words that would make the anger and hurt go away. We both know that there aren’t any. I’m angry for you for all the things you listed. You deserve love, respect, acceptance, compassion, companionship, joy, love, laughter… every good thing comes by the way of the Father’s hands. Sadly, those He first chose to love you
substituted their prejudice and ignorance for His Love and Wisdom. God loves you just as you are. He knows what you went through. He knows the torture and the torment that riddled your life before you sought to be free from the wrong gender identity. He knows your desires and pursuits were from a pure and good heart. Your family sees perversion, but your FATHER sees perfection.
How do I trust the people here to not turn against me? And THAT’s when it hit me (those 25 years of therapy were finally paying off) that I was trusting people and I wasn’t trusting God. Putting your faith and trust in people is asking for disaster—and I know that!
Bringing people closer to Jesus is impossible if you’re pushing them away from Jesus. You can’t have it both ways.
As Christians, we’re not called to tell people, “You’re not welcome here, maybe you should leave. We hope you find Jesus, just please find Him somewhere else.”
sound like the kind of Church God wants us to be?
At what point does a church say to someone, “You don’t fit in,” “You’re not like us and it doesn’t matter if you’re a Christian,” or maybe, “You need to change before we’ll accept you here.”
These are the messages those who are transgender get from the Church. Now I’ll grant you that’s not necessarily the message the Church intends to send, but that’s how it’s being received.
When Christian organizations stand up vehemently against legislation allowing transgender people to use the bathroom of their gender as opposed to their biological sex, the transgender folks take that as an attack against them. The argument that it’s for the protection of women and children stops there, with no proposal for equally protecting those who are transgender from similar attacks when they use the restroom (I guess if you think they are sinning, they don’t need to be protected). It would be so easy for Christians to put out their hands in kindness, friendship, and love to those who
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God can use us REGARDLESS of our qualifications, but we have to be willing (and I’m not even sure Lazarus had a say in the matter). And yes, willing and scared qualifies as “willing.”
It was the call to my friend Joy that God used to save my life, and in the months that followed, I learned there was another way to end that pain, and it was simply to be the person I was created to be.
I’m nobody special. God didn’t call me because I’m someone super holy (far from it) or have some special connection with the Lord. I’m a mess, but I’m a mess before the Lord God. I depend on Him for my today and tomorrow.
I’m not transgender because something unfortunate happened to me when I was young. I’m not transgender because I chose it later in life. Having lived it, why anyone would choose this is beyond my comprehension. There is some science to suggest there are actual brain differences in those who are transgender compared to those who aren’t. Honestly? It doesn’t matter to me whether science has the answer to the question or not, because I already know that it’s just how I was wired. God doesn’t make mistakes, and He didn’t with me, nor did He with you—however you’re wired.
If you’re a Christian who isn’t transgender, I would hope that you would welcome anyone who would want to join your church, be a part of your community, and want to serve beside you. They see Jesus in you; they sense His presence in the service, that’s why they’ve come. Do you really want to turn them away? For any reason? If you knew the person was transgender, would you avoid sitting next to them or shaking their hand? Do you think you’re honoring our Lord if you do? I’m sure Jesus would have no problem taking a seat next to them.
It’s a work in progress and part of what He’s called me to do. He didn’t call me to point fingers and shame them into acceptance. They need to see Jesus and His love in me so that they can only conclude that, yes, you can be a Christian and transgender. That their Christian brothers and sisters who are transgender are just, well, their Christian brothers and sisters—period.
