Nobody Likes Me..

"Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me. I'll just go eat worms.."

A couple of days ago, I began singing this song on my way back to the church after dropping the lunch kids off at their houses. I didn't really think much about it at first ~ Catchy tune, learned it as a silly song when I was little, and I had just had two kids tell me that they were not going to come back to the lunch program tomorrow (because they were mad at me). The song seemed super random, but it kinda fit the situation I guess. I thought to myself in that moment: I know those kids don't hate me. Dislike me [maybe even strongly at times], yes. But hate.. no. But then The Lord brought to mind some of the scriptures I had read that morning:

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:18-19

Whoa. What a statement.
What joy and peace we can find knowing that we do not belong to the world! How awesome and overwhelmingly amazing to know that The Lord has CHOSEN US. Yet for this life, we must deal with something that can be a harsh reality at times. "the world hates you." This does not always come in the form of outright hateful actions.. But sometimes it does. And sometimes it comes in the voice of a little boy who's living through unimaginable situations and hurting so deeply: "You're stupid. I'm never coming back here again." And yet he continues to come back every day. The Lord wants his heart; I know it.

Please pray for this child especially, but also all of the kids that are a part of the lunch program. Pray that their hearts will be softened to the Love that God has for them. Pray that they will find the only Hope that can give them Peace in more-than-difficult circumstances. Pray that they will come to VBS (it's coming up soon!) and that they will have open ears to hear the Good News that we have to share.

Lord, we know that You go before us. Prepare the way in the hearts of these precious kids that You love so dearly. Prepare the hearts of the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, guardians, etc as well ~ that they would be willing to come; to step inside the doors of the church; to hear their kids talk about what they learned at VBS for the day; to listen to the fun songs and actually hear the lyrics. Lord, show them who You are!