Do You Ever Feel Like You’ve Been Forgotten?

About a month ago, I got a copy of my friend Melina’s latest CD release.  I am definitely a music lover and I enjoy a great  melody that makes you wanna sing along or a rhythm you can groove to, but if I had to pick what aspect of a song I love the most, I would have to say, the lyrics.  The ability for someone to put together words that paint a picture, give you a new perspective or help you realize, “hey, someone else gets how I feel” and set it to music is pretty cool.  I was struck as I was listening to each song how absolutely beautiful the lyrics were, however, there was one song in particular that when I listened, I thought she had climbed inside my heart and mind, pulled out my thoughts and feelings and penned a song.  Part of the lyric says, “It’s been ten years now, feels like eighteen, I’ve been waiting for just one thing and I still haven’t found true love.  Now maybe I’m to bold or very stupid for saying that, but do you ever feel like you’ve been forgotten?”

I can tell you I have certainly felt that way!  How about you?  Have you been waiting for a change to come, waiting for someone to come back, waiting for a promise to be fulfilled, time marches on and you feel a bit left in the dust?  Possibly, overlooked, snubbed, passed over, ignored or forgotten?

If we rewind a few thousand or so years, David in Psalms 13 writes, ” ^1-2 Long enough, God— you’ve ignored me long enough. I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble,  lived with a stomach full of pain. Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me.  ^3-4 Take a good look at me, God, my God; I want to look life in the eye, So no enemy can get the best of me or laugh when I fall on my face.”

I’m thinking although there are thousands of years between King David and my songwriting friend, very similar feelings are being expressed  in lyrical form.  Kinda makes me think this feeling forgotten thing might be a theme humanity has struggled with for some time.

It is important that we acknowledge our feelings and that we even find a trusted friend or two that we can talk with and get counsel from, but our tendency; Ok, at least my tendency can be to get stuck in the feeling, sometimes to even sit right down in it and take residence for a while.  I am continuing to learn that my feelings cannot rule my life and when I am veering towards derailment and letting the feelings control my mind and actions, I choose to remind myself that:

1.  My feelings are not necessarily facts.

2.  Tomorrow is a new day with new opportunity.

3.  Even though I may not know who, where, when, what, why and how, God does.

4.  If I’ve done all I can do, my job is to keep doing what I should do and trust God with the rest.

5.  My blessings far out number my perceived deficits.

6. I don’t see the Big Picture and I serve a God who does.

7.  Someday I will understand.

8.  My heart must remain open to receive love and goodness from others and God Himself.

The Psalmist David finishes his “forgotten” lament saying, “^5-6 I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms— I’m celebrating your rescue. I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers.”  He had the right idea, he chose to run in the right direction and even decided to celebrate a bit about the answer that had not yet arrived but was most assuredly on the way!  Delay doesn’t necessarily mean denial and God NEVER forgets you.

In the meantime, I am reminded by my songwriting friend and the Psalmist David that I am not alone in my feelings and that my story and your story too is a story that is still being told, someday it will come to an end, but today it is still unfolding.  Your life lyrics are still being written and there is no way the Author of your story would ever forget you, despite how you may feel today.

If you want to hear some of Melina’s amazing music for yourself, check it out at www.melinakastle.com.  Good Stuff!  Be encouraged my friends!!