Are You Invisible?

"The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.  And he said, 'Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?' 'I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,' she answered."  Genesis 16: 7-8

I have recently been reading a book by James Dobson called "Bringing Up Girls."  Dr. Dobson discusses numerous emotions, physical transformations, and mental thoughts that girls often encounter in the young lives.  I was astonished by some of the reading, and at times, I was close to tears.  He tells stories about many young girls who are now adults that once felt invisible.  They felt invisible in their homes.  They felt invisible in their schools.  They felt invisible to boys.  They felt invisible to God.
Dr. Dobson discusses how this feeling of being invisible as young girls has molded them into young adults today.  Some found a true relationship with God through a caring friend or family member.  Yet others carried their feelings or unworthiness and low self-esteem with them where they instead put their focus on drugs, alcohol, prostitution, and homelessness.
I truly believe that there isn't a girl alive that has not experienced a time when she felt invisible.  As a child, I remember feeling somewhat invisible at school.  I was not the smartest of the kids in my class nor was I at the bottom.  Often I was left drifting somewhere in the middle. I grew to like the middle because it felt safer.  I rarely was called upon to answer questions or be the student at the front of the class helping the teacher.  Yet safe did not mean I didn't sometimes feel invisible.  It was in second grade that my teacher, Ms. Slover, took an interest in me.  She saw my potential.  She didn't let me fall to the middle anymore.  She gave me a precious gift that I could never repay --- she gave me hope.  You see, she taught me that being the smartest kid in the class shouldn't be my goal nor should drifting somewhere in the middle.  Ms. Slover tapped into me, into my interests, and found that I was smarter than I even imagined.  No one had bothered to tap into my potential.  So I grew to understand that I probably would never be the smartest kid in my class but guess what!  Out of 300 students to graduate in my high school in 1995, I was in the Top 32 for my GPA!
As I read back over the story of Abram, Sarai, and Hagar, I truly believe that both Sarai and Hagar experienced the feeling of being invisible.  Sarai felt unworthy of Abram's love since she could not conceive and handed over her maidservant, Hagar, to her husband.  Can you even begin to imagine the feelings that Sarai had?  The pressure she must have felt?  The hopelessness she was in?  Imagine attempting to conceive for so many years and being unsuccessful.  Many of you know exactly what she felt.  Now imagine feeling so hopeless that you decide to hand over your servant to your husband as an alternative to yourself to bear children.  Sarai must have also felt invisible during the time that Hagar and Abram were together.  I can only imagine she spent that time crying in her bed pleading with God.  Then when Hagar finds out she is pregnant, I believe that Sarai became, first, bitter and then jealous and finally enraged.
Then there is Hagar.  Oh Hagar.  As Sarai's maidservant, never did she imagine that she would be given over to Abram to bear his child.  Never did she imagine the abuse that Sarai began lashing on her due to her jealousy.  Hagar probably felt shame for sleeping with Abram in the first place.  Then to find out she is pregnant with his son.  Hagar had gone from being invisible as a maidservant to being the center of attention carrying the child of her master's husband.
The angel of the Lord finds Hagar as she has run away from Sarai's torture and jealousy.  Here the angel of the Lord tells her to return to Sarai --- AND to submit to her!  Do you think Hagar felt invisible upon hearing these words?  "You want me to go back to the woman who hates me so and do whatever she says?" Hagar is thinking.
I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that so many of you Ladies and Girls are dealing with this very moment.  I cannot begin to imagine the life struggles, the ordeals, the abuse, the neglect, the desperateness you have lived through.  But I do know what it feels like to be invisible.  I do know what you feel when you feel unworthy.  The one thing I pray for you today is that you find Hope.  Hope in the Lord Jesus who can turn your crimson-stained past into something pure and beautiful.  He can take your pain and heart ache and weave it into the greatest love you have ever known.  He, alone, can love you unconditionally and fill your heart with peace, joy, and hope.  I pray you seek Him today!

Dear Lord,  Thank you for loving us more than we sometimes love ourselves.  Thank you for seeing our pain, feeling our heartache, and embracing our brokenness.  You, alone, have the power to cleanse us of our past and lead us to a bright future.  Thank you for your son, Jesus, who died on the cross for me --- Me!  The no longer invisible ME!  Amen