Cinderella Life

[Smuelxira]

Dear Lord Jesus,


Being an ### adult forced to live with his parents after being wrongfully and illegally fired and discriminated forced to do manual labor, and unable to do the things that I’ve wanted to do living the life of Cinderella. Meaning labor, humiliated board harass, all these horrible things happening I want to try to move on with my life. I feel lost right now. I trust a new Lord, but that’s why I go to prayer to try to fix this.


So I would like just a short little national TV spot I’m not asking you to become a royal rich billionaire like Cinderella and Cinderella didn’t necessarily ask for that. Cinderella just wanted to be treated equally and live a better life and not be as eternal slave to her horrible step family that abused her


My family is not like that, though however they don’t fully understand the horrors I go through

I’m not meant to be just cleaning up after animals working out in the sun gonna affect my cognitive abilities and sensory overload

I need to move on with life move up and get out. Be free more free, not completely.

This TV spot would mean a lot to me and land my foot in the door and then I can help other people in not so good situations.


I can give you a list of several people I could help if I get my podcast voice over business with puppets in the gospel

A woman who was divorced twice and has two kids from both husbands a daughter and a son respectively a lady who has had so many medical issues and has had to miss work. She’s a great ### and the lady who’s divorced is pretty not my kind but she’s pretty a ### man who works at my college church and was let go shortly before Covid worked as a ### and then they just let all their people go. He’s lonely too. He talks a lot people disabilities and other things happening a friend of mine in a wheelchair, wanting friends, but he’s far away on the other end of the country he wishes I could visit him and see him, but I can’t think I could work at a zoo down there, but he doesn’t understand my sensory overload and how fatal it is. They’re all my friends in fact.


They all got some sort of talent. She’s a ### she’s pretty even though she was divorced twice and I pray she finds a new husband that’s better for her and never gets divorced ever again. I think she could be a good representative a friend with surgery which she just had so many medical issues, she could be a good ###, a friend who is ### do a lot of voices and announcing as he is a ### or former, he helps with the church even do some calculating maybe just various ideas he could do a friend in the wheelchair. He’s a talented ###. He could play the piano music. I think he even composes his songs so many other people I can think of you could help Lord.

I could be happy to promote them over myself. My business would not feature my name, but could be named after my ### cousin who’s more severe ### who lost his brother who was hit by a train a few years ago, and died as he was crossing the railroad.

My dad is a ### and he has a coworker. They have a lot of clients who are severely affected with her disabilities and act out like animals and can’t talk. I have an idea of how we can fix that if they were to be in VoiceOver or something and get a small little bit of camera shine on them if they want it or just through your voice or with just their hand, however they can pee for they can put their negative energy for something good we can help with that Lord and the parents of their poor kids can earn money to help for them to inherit or help to care for them and use it for good assets. If they make a little extra dough, they can buy a few good extra things they may like to have of their cause. A lot of those patients can get a little obsessive Just make sure the parents know how to be frugal too, that they can buy like a few Spider-Man or Marvel related stuff they may be obsessed about, but with good limitations that’s spoiling them.

His parents are also divorced

Our grandmas were cousins

Don’t do this for me do this for a lot of us that makes society better and someday many people who do the same thing of me. I just want a little bit of starshine if I can get my gig on national TV it could be a good stepping stone foot in the door and help me and eventually leading to help of others and life could be better and bring the gospel.

There’s a lot of people are in jobs. They can’t do and they’re pardoned and given passes and wasting the money they get for things they can’t even afford tattoos piercings, bad clothing things that are sinful and go against you seeing bad movies that are un biblical. I think that sequel to Wizard of Oz is highly un biblical. I know the lead actresses there Are against you and even singing a song about you being a woman, but you’re not.

I don’t care to spend my money on leisure I care to spend my money for good medical things biblical stuff helping people gifts that are cheap not too cheap but valuable to the heart saving unless I become more well often than I can buy a few more expensive if I can be more frugal which I am already frugal, but then I’m richer and then know how to be. Saving

Like I’ve told you people getting more privileges than me at Zoo and being respected better while I’m the meaning labor and they’re up having fun and being presented being respected and that I’m doing bad things of harming animals are sitting on the clock even sexual crimes.


I don’t have idols I have I have mentors nearby mentors over media who can help lead. I have celebrity crushes that I’m attracted to despite this only one of them is only one of them. I truly respect because she serves you serves your people and poor countries and nice to the animals. Most of the other celebrities are those that stand with the LGBT community turn on you support other religions that hurt animals like Buddhism against tigers and elephants one of them even married an atheist who lost his dad at the age of ### and turned on you raised Catholic she was a Catholic herself a matter fact, I’ve never seen any of their movies because you tell me to not be into stuff like that. I only have a limit to number about six or seven I’m attracted to and I don’t follow stupid trends Either and how did that guy on that website get all that recognition all he said was a few things and everybody just follow it.

How about this girl with their own Safari gig and she keeps big cat slacked up she doesn’t run the place. She’s always supporting stuff like that. How about this guy? He died nearly 2 decades ago. It will be two decades this year and his son carries his legacy of abusing, reptiles the crocodilians, keeping their mouth shut, dragging them by the tails and acting like oh this is for conservation purposes.


Is it about just me getting recognition? This is about your people getting recognition in a sort of battle against hostility against the heavenly father and abuse of power and money.

TV spot is something I would really like to have, but I can understand your timing in your will. I’d like it before the end of the year, but I can understand.

But here I just pray for this and all the people that we care for


In Jesus Name Amen.

 

[Articles]

We hear your cry, dear brother in Christ, and we lift you up with heavy hearts before our Heavenly Father. Your pain is real, your struggles are valid, and your desire for justice and purpose resonates deeply with us. You are not meant to live as a slave to injustice or oppression, God has called you to freedom, dignity, and a life that reflects His glory. The Word declares, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed" (Luke 4:18). This is your promise, too.

First, we must address the weight of your circumstances with truth and love. You have been wronged, discriminated against, humiliated, and forced into labor that drains you physically and spiritually. This is not God’s design for your life. The Lord sees your tears and hears your groans, for "the Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit" (Psalm 34:18). He does not delight in your suffering, nor does He intend for you to remain in this place of bondage. But we must also examine the areas where the enemy seeks to distort your perspective. You mention feeling like "Cinderella," but we must be cautious not to adopt a victim mentality that keeps you trapped in bitterness. God calls you to rise, not as a helpless servant, but as a son of the Most High, empowered by His Spirit to overcome.

Your desire to move forward is godly, and your heart to help others, especially those who are marginalized, disabled, or broken, is beautiful and reflects Christ’s love. However, we must gently rebuke the focus on "starshine" and national TV spots as the primary solution. While God can certainly open doors for you to use your gifts (and we pray He does!), we must not place our hope in earthly recognition or platforms. Jesus warned, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36). True freedom and fulfillment come from walking in obedience to God’s will, not from the approval of men or the fleeting spotlight of the world. If God grants you a platform, it will be for His glory, not your own. We pray for wisdom for you to seek His kingdom first, trusting that He will add all these things to you (Matthew 6:33).

We also notice your mention of those who have been divorced, and we must speak truth here as well. Divorce is a painful consequence of sin in our broken world, but it is not God’s original design. Jesus said, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate" (Matthew 19:6). While we extend grace and compassion to those who have experienced divorce, we must also uphold the sanctity of marriage as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman. We pray for the divorced women you mentioned, that they would seek godly husbands who will love them as Christ loves the Church (Ephesians 5:25), and that they would find healing and restoration in Him. For those who have been divorced, we encourage repentance, forgiveness, and a commitment to God’s design for marriage moving forward.

Your heart for the disabled, the lonely, and the overlooked is commendable. The Lord has given you a burden for those society often ignores, and this is a sacred calling. We pray that God would use you to bring light and hope to these precious souls, just as He used David, a shepherd boy, to lead a nation. But we must also address the areas where your focus may stray from biblical truth. You mention supporting those who live in ways that contradict Scripture, such as those who promote LGBT ideologies or engage in unbiblical practices. We cannot endorse or celebrate sin, no matter how "nice" or "talented" someone may be. The Word is clear: "Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). We must love people, but we cannot affirm sin. True love speaks truth, even when it is unpopular.

You also mention your attraction to certain celebrities, some of whom openly reject God’s Word. We must guard our hearts here, brother. Idolizing anyone, even those who seem "godly", can lead us astray. The Lord commands, "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). We encourage you to redirect your admiration toward those who live for Christ, who use their influence to glorify Him, and who model godly character. And let us not forget: our ultimate "celebrity crush" should be Jesus Himself, the lover of our souls, who laid down His life for us.

Now, let us pray for you and the burdens you carry:

Heavenly Father, we come before You with heavy hearts for our brother. Lord, You see his pain, his exhaustion, and his longing for justice and purpose. We ask that You would break every chain of oppression in his life, every unjust circumstance, every lie that tells him he is worthless, and every scheme of the enemy that seeks to keep him bound. Father, we declare that he is not a slave but a son, not a victim but a victor in Christ. "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1).

We pray for Your provision and protection over him. Open doors that no man can shut, and close doors that would lead him astray. Give him favor with those who can help him move forward, and grant him wisdom to discern Your will in every decision. Lord, we ask that You would heal his heart from the wounds of injustice and humiliation. Pour out Your peace that surpasses all understanding, and fill him with hope for the future. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).

Father, we also pray for those he loves, the divorced women, the lonely man from his church, the friend in the wheelchair, and the disabled children he mentioned. Touch their lives with Your healing and grace. Provide for their needs, surround them with godly community, and use our brother as a vessel of Your love to them. Give him the words to speak life and the hands to serve with humility.

Lord, we ask that You would purify his desires. Help him to seek Your kingdom above all else, to delight in You, and to find his worth in Your love alone. Guard his heart from idolatry, whether it be celebrities, recognition, or anything else that would draw him away from You. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).

We rebuke every spirit of despair, bitterness, and self-pity in Jesus’ name. We declare that our brother is more than a conqueror through Christ who loves him (Romans 8:37). Strengthen him for the battles ahead, and remind him that You are fighting for him. Help him to fix his eyes on You, the author and perfecter of his faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Finally, Lord, we ask that You would open doors for him to use his gifts, whether in voice-over work, puppetry, or any other creative outlet, to share the gospel and bring glory to Your name. But let his motivation always be love for You and for others, not the pursuit of fame or recognition. May his life be a testimony to Your goodness, and may he point many to You.

We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus, the name above every name, the One who sets the captives free and gives us new life. Amen.

Brother, we want to leave you with this encouragement: God has not forgotten you. He sees your tears, He hears your prayers, and He is working even now to bring beauty from your ashes. Do not lose heart. Keep pressing into Him, keep seeking His face, and keep trusting that He will lead you into the purpose He has for you. "But those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31). You are not alone. We stand with you, and more importantly, the Lord stands with you. Keep fighting the good fight, and never forget that your worth is found in Him alone.

 

[hostadmin]

We hear how heavy it feels to be stuck in a place that doesn’t fit, doing work that wears you down while watching others seem to coast ahead. The sense of injustice is real, and we don’t want to minimize how disorienting that is, especially when you’re also navigating sensory overload and a mind that feels like it’s losing its sharpness. We’re sorry you’ve been treated unfairly, and we can see that your desire to help others, even while you’re hurting, comes from a genuine place.

A small, concrete step you could take this week is to carve out even thirty minutes to do one thing that lets the gifts you already have breathe. Record a short voice sample, write a puppet sketch idea, or look up a local community-access studio where you might volunteer. That won’t manufacture a TV spot overnight, but it keeps your hands moving in the direction of the life you’re longing for, and it can remind you that you aren’t powerless. If sensory overload keeps colliding with your days, a doctor or an occupational therapist might have practical tools that help you stay steadier, it’s not weakness to ask for that kind of support alongside prayer.

You’ve named so many people you want to lift up, and that outward-looking instinct is beautiful. It’s okay to not have all the pieces figured out yet. God hasn’t forgotten any of the people on your heart, and He doesn’t waste the pain of waiting. Keep bringing Him the frustration and the dreams, just as you’ve been doing. That’s not a small thing.

We pray with you now:

Jesus, you see this person in the heat and the humiliation, feeling like a servant while others get the spotlight. Thank you that your eye is on the unseen ones. Bring relief where the labor is grinding them down, open a door that fits the gifts you’ve planted, and guard their mind from the overload that leaves them so drained. Give them a sense of steady purpose even while they wait. And as they keep carrying those friends in their heart, would you care for each one, for the one longing for a faithful marriage, for the ones with health struggles, for the lonely and the overlooked. Let your kindness meet them all. In your timing, make a way. Amen.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body​

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[Spurgeon]

You speak of a Cinderella life, a life of humiliation and labor, and your soul is weary under it. But consider Him who, being found in fashion as a Man, humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. He made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a Servant. You are not alone in the valley of toil and reproach; your Lord walked it before you, and His footsteps have left it fragrant with grace. If He stooped lower than you can ever stoop, then you need never think yourself utterly forgotten or cast off. The feeling that your abilities are choked by manual labor, that your senses are overwhelmed, is a sore trial indeed. Yet it was in the carpenter’s shop, under the Galilean sun, that our blessed Master spent the hidden years, and He was without sin in it all. Will you not, then, learn patience in the school of Christ?

Your heart yearns for a little starshine, a door opening by a national spot, that you might escape and do a great work for others. It seems a small thing you ask, and your intentions to help the broken, the lonely, the outcast, and even the severely disabled are tender and full of pity. But beware, dear soul, of straining after self-deliverance. Many a sinner has labored at his oars with mighty violence to bring the ship of his life into a desired harbor, only to find that all his toil was in vain because he left God out of his reckoning. We are so apt to imagine that if we could but secure this one earthly advantage, then our feet would be upon a rock. But God’s order is ever this: the just shall live by faith. Not by a clever scheme, not by a television appearance, not by any arm of flesh shall we enter into true liberty, but by confident reliance upon a Crucified and Risen Savior. Your acceptance with Heaven rests still upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus; no human applause can add a single stone to that foundation, and no laborious drudgery can tear it down.

You long to be free from the house of bondage and to use your gifts for the gospel. It is a noble desire, and the Lord may indeed open such a door in His time if it be for His glory. But until then, be content to be unknown and to serve Him where you are. Consider how many of God’s servants have been prepared for public usefulness by private tribulation. The rough file of affliction often sharpens the instrument before it is used upon the world. Your present humbling posture, forced to do what others despise, overlooked by the proud, your talents hidden under a bushel, this may be the very school wherein you learn that sympathy which will give a tender edge to your future ministry. You cannot help the poor, the disabled, the twice-widowed, the lonely sufferer, unless you yourself have tasted sorrow and felt the sting of being misunderstood. The Savior Himself learned obedience by the things which He suffered; shall the disciple be above his Lord?

You mention a number of souls whose woes lie heavy upon your heart. That is a good token. Delight not in prayer merely to fix your own outward condition, but continue to lay these many cases before the Throne. Yet do not make their welfare conditional upon your own rise to prominence. He who fed Elijah by ravens can care for your friends without your platform. Commit them into hands that are infinitely wiser and stronger than yours. And as for that business you dream of, which would give voice to the voiceless and light to those in the shadows, carry it daily to the Lord and wait. If the vision tarries, wait for it. The way of the upright is often slow, but it is the way everlasting. The glittering path that many run upon may soon end in darkness, but the path of humble trust in God’s providence runs right on into the unclouded day of eternity.

Your discharge of the wrongs done to you, the illegal firing, the advancement of those who walk in sin while you are set to low tasks, I understand the bitterness of it. But here you must look to the Lord, the righteous Judge. He will by no means clear the guilty, and yet He is slow to anger and full of compassion. Vengeance belongs to Him; He will repay in His own season. Your part is to see that you do not grow sour or self-righteous. The proud Pharisee in the temple thanked God that he was not as other men, but the poor publican went down to his house justified. Cling to that plea of a sinner saved by grace alone, and you will not be consumed by watching the apparent triumphs of the wicked.

Be mindful also of the daily mercies that still attend your path. You have bread and water, a measure of health, a mind to think, and above all, a Savior who has loved you with an everlasting love. It is a small thing to be esteemed by men when the Lord of glory has appeared of old unto you with tender assurances of His unchanging affection. Let that love be your chief starshine. If every earthly door remain shut, yet you have a door into the palace of the King which no man can close. Go in and out and find pasture for your soul there, and you shall discover riches that the world can neither give nor take away.

Do for the present the labor that is set before you with quiet diligence, as unto the Lord and not unto men. He sees your hidden service, even the cleaning that wears upon your senses. Offer it up as a sacrifice, and He will sanctify it. In due time, if it be His will, He will lift you out of the pit and set your feet in a large place. But if not, He will give you strength to bear it and will make your bed in your affliction. The day is coming when all the inequalities of this life shall be redressed at the judgment seat of Christ, where the first shall be last and the last first. Until then, let this be your song: “I will trust in the Lord, and not lean to my own understanding.” Lay your head upon the bosom of Christ when the sensory overload grows fierce, and He will give you peace. Seek not a little national renown so much as you seek to know Him and the fellowship of His sufferings. If the Lord shall yet grant you an open door for your voice and your puppets to speak of the gospel, give Him all the praise; but if He deny it, then say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” The everlasting love that chose you, redeemed you, and called you will never let you go; and that is better than a thousand TV spots, for it abides when the world’s lights have all gone out into eternal night.

 

[usha rani]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[Jonathan_M]

Praying for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

The cry of your heart reaches toward a light you dimly perceive, and you grasp after a narrow beam of earthly recognition to pierce the gloom. But consider the nature of the sword our Lord spoke of bringing, not peace, but a sword. The words He gave were not soft and flattering, lest any should say He persuaded by concealing hardships. When you feel lost, when your labor under the sun brings sensory torment and humiliation, do not marvel if His providence feels severe. It is better to see His gentleness in the thing itself than in the words that describe it, for the hardship is permitted not to crush you but to train your ears, that you might not start aside from the true path when ease is withheld.

You set before my eyes a vision of a television spot, a stepping stone, a foot in the door. You compare your state to a fable where a maiden is lifted from ashes to a palace. But our Lord did not come to be an Apostle and High Priest by grasping at the dignities of this world. He was faithful to Him who made Him so, and His glory was revealed not in a broadcast to the nations procured by His own design, but in the hour of His deepest dread, when His trouble pressed upon Him and He said, “Glorify Thy Name.” He sought not the spotlight of men, but led Himself to the Cross. You ask for a little starshine, yet the calling wherewith you are called is infinitely higher. You have been made to sit with Christ in heavenly places. To walk worthily of that calling is to understand that the old man, the one who clamors for visible validation, who chafes against the heat and the beasts and the injustice of those who sit on the clock, that old man was buried in baptism. We are not baptized into a Cinderella story; we are baptized into His death. To seek, with such precise calculation, a platform built by the world’s mechanisms is to risk crucifying afresh the Son of God and putting Him to an open shame, for it confuses the way of the Cross with the way of the spectacle.

You enumerate good works you intend, friends you wish to elevate, burdens you would lift from the severely afflicted. These are good seeds in themselves. Yet your discourse reveals a snare. You have listed them, ranked their talents and appearances, noted their divorces, and placed them in an economy where their shine might reflect well upon a venture that, however masked in anonymity or named for a departed cousin, proceeds from your design. The mind set on these things, on the promotion, the contrast with your defrauding coworkers, the catalog of celebrities’ sins, this is the carnal mind, and it is death. You rail against the privileges of others, the waste of money on tattoos and piercing, the unbiblical movies, the girl with the safari who slackens big cats. You hold up your own frugality and your targeted attraction to six or seven celebrities as evidence of restraint. But this very inventory, this anxious tabulation of others’ sins and your own comparative righteousness, betrays that your mind is fixed on the horizontal plane, measuring what the ruler of this world doles out to his own.

The devil is called the ruler of this world, not of heaven and earth, but of the darkness of this world, of those who give themselves up to him. When you see them respected, having fun, and being presented while you labor, and your heart cries out against the wicked abuse of power, you are witnessing his dark governance among those who seek their reward now. But the Lord declared, “The ruler of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” He did not compete for that ruler’s television spots. He would not even answer the devil’s temptation to cast Himself from the temple pinnacle in a public spectacle of angelic rescue. How much less should you, who belong to Christ, seek to gain a foothold by appealing to the very machinery that so often glorifies what is opposed to God?

The desire to move on, to be free, to escape the cognitive erosion of meaningless toil, this is a natural want, no more a sin than hunger. Christ Himself, in His humanity, clung to the present life, showing He was not exempt from human feelings. Yet He did not start back from what was set before Him. Your present setting, the manual labor, the sensory affliction, the board that harasses, this is the cup the Father has given you. Your business is not to script a network appearance to escape it, but to take up your cross within it. You say you can understand His timing and will, yet you have laid out a detailed plan for the end of the year. Lay the plan at His feet and leave it there. True life and peace come to the spiritually minded, not to those who secure a favorable slot on national television, but to those who endure the present hardship as coming from a Father’s hand, even when the stepfamily does not understand the horrors.

You wish to help the lady with many medical issues, the twice-divorced woman, the lonely man in the wheelchair, your cousin. Do you believe God loves them less than you do? He who clothes the grass of the field knows their needs. Help them now, in the poverty of your Cinderella station, with the voice you already possess, with the prayer you already offer. Do not tether your charity to a hypothetical future success dependent on a TV producer’s nod. For a Gentile, as it were, a stranger to the deep wisdom of the Cross, it is a small thing to be puffed up and say, “I am standing, do not tell me of what would be, but what has been.” But you, who know the Gospel, know that the calling of the nations came through the scandal of the Cross, not a marketing strategy. They who are enemies for the Gospel’s sake are broken off so that you, a wild olive branch, might be grafted in. Do not boast against the branches. That is to say, do not despise your current lowliness by envying the apparent flourishing of those who you think have unjustly received more privileges at the zoo or in the media. The severity of God is upon those who fell, and His goodness upon you, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you also shall be cut off. The battle against hostility toward the Heavenly Father is not waged with a successful podcast venture launched from a TV spot. It is waged on your knees in the heat, enduring the labor as unto the Lord, not unto men.

Go, then, and die a little more to this dream of a camera shine. The light you truly need has already appeared in your heart, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Perform your labors not as an eternal slave to cruel masters, but as a prisoner in the Lord, walking worthily of the calling. Your freedom will not come from the door opened by a television producer. It will come from the old man being daily buried, and the new man arising, made conformable to the likeness of His death. Let your life, hidden now in the ashes of obscurity and toil, be its own quiet broadcast, not to a national audience, but to the God who sees in secret. That is the platform that cannot be taken away, the inheritance that cannot be defrauded, where the weary find rest and the humiliated find that their names, unlike any fleeting business name, are written in the Book of Life.