Agony aunt Sal- "who will love the outcast?"

Dear Sal

"Most people are social outcasts. Me, I'm an outcast from my family. I just don't feel accepted for who I am. I can't speak my mind because it will offend them and I'll be accused of many things.

I feel so alone and lost. I don't really know where I belong. I don't feel loved and often have to hide my true self. I'm just misunderstood."

Your email made me so sad when I read it. I don’t know how to answer your question without bringing faith and God’s love into the equation. I will say this though, don’t put yourself down. The more you put yourself down, the more you suppress God’s love in your life. You are wonderfully and fearfully made, so you will never be alone. You are accepted in the beloved. You are an ambassador, you are a new creation, and God accepts you just as you are.

                   

I used to feel the same way you are feeling when I was younger. I felt like my family didn’t understand me, I even entertained the idea of rebellion against the system that my parents were trying to run. Thankfully I didn’t stray too far, I fear that I would have lived to regret it. We tend to make bad, sometimes dangerous, decisions when we are feeling down on ourselves. Don’t go down that road.

You don’t have to prove anything about yourself to anyone- not even to your family; you don’t have to justify who you are to anyone else. DO YOU. You were created an original, God doesn’t make any duplicates, so stop stressing about not fitting in with you family, that’s not your job, or your calling.

You may not feel loved, but believe me- you are. Ever thought that maybe your family doesn’t know how to show you that they love you, because they feel shut out by you? Sometimes when we don’t feel loved, it’s really because we do not love ourselves, and thus view the world from that point of view.

Keep your head up!