Quote from: thevaliantx on March 18, 2014, 11:13:24 AM
Shantel, that is absolutely beautiful!

Is there anything more beautiful than God's love for us?

Yes, God's unconditional love for us whether we go to church or not, whether we a LGBT or cis, that we can mess up and be forgiven and that we have the Freewill to make our own mistakes and choices. Not to mention that we were created in that same Devine image.

I can not answer how God is using this is someone else's life. I can only answer as far as I know today. God never promised that He would tell us the WHY's in this life. Job never got an answer from God as to why. Often times the disciples did not get the answer to the question they asked.

As Malichite was given this passage so have I.

John 9

9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

What is NOT stated in that passage is the HOW the works of God might be displayed.

Going on the next part is that this has caused me to grow closer to Him. Without Him I would have been long gone by now. He has given me the strength to handle it. He has shown me through this He has made me far stronger then I ever thought I was or ever could be.

This also is one of His promises and this has been in spades

Romans 8

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

He has also shown me that there is a matter that I struggle with badly and that's the trust issue. And the question I keep getting through my mind is "Do you trust me with this even though you do not know where this is leading to?" Do I trust Him enough for the BEST answer for me even though I may not think it's the best thing for me.

There is another purpose that is less about me and it's about others. Tough lesson but one that we need to learn and that is being able to love others as Christ has loved us. And that goes into being able to forgive others even when we are being mistreated.

Still along ways to go....

Quote from: Satinjoy on March 17, 2014, 07:56:25 PM
Rather than birth defect I prefer to see it as a birth anomoly.  Defect is negative.  I don't want to label how I was made as a defect.  Even though it requires work, still not a defect, just a planned scenario from above, as the psalmist said, to live out Gods plan including our transition, and motivate us to search the thoughts and heart of God.  Others are helped by this.  Some are hurt and we have the challenge of bringing that to God too.  But had I not been born trans, what kind of person would I have become?  Intolerant, not needing God, selfish?  Impossible to know.  But there is good fruit from this and I wish to bring to the harvest.

I used to say birth defect but now I don't think so, I only use that term for self protection from those who do not understand things with us much.

Good thread.

Thanks.   

I can see how a person wouldn't call it a birth defect.  For myself, I personally don't see trans as a good thing.  Like my bad eyesight, it's just one of those things that I have to deal with and try to correct.  I will say however, that being transgender has definately helped me increase in my spirituality and become closer to God.

Quote from: Jess42 on March 18, 2014, 07:12:51 AM
See Malachite? For me it was the other way around. Being trans led me to a lot of questioning and the answers that I would usually get, I wasn't very satisfied with. Then I started to understand that the body is physical and that we do have a Spirit and that Spirit can be different from the body it inhabits. For whatever reason being trans led me to a greater belief in God. Although I ain't Christian in the accepted views of Christianity, mainly because I believe in reincarnation, I do believe that Christ was a great teacher and that the Spirit of Christ is much more advanced than man's. I do believe in the return of Christ but again it's not the return that is usually accepted by Christian churches. But we are all different but I do believe that everything that happens, happens for a reason and that reason is to advance our Spirituality more toward God.

I could see a case for that.  As I told SatinJoy above, I feel that being trans has brought me closer to got, but I don't think there any reason for me to believe that I couldn't have been just as spiritual had I been born cis in my opinion.

Quote from: Shantel on March 18, 2014, 08:56:40 AM
Some people say there is no God and other's say that they believe thus and so, or that I believe this way and go to this church, while you believe that way and attend that congregation. When Christ met the Samaritan woman at the well she said, "You Jews worship at the temple, but we worship over on that mountain!" same old argument isn't it, I believe this way and you believe that way? Christ said in essence, "If you knew who was standing here before you all of that would seem meaningless, because the day is coming when mankind will not worship in specific places or in buildings made by human hands, but will worship in spirit and in truth" (this is a paraphrase of that conversation as I understand it)
Later he said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me!"

This is the reason I am not religious but spiritual instead because of having accepted Christ on His terms not on my own. I believe in spirit and in truth rather than sit, kneel or bow prostrate on the floor in a building or specific place each week or beat myself with chains because that is simply practicing religion trying to reach God on man's terms. When in reality God reached down instead to man coming into the world as Christ who then willingly bled and died on the cross for a purpose and as a sign. At that moment the sky went black and a bolt of lightening cut the temple veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the congregation from top to bottom, it was made of heavily woven materials. This was to signify that God would no longer be meeting mankind on man's terms and in buildings made of human hands, but would come in spirit and indwell him as each man's heart is open to him. Christ said, "Behold I stand at the door and knock, and whoever opens I will come in and sup with him and he with Me." He is clearly alluding to the Passover in Egypt when the blood of a lamb without blemish was sacrificed and the frame of each Hebrew doorway was marked by the blood and that family was passed over by the spirit of death but the first born in each house not so marked died that night. When we meet Christ on His terms and not on our own, He marks the entryway to our own hearts, His spirit then abides within each of us and we are positionally passed over by an unhappy fate in the next life. Not my rules, not my plan, God's plan that we can either accept or reject.

I agree with thevaliantx.  That is beautiful, Shantel, and very on point!  It does give me great comfort to know that if there is a purpose for me being transgende, but I never fullfill that purpose, that it will not affect my salvation whatsoever!

Quote from: Jess42 on March 18, 2014, 11:23:10 AM
Yes, God's unconditional love for us whether we go to church or not, whether we a LGBT or cis, that we can mess up and be forgiven and that we have the Freewill to make our own mistakes and choices. Not to mention that we were created in that same Devine image.

Amen!

Quote from: thevaliantx on March 18, 2014, 11:13:24 AM
Shantel, that is absolutely beautiful!

Is there anything more beautiful than God's love for us?

I don't think so.   

Quote from: SarahM777 on March 18, 2014, 01:02:09 PM
I can not answer how God is using this is someone else's life. I can only answer as far as I know today. God never promised that He would tell us the WHY's in this life. Job never got an answer from God as to why. Often times the disciples did not get the answer to the question they asked.

As Malichite was given this passage so have I.

John 9

9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

What is NOT stated in that passage is the HOW the works of God might be displayed.

Going on the next part is that this has caused me to grow closer to Him. Without Him I would have been long gone by now. He has given me the strength to handle it. He has shown me through this He has made me far stronger then I ever thought I was or ever could be.

This also is one of His promises and this has been in spades

Romans 8

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

He has also shown me that there is a matter that I struggle with badly and that's the trust issue. And the question I keep getting through my mind is "Do you trust me with this even though you do not know where this is leading to?" Do I trust Him enough for the BEST answer for me even though I may not think it's the best thing for me.

There is another purpose that is less about me and it's about others. Tough lesson but one that we need to learn and that is being able to love others as Christ has loved us. And that goes into being able to forgive others even when we are being mistreated.

Still along ways to go....

Hi Sarah, I'm glad to see that you have been grounded in the various purposes that the Lord has given you concerning your female identity, though it may not all be understandable.    As for myself I do wonder exactly HOW the works of God may be manifested in me, a transgender man.  From time to time I wonder is there a particular call for me to reach the trans community, as in reaching the lost (as we are all called to do), or edifying other trans (or even cis/non-conforming) brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps on Youtube.  I highly doubt so, but I do think about possibilities like that.  Perhaps I'm trans to show certain cis Christians in the future that we have a place in the Kingdom too.  I could go on and on.  Who knows?  Maybe there is no purpose for me being trans and this is just one more thing that I am. I may never figure it out. but it's interesting to think about from time to time.

Oh and my pastor gave me Romans 8:28 about a month ago as God laid it upon her heart to give me that scripture for some reason.

Quote from: Malachite on April 24, 2014, 10:18:29 PM
Thanks.   

I could see a case for that.  As I told SatinJoy above, I feel that being trans has brought me closer to got, but I don't think there any reason for me to believe that I couldn't have been just as spiritual had I been born cis in my opinion.

Yeah but Hon, that may be the only way that could have brought you closer to God.

For example you could have been cis and still brought you closer to God or more Spiritual? Ask Jimmy Swaggert. Ask any cis Rockstar. Pretty much ask pretty much any cis person and the answer will usually be if you are good you will go to heaven and if you are bad you sill go to hell and if you ask forgivness, forgiveness is given. In other words most cis are male or female and they see themslelves that way in heaven 'cause nobody goes to hell. Right. Well sweety we are living in hell. We see ourselves different from body and Spirit which causes a conflict within ourselves and allows us to see our spirits as different from our physical body which in turn separates us psychologically or spritually from our physical bodies.

In the small picture Malachite, being trans may seem like a curse but looking at the bigger picture it is a blessing in that we can feel, actually feel out of synche with our physical bodies and thus material world and acknowledge that the Spirit is separate from the body and that even though, in my case, I am physically a male but my Spirit feels female or when the time comes, can be comfortably male and female simultaneously. In the actual same image of The Creator.

Trans brought me to all of you.  It allows me to be transparent and let you see into my soul.  i hope you see Him in there somewhere, peaking out from the fear, generating warmth, love, compassion, and a ticket out of here if we will befriend Him, turn to Him, and trust Him, because He paid our debt, or karma if you wish, but paid it in full.  That is the power of the cross and His love.

Purpose?  I see thousands of them.  Lives helped, loneliness ended, dependance created on relationship, searching scriptures and the mind and heart of God in prayer.... wonderful

Quote from: Jess42 on April 28, 2014, 04:29:05 PM
In the small picture Malachite, being trans may seem like a curse but looking at the bigger picture it is a blessing in that we can feel, actually feel out of synche with our physical bodies and thus material world and acknowledge that the Spirit is separate from the body and that even though, in my case, I am physically a male but my Spirit feels female or when the time comes, can be comfortably male and female simultaneously. In the actual same image of The Creator.

That's a unique way of looking at it. 

Quote from: Satinjoy on April 28, 2014, 08:28:34 PM
Trans brought me to all of you.  It allows me to be transparent and let you see into my soul.  i hope you see Him in there somewhere, peaking out from the fear, generating warmth, love, compassion, and a ticket out of here if we will befriend Him, turn to Him, and trust Him, because He paid our debt, or karma if you wish, but paid it in full.  That is the power of the cross and His love.

Purpose?  I see thousands of them.  Lives helped, loneliness ended, dependance created on relationship, searching scriptures and the mind and heart of God in prayer.... wonderful

I love your response, Satinjoy! 

I am pretty sure that our situation in the womb is what tweaked the hormones and cell signaling to make us transgender. Under that assumption, our bodies and identities could be safely assumed to be as dictated by God as anything else you believe God created. Our existence makes more sense than the existence of sociopaths, movie stars, hallucinogens, music, or asthma. We're doing pretty good as far as our ability to belong in the grand scheme goes. If you swing religious, we are obviously created intentionally and loved, and we belong completely in this world.

Quote from: Malachite on May 12, 2014, 09:36:09 PM
That's a unique way of looking at it. 

Yeah it truly is, I just haven't figured out if it is true or I am just some crazy chick that missed the hippy movement by 15 years.

Truly though and a lot of people can't understand it or really comprehend that we are all truly brothers and sisters not just in a church way, but out lives or actually consciousnesses are all entertwined with one anothers. We all test one another's virtues without any conscious knowledge of even doing it. Things we say even on this sight may test someone's patience. Driving is a biggie, someone cuts me off I used to really get me POed, until I actually confronted someone over it, absolutely not in a violent way, but he didn't have a clue of what he did or how close he came to possibly killing both of us. Hopefully it caused him to be more careful down the line.

But, and this does sound a little insane, we are all in this crazy seemingly random occurances of misery, happiness, love, hate, seemingly unfair miracle we call life and our actions no matter how small it may seem or large have effects on others that we may not even know or even begin to comprehend.

And Like I said earlier, if I would have been born cis I may have never felt a difference between what is the physical body and the Spirit that is truly who I am and will continue to be long after the body turns back to minerals and other material from which it came.

Quote from: SarahM777 on March 18, 2014, 01:02:09 PM
I can not answer how God is using this is someone else's life. I can only answer as far as I know today. God never promised that He would tell us the WHY's in this life. Job never got an answer from God as to why. Often times the disciples did not get the answer to the question they asked.

We all walk in their shoes at times and we cry out why God? The only answer I have ever had is "My grace is sufficient!" and that alone is comfort enough for me.

Quote from: Shantel on May 13, 2014, 09:31:59 AM
We all walk in their shoes at times and we cry out why God? The only answer I have ever had is "My grace is sufficient!" and that alone is comfort enough for me.

The hardest part for me has been seeing others being able to go on,and knowing at this point of time there is nothing I can do about it. Dealing with frustration,and knowing that it would be so easy to become jealous of others that are able to go on,and knowing we are to rejoice with others. (Not always so easy to do so,when one seems to be stuck in certain places)

See right now I am still in a place that I can keep this at bay somewhat. As long as I still have my mom to take care of,I can keep the focus on her,but I know that time is coming to an end. (Don't know how long but it is coming,but I am being prepared for it) What doesn't help is that the only other family member that even talks to me is also dying.  What scares me is that this will once again come in like a massive flood and will I be able to handle it all over again.

I don't follow religion of any sort (too much conflict amongst it all). I don't even consider myself anything spiritual, though sometimes my thoughts do go that way. God will take me as I am. I think all have doubt about God (and I'm not just talking about the Christian God, any God, any religion; I think all good gods are one and the same), even those that claim they don't, otherwise why would they have to constantly keep at trying to convince themselves of it. I don't believe God is going to be all that judgmental. For a time in my life I denied God (I wouldn't even have to if I didn't truly believe), but now I feel everything that happened to me was intended for my better good, planned out with some guidance along the way. And I have had too many close calls and coincidences for them not to be a helping hand from a higher power. So even though there's always been doubts in my mind about the existence of God, at the same time there's always been a part of me that feels, or possibly knows there is and I'm being looked after. Afterall, why do I go through such lengths to be as good a person as I can be, giving my all not to commit any wrongs that I know would be immoral even though I claim many times not to care about people, deep down I do. Anything that has happened in my life, even the worst has been to teach me (this includes being born of opposite mind and body, the conflict was necessary for my growth I think), and I can say, I've learned from it, and still am. I don't know where God is, nor what God is, how God came about, not for me to know, and while I do ponder those questions sometimes I don't dwell on them. But I have to believe in something, doesn't hurt to. And if in the end there is nothing, all I am is a rotting corpse, so be it, I won't know anyway. Yeah, God made me transsexual, otherwise I wouldn't be.

Excellent insights Meagan and I heartily concur as it has been that way in my life as well when I take a retrospective look backwards I can clearly see the steps in my path were arranged by a mystical power other than myself. On another interesting note as I mused about these things it occurred to me that there is a golden thread throughout every major belief system in our world and that is that this is not all there is and that there is a life beyond this one and that perhaps this is just a hyphen in eternity where we are becoming conscious of what we are to be at some point in the future.