Grace To Lace

[Danna]

When I started my transition, I wondered how God sees me. I was comforted to know He Loves Us. Lee Frances Heller has helped me with some of the shame and guilt i deal with daily. This is a insert from her website "God can give us an acceptance of ourselves and help us to stop fighting the losing battle against our crossdressing. In my ignorance, I fought it�until I reached the age of 67�. I finally accepted myself for what God made me�.a born-again Christian crossdresser.�I came to realize I was created this way - accepted it in full faith and have taken my shield and warded off my critics for God to deal with, and He has spared me a lot of discordant situations with those who refuse to understand me. Those dearly beloved ones are His problems. He has given us our shield of faith�along with the whole armor of God. If you have never bowed your knee to Christ and thanked Him for His sacrifice for our sins and asked Him into your life, you have no idea what is missing. By all means, do it."

"Our purpose is to encourage and support you as the CD/TG/TS God made you. To tell and demonstrate the fact of the love God has for us. He has not set us aside. To tell you that you can be a full participant in God's salvation wrought by Jesus Christ's atonement and join in the fullness of joy in the new life imparted to us by His resurrection. Our thrust is to lift up the discouraged and troubled Christians among us who, unnecessarily, allow themselves to continue in the guilt they feel because our lives have been condemned by a well meaning but unenlightened church, pastor or layman. To lift them up by the power of God's word�. To rejoice with those who have found freedom in Christ, freedom from the repressive bonds of the evil one who tells us God can never love us or care for us unless we get 'delivered' from our gender problems. In our community this is the BIG LIE and God has given (us) the blessed vocation of conveying His true love of us."

"We have been told by ninety percent of the visible church�that we are wrong and have no right to worship God until we clean up our act�.(God) made us the way we are�and now the church is at work on us, destroying a segment of His creation. If we conform, we are afforded the privilege of sitting in a pew and worshiping�.(T)he church in this world is not the final authority in the question of gender people. We pose a problem to them, but not to God. Their treatment of us is a problem for God�.God loves us and Jesus Christ died for us also, and those who have taken Him as their Savior are His children�.He loves you just as you are NOW!"

http://members.tgforum.com/bobbyg/tgfgnl.html

[Guest daphene]

Danna,

I could not have said it better myself. I agree with you one hundred percent that we are all God's children and He loves all of us, yes even the transgender folks. I struggled with this for years until I ran across a web site called www.lightinthecloset.org . you should check it out. It's a wonderful site explaining exactly what you have posted here today. After reading much of the site, God allowed me to finally accept myself as well as letting me know He accepts me and loves me as His own. Anyway, great post on God's lve for us.

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Good letter - great message - timely for most of us.

I long ago asked GOD "why?"

He told me he had a purpose for me. As you say - I am exactly as he made me.

STORY FOLLOWS:

My sisters both claim to be Fundamental Christians. They are VERY concerned that I am in transition. They did show up to talk with me - spent two days (they live in another state). I am also very spiritual and I know the Bible just as well as they do - possibly better as I have read it in context - through - several times. They have a tendancy to pull out passages and use disassociated scripture to back up their points- in other words - and 'interpretation' of GOD's Will. This is from their deep involvement with the Funamentalist Christian Church, where they are so dependant on 'others' interpreting GOD's Word. (My opinion only - good people are also good Fundamentalist Christians)

Me? I am a studier of Scriptures. I KNOW how they evolved - I UNDERSTAND mandkind's meddling with THE WORD - 2000 years worth. My beloved grandmother was an ameteur Bible Scholar - she taught me from very early on what the Bible really is.

Yet - I still believe there is a purpose - a lot of DIVINE INSPIRATION at work - even if the Bible IS so skewed, hummmm.... it's not original in any sense.

BUT here was my argumnment against my sisters claims. I talk with GOD (I do - its a rare thing but He does speak directly to me - when I am in real need). I told them He explained - like I wrote above - He made me like I am , so I am fine in His eyes - and He has a purpose for me (which has never been revealed - He usually doesn't ever say).

HA! They asked how I KNEW it was GOD? Well no mistaking it in my mind! But how to explain? So I said how do you two know it WAS NOT GOD!

So they switched tactics - obviously they had been working on 'Plan B' during that long drive to see me. I had the standard scriptures thrown at me - about vestments and about men laying with men - all that. Well I explained where those scriptures came from, what context, and the probable reason they were preserved in the form they were written. NONE actually refer to gender dysphoria - and of course none even clearly refered to homosexuallity, or it can be argued. They DID miss the Sodom and Gomora story - where the angels were so terribly mishandled.

And my trump card? I explained I was never a man, am not now, and never will be. GOD made me that way. I have not found any specific admonation about resisting repair or a solution to a birth defect I have had my entire life.

Did not convince them - so we agreed to disagree. So I asked about the main message from the Christ - to love one another? I also brought up the 'cast the first stone' story (which I believe is actually a later addition to the Bible - but I presented it as an actual admonation from Jesus). One sister is married to a minister and he is a convicted child molester, the other sister abandoned her family for a man she met on the internet. So correcting gender dysphoria is something I consider less sinful (actually not sinful at all) than their personal demons and problems in life.

But they said I was going to hell! GOD is not pleased with me transitioning! These sisters think therapists are evil and do the devil's work (solutions to our problems is strictly through prayer). They say homosexuality 'does not exist." Of course, their world is 100% binary sexually. Everthing else is in error. Well...

I did tell them gender dysphoria is about 'gender," not about sex. I am NOT making a life-style choice. I am NOT establising a sexual preferrence. I DID NOT see this on television or pick it up off the internet! I have had this gender dysphoria all my life!

They said it wasn't true and I was being misled. Living near New Orleans was my downfall. That they grew up with me and I was NEVER gender dysphoric (nevermind the 10 times I was caught with women's clothing - nevermind that I never dated in High School - just.... auggggghhhhhh - nevermind!)

So the final and concluding round!

I said to them GOD says I am okay. They said they think GOD is against what I am doing. HA! So I said this... Do I listen to your interpretation of what you think GOD wants, or do I listen to what he told me DIRECTLY!

So I am right with my CREATOR! My sisters faded back out of sight - and my wife says they are feverishly praying for me! I pray for them - 'May they have a forgiving spirits!' Christianity is soooooo often warped into near evilness. The devil is at work in devious ways - and the church is OFTEN his ally.

My opinion!

Lizzy

[Guest daphene]

Lizzy,

Your conversations with your sisters sound a lot like the conversations have with my wife about once a week. Will they ever get it? Why can't they accept us when God does? Seems like they may speak out of both sides of thier mouths.