ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED

" Put your toe into Trust!"

• Ephesians 1:6: “…to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

  Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite spirit.”

  I have only had one proposal of marriage in my 73 years...long ago from a boyfriend in my early 20s. Marriage proposals are a strange and ancient event, one I have little experience with. To this proposal, I gently said “ no”. He was a nice guy but WAY jealous and I was not ready for marriage...and I sadly aborted the child we made...part of my bag of sorrows. Boyfriend was not happy, wistful about the child but did not pressure me to have the baby.

  I am the eccentric that actually does not like weddings...too primal for me! The ritual, the history, the very heavy structure, the attempts at blending two separate families as well as two rugged individualists, the $$$ details, the bride’s DRESS, the bridesmaids (HECK NO and NO , I have not even been a bridesmaid, I would also say no to that)...the VOWS...brrr and grrr... I know the foundational importance...but still scares the heck out of me.

• I am not condemning marriage, this is totally from my own negative experiences. Certainly the divorce rate hangs heavy on my psyche...plus my own parents did not stay married. I was child # three of three, wanted by mom and not wanted by dad. Mom was already in distress, parents had separated when I was 13, I left with her and she died overnight of a stroke when dad came to tell her he was filing for divorce after only a few weeks....not the greatest legacy for WEW. Mom always carried a mean-spirited letter from my dad in her purse (I found it, little girls who dig through Mom’s purse)...and asked her “why does daddy not love us?”, to which she did not have an answer, nor why she carried that sorrowful dismissal in her handbag...another not good foundation for me.

• Now God and His Son, that’s another story. Not marriage but a loving and powerful deep partnership that flows far beyond the material realm.

  Love is a strange animal...both high and also low, at times a steaming, roaring train heading almost off the tracks and into the miry ditch, compelling you without consideration...completely messing up your pristine plan and flattening you off-keel in an untidy manner...how dare it??? Is love a bully sometimes?? Most assuredly, YES.

  After awhile, I stood back from being “ in love” and quietly accepted a moderate even keel, a miracle for someone as intense as I am. Up, down, sideways, deeply feeling the world...but failing at much of it. Plodding on and going on slow momentum...

  I did years later, have a long partnership with one dear man. We did not marry but managed to stick together over twenty yrs. Not fhe best of Biblical lessons...but I tried. No children. Still friends in our Elder age.

• I think part of the base of trauma for many of us in USA 2026, is the unmentioned issue of unhealed broken hearts. Sorrows, hurts, wounds just too often do not get healed and linger and fester for too long, dragging things down into the mud and mire.

  One reason I never formally married is my serious look at the DIVORCE RATE...the unpleasant swept under the rug.

  Holy Spirit asked me to spend time in the book of Ephesians, especially chapter one, that tells me I am “accepted in the beloved”…

  WHAT?? This, I struggle so much with.

  I have felt love in this life but never felt being BELOVED. That’s a huge leap, for someone like me. Can you see the difference between being loved and being BELOVED? I certainly can.

  Beloved is size HUGE and size OVERWHELMING and size MOUNTAIN.

  I am not remotely a climber of mountains. Way too high and tall and too much for me...and yet WHY does God tell me once I repent and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, I become ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED?

  Plain and simple, I still don’t understand.

  I still strangely run from love...while simultaneously wanting it...

  Dismay, sometimes thy name is W.E.W...

  Shall I make list of Dismays.?

  Um, NO.

  How ‘ bout a thank you list to the astonishing God, who loves us with a love we don’t deserve...BELOVED.

  As I sat Wednesday late afternoon at my church, in the solitude before my brothers and sisters arrived for the Discipleship group, I keep paper and pen at the ready, for God to speak...and He did...

  “ The power of small steps...this is My direction to the brokenhearted of the world, the one step, one day template. So many brokenhearted just give up...the thief (devil) thoroughly beats them up emotionally, lies to them and shoves temporary fixes on them.”

  That is 100% what that thief did to me long ago, attacking my vulnerable state (especially on the night of Mom’s sudden death) and cornering me when I was at my weakest, when both Mom died overnight and brother in Vietnam two years later. A terrible legacy. So many out there have been slam-dunked by loss and grief and simply do not fully recover .

  Culture tells us that women are always “ gooey” over love...and to that I would say both yes and NO. Some men are possessive and jealous and sometimes try to sort of “circumnavigate” the women in their life, like “ you BELONG to me”.

  Ah yes, the miniature WW3 of circumnavigation between male and female...ancient and can be unpleasant in many ways.

  I tried briefly in my youth, to have love relationships with women and that was a colossal failure for me, not the right vibe whatsoever.

  I love men and am attracted to them...but the core of my struggles is the blasted internal emotional battle over self worth. It is not psychological, it is real and gnarly and dratted persistent. I have tried commanding it away...and it just sneers at me. On occasion, I do have a bit of triumph...so there is hope and cracks in the pitcher to let the light in.

  Ephesians astonishing statement that I am “ ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED“ is often more than my contentious soul can absorb...as all I see is disorder and less than success.

  Argue with God? Ashamed to admit, I do...and guess Who wins??

• As the kids say, “ STOOPID”...

• Yep...and why dont I stop? I do, a bit. Try getting old and changing your spots, K?? Then we can have a discussion...

• It was God Himself Who coined the phrase to me, “Put your toe into Trust!”

• Not easy or simple...but since God has not thrown me out because I struggle...I’m still here, breathing...and ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED!! May I remind you, that when you repent and turn away from sin and turn TO your Creator and Advocate, God and His Son, you also are ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED...a very HUGE deal...

  Wendy Elizabeth Williams Friday, May 22, 2026

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  --Please pray for me! Thank you, Wendy