Hey y’all…….. Last week I shared where the name Snappy Bitch came from. I attacked those who feel they need to correct us who break proper religious rules. The Pharisees. I said that God gave me the name and I inferred that you could take it or leave it. Mind your own business.
I received some push back on that. It was legitimate push back because it dealt with the potential to create confusion about the nature and character of God. Forgive me. I am not trying to rewrite God into my image. I can’t even imagine being able to do that. It seemed to say that I said that God uses profanity. That was not my intention.
I cannot tell you how hard that journey was for me. I cannot explain the conflict in my heart and my spirit over the name. It took three years for me to agree with God on the name. THREE years! It did not fit with my picture of God. He would not use a bad word. He wouldn’t! If you read the blog carefully, you will find that I addressed the fact that my own “rules” would not let me accept that God would have me name the company Snappy Bitch. He wouldn’t do that. Would He?
So, I have been in prayer and consideration about what and how I posted last week. I shared that I have my own theories about why that name. The primary one is that I was a snappy bitch in the truest sense of the definition that comes to mind when you hear that phrase. I was angry. I was rude. I was snappy. I was, “back off or I’ll kick your butt!” I was orphan-minded. I have shared about this on several blogs and on my Facebook and Instagram pages. Today, I want to share with you my understanding of what being orphan-minded means and why last week’s blog might be an issue for some.
Why address what orphan-minded is? Because I was orphan-minded, and it needs to be addressed. One who is orphan-minded believes most of these things: They are all alone. They are an island to themselves. They have no true parental units. They have no one watching over them. They must take care of themselves. They must fend for themselves. They must provide for their own needs. They must protect themselves. They can trust no one, especially those in authority. They make their own rules to protect themselves. They are their own savior. This is how I lived. So, for me, this meant that I was unable to trust God. If God loved me, why didn’t He save me from my abuse? I had to take care of me. I was convinced I was all alone in the world. Nobody else struggled with what I struggled with. Everybody else seem to have it all together. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I figure it out?
That was my life. Even though I have a husband that has loved me, even when I was unlovable, who has protected me, even when I wanted to protect myself, and who has striven for my freedom, even when I wanted to stay in my bondage. I have told people that God sent him to me to be Jesus in the flesh. It sounded weird to say that. I have learned that that is exactly what sons of God are supposed to be, Jesus in the flesh. They are the vessels that God manifests Himself through to continue to make Himself known to the world. Jesus said that he came to show us the Father. As co-heirs, we are to continue to show the world the Father. My husband has done that. Not perfectly. Not always with the gentleness and kindness that the orphan wants. But always with my well-being and freedom in the forefront of what he does.
Being orphan-minded, I had to protect myself. I had to make sure that people understood what I was doing. The last blog had a little more orphan-mindedness in it than I would have liked. I attacked the religious. That comes from being attacked by the religious. People who claim to be godly people attempted to make me believe there was something wrong with me because I was not like them, because I did not have the “gifts of the Spirit” they had, or because I did not fit in the box they had created to house God. I realized I still have some anger about this. As I reread the last weeks blog, I saw places where the anger showed itself.
Let me share a couple of verses my spiritual advisors have given me for both the name and the purpose of the name.
Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.” The key word in this passage for me was, “but.” It means that some talk may seem unwholesome, but it is needed for building up of others according to their needs. We do not all have the same needs. My call in this company is not to those who have their life together. My call is to those who, like me, have lived orphan-minded and need to know there is freedom in Christ. This is the goal of Snappy Bitch. My desire for this company is to open the door to conversations that need to be had, that all can be free. My tag line, “Let the conversation begin,” is paramount to the name. The name alone has no meaning if the conversations are not started.
On the subject of the name, Jeremiah 23:29, “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.” I hope you can see that what God gave me was a hammer to begin to break the rock of bondage in pieces. I am learning as I go. I do not have all the answers. I still have reservations. I still have doubts. I still question if I have it right. Including the name. Every time I go before the Father with my questions, His continuous answer is, “Trust Me!” I am doing that as best as I can.
The church has swept the wounded under the rug. They have been told to clean up and then come back. The truth is, we are not alone. There is a Father who desires relationship with us. This is whether the “church” wants us or not. He does. The proof of His love is Jesus being obedient to the cross to redeem the world to his Father.
My company vision and mission statements are as follows:
Vision Statement: Sell merchandise with sayings that illuminate the castle of lies we’ve built to protect ourselves, speaking what is considered impolite to speak, but sometimes needs to be spoken to open the door to the freedom we want, but do not believe exists.
Mission Statement: Through sales and profits create content to offer hope, help and freedom to our customers and employees by opening the door of freedom through what is sometimes offensive verbiage that allows for the discussions that are hard to have, but need to be started.
It is my hope to create a place where those of us who are wounded can come for the healing that is offered by God as lined out in Isaiah 53. It is all the things Jesus did for us by suffering death on the cross. He set us free. Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Don’t go back to the law to justify yourself. This is the way of the orphan-minded.
So I walk this journey, not as one who has it all figured out, but as one who is trying to be remade in the image of the Father who saved me and called me son. Just a side note on the word “son,” it is not a gender thing, it is a position thing. The term “son of God” refers to the position held as a member of the household of God. Remember that Jesus used the term “son of man” to describe himself quite often. He was a member of the human household during his time on earth.
Food for thought.
Okay, bye for now.
Delisa (with Carr)