INVISIBLE People!

We all have seasons in life...different things for everyone, different emotions for everyone, and some people experience the same season as someone else in a very different way.  I think many people go through a season of feeling inadequate, unappreciated or maybe even invisible.  I'm kind of in that season now.  I've been married for over 25 years to the best guy in the world...SUPERMAN...like really he is SUPERMAN!  He connects with people of all ages.  He makes all the money.  He is funny, cute, endearing and much much more.  He has overcome a lot of things in his life, and he has done it with hard work, grace and honesty.  He really is the best person I know.  We have 5 amazing children, 4 girls and 1 boy; and I have been a stay home mom for most of their lives...almost 21 years now.  I've worked part-time here and there, and I own my own photography business; so I contribute monetarily a little.  Neil and I made the decision a long time ago that this would be my role, and I'm so very thankful that I have been able to be home so much with my children.  I'm also extremely thankful that he has supported me in this role and has been the one to support our family monetarily.  Finances have always been a struggle....a very very large struggle, but we always have everything we need and a lot of extra things as well. But 7 people and one income can be a challenge in the area where we live.  I remember being in this season as an older teenager/young adult.  It was a hard time, and I truly felt worthless.  It wasn't anything my parents or friends did, there were some outside circumstances that definitely played a huge role; but that's a story for another time.  I also remember feeling invisible for much of my childhood.  Again it was nothing my family or friends did, it was more of not fitting in to the "norm" in society.  I was painfully shy, you can ready more about that here.   Again I remember being in this season as a wife and mother, after my 4th baby was born.  I knew my role was important, but I remember feeling very unseen.  Until this turn in feeling invisible, I didn't really realize that many other people have experienced this season too.  I remember reading an article written by a woman who was feeling the exact same way.  It changed the way I viewed my role and myself.  I knew then I was building something beautiful and amazing.  As the years have passed since that time and the first time I read that article, I am in that season again....just a pair of hands, a taxi driver, a piggy bank (although mine is down to the pennies), a maid, a grocery store, an embarrassment...you know the rest.  I have felt like a big failure a lot in this role, but I realize I must   trust The Lord to guide me.  I know the work I'm doing is important, the most important work I'll ever do.  And those days when someone says, "You have a great kid"; I know I'm not invisible.