"Our Life"

by

Lee Frances Heller

Many of us face extremely difficult situations as crossdressers (CD). Some of us are not spoken too well of by family and friends or neighbors. Our motive is misjudged. As far as many of them, and especially our dear ones, are concerned we are sexual deviates. Oh Boy! How the devil loved to have that one leveled against us. To others, our lifestyle is a perpetual party or we will want to have sexual reassignment surgery. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are heterosexual crossdressers. Transsexuals are of another genre`. Gays are of still another. We are alone in our category and unlike any of the others. Our rejection stems from the confusion experienced by our families and friends. They simply are unable to sort it out and that is mainly because they refuse to learn anything about our situation. They won't even pose a question. The simple reason is, they would hear the truth and sometimes the truth can be a frightening matter. As soon as we would open our mouth their minds would go to automatic reject and anything we would have to say would go in one ear and out the other. We are not to be pitied; our well meaning critics are. It is they who are denying themselves association with us fine folks who are friends and relatives.

Didn't Jesus say in Matthew 15:37, " … a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house". That statement simply shows what it is to be different. Jesus was certainly different from the Pharisees who were steeped in their own self made righteousness. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God sent from heaven!!! (John 6:38-9). He ate and drank with sinners. He beat up the money changers and the merchants of animal sacrifices and drove them out of the temple. (Jn 2:13-16). He made Matthew, a tax collector, one of His disciples. Yes, Jesus Christ, the Son of God was different from those who claimed to follow God and made public displays by praying on street corners, " … and for a pretense, make long prayers". (Matt. 23:13-35). They loudly decried Jesus. (Lk. 16:14). Yes! Jesus was different. He didn’t fit the Pharisees concept of God. He healed on the Sabbath. (Pharisees: " … he keepth not the Sabbath day". (Jn. 9:16). He made wine and people partied. (Jn 2:1-12). To cap it all; after He had been crucified for our sins and was buried, He rose from the grave on the third day and appeared to Mary Magdalene who was the first to see Him in His resurrected state. You may ask what is so notable about that? Women were the underdogs of the day and Mary Magdalene was the woman out of whom Jesus cast 7 demons. (Luke 8:12). He chose to appear to a woman who was different also.

What am I trying to say? Jesus’ life was unorthodox. He was not a member or follower of the "establishment" of those days. In juxtaposition, we are different from the usual run of humanity. We are different from our friends and neighbors and family members which makes us subject to criticism while our sisters and some friends have no problem with us. We are not prophets, but we are without honor in our own homes and the butt of many unsolicited and unjust opinions.

We were created CDs. We are constitutional CDs. God knows us. He made us this way. (Psalm 139:13-15). Take the shield of faith (Eph. 6:16) and let all of the flak that comes our way bounce off of it up to God who can deal with it. If he does nothing more, He can help us be tolerant and loving towards our critics even if they choose not to try to understand us. 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 for my whole life until I reached 67 years. At that age I finally accepted myself for what God made me and 45 of those years as a "born-again" Christian. I am now a born-again Christian CD. Through the Bible 5 years ago, 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 problem. He has given us our shield of faith to use along with the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:12-17). If you have never bowed your knees to Christ and thanked Him for His sacrifice for our sins and asked Him into your life, you have no idea of what is missing. By all means, do it.