Going up in Flames: When Nobody Sees you!

I know I’ve shared the story of Moses before in my first blog, and I originally wrote this one differently. But then, recently, an event happened that stirred up a deep hurt, a hidden belief I didn’t even realize was still holding me back. The Lord showed me this truth, and I almost didn’t share this version. It felt like I was going up in flames. But maybe you’re like me – tired of polished truths that don’t ring true. 

So here it is. Raw. Unfiltered. Honest.

“The Angel of the Lord appeared to him (Moses) in a blazing flame of fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was on fire, yet it was not consumed.” Exodus 3:2

Let me ask a simple question: Why a bush?

I live in California. We’ve seen wildfires swallow entire neighborhoods in minutes. Where this story takes place is in the hot, dry desert of Midian, and if a bush were on fire, it would burn to ashes within 3-10 minutes. So what Moses was witnessing was a crazy miracle!

What is even crazier is how close God was to Moses these last few decades. This burning bush was located in Mount Sinai, the Mount of God. We will come back to this.

One day, Moses came upon this burning bush. I imagine him talking out loud to his sheep because who could believe what he was seeing? If I saw this, I would be talking to my dogs (they’re great listeners). 

Moses says: “I must turn aside and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” Exodus 3:3

Not much had been going on in Moses’ life for the Lord to show up like that. And at this point in his life, he didn’t attribute this miracle to God. I don’t think he would even consider the God of the universe being near to him, much less talking to him. He had been in Midian 40 years; he was a shepherd, a nomad. Moses ended up here because he was a fugitive for murdering someone; Any future he thought he had was left where he buried the body. 

Moses is now a shepherd, and the place He was shepherding was Sinai, the Mountain of God. I had to pause for a minute. to think how many times Moses circled that mountain. How many replays of the one moment that sent him on the run. It’s powerful to think that whatever Moses was going through, God was near.  Getting ready to take an ordinary overlooked life and do the miraculous. 

I want to highlight that for 40 years, God was close. I think we often forget that when we are in our sin, or our shame, or in our guilt, we separate from God. Yet God is ever near, waiting for us to turn to Him. 

Again, why a bush? Why did God choose to show up this way?

Because no one notices a bush until it’s on fire and refuses to burn out. I think Moses walked past that same bush a hundred times. Until he noticed it was burning without being consumed, it was just another overlooked shrub in the desert. Maybe Moses felt that way, overlooked. After all, he was a murderer. An exile.

Yet, on this day, God lit it up. Not to destroy it. But to get Moses’ attention. He used a bush, such a symbol of Moses’ life. God didn’t want to destroy Moses; He wanted to deliver him, then use him to deliver others. 

I see this as Such a symbol of my life, too. 

Overlooked From the start

Her resentment felt like a shadow I couldn’t outrun. I carried it through my whole childhood. Being invisible felt safer. But it was also deeply tragic.

So, I got tough. Real tough. I told myself I didn’t care what people thought. But the truth is, I did. I didn’t think anyone saw me. Intentionally being very careful about what I shared with people. Back then I had know idea how to share. No one ever taught me. The only thing I knew was to share less, be tough, and not cry. 

It worked for a while. Especially in ministry. My husband and I work with severely abused and trafficked girls. Tough skin helps. Until recently.

The Trigger

One of our girls, whom we rescued at 15, asked to be re-baptized at 19. We had talked about it. It made sense why she wanted to be baptized again. Her life had taken a really dark turn, and the Lord stepped in and left the 99 and came after her, the 1. But then, on a trip to Utah that I didn’t take, she decided spur of the moment to get baptized in a river. No one told me. I wasn’t a part of it. I don’t know what happened, but a piece that had been kept buried inside my heart rose to the surface, and in a moment, I was undone. 

And I cried for two days. 

I never cry like that. Having no idea why this was affecting me so badly, I became mad at myself. I should be rejoicing but I felt like I was losing it.

Why couldn’t I get it together? I didn’t understand why it affected me so deeply. Until the Lord showed me: I had a hidden wound that the Lord wanted to bring to the surface. I was like Moses circling the mountain but never getting to the buried belief I had.

This wasn’t just about a baptism.

It was about being left out. Again. It reminded me of all the times I tried to please my mom and was still ignored. It reminded me of doing everything right and still being invisible.

I had pulled this young lady off the streets, fasted and prayed for her, and had poured years into her.

And yet, I felt like I didn’t matter.

That moment tapped into the old lie that was buried: You are overlooked.

God showed up in all His glory to consume a belief that had kept me from experiencing full victory in that area of my life. 

What hidden wound has God been gently exposing in you?

Moses Knew that Feeling

Moses was a miracle baby, saved when other Hebrew boys were being murdered. He was raised in a palace while his people were slaves. Outwardly Egyptian. Inwardly Hebrew.

He didn’t fit anywhere.

He tried to prove he belonged by defending a Hebrew slave and killing an Egyptian soldier. But his own people mocked him: “Who made you a prince or a judge over us?” (Exodus 2:14)

Rejected by both sides. The Israelites didn’t trust him. Pharaoh wanted him dead.

So, Moses ran. 

To Midian. 

A land literally named “strife” and “contention.”

It is where He stayed for 40 years. 

My Own Midian

I’ve lived in my own Midian. Rejected. Misunderstood. I never fit the church mold, the homeschool mold, the family mold, Or the friend mold. I had no idea where I fit.

I got used to being on the outside. 

I’ve learned to be ok with that. The Lord raised me up to be a pulse-checker—able to detect emotions beneath the surface in our girls. I see the emotional spikes others miss. My job is to stabilize chaos. That requires emotional strength.

But that baptism moment? It undid me. It exposed a wound I didn’t even realize was still open. 

Here were the lies buried deep:  

I am overlooked by God. (lie)

My prayers don’t matter. (lie)

My tears don’t count. (lie)

My obedience is unseen. (lie)

For so long, I believed that being overlooked by people meant I must be overlooked by God.
I never questioned it-it just felt true.

And to even begin confronting that belief, I needed a burning bush moment.
One where I felt like I was going up in flames.

Have you asked this question “God, have You overlooked me, too?

Just like Moses, I felt like a nobody. a dry, thorny bush.

Just like Moses, in the desert, probably wondering if God still saw him. 

Moses was:

A prince turned fugitive. 

Royalty, now a nomad. 

And then- the bush.

The God who had always been present on that mountain showed up.
Not just to light a bush on fire,
But to burn away the lies Moses believed about himself.

Lies formed over decades.
Lies that said: You’re not worthy. You can’t be forgiven. You don’t belong. You’re disqualified. But God doesn’t consume us to destroy us.
He burns away everything that isn’t true,
until the only thing left is who He created us to be

And Then the Fire

Moses is out in the wilderness doing what he always does—tending sheep. Then he sees it.

A bush!

On fire!

BUT NOT CONSUMED!

“When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.”

Isaiah 43:2

That bush was Moses. That bush is me. That bush is you.

Overlooked. Ordinary. But now burning with the presence of God. 

“Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” —Exodus 3:5

That was the moment our hopelessness meets holiness.

It makes me wonder: how many times had Moses walked past that same bush and never noticed it? How many people have we walked past, only seeing thorns? Only seeing labels—strong-willed, difficult, too much, unworthy? 

What are our labels we hold onto? How about Moses’s labels?

But God didn’t see a liability. He saw a leader.

God Doesn’t Overlook Us—He Refines Us

God didn’t set the bush on fire to destroy it. 

He set it on fire to show that He was in it.

“Our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29

Not to burn us down but to purify us. To burn away everything that’s not true-fear, shame, lies, doubt; 

until only holiness remains

God didn’t want Moses to be Egyptian or Midianite or even a typical Hebrew. He wanted Moses to be His. 

Set apart. 

Not for a clique.

Not for a mold. 

But for a calling.

Same with me. I’m not called to fit in. 

I’m called to follow God, even if it means standing alone.

Even if I don’t have it all together. Even if I’m embarrassed by how much I still hurt sometimes. Years in ministry don’t exempt you from needing holy fire.

God still melts fear. 

He still replaces lies with truth. 

He still sets ordinary bushes on fire.

And now, this lie no longer consumes me.

I am not overlooked by God!

He who has begun a good work is faithful to complete it. 

My confession is holy.

Because what is revealed in His presence is where transformation begins. He wants to take those lies and reduce them to ashes. He will refine through fire so that we will be purified like gold.
What I name and confess before Him:

“Lord, I don’t believe You see me.”

“Lord, I don’t think You answer my prayers because I’m not worthy of that.”

He burns it in love, not in shame.
He doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t turn away.
He consumes the lie so that truth can be ablaze.

So I take off my shoes.
Because I’m standing on holy ground.
And the enemy no longer has a hold on that part of my life.

Did you Know?

Wow. I don’t need human approval—I need divine fire.

I don’t need human intervention—I need God’s intervention.

God was growing and preparing Moses even when Moses didn’t realize it.

• He knew Egypt’s systems: royalty, protocol, and power, which prepared him to face Pharaoh.
• He lived as a nomad: he knew how to pitch tents, survive harsh conditions, and navigate unfamiliar terrain, which would help Israel learn how to live in the wilderness.
• He was a shepherd: he understood the personality of his sheep, how to tend to injuries, how to protect and lead them, which would help him lead and shepherd all sorts of people.

God used everything Moses learned, even in his fear, to shape him into a deliverer.

We know Moses was afraid by how much he wrestled with God. Yet, God didn’t leave.

It’s important to know that even when we carry fear, when we’ve believed lies for years, God remains close and still chooses to work through us.

Bushes also filter toxic air and release clean oxygen.

At that burning bush, God began filtering out the toxic lies Moses had believed and was breathing new life, breathing truth into him. That no matter what Satan intended for evil God intended for good. That God had called him to be a deliverer and nothing he had done was going to change that.

But sometimes when we hear what God is asking us to do, our knee-jerk reaction is to push it away. Moses was the same.

When Moses heard God’s calling, his first instinct was to correct God. To tell Him He was wrong.
I do that too. So do you.

This past week, the Lord was pulling out a belief I had buried deep.
I wanted to deny it.
I didn’t want to look weak.
The fruit of that is the fear of being overlooked.
But God was patient.
And when we’re willing, He gets us there.

Moses would go on to lead a people out of oppression and into the life breathing presence of God. 

Into freedom.

Isn’t that what our lives are meant to do?

Not focus on what we missed out on but lead others into life-giving oxygen.
Lead them to the one who breathes life.
To freedom.
To God.

That’s what Moses became: a leader forged in the wilderness.
A voice of God.
A deliverer.

And that’s what God has for us too.

Even when I argue with Him like Moses did:
“Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?” —Exodus 3:11
Even when I list all my failures and excuses:
“Please, Lord, send someone else.” —Exodus 4:13

God doesn’t change His mind.
He still says:
“I will be with you.” —Exodus 3:12

So I take off my shoes.
Because when your pain meets His presence
that’s holy ground.

You Are Not Overlooked

You may feel invisible. Forgotten. Burned out.

But God sees you.

He’s not trying to reduce you to ashes—He’s trying to reveal your purpose, your identity.
Let Him burn away the lies.
Let Him speak life into the dry places.
Let Him set your life on fire with purpose.

Let your life be aflame with a fire that does not consume.

God chose Moses.
God chooses you.

You are seen.
You are loved.
You are chosen.

So…

take off your shoes.
Unlace the lies that bind you tight,
cast them into the holy fire.

Our God consumes what holds you back.

And in the glowing embers, only one truth remains:

You’re standing on holy ground.