My story…Evolving. Ongoing. Redeemed. Thank God!
Etched with grief
AND grace
Daunted (or is that dented?) by my desires
AND lifted by His love
Marked by my mistakes
AND God’s mercy
Full of my failures
AND God’s forgiveness
Ever felt that way? Yep, just a moment ago, actually…
I heard someone ask a friend of mine, “Are you going to keep claiming the scars of Satan or proclaiming the victories of God in your life?” They were talking about their disease(s!), yet it applies to so much more.
That statement grabbed my attention and got me thinking about some key refocus points. You see, I have NO desire to give Satan accolades, even inadvertently, for the dents or anything else in my life. You either?
Did you just imagine a little car with the BIG BANDAID on a dent? Yet that dent was still there. So are mine. Except for the ones I have surrendered at the foot of the Cross and left there for Christ to carry. (Note to self—leave them there…)
Dented or Undaunted? I don’t want to cover stuff up, I want to be washed clean & made whole.
Was I stuck somewhere? Or by something? Where was I focused? WHO was I giving credit to in my life?
Was I ready to proclaim victory or would I continue to claim victim?
Key focus points:
1—Look ahead, not back.
I don’t want to be a pillar of salt.
Genesis 19:26 (NIV) But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Luke 17:32 (NIV) Remember Lot’s wife!
2—Focus on letting go.
Let God do His work in you.
Focus on laying my faults & failures at the foot of the Cross for Christ to take the pressure of the sin & guilt away.
Psalm 32:5 (The Message) Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.” Suddenly the pressure was gone— my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.
John 9:41 (The Message) Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”
3—You CAN do all things.
Don’t say, think or believe you can’t do something. We know the men wandered in the desert for 40 years just outside of their reward. And Jesus. Oh yea. He ALREADY came down off the cross and saved the world. Am I asking Him to do it again to see to believe? Really?
Numbers 13:31 (NIV) But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
Matthew 27:42 (NIV) “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
4—Renew your mind.
Or be stuck in the same old, same old. Which do I choose?
Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
5—Today is what we have.
Use it wisely. Do something that makes a difference. For you, your children, your husband, your family, a friend, a stranger, an orphan. Should I go on? Simply choosing to look up outside of yourself and doing something for someone else makes a difference in our lives…and His Kingdom.
“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
― Mother Teresa
6—Greater is He. As Bob Beaudine would say, “You got WHO!” The greatest WHO—ever!
1 John 4:4 (NKJV) You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Thank you, Father God, for reminding us to refocus on You. In Jesus’ name. Amen
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