There is not a day that I do not need to remember that freedom in Jesus does not mean perfection. Freedom means I failed, but I am forgiven. Lord Jesus, thank you for paying our debt. Help us to rest in your gift today and all the days we reside here.
The last month The LORD has been working a lot in my heart. Specifically in two ways I am aware of and probably in others that I am unconsciously aware, too. Life is hard! Parenting is hard. Marriage is hard. Relationships are hard. Life is hard!
Recently we have been dealing with a difficult issue that broke my heart for all parties involved that arose from gossip. I think we all forget, gossip is a sin. I know I have to be very mindful of it. A very knowledgeable friend gave me the best advice I have ever received regarding gossip; ”If you are not part of the problem or the solution, then you should not be talking.” That is very sound counsel that I try to use as a filter for my words before I speak. I am imperfect. I am also vulnerable to the devastation of gossip, as is everyone breathing.
As I have been reeling in pain lately, an older, wiser friend reminded me, “D’Anna, God your Father is much greater than you a mother, spouse, daughter, friend…” At that moment, her words were the balm for my aching soul. Although I was deeply affected by what happened, I was reminded I was not, and never am fully in charge of anyone’s well-being, even my children. God is in charge, and His ways are always perfect, although sometimes very painful!
The second way the Lord has been refining me is that I did not realize how much responsibility I was carrying for people’s actions around me. I am quick to forget that I am only responsible for myself, and while I may play a role in how people act, I am not responsible. They are! Taking responsibility has been a tremendous amount of weight I have been bearing.
Recently when I was sitting in quiet reflection, these words became audible in my head. “No matter how someone acts, it should not affect how you are called to react.” Does that mean I do not respond at all? No. It simply means God originally designed me to react in a manner that is pleasing to Him, not me. Also, I am not responsible for the actions of others–they are. Friends, starting to understand that concept is the beginning of a large dose of freedom. Practicing this has allowed me to love better and live bolder. It is like getting a haircut, having a thorough house cleaning or getting all the laundry done. You just feel lighter!
Taking on the responsibility for the actions of others crushes us and allows the enemy to win. He does not want us delivered; he wants us defeated. Taking the liability for your prodigal child, your struggling spouse, your suffering friend or whomever in your life that you are enmeshed with creates insanity. We definitely have a role in the lives and circumstances of the people we love, but NOT ultimate responsibility. God The Father is much bigger than we the (fill in the blank.) Who are you bearing responsibility for today? Lay them at the feet of Jesus and pray for them because YOU cannot perfect them. May you all be free to let your Father be in charge today and every day.
“Everyone knows that every week or two I am going to screw up.”
I was talking with a friend recently, and I felt the tremendous burden of this statement as the affliction of their heart was revealed. It was a very sad moment for me, because what my friend truly did not grasp, is that every day I am going to screw up, too. (Sorry, I hate that word, but to do justice to the burden they were carrying, I am staying true to the quote.)
We are all sinners. Me, you, your neighbor that “appears” to have it all together, your child, your spouse, and even your pastor. If we are yoked to perfection, we are hopeless.
What matters is not that “we screw up,” but that we repent and say I am sorry from a place of sincerity in our self and with an awareness of our neediness for a Savior.
I AM SORRY; three little, powerful words that will transform your life!
Isaiah 30:15 ~This is what The Sovereign Lord says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation.”
May you find freedom here today, friends.
I have to be honest even when honesty feels scary. Today I feel an incongruence in my heart about celebrating our freedom. The tone of our world right now feels more about imprisonment and fear than independence and freedom.
Are we free? We are burning one another’s churches. Are we free when we are judging and persecuting one another’s sin with a blindness to our own? Our young women and children are being sold into slavery and Americans are committing unthinkable crimes against Americans. Are we free?
I saw an add this morning that said, “freedom is never given, it is won. Many brave men and women have sacrificed immensely, some everything, to keep us safe. They are true heroes, and I will never forget their loyalty, courage, and dedication.
From a different perspective, though, if we are followers of Jesus, the story reads a little different. Our freedom was both won and given. If I look at our world, I often become discouraged and angry. This world feeds us a lot more fear than freedom. Only Jesus gives us the freedom from that fear.
Today more than ever, it is crucial that we fix our eyes on Him. Today more than ever it is vital that we base our hope and our future on our providential creator, not our presidential candidate. Our power, our protection, our purpose and our plan does not come from anything or anyone authentic to this world, but the Author of this world. We must ask Him to use us as vessels of his peace and His purpose. All of us individually must decide to get out in this world and make a difference. We cannot afford to wait for someone else to do it.
We must put idol aside to pursue intentional.
I don’t think our presence in this world is to lead people to delight, but disturbance colored in shades of hope and kindness.
Until we are confused, we will always be content.
There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good in this world. Today I pray we highlight more of the good that is pervasively present than the evil that is persistently pursuing. Darkness can take many things away from us, but not our choices. An inactive light cannot be seen. We must shine our lights! Let’s celebrate the freedom to pursue purposeful paths today.
Problems hold great power over us when we conceal them. Being transparent about what enslaves us transfers power from the problem to the person. Shame is a prison with many hostages. Vulnerability is the key to freeing the prisoners. Grace enables us freedom and purpose in our common brokenness.
Transparency is the breaking of bondage that bridges someone from thinking I am an anomaly to I am not alone. May we all be bold enough to share it and blessed enough to receive it.
Our bodies seem to have been created for sloughing? Sloughing is defined as the act of casting off dead tissue or cells. According to The American Academy of Dermatology, the average person looses anywhere from 50 to 100 strands of hair a day. We loose an estimated one million skin cells per hour. This is not only natural, but necessary for optimal health. If this is the way our bodies were made to function on the outside, why should our insides be any different?
When I fail to remember the value, and importance of shedding the built up atrophy of my soul, I head down a frail path. Life, responsibilities and circumstances build up and form layers of dead weight that are important to yield in order to give our minds and bodies rest.
Why do we carry burdens and worries so long? I often bottle worries deep inside me and bear them longer than needed. Then when I cannot shoulder the weight anymore, I have to make a critical choice; I either shed them or become subordinate to them.
Have you ever noticed how good you feel after you release a burden to a trusted friend? It can sometimes feel like an extreme weight loss. We just feel lighter. A load has been lifted, and we can breathe with less effort.
Not too long ago, my son was wearing the weight of a heavy burden that had been enslaving him too long. He finally reached a point where he could not keep it at bay anymore. He needed to “shed” the weight of his heart to someone. He said it all from behind the voice of one trying to hold it all in, but tainted with the sound of tears. I knew that sound. He could not hide it. Not from me. Not from me who knows him so well. So he released it all bravely, and then he was rescued by a deep, desperate sleep.
Isn’t that an organic picture of life? We try to hold it all in, and conceal that which opposes us. We try hard, and then a little harder to not be found. Then there comes a point when we are pinned under the pressure of the fire we are walking through, and we release it in a spewing of toxic ash that has been brewing under the surface.
It is in those times, when we let ourselves be fully known that we can be fully loved. It is those moments of true identity and authenticity that afford us the pacifying balm that our true self-longs for every day. It’s in the most desperate moments that we are most receptive to receiving the mending, and comfort of Jesus, who already knows us just as we are anyway. Masking of inadequacies only delays God’s refurbishment.
We live in a world that is in the business of replacing all that is broken, but Jesus is in the business of restoration. We shoulder burdens and limitations that we were never meant to bear. Why do we delay our recovery so long? There comes moments in this life when it takes more courage to fall apart in the presence of someone who loves us than it does to keep it all together.
At the heart of us all we just really want to be seen, heard and understood. This is a beckoning to trust in our Savior who in His timing restores, and makes all things strong and steadfast. Part of the renewal process is releasing all the rot that begins to infest our souls.
Restoration rarely happens how we envision it, and never as timely as we would like, but all good things have to happen on a timetable that is outside of ourselves. Overseen and orchestrated by The One who knitted us together, every little detail, with his soft, sovereign hands.
I am thankful for those moments when courage wins. I am thankful for glimpses of people’s true identity. I pray as we all mature in our secure standing of Christ’s righteousness that we will become more comfortable shedding the layers of entanglement and trade them in for the acceptance and love that transparency affords.
It is in our purest identity that we are open to the most beautiful of possibility. May we all embrace, learn from and release all things that embattle us. We were given them for a reason, a resource and as a bridge for restoration.