View from the hole....

This is an excerpt from today's lesson that I studied.  Thought I would share it with each of you.


Day 27

Defeating Temptation
Reveal your struggle to a godly friend or support group.

As I have had a moment here and there in the past week or so - I have noticed that each of us seems to be in a different area of struggle.  Today's lesson couldn't be more timely.  If you look back over our studies, I think you will see how He has time and again showed up so very large on our behalf to give us all we need to be over comers.

I have been so very guilty of crawling into that hole I always go to and pulling the dirt over me in an attempt to cope.  That certainly has never worked in the past and and sure didn't work any better this time around either.

I find it oh so amusing how God will take those times when I am being so dense and just knock me up side the head with His divine wisdom yet one more time.  I can just hear Him saying, "Well DUH".  Ha ha ha.   Really, you think I would be a bit more on top of it by now wouldn't you?  But alas, no.  It seems I am rather fond of knocking my head up against a wall.  

Might account for my being rather "special" don't ya think?  Hey, don't be afraid to snicker as I am enjoying a laugh at myself as well.

Ecclesiastes 4:  9Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.

There are those times when we need to open ourselves up and confess our temptations to another in order to break the vicious cycle of intention/failure/guilt.  Remember dear friends, none of us is without guilt and no one sin is greater than another ( however much we might like to convince ourselves otherwise ).  God has given us relationships so that we might have that partner to pray with us, pray for us, encourage us, and most of all to hold us accountable so that we might defeat the temptation!

I really enjoyed the perspective gained by the wording Rick Warren chose for this statement.  ** Authentic honest fellowship is the antidote to your lonely struggle against those sins that won't budge.** RW   Beautifully said.

James 5:16  New Living Translation (©2007)
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

TAA DOWWWW... Yeah baby!!  Power punch right there!!!  Reinforcing once more that truth abides in the light and defeats all sin!

View from the hole:  ( you know, the one I created and referenced above )
View?  What view?  The "view" sucks!  The hole is dark, dank, and stinks on multiple levels.  The aloneness only intensifies the hurt making it seem larger than life and un-defeat able.  The hurts grow until they over whelm you and push you into a position from which you can no longer begin to see the light.  This hole is made deeper by the information age where the only picture others see is the one you paint for them.  Since there is very little personal interaction - one can paint quite the merry little scene in spite of the dark hole in which you reside.  Who would want to stay here?  You would be surprised.  The hole is familiar.  The hole is relatively safe from further hurt.  Do you see the twisted logic that happens when in the hole?  Grab your shovel, hitch up your britches, put your boots in motion and walk into freedom.  RW said it best - "You are only as sick as your secrets".

We don't want to admit our faults out of pride.  So we paint pretty little pictures on fb of a life full of smiles and laughter.  We walk the halls of our church and we continue with the mask firmly in place.  I am fine, how are you?  Isn't it great?  So very NOT.

Guess what folks?  Life is hard!  We get dirty!  There are messes!  So what?  So do you, and you, and you.  It is high time we realize we are in the mud together and work to haul each other out!!  There is zero fun in the mire and the Father is waiting to wash us clean and seat us at the banquet table so that we may feast with Him.

I do believe I will delete "I am fine" from my conversations.  If you ask me how things are, you had best be ready for the answers because the game of pretend is only good for young children and fools.  I am neither.

So grab on to my hand, let's walk ourselves outta here and get to living life together!!

Love you all so much.

katrina

You can't fake fresh....

I read this just recently in regards to those of us who raise chickens and enjoy the benefits of fresh eggs each day.

Then God took such a seemingly innocent remark and turned it back to me.  You can't fake fresh.

Huh??

Then over a cup of coffee and a morning study, I got it!  You can't fake fresh!  You cannot fake a fresh relationship with Christ.  If you are daily living in His presence and walking in His calling, your relationship with Him will be fresh!  Wow.... Sometimes the simple can trip me up faster than the profound.  Causes me to giggle at myself every time.

Seems to me that it is way to easy to get caught up in what we like to term as "living" and we forget our first love.  In so doing, we trade the truth for a lie.  You see, the hustle and bustle, all the demands on our time, the "to do" lists, are not living.  It is the lie known as busyness.

I am too busy to read my Bible.  I am too busy to pray.  I am too busy to attend church.  I am too busy to love others.  Busyness is easily the greatest slimy sneaky tool the enemy ever enacted to steal us away from our love.  Busyness creeps in a bit at a time.  Busyness robs from God, from our family, takes our joy, steals our peace.  What are we left with?  Oh yeah.... busyness.

Our first love.  God.  Our Father.  He gives all that busyness steals.  He provides the means to have family in the fullest sense of the word.  He provides a joy that is based upon our relationship with Him rather than a fleeting moment.  God grants us a peace that no tragedy or sorrow can steal.  God gives us pure love which knows no boundaries.

So the statement remains.  You can't fake fresh.

And I choose not to!!  I choose to point these boots on the road He has placed me on, pull my chair up to the table and talk with him every morning, place my hat on my head and smile as I revel in all that the Savior brings me.

For God will not take me where He cannot sustain me!!

Come on, join me.  Get those boots a walkin.....

katrina