It’s funny how we try every door first to get out of the prisons we find ourselves in but the door that really works. We try to escape through alternate ways such as drugs, drinking, sex, violence, food and other means. However, through lessons learnt the hard way we find that taking the alternate routes often leads to a dead end street. Soon we look around and find ourselves further into the maze of life and our troubles instead of standing out in the light of Jesus.
This “catchy saying” made my list when the word “prison” caught my eye and heart. That was exactly how I felt. I was trapped in a prison where someone had already thrown away the key. Paul sang from his prison cell but I just couldn’t. I wasn’t like Paul, I didn’t have his strength. His circumstances were different than mine. Life had struck me down with epilepsy and uncontrollable seizures in the prime of my life and I was the one being punished. Boy was I wrong.
The main part of the prison I was surrounded by was the jail bars, walls, and cells of my own making. I had been told that 90% of my seizures were stressed caused and here I was feeding with self-pity what I was told to starve out. My batch of homemade bitterness, lack of trust, pity, fault-finding, anger, and complaining feed the stress that created the seizures. And the prison walls grew.
It was time to try the correct door. Like the game show, “The Price is Right” I had to stand there and think about what door I was going to choose. Door #1 the door of anger worked for awhile but it created consequences that were not what I needed in my life right then. Door #2 Self-pity felt good to go through but when I turned around to look I was all alone. Door #3 The choice of solitary confinement had to be the answer. Shutting myself in my home both physically and spiritually seemed to solve all my problems. I could live out my life in my shell and be happy. Wrong again, I soon found out, as that door slammed in my face like all the other ones.
No, the door I needed was Jesus the one who could rid me of the stress I felt inside. He wasn’t there to change my circumstances but to change me from the inside out. Helping me to deal with life as it was and not let it get to me. Freeing me enough to take control of the circumstances around me as I learned how to trust and rely on Him. Before I knew it the jail bars or stress seizures started to come down one by one. It would take five years to totally get rid of them all but it was a journey worth taking. A lesson worth learning. A trip with my Lord and Savior I wouldn’t have missed for the entire world. For through Jesus we can get rid of the prisons we find ourselves in. The choice is ours. We’ve been handed the key, we need to use it.
Copyright 2008 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
This “catchy saying” made my list when the word “prison” caught my eye and heart. That was exactly how I felt. I was trapped in a prison where someone had already thrown away the key. Paul sang from his prison cell but I just couldn’t. I wasn’t like Paul, I didn’t have his strength. His circumstances were different than mine. Life had struck me down with epilepsy and uncontrollable seizures in the prime of my life and I was the one being punished. Boy was I wrong.
The main part of the prison I was surrounded by was the jail bars, walls, and cells of my own making. I had been told that 90% of my seizures were stressed caused and here I was feeding with self-pity what I was told to starve out. My batch of homemade bitterness, lack of trust, pity, fault-finding, anger, and complaining feed the stress that created the seizures. And the prison walls grew.
It was time to try the correct door. Like the game show, “The Price is Right” I had to stand there and think about what door I was going to choose. Door #1 the door of anger worked for awhile but it created consequences that were not what I needed in my life right then. Door #2 Self-pity felt good to go through but when I turned around to look I was all alone. Door #3 The choice of solitary confinement had to be the answer. Shutting myself in my home both physically and spiritually seemed to solve all my problems. I could live out my life in my shell and be happy. Wrong again, I soon found out, as that door slammed in my face like all the other ones.
No, the door I needed was Jesus the one who could rid me of the stress I felt inside. He wasn’t there to change my circumstances but to change me from the inside out. Helping me to deal with life as it was and not let it get to me. Freeing me enough to take control of the circumstances around me as I learned how to trust and rely on Him. Before I knew it the jail bars or stress seizures started to come down one by one. It would take five years to totally get rid of them all but it was a journey worth taking. A lesson worth learning. A trip with my Lord and Savior I wouldn’t have missed for the entire world. For through Jesus we can get rid of the prisons we find ourselves in. The choice is ours. We’ve been handed the key, we need to use it.
Copyright 2008 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
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