Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Fill in the Blank with Jesus

“There was a time when [you fill in] defined my life and left me physically void, cocooned in a prison of fear. It stole my every hope and dream. But God’s love and His Word set my heart free. I learned that within the confines of God’s story, nothing had been stolen from me, rather everything was given to me. My life, which felt so out of control, was in reality in complete control – God’s control.” ~ Wendy Blight Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner

As I looked over today’s quote the first “fill in the blank” answer I came up with was, “There was a time when insecurities or weakness” defined my life. Daily I fought the task of dragging myself down leaving me with an empty feeling inside. It was creating a cocoon of fear that imprisoned me. The fear that I wasn’t good enough, the fear that I was left alone to wallow in a self-pity I thought others should share with me. The longer it went on, more of my hopes and dreams were being shattered.

My second choice or answer #B was “stress seizures.” They definitely were defining my life, leaving me not only physically void but spiritually void as well. Then one day the doctor’s gave me the choice to get out of this homemade apparatus or stay in. Thanks to God’s love and His Word I was able to free up the space in my heart I had dedicated so long to stress.

The third and final fill in the blank answer #C seemed to turn out to be one of those “all of the above” kind of answers listed under the title of “sin.” When we allow sin to define our lives it can leave us physically void. It affects our blood pressure, our heart function, our ability to heal and so much more.

Whether our answer is A, B, or “all of the above” its God’s love and His Word that is capable of setting our heart’s free when we find ourselves cocooned in a prison of fear. It is within the confines of God’s story, His will, His timing, His guidance that this is accomplished.

We haven’t been cheated out of anything that we haven’t cheated out of ourselves. If we look closely we find that God’s is giving not taking away. Sin takes away from our life, God adds to it. Why we refuse to hold on to that truth is beyond me.

In our Women’s Bible study we have been going through the little John’s of I, II, III John. For several weeks now we have gotten stuck on the 26th verse of chapter 2 that says, “These things I have written to you concerning those who “try” to deceive you.” For several weeks we have gone over verses that talk about deception as we study and discuss how it’s frequently used by Satan to accomplish his tasks and what our job is.

The key word is “try.” As much as Satan tries to deceive us into thinking our world is out of control our job is to prevent this from going from the effort of trying to an actual accomplished goal. This is done by believing and trusting that God knows what He is doing. 1 John 4:4 is not a misprint, it pertains to all who are willing to allow Jesus to enter in their hearts, lives, and daily living. “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

Having God sit on the outside isn’t going to do it. Just “believing” there is a God isn’t going to do it. We need to get Him on the inside of us and stop living in what we have created as a “gated” community. The cocoon we should be living in is the one that is creating in us great beauty. An enclosure that is taking us from being a slug or caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly, free in Christ, destined for Heaven. The “fill in the blank” is Jesus. The One we need, the One who cares.

Come fly with me!



Our host today is Loni over at her site writingcanvas.wordpress.com. She’s throwing in something different this week you don’t want to miss. Thanks Loni!

2 comments:

Denise said...

Bless you for sharing.

Patricia said...

Thank you for sharing on the quote today. "The one who cares." It is so important to remember that. When everyone else fails us God is truly the "one who cares."