getting victory...part 2...
Not only do I think these pictures of Becca are adorable, but after Shiloh last night, I started to see them as a story. How often do I get stuck in something I got myself into (like, how in the world did she get herself into a little basket and a small shelf??) Sometimes I am frustrated and see immediately that I need to repent, give it to God and allow Him to work in me, change me and use it for His Kingdom and Glory. Other times (like Becca in the cabinet), I am just happy and oblivious that I am in a mess. A cycle of messes and struggle. This past year has been work for me. Work of getting out of a cycle of messes. Unhealthy relationships with others. Unhealthy relationship with myself. Worry. Hurt. Unforgiveness. Cycles that I have repeated and the past the I carried with me and allowed to define me. I was letting the enemy squat on all of my areas...my boundary lines..of past, life experience, gifts, faith and intimacy with God.
Angela described the cycle that so many of us find ourselves in (whether we realize it, acknowledge it or not). Through our bad choices, sin (no matter how big or how small), or rebellion we experience a loss of blessing. We then repent (where we will weep, but not change) and then we get to experience the deliverance that only God can bring. But, we will continue in this cycle until when we repent, we are truly broken...truly humbled and get out of the way and let God work in us to change us...transform us. What's in the gap in this cycle is obedience, walking in faith and a willing and humble heart. Brokenness. This is when we are the most beautiful to God, our Father. When He can trade our Ashes in for Beauty. When He can do it for the Glory of it All. Not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17). We can be a new person. We don't have to let our past define us. We don't have to be stuck in a cycle. We can changed. Transformed. Victorious. And we should be. We have the Spirit of Christ IN US. The same Holy Spirit that God poured out on Moses, on Gideon, on David, is the same one He has put in us. In me. That just blows my mind. And only God can use our cycles, our past, our life experience, our faith and our relationship with God for good and for His glory. If we take the risk to be real...to be vulnerable. To share our story...the good, the bad and the ugly...with others. We overcome the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and through the Word of our Testimony. "But, we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18). To take off our masks of perfection and share our hearts; reflecting the love and image of Christ, but in the way only we can do it...imperfectly. We will not attain this perfect image of Christ in this lifetime. But, we can grow in it each and every day. We are a work in progress...pressing on...with Him.
I came home last night and Jonathan wanted me to watch a couple of Celebrate Recovery testimonies that he found on line. One of them was a man that was a recovering addict, 3 years sober. He talked about how the church sometimes focuses on that we are sinners...we are all sinners. And we are. None better, none worse. We are all sinners. But, he said that he couldn't just define himself by his past and his sin anymore. Yes, he was a sinner. But, he wasn't just a sinner. He was a new creation in Christ. He also talked about how in the middle of his addiction, he thought he was just hurting himself and why couldn't people just leave him alone. As he worked his recovery, he started looking at all the people that were touched, affected and hurt by his addiction. He said it looked like a giant pyramid. But, the further away he grew from his addiction and the closer he grew to Christ, he saw that pyramid differently. It was a pyramid of hope and potential. Not just a pyramid of people hurt by his addiction, but people he could help with his recovery. By the word of our testimony...transformation...obedience. Complete Victory. God is Good. The conclusion of Shiloh was with Gideon and how He was commissioned by God Himself to take back the land. The battle was fought and he was victorious with weapons of light, clay jars, and trumpets because God is always victorious. She said, "Jesus is the Light, We are the Clay Jars, Our Testimonies are our Trumpets." We are also the light of the world, because Christ is in us. We are the fragile vessels in which His light can shine and reflect. We are fragile and we have cracks. Our cracks are from our past, our hurts and our struggles. But they are needed and necessary. How else would the light shine through? 
Not only do I think these pictures of Becca are adorable, but after Shiloh last night, I started to see them as a story. How often do I get stuck in something I got myself into (like, how in the world did she get herself into a little basket and a small shelf??) Sometimes I am frustrated and see immediately that I need to repent, give it to God and allow Him to work in me, change me and use it for His Kingdom and Glory. Other times (like Becca in the cabinet), I am just happy and oblivious that I am in a mess. A cycle of messes and struggle. This past year has been work for me. Work of getting out of a cycle of messes. Unhealthy relationships with others. Unhealthy relationship with myself. Worry. Hurt. Unforgiveness. Cycles that I have repeated and the past the I carried with me and allowed to define me. I was letting the enemy squat on all of my areas...my boundary lines..of past, life experience, gifts, faith and intimacy with God.
Angela described the cycle that so many of us find ourselves in (whether we realize it, acknowledge it or not). Through our bad choices, sin (no matter how big or how small), or rebellion we experience a loss of blessing. We then repent (where we will weep, but not change) and then we get to experience the deliverance that only God can bring. But, we will continue in this cycle until when we repent, we are truly broken...truly humbled and get out of the way and let God work in us to change us...transform us. What's in the gap in this cycle is obedience, walking in faith and a willing and humble heart. Brokenness. This is when we are the most beautiful to God, our Father. When He can trade our Ashes in for Beauty. When He can do it for the Glory of it All. Not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17). We can be a new person. We don't have to let our past define us. We don't have to be stuck in a cycle. We can changed. Transformed. Victorious. And we should be. We have the Spirit of Christ IN US. The same Holy Spirit that God poured out on Moses, on Gideon, on David, is the same one He has put in us. In me. That just blows my mind. And only God can use our cycles, our past, our life experience, our faith and our relationship with God for good and for His glory. If we take the risk to be real...to be vulnerable. To share our story...the good, the bad and the ugly...with others. We overcome the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and through the Word of our Testimony. "But, we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18). To take off our masks of perfection and share our hearts; reflecting the love and image of Christ, but in the way only we can do it...imperfectly. We will not attain this perfect image of Christ in this lifetime. But, we can grow in it each and every day. We are a work in progress...pressing on...with Him.
I came home last night and Jonathan wanted me to watch a couple of Celebrate Recovery testimonies that he found on line. One of them was a man that was a recovering addict, 3 years sober. He talked about how the church sometimes focuses on that we are sinners...we are all sinners. And we are. None better, none worse. We are all sinners. But, he said that he couldn't just define himself by his past and his sin anymore. Yes, he was a sinner. But, he wasn't just a sinner. He was a new creation in Christ. He also talked about how in the middle of his addiction, he thought he was just hurting himself and why couldn't people just leave him alone. As he worked his recovery, he started looking at all the people that were touched, affected and hurt by his addiction. He said it looked like a giant pyramid. But, the further away he grew from his addiction and the closer he grew to Christ, he saw that pyramid differently. It was a pyramid of hope and potential. Not just a pyramid of people hurt by his addiction, but people he could help with his recovery. By the word of our testimony...transformation...obedience. Complete Victory. God is Good. The conclusion of Shiloh was with Gideon and how He was commissioned by God Himself to take back the land. The battle was fought and he was victorious with weapons of light, clay jars, and trumpets because God is always victorious. She said, "Jesus is the Light, We are the Clay Jars, Our Testimonies are our Trumpets." We are also the light of the world, because Christ is in us. We are the fragile vessels in which His light can shine and reflect. We are fragile and we have cracks. Our cracks are from our past, our hurts and our struggles. But they are needed and necessary. How else would the light shine through? 
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