“An entire sea of water cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship.”-similarly, the negativity of the world cannot put you down unless you allow it to.
David in the Bible was sold into slavery by his brothers and later jailed for something he didn’t do. It would have been easy for him to take his circumstance as an excuse for him to sulk/feel sorry for himself and turn to the things of the world. His circumstance, in the world’s eyes, gave him validity to find something to numb the pain he was feeling, or to take revenge on his brothers, etc. David, however, had his roots planted somewhere other than the world, he was planted in the Lord. Instead of taking his situation as an invite to indulge in the things of the world like say, depression, self pity, anger, alcohol-he decided to dive even further into God. His imprisonment period was spent focusing solely on God. He allowed God to re-mold his heart; and because he did this, God allowed him to prosper.
Your circumstance only has captivity over you if you allow it to.
I recently had to complete a mentor reference for the WorldRace which is given to the people who the organization thinks needs it; which I believe is a great thing that they do because they don’t want to send people to third world countries unless their mind is healthy enough to handle what we will face. But what I was confused about is why I had to do one. Well it’s based on your interview and application and in the interview and application you have to be very open about the things you’ve been through and the things that surround you. On paper, I, like David, have been given validity to act out negatively. What the WorldRace people see is that A) I had to move highschools my senior year, which could easily not be handled well, B) that my father is in prison, C) that I have family history of alcohol and drug abuse, and D) the three closest people to me are battling homosexuality and gender disphoria. Based on my script, most would assume that my mental state is not likely to be very keen. But my house is built on rock, my foundation is Jesus Christ. Nothing that this world throws at me will ever hinder me because of this.
Every situation presented is an opportunity to either glorify God, or to not.
Instead of allowing my circumstance to control me, I chose to allow God to re-mold my heart. My father has been in prison for 10 years but the other 3 situations I mentioned took place at about the same time. In my “imprisonment” period, which has been the last 11 months, I have put my time and energy into God and what He says and what He has promised for me. I chose to bring glory to His name instead of putting the blame on Him and saying “why me?” By doing this God is allowing me to prosper by blessing me with the opportunity to go on the WorldRace.
Your circumstance has NO captivity over you unless you allow it to.
