Written 12-28-10
So I know on the race I have struggled with struggling. I
sometimes struggle with being sick.
“I shouldn’t be having a
hard time. I shouldn’t be crying all the time. I should be pouring into people.”
On
those days at times I’ve found myself pulling away from my team and community
thinking that I should be “over this struggle� or that “Ive already walked
through this battle and shouldn’t be struggling.�
…..Right……because I’m NOT human.
I’ve found through many conversations on my team lately that
we all often think this. And we often think of John 15,
“He cuts off every
branch in me that bears no fruit….�
and we think that our struggles are cut off after we
overcome them because they bear not fruit in our lives. That if we come up against
an old lie, stronghold, pain, or struggle that we have had in the past that we
have failed. We have backslid. All our growth is null and void.
To that I would speak our team word…..FALSE.
….. we forgot what
follows….
“….while every branch
that does bear fruit he prunes so
that it will be even more fruitful…�
God often brings us back to past struggles to take us deeper
into him and our victory. We revisit our pain, our obstacles, our past
strongholds so that the Lord can prune them and his glory can bee seen even
more brightly. He prunes them to take us deeper so that we can live in a deeper
freedom and thus bringing freedom to those around us. He wants to deepen your
roots in Him.
So next time you find yourself face to face with a core lie,
struggle, past rejection, don’t beat yourself up and think you should be “over
this.� Don’t tell yourself that you have failed or are weak and defeated.
Rather ask God,
“What do you have for
me to learn in this again? How do you want to take me deeper?�
See the cycle as beautiful.
Just as the waves of these old thoughts, reactions, and struggles come up and crash against my mind I now see them as a way to take me deeper into the Lord. I see that He wants to use it to bring freedom to others As he ushers me into freedom I bring along those around me. I embrace the waves, the water and know that i live in victory. I stand on the rock on my firm foundation. I speak my freedom and I live in his love. So wash, crash, bring on the refinement, take me deeper....
