Recharging
I wish I could say that when you believe and receive God's love and forgiveness, it's all easy breezy from here on out.
I wish I could say that when you believe you deserve to be treated with kindness and respect, you will not have issues.
I wish I could say that after God rescued and reset you, you will be perfect from now on.
Maybe that's how it goes for some people, but that has not been my experience.
For me, it's a daily practice of recharging.
In the early hours of the day, watching the sunrise or sitting quietly as I imagine being nestled in God's arms, I feel safe and restored.
But in the daily grind of life, if I'm not careful, I forget that God still holds me close.
I start to panic, get afraid, and quickly fall back to my old ways of trying to fix, manipulate, or control what is happening around me.
There are days when the storms of life knock me down, and the old mucky pit feels like a warm place to go home to. Sometimes, I want to numb and hide.
The dark voices try knocking on the door and beckon me to return to my old ways.
Not today, Satan, not today.
Those old tactics didn't work for me then and will not work for me now.
I can't just give God 10 minutes in the morning and keep going on my power for the rest of the day. When I try that, my "low battery" light flashes as I attempt to do things my way using old habits and patterns.
With my own dwindling power, I end the day feeling worn out, anxious, and exhausted.
If I rely only on myself or the power this world offers, my battery will never be at 100%.
We must plug into the power of God's love and strength to make it in this life.
The great news is that we are not alone and need not rely on our power to continue.
When we are scared, we can plug into God and pray for his protection and guidance.
When we are overwhelmed, we can plug into God and pray for his discernment to say yes when it's right and no when it's not.
When we are worried, we can plug into God and pray for the strength to trust that He is working things out for our good.
When we are hurt or rejected, we can plug into God and pray for his voice to remind us that we are loved and cherished, just as we are.
We can move forward on this journey together, and when we recharge with God's love, nothing is impossible.
God has found you, and He is never, EVER going to let you go.
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Ephesians 2: 1-6
It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live.
You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat.
It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.
Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!
Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.