Last Thoughts on Shame

Shame and all its accouterments will circle wagons around us if we don’t break the negative cycle. Remember, it is one of the enemy’s favorite tools to keep us from walking in our designed call.

I want to encourage you, loved one, wrestling with these negative cycles does not mean you are not an overcomer! Jacob wrestled with God, David wrestled with his flesh, and the Apostle Paul repeatedly implored the Lord to deliver him from a recurring struggle. We are in good company!

The Lord is calling us to wake up and shed all that entangles and entraps us. The things we overcome will be the foundation and launching pad for our destiny. What you accept, you will learn to adapt, then you will eventually conform to it until you are willing to confront it.”

Your giant will take you if you don’t take them. Life is defined by what you conquer, or by what you DON’T conquer.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing (including shame), shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-38

A Missed Opportunity with Destiny?

Disappointment – it litters our lives with potholes. Have you noticed that?

The class you thought you did so well in only to find out that the last test put your grade down a whole letter – pothole.

The job promotion you’d thought you had, only to hear to you didn’t get it – pothole.

A special someone, whom you hoped shared your feelings, only to find out they didn’t – pothole.

Potholes aren’t fatal, but they sure can create pain, frustration, even heartache. Just like stepping into a physical pothole, journey-potholes can cause broken dreams, sprained plans, and misaligned focus.

See – not fatal. Just painful.

Here we thought we had an appointment with destiny; a new career path, a new heart path, a better grade and cheaper car insurance. But our appointment with our planned destiny never happens.

It isn’t fatal, but it’s painful.

Missed appointments are scattered throughout the Bible. Moses had a missed appointment with the promised land. His journey was filled with potholes creating mounting frustration. Eventually, in a fit of frustration and anger, he struck a rock and altered the course of his destiny. Instead of Moses bringing the children of Israel into the promised land, HE entered the Promise Land.

Then there is Joseph, remember him? Left in prison to rot, he thought he had an appointment with favor and destiny, only to be forgotten by a fellow prisoner. He waited, disappointed, thinking he’d been forgotten by the One he served. Eventually, when God’s appointed time came, Joseph was remembered and favor paved the way to his destiny.

David a shepherd boy and poet thought he would take the throne without any loopholes; favor waved like banners around this young boy. Instead, he spent years running for his life from the very man he loved and promised to serve. You could say he dealt with disappointment. But David’s perceived missed appointment groomed him to be a great king.

Disappointments can shape our destiny. So the next time you step into a pothole of disappointment, keep your eyes on the author and finisher of your life. Your journey to your destiny is about to change.

Wanderlust, or Just Wandering, Part I

And then many would be offended… Matthew 24:10

I have had many opportunities to be offended in my 51 years: husband, friends, co-workers, bosses, even my parents! Throughout all, I’ve been able to work through my offense – some easier than others – and get back on the road of life merrily on my way.

Yet, unknowing, I have spent the last eighteen years wandering in an erred spiritual desert. Eighteen long years of shuffling my spiritual, dusty feet looking for my lost destiny. Those who know me well, know I have lost many ministry dreams due to another’s decisions.

My heart bled with each loss and I had to work through the pain of my partner’s betrayals, loss of friendships, and loss of dreams. Each time I had to walk the well-traveled path of forgiveness for the offenses, then wait and pray for another dream, another opportunity to serve.

I learned and grew so much during these refining times - until “that day.” I don’t even know what day it was; but something deep died one day and it’s been dead ever since.

On the outside all looked healed, but in my spirit something – a ubiquitous dark place – took up shop unnoticed.

Offense.

Not with a friend, partner, ministry or church, not with family or a co-worker.

I was offended with Jesus.

To the broken heart of a little girl, my Savior, Healer, Father, and Protector did not pick up a sword and fight for my destiny. In this little girl’s heart, she was left bleeding and bruised on the side of the road blaming everyone involved – yet nursing the smallest seed of thought, “Where was my Jesus when I lost my dream? Where was Jesus when I lost my friends? Where was Jesus when His church ignored me because of their offense with my partner’s sin?”

He was standing next to me weeping.

Yet I couldn't feel or see it through my slow-growing, permeating cancerous cell of offense. It took Him eighteen years to open my eyes and heart to the truth. The church, ministry, ex-husband, or Jesus was not responsible for my eighteen-year desert wandering.

I was.