Freedom and Strength

There came a point in my life not too long ago I realized that Jesus said "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1-2. " Yesterday I wrote that I was enjoying the fact that I have nothing to hide or be afraid of. Living like that was slavery to sin. Due to my desire and God's grace, I am FREE! All except, my fellow followers, I have never gained the freedom completely from smoking cigarettes. If you can pray specifically for me today, pray for that. There are times that I feel that God is not restoring my marriage because I am holding on to that one sin in my life that I am a slave to, but then I remind myself that maybe standing is just one of the things God has brought me to to slowly weed out the sins in my life, which I am doing, one at a time and I know that he loves me - no matter what and that this sin's time in my life is soon coming to an end.

I think that is one of the things about standing for restoration. Standers are just about the strongest people I have ever met and I have learned to give myself a break because I am doing something so very hard. The rewards that I can see are so few and far between and the hurts are there daily. It's like God told me to go out and push a rock that is as big as a car, I'm pushing and pushing, thinking I need to move it, but all God told me to do was to push. He reminds me when I am exhausted that He will do the moving, the pushing is just building my muscles for strength. I'm getting stronger everyday, even when I feel my weakest.

But through it all, I'm still standing and serving and praising our God on high the best I can. Yes, I have an occasional melt down and want to give up, but then I remember I must be in a valley and it's in the valleys I grow...