I met with a friend yesterday who felt led to tell me something that she experienced in her past and how she still struggles with it today. Not always...God has forgiven her and she has worked through it, but sometimes the enemy still brings it back up and because many people don't know she keeps it inside. After our talk I assured her that she could call on me anytime and I would be there.
I also shared with her my own struggles, my past and how God has worked in me and how He continues to work in me...and we had a REALLY good talk. I think it is vital that Christians feel free enough to open up to fellow believers about their struggles/issues they have.
Proverbs 27:17 says " Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
We Christians have to get passed judging others...even if we say we don't we know we sometimes do...and we have to get passed our own fears and be open about what God is helping us deal with. Being able to confess or talk about our struggles, issues, pasts, etc will help others who are going through the same thing or at least something similar feel better about opening up and get the healing they need from Jesus, the same healing He has given others in the same situations.
Most of my life I have used the excuse that other Christians would not understand where I was coming from and I let that keep my from growing in Christ and finding healing and close Christian relationships. That is a LIE from the pits of hell! Satan uses that to keep us from healing and growing in the Lord and it prevents God from getting HIS glory for saving us and forgiving us and healing us!!!!
It is my hope that I will learn to be more bold about what God has done for me, what He's doing for me, and what He will do with me. :) I hope that I will see the day when ALL Christians will rise and confess their struggles and God is helping them through so that all the world may see how faithful and merciful our God is!
This is me at the beginning of my senior year in high school. At this point in my life I was VERY unhappy, sad, and felt worthless...but I hid it all from everyone I knew. My life stunk and I chose to cope with it using alcohol. Little did I know that my senior year would be the most HORRIBLE year of my life and that my life would go from bad to MUCH worse!!!!!The pain and hurt I would endure would leave me so lost, so devastated that a week before my graduation I would find myself standing in my kitchen ready to kill myself and end it all. I was so broken and felt I had nothing to live for and continued to make bad decisions and pretend that everything was fine. Luckily for me all this bad is what made me SO incredibly DESPERATE for Jesus! I tried so hard for so many years to run from the pain and keep it a secret...but God is now using it for HIS glory and to help others heal from their own pasts.
In closing let me say there is NOTHING in this world that you could have done that the Holy Blood of Jesus Christ can't heal! And He LOVES you just as you are! Isn't that amazing!?!!!! Don't let Satan keep you trapped like I was for so long! Jesus died for ALL sin! NO ONE is perfect, we ALL need HIM!
"Jesus paid it all! All to Him I owe! Sin had left a crimson stain; HE washed it white as snow!"
I LOVE YALL!!!!
2 comments:
If we didn't feel God could forgive "any" sin, we would be limiting His grace. His grace is sufficient for ALL. Not just those with perfect testimonies. Some of us have scars so big and we worry about others seeing us differently. There is nothing that anyone can say or do that will make me think of them any less. I want to see people the way God sees them. I am so happy you are allowing others to see the pains of your past. You will be able to help so many and God gets all the glory! WOW!
p.s. did you know that you have word verification on your comments? heehee :)
GREAT post dear!
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