A few weeks ago something changed in my life and I really think that sharing it with you may help you with something you are facing. For the last couple of months I have felt like something was holding me back from being everything I could be. I believe it was a few things, depression, guilt, fear, loneliness, stress, and feeling like everything I was doing would never measure up to what I should be doing. It created a bubble around me that was slowly suffocating me. I didn't know exactly what it was at the time. People around me were noticing me more withdrawn, less talkative. However, I think I hid it pretty well.
Two weeks ago, I was at church and our Pastor was talking about the soundtrack of your life. I looked over the last couple of months and realized that the soundtrack of my life had not been very uplifting lately. As a matter of fact there was very little hope in the song at all. He then asked us to open our Bibles to John 12:12-19, and as I was reading the bubble shattered. Jesus knew that he was facing death just a week later yet his song was full of hope, the hope of the resurrection, of eternal life. I am pleased to say that the bubble shattered and I have been doing great since then. I am doing my devotions every day and instead of it being difficult it is just like a reflex, like before the bubble started to form.
What started this bubble to form in the first place? I think it was a few things. I stopped doing my devotions every day (my first mistake). I still did them sporadically when I had time. I prayed often, but I was not reading the Bible very much at all (my second mistake). I did not spend time with my friends either (my third mistake). I tried to hide the problem from those at work and church (my fourth mistake).
I have found that when I do my devotions first thing in the morning it helps me remain focused on God the whole day and it takes the focus off of me and my problems. When I was not doing my devotions daily I was completely self consumed and it began to overtake my entire life. Amazing how quickly it grows. Distancing myself from my friends and not telling them something was wrong made it so that I did not get healing sooner. Our friends are there to pray for us and support us. I need to embrace my friends more.
The miracle is that no matter how big this bubble was God's power was great enough to shatter it in one moment. It did not take a prayer vigil over weeks of time, it did not take me having to break down every aspect of it and figuring it out to shatter it, just the power of the almighty God.
For all of you who were praying for me and saw what was happening, I am so thankful to you for your prayers and support. For those who noticed and talked to me about it, thank you! It was you noticing that something was up that got me to start looking at what was happening to me and caused the first cracks in the bubble around me. For those of you who supported me and prayed for me from the background, thank you! I know it was because of those prayers that things did not get worse, and that enabled me to be open to God shattering it for me. You see, by my act of opening the Bible and reading it, I was inviting God into my situation.
If you are facing a similar situation and need hope for the future, try inviting God in, try reading Scripture and focusing on Him and His word, not on your circumstance. Don't let it hold you back from life and living it to the fullest!
Two weeks ago, I was at church and our Pastor was talking about the soundtrack of your life. I looked over the last couple of months and realized that the soundtrack of my life had not been very uplifting lately. As a matter of fact there was very little hope in the song at all. He then asked us to open our Bibles to John 12:12-19, and as I was reading the bubble shattered. Jesus knew that he was facing death just a week later yet his song was full of hope, the hope of the resurrection, of eternal life. I am pleased to say that the bubble shattered and I have been doing great since then. I am doing my devotions every day and instead of it being difficult it is just like a reflex, like before the bubble started to form.
What started this bubble to form in the first place? I think it was a few things. I stopped doing my devotions every day (my first mistake). I still did them sporadically when I had time. I prayed often, but I was not reading the Bible very much at all (my second mistake). I did not spend time with my friends either (my third mistake). I tried to hide the problem from those at work and church (my fourth mistake).
I have found that when I do my devotions first thing in the morning it helps me remain focused on God the whole day and it takes the focus off of me and my problems. When I was not doing my devotions daily I was completely self consumed and it began to overtake my entire life. Amazing how quickly it grows. Distancing myself from my friends and not telling them something was wrong made it so that I did not get healing sooner. Our friends are there to pray for us and support us. I need to embrace my friends more.
The miracle is that no matter how big this bubble was God's power was great enough to shatter it in one moment. It did not take a prayer vigil over weeks of time, it did not take me having to break down every aspect of it and figuring it out to shatter it, just the power of the almighty God.
For all of you who were praying for me and saw what was happening, I am so thankful to you for your prayers and support. For those who noticed and talked to me about it, thank you! It was you noticing that something was up that got me to start looking at what was happening to me and caused the first cracks in the bubble around me. For those of you who supported me and prayed for me from the background, thank you! I know it was because of those prayers that things did not get worse, and that enabled me to be open to God shattering it for me. You see, by my act of opening the Bible and reading it, I was inviting God into my situation.
If you are facing a similar situation and need hope for the future, try inviting God in, try reading Scripture and focusing on Him and His word, not on your circumstance. Don't let it hold you back from life and living it to the fullest!
