Allies

In the past couple of years, God has put some amazing people in my life. He has blessed me in ways that only He could imagine because I never saw it coming. He has opened doors for me and given me opportunities that not only leave me in awe and wonder, but have grown my faith by leaps and bounds. A growth that has given me the courage to step outside my comfort zone and made me more aware of that still small voice - even in times of chaos.

I used to be cautious about saying things like that to people. For some reason, most folks assume when you're feeling "blessed" nothing ever goes wrong in your life. Like having a relationship with Jesus instantly solves all my problems. WRONG! If you haven't already noticed, I live in the same messed up world everyone else lives in. I life with the same inflation costs you have. My car breaks down, just like yours does. I have bills to pay and schedules to keep and responsibilities just like everyone else.

But none of those things make my blessings any less valuable.

Like some of you, I got to this "blessed" point in my life the hard way. I didn't walk a rose covered path and meet Jesus along the way. My path to Jesus was rough and rocky! I went from feeling unwanted to domestic violence - to rape - to alcohol - to drugs - to daily suicidal thoughts - to Jesus meeting me in my darkest hour. He saved a messed up, very lost, young woman. And getting to this place where I can feel blessed while living in a messed-up world has been a process... a very long process. But I want others to know that it's possible. And one of the biggest blessings God has given me recently is a never-ending desire to spread that message.

With every hurdle He gets me over, my faith gets stronger. With every blessing, my boldness grows. He is preparing my heart for battle. That statement may catch some people off guard, but I am being trained for combat.

It has taken me YEARS to grasp the truth - to understand that in order to live for Christ, I must fight for the truth. To never stop telling my story, because others need to know there's hope in Jesus.

For years I thought the whole point of my personal relationship with Jesus was the comfort of knowing that I could lay my burdens and my troubles at His feet... at the foot of the cross. Daily, if that's what it took! And even though that is a big chunk of it, I was missing the most fulfilling part. Because now, it is with great honor and full humility that I exchange those burdens for a sword and a shield. As a lay my sorrows at the foot of the cross each day, my Lord hands me my sword and my shield - that I may fight for the truth - whether it be on my knees or wherever He sends me.

Throughout the years, I carried each and every one of those burdens alone, but He never lets me fight alone, He is always right beside me. Like the perfect King that He is, He hands me my weapons and then leads me into battle - never leaving my side. In prayer, He is there. As I type or write, He is there. In my coming and going, He is there. And is this an easy fight? NO! This fight is not for the faint of heart. There will be battle scars. People are going to say nasty things about me and think ugly things about me. I will lose relationships with friends and loved ones. I will have to make choices, difficult choices. And in those moments when it feels like the world is ganging up on me, I choose to remember who is fighting next to me and who will win.

That's right... we already know who will win. In the toughest of battles and the bloodiest of fights, our victory is knowing WHO WILL WIN! Jesus died on the cross so that we could live with Him FOREVER. The same cross that I stand before - to lay my burdens at - the same cross that Jesus died on to trade His life for mine, gives me victory over death. NOTHING can take that away from me...NOTHING!

So, I will pick up my sword and my shield daily and walk into the battlefield with my Lord until He calls me home. And only then, will I stop fighting for the truth. Everyone deserves the truth. Everyone deserves the chance to take the weight of life's burdens and lay them at the foot of the cross. Everyone deserves the opportunity to know grace and mercy and forgiveness as only the love of Jesus can provide... everyone.

If He can change my life and save me, He can save anyone! No one is beyond the reach of Jesus... no one. And if you need help or have questions, I'm just an email away. practicallyprayerfulblog@gmail.com

Romans 8:37-39 ESV

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.