Darts, Knives, and Forgiveness

When you are doing what God has planned for your life, what He wants for you to do, rest assured you the enemy will come looking for you. This truth seeped into my mind a couple nights ago when I had finally had enough with a couple of situations that were just draining me. I had asked God more than once to fit the pieces together, but what I really wanted was for Him to fix the situations. I wanted Him to take out His big magic eraser and make them go away. I don't like being uncomfortable. I don't like being stretched. Oh, but see that's how we grow. (Like it or not, it is....). The sand has to get inside of our shells and its our choice if those things that are irritating turn into pearls or just stay as irritants.

So why did I use the term seep when I referred to the truth earlier. Seeping implies that it took time to get into my mind which it did. Like I said, I wanted Him to just make the situation get easier and comfortable. He wants me growing ;-)

So as I said earlier in a blog, He kept writing with this truth. Now on to why this is called Darts, Knives, and Forgiveness.

Darts: When you are where God wants you, the enemy is going to throw darts your way. His goal is to try and mess you up, throw you off course, and just plain distract you. What God showed me though, is as long as we keep our shield of faith up, the darts cannot affect us. It is when we take our eyes off of Him, start worrying about what comes next, spend time trying to figure out what is next, that we lower our shield of faith and get hit. Faith is not always knowing how the pieces fit together, but knowing and trusting the One who does. Faith doesn't fear, reason, or worry.

Knives: Knives in our back hurt. They just do, God knows that. If you read in Ephesians 6, there is a piece of armor to protect every part of our body except our back. If we are moving forward and following Him...our back is never exposed to the battle. It is when we get scared and start to turn around and run back that we end up with a knife in our back from someone. Knives are unexpected to us, but God knows before they hit. He will take the knife out and use that hurt to remind of us of His truth if we will let Him. Stay focused on the path He has planned for you. Stay focused on what He has called you to do. Look straight ahead and don't turn back. He has your back covered, if you keep moving forward.

Forgiveness: This truth came this morning. (I've heard it before, but it stuck this morning). Forgiveness is not for the other person. Forgiveness is for us. A lot of times, the hurt we feel, the hurt that caused the wall to be built around us is a hurt that the other person may not even know exists. If they do know they hurt you, chances are they have already moved forward anyway. If you hold on to the hurt, you stay put. Forgive that person and let go of the hurt. Forgiveness gives the hurt to God and lets Him do what only He can do. You can't run this race if you are tied to a hurt someone did to you. Move on....time is too short. (Word of caution: Forgiveness doesn't mean you continue to let that person hurt you. It means you follow His leading when interacting with that person. Please Him with your actions, interactions, words etc. He will protect your heart ;-)).

I heard this song last night for the first time. I'm still not sure how I had never heard it before, but I think God knew exactly when I needed the words. I've let the enemy make me feel guilty for having too big of a heart. I've let what others expected dictate way too much instead of following my heart. His box is the only One I was made to fit in, not the boxes others try to stuff me in to meet the their own needs/wants. No more apologizing for who He made me to be....My big heart is part of who I am;-) When I heard this song last night, God whispered this is you. Be who He made you to be!

Enjoy the journey!
Until next time
~Melissa